A guide to digital marketing for small businesses
Being the owner of a small business is no easy task. It requires many skills and at times, could be a careful balancing act. When your time is consumed by so many other aspects of the business, it can be simple to let marketing drop off. Within our experience, we've seen this happen for several reasons, namely; budget, some time and talent. So let me share this with you; digital marketing does not need to be a sophisticated, expensive and time-consuming task. Actually, small-business owners can get their online businesses and begin interacting with customers in only three simple steps.
Use
free website builders
One of the biggest pain points for small-business owners is the creation of a website. It's often seen as an huge task that they feel under-qualified for yet lack the budgets to do professionally, also it can quickly become an overwhelming task. Let me stop you there.
Unless you're planning on creating a huge
multi-functional e-commerce store, building your own website is entirely
possible to do yourself. Most small businesses just need a basic website to
showcase their products and services. In this case, a full marketing and web
team of developers is unnecessary. Instead, free website builders like
Squarespace and WIX are wonderful, and they only require a small subscription fee.
They even have templates available so you don't need to worry about having an
eye for design. They also include tutorials on how to add and take away elements,
meaning no skills are required to get started.
Utilise
Google My Business
Google My Business is yet another free tool
that small businesses can take advantage of. It provides a local listing
for your business, meaning that it can boost the visibility of your brand
when individuals are searching for you within the area. It is extremely simple to set up:
- Go to:
https://www.google.com/intl/en_au/business/ - Select manage now.
- Type in your business category.
- Fill in as numerous of the remaining
fields as you possibly can, including; address, where you service, photos, opening
hours, etc. Note that this won't be publicly visible until it's been verified
by Google (next thing). - Once done, Google will send you a
postcard to verify the business. You'll need to input the code in the
postcard into Google and then you're good to go!
Reviews: how to get them, respond and amplify them
Now that you've got a Google My Business
account, invite your visitors to leave a review on it. This is often as simple
as sending an e-mail to your database or handing out postcards with instructions
on how to do it. Once you start receiving reviews, be sure you respond to all
of them – even the not so good ones. Existing customers love to see owners
giving their time to say thanks and new customers love seeing a responsive and
caring business owner.
Reviews aren't limited to Google, you can
encourage your customers to leave reviews on Facebook too. With respect to the
service you offer, some customers may choose to upload a photo to their own
socials and tag the brand. This is typically seen in the wonder and hospitality
industry but it's not limited to those only. If this is what your customers are
doing, then don't waste the chance! Be sure to interact with their post by
liking and commenting, or if it's a story, then repost it to your brand's one.
Getting your business online may go through like a big task, but in reality, there is a sea of things smaller businesses can be done without investing immeasureable time and money. For simple tasks, free resources like Google My Business and website builders are wonderful. They reduce the need for hefty spend and do not require a plethora of skills…ideal for busy professionals!
