One of the best characteristics of digital marketing is that it provides opportunities for businesses that range from the largest worldwide brands to small, one-person local businesses. In other words, whether your marketing budget is 100 million dollars or 100 dollars, there are several means of marketing your business online available to you.
As much as we would like to think that the CEOs of the world’s largest corporations might be reading, we are humble enough to accept that our audience is more likely to contain owners of local businesses that operate within specific locations, including towns and city districts. As such, the specific digital marketing strategy that would suit these businesses is going to differ somewhat from that required by the likes of Ford, Pepsi, and Nike.
However, that does not negate the need for your digital marketing to be planned and implemented correctly and for that to occur, you need to follow a series of steps that take you from the decision to start, through to you seeing the results of the campaign. Below we have highlighted five core steps that we recommend every local business follows when seeking to market itself online.
Ensure You Know Who Your Audience Is: Far too often we see business owners creating content and promotions that have no perceivable target. It is generic and thus highly unlikely to resonate with the customers who would most benefit from their product or service. This is why one of your first steps should be to identify who your ideal audience is and create marketing material and content which is known to be effective when targeted toward them.
Make Every Piece of Content Exceptional: For a digital marketing campaign to have any chance of working, the content within it must be high quality. This applies to blog posts, social media posts, emails to subscribers, videos, podcasts, and any other content which you might be planning to create.
Aim for the Best Possible Website Design: It staggers us when we come across businesses that invest heavily in creating effective online marketing and advertising campaigns, and yet when the traffic arrives at their website they find a monstrosity that looks like it was designed 20 years ago. It is akin to inviting people to a party and the buffet consisting of just bread and water.
If your website is not converting then invest in a professional web design agency to create a new one as this investment will undoubtedly transform your results and generate a high ROI.
Your SEO Should Be Optimised For Local Rankings: Using SEO to boost your ranking is wise, but many business owners misunderstand who they are competing against. It is not the huge brands and multi-national companies but instead the other local businesses within your niche. As such, keywords should include references to local areas, districts, and certainly the town or city you are located in.
Get Help from the Experts: Maybe we should have placed this first, as the most effective way to ensure your digital marketing is effective is to hire those who know most how to create one. A local digital marketing agency has expertise in all online channels such as PPC, social media, and SEO, plus they can also monitor and optimise your campaign as it progresses.