Digital Marketing plays a huge role in businesses now-a-days. Most brick-and-mortar stores have also switched to an online format or they exist along with their own online websites from where their consumers can have a look at their stock which is more convenient because they can look around at their own pace and space.
This new onset of technology has given small & medium businesses a platform from which they too can compete with larger businesses. Small and medium businesses do not have the same set of resources which are already available to larger businesses therefore digital marketing could help them in a lot of ways to grow and also capture audiences and retain them. In a broader sense, these are some ways that can help your business grow, with the help of “Digital Marketing”.
>> The importance of a website for your business would be the first step to stepping into the realm of digital marketing. Working on a website that best suits your aesthetic sense and that works best for the type of business you own are some of the first thoughts you must have. Navigability should be easy for customers, so that they do not get lost trying to find out what they are looking for. Information should be easily found and up-dating your website so that it contains the most recent products or services that your provide is the best way for potential consumers to know that the business is still working and takes their work seriously.
>> Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which is the most cost-effective way of getting traffic to your website, so the first thing to do would be to invest in this. By adjusting your website in such a way that it finds itself organically on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) is what happens when you invest in SEO. There are algorithms which help in this so one must know what they are what the algorithms do, how they help.
Here is a link so you can dive deeper and increase your knowledge on some google algorithms and how you can use them to your advantage in ranking your page higher : Google Algorithms
>> Social Media Marketing plays a huge role. Social Media has so much importance as it helps to make your brand stand out. Bringing traffic to your social media account which could be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc is another way to try to gain new customers or retain the ones you already have. Promoting / Marketing on Social Media should always be a two-way communication journey with your customers. The message you want to relay should be well thought of and consistent, which also makes perfect sense with your brand image.
- Viral Marketing which could be one of the strategies used, helps in spreading / making viral some content that has been published on the website. The amount of likes or shares this post gets not only helps to get traffic to the website but also helps to make your brand stronger in the minds of the customer.
- Interactive Marketing is another strategy wherein you interact with the potential customers or customers who are already active on your social media. Being interactive with your audience helps as only promoting your products/services or offers all the time could lead to boredom and losing interest for your customers. Interacting with them gives you insights into what they like, feedback can be given by them and they would also feel more involved.
- User generated content is one way which could help you with your viral marketing as well as interactive marketing. The use of hashtags has become such a popular trend. Almost all marketing campaigns now-a-days are accompanied by a hashtag. By using hashtags, the audience voices out their opinions and makes them feel like they belong to a community that supports or likes the same things.
Here are some great examples of the above strategies which can give you can idea of what type of marketing you would want to do:
Best of 2019 : Viral Marketing
10 Incredible Interactive Marketing Campaigns
User Generated Content Marketing Campaigns
Also, check out some of these social media marketing examples which are worth the time to check out!
Interactive marketing can also be used with Viral marketing. Both could help each other to make the strategy that you used more effective.
Some points that should not be forgotten,
Mobile Friendly : While making your site, do not forget to make it mobile friendly. Cell phones are now a big part of our life. Everyone is always on their phones and want to access everything on their phones because we spend more time on our mobiles than our laptops. Therefore, if a potential customer or a potential business partner tries to check what your business is all about by checking out your website on their phone, but turns out that your website does not open on their mobile or has some problem. This would create a big dent in their impression of the working of your business and you would also not be able to impress them. Therefore, a site that works on mobiles and thus is mobile friendly is a very important fact to remember.
Mobile marketing, thus, is another effective way to grow your business. The apps and websites used for this marketing should have content which is concise as people would not like to read huge paragraphs on their phones, but would rather read short and concise paragraphs.
Here is another link I leave you with, which can help you with your first step to digital marketing. Best of luck!
Some Free Digital Marketing Tools for SMEs and Start-ups
Chyoetten Gyamtso
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