How Your Small Business Can Benefit from Digital Marketing Today

Josh Wardini

Last updated on

July 21, 2022

Decades ago, a company looking to get its message in front of prospects and customers had to utilize traditional marketing tactics. These methods proved useful at the time.

Companies had the option of print advertisements, flyers, pamphlets, billboards, direct mails, TV, radio, and newspapers to choose from. Those with huge budgets promoted their brand on every traditional marketing channel they could lay their hands on.

But with the advent of the internet, marketing efforts slowly began shifting to the digital space. In 1993, the first-ever clickable ad banner went live. This marked the birth of digital marketing as we know it today.

Today, digital marketing is the top choice for businesses around the world. According to a study, global media ad spend is estimated to reach a whopping 53.9% of total media expenditure in 2022. The reason for this is quite simple – the internet has become part of the modern man’s life.

People spend more time on the internet than ever before and carry out most of their day to day activities online. So it becomes necessary for businesses to use the internet as a marketing platform if they are to reach their target audience successfully. This is the best automated affiliate management software.

Now that you know a brief history of how marketing has evolved over the years, let’s dive into how you can grow your business using digital marketing in 2019 and beyond.

7 Effective Digital Marketing Strategies

In the world of digital marketing, some strategies are just more effective than others. As a small business owner, you need to choose a profitable digital marketing tactic to reach your marketing goals. The following tactics are some of the most effective digital marketing strategies available to your business.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a leading digital marketing strategy as it offers loads of benefits to small business owners. Anyone wishing to rank on page one of Google will have to get their website optimized for search engines.

As mentioned earlier, the internet is where people spend most of their time these days, and Google is a vital part of it. Users in the modern world rely on Google for everything; they become virtually lost without it. When consumers need quick answers to questions, they use Google; when they need to learn more about a product or service, they turn to Google as well.

According to studies, 94% of B2B buyers say they initiate a Google search before making a purchase. Businesses and brands in 2019 that fail to optimize their websites for search engines are missing out on a great deal of value SEO could bring to their business.

Investing in SEO for your small business might seem like a lot, especially if you’re starting out, but it’s of great importance as your business won’t grow without it.

Benefits of SEO For Your Small Business

• By optimizing your website, you get a position of high visibility on the SERPs
• Nothing increases your brand’s awareness like being on the first page of Google for keywords specific to your industry
• SEO brings more traffic to your site
• SEO helps you build business growth outside your location
• An effective SEO strategy puts you ahead of the competition
• An SEO-optimized website is more likely to convert visitors to customers.

How Search Engine Optimization Works

Google is most concerned with offering its users the best search experience. When a user searches for information online, the search engine presents a list of relevant results that match the searcher’s query. These results are ranked in lists and pages from the most relevant to most irrelevant ones.

However, you should understand that Google doesn’t just pay attention to keywords. It considers other factors like a site’s structure, responsiveness, and mobile-friendliness before including a website on the SERPs.

2. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing that comprises activities such as the creation and sharing of relevant content on social media platforms to reach your branding and marketing goals.

Social media marketing consists of posting texts, images, and videos on social media platforms to raise brand awareness and ignite engagement with the target audience.

A recent study has shown that there are currently 3.499 billion active social media users. No one can deny the power of social media to grow businesses. Social media creates an avenue for small businesses to reach a vast audience and influence them with the right content.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Your Small Business

• Promoting your business on social media helps you improve brand awareness
• Increased website traffic as more people learn about your business
• More conversions for your business
• SMM helps you create a unique brand identity
• Impress potential customers
• Allows you to build a relationship with existing customers
• Boosts organic visibility
• SMM also helps you track the marketing tactics used by your competitors
• It is cost-effective.

Here are three social media marketing tactics you can use to get the best of social media.

Use Live Streaming

As the acceptance of video content grows, there’s a chance for businesses to implement live streaming in their social media marketing strategies. Studies have shown that 80% of brand audiences prefer live videos to social media posts.

Post Diversified Content Types

Producing the same type of content endlessly on social media will do your business no good. It is essential to post different kinds of content. Don’t just create simple textual posts; make sure to use infographics, videos, and images to get the word out.

Provide Value with Your Content

Producing content that offers value will endear you to existing customers and convince potential customers to choose your brand.

3. Video Marketing

In recent years, video content has grown to become one of the most powerful marketing tools. The heavy use of video content in marketing has become a norm in today’s business world. Businesses now realize the power it holds to captivate their audience.

Numerous studies have shown that including a video in your content can bring about a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines. Another study has shown that Google ranks pages with video content higher in the SERPs than those with just texts and images.

Benefits of Using Video Marketing for Your Business

• Video content helps existing and potential customers trust your brand more
• It is an effective tool for boosting your SEO ranking
• Video marketing can help you improve consumer engagement
• It is excellent for building your brand awareness
• Videos help you connect better with your target audience
• Videos can help boost your conversion and sales.

You can either have a video published on your website or YouTube. It would be best to do both. When posting a video on YouTube, don’t forget to choose a title optimized for search engines, and include a link to your website in the comment section. You must also not forget to create a relevant video thumbnail.

4. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pay-Per-Click is another effective digital marketing strategy. It is a digital marketing tactic where business owners pay a specific amount for each click their ad gets. In other words, you buy visits to your site.

Businesses can use this method to create publicity on search engines, apps, and social media platforms. Of all the popular PPC methods, over the years, Google AdWords has proven to be the most effective.

Google AdWords helps you place your ads on the SERPs, so that your ad shows up amongst other paid and organic search results when a Google user searches for a product or service similar to what you offer.

Studies have shown that 64.6% of users click on Google ads when they are looking to purchase an item online.