Online Marketing
In this Category, you will find articles related to online marketing for small business owners, just like you. Online marketing includes the activity you carry out to promote your products and services online, i.e. over the internet through your website and social media channels.
As a Marketing Consultant, I help small businesses create a digital marketing strategy, supported by the relevant marketing campaigns, to help them grow and promote their businesses.
Content marketing
Creating and sharing quality content can be a great long-term strategy for your small business. Well-written or well-crafted content can help you be found online. So when your potential customers type a question into Google (or other search engines) that's relevant to your business, your content comes up in the search results.
This is why it's important you pay attention to search engine optimization (or SEO) when creating your content. Local SEO can help your local clients find you when they do a search that includes the location you're in, so don't forget to optimize your content for the physical location you operate in, if relevant. This, together with link building, is a side of online marketing and that a lot of other small businesses (i.e. your competitors) fail to work on. So take the time to focus on it, and your marketing efforts can really pay off.
However, as a small business owner, you can do and achieve a lot more through your content. This is your opportunity to create a connection with your audience. To show them (through words) that you're an expert at what you do, you have tons of knowledge in your field, and, crucially, that you understand their problems and have a solution for them.
Email marketing
Do you have an email list? Collect email addresses from your existing customers. Make sure you have the relevant permissions in terms of GDPR and contact them regularly with promotions and other offers. If you want to promote your business online, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to communicate with your potential clients directly. After all, they've given you their email address - they WANT to hear from you.
Social media marketing
Social media marketing is another fundamental aspect of your small business marketing strategy. Make sure you're active online on the platforms where your potential clients are likely to be. Start conversations. Be helpful, and engage in conversation wherever you can. Social media marketing may not seem effective in terms of creating direct sales, but it is a great tool for raising brand awareness and building relationships with your audience. When they're ready they'll buy from you.
Read on for examples of online marketing that relate directly to your small business.
Online Marketing
This is a guest post from Vicky Shillings who is a Pinterest lover and a coach helping health and wellness entrepreneurs to grow their business. You can read more about her bio at the end of this post. Pinterest is a powerful search engine tool that could be helping...
Online Marketing
Google My Business: Why You Need it and How to Set it Up. The purpose of Google My Business is that it helps you reach and engage with your users on Google. It also enables your customers to leave you Google Reviews which is one of the key things in my opinion (check...
Online Marketing
I love testimonials – getting a good testimonial is the best thing ever, isn’t it? It makes you feel so good when you get a lovely email saying “thank you- you’ve really helped me and everything makes sense now”! The testimonials you...