We’re all a little tech crazy, so if you want to get your business in front of a new audience, digital marketing seems like a no brainer. Easier said than done. How do business owners without a marketing background or a digital native millennial on call take advantage of the everchanging digital market?
Though social media consumption is at an all-time high, social platforms are actually making it harder for businesses to reach consumers. Facebook’s organic reach—people who see your post through unpaid distribution—has declined from 100 percent in 2011 to 3 percent this year. That’s why the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offers consulting and digital marketing classes with experts like Denver-based GrowthWeaver to businesses with any level of marketing knowledge.
Try these tips to get started.
Know your customers
For Wendy King, a marketing consultant at the Denver Metro SBDC, knowing your customer remains just as crucial as it was before digital marketing. What differs today is how you get to know them.
Now that everything is on the web, information is not only very accessible for you as a business, but also for the customer. In order to learn about your customer, you must read reviews of products similar to your own—what are their complaints, and what do they love about that product?
Track your online reputation closely—your customers are. If there are issues brought up in reviews on sites like Yelp and Google, address them. Don’t leave questions unanswered. Give customers the confidence that you are trustworthy, attentive and will meet their needs.
Make your site work smarter
Improving your search engine optimization—how visible your website and its contents are to people searching online—helps you gain exposure to your target audience. To check in on your web presence, try freegrader.com or website.grader.com. Like a report card, these tools grade your site for customer interaction, being mobile friendly, secure and more.
Moz Local shows you whether customers can find you online—and can help you be seen. Addressing and improving these issues will help you rise to the top of online search results—crucial if you want to increase
your customer base.
“The key to the kingdom is simply winning the searches you need to win. You want your website to come up right next to your competitor,” said GrowthWeaver Founder Steve Weaver “That’s your job—otherwise, they pick someone else.”
Bring your customers back
Retargeting is the single most important kind of advertising because it draws your audience back to your website. More complex, it requires building ads and following how they perform. But, Google is here to help, with a full support section for this kind of marketing.
Take advantage of new features
You have a tool, so experiment. Don’t be afraid to do testing. Although it may be timeconsuming, AB testing is a great way to find out what wording works for your customers. For example, if you use Facebook, create four different posts that sell the same thing, but are worded differently. Tracking the success of each post reveals what your customer base responds to the best and what hooks them in.
Even if the world of digital marketing is foreign to you, don’t let your fear stop you from stepping into it. This can greatly increase sales and awareness around your company without busting your budget.
Olivia Rollene is the marketing and program coordinator for the Denver Metro SBDC
This was originally published in the summer issue of Business Altitude. Click here to read the full issue.