Are you a business owner wanting to expand your business with digital marketing? If yes, you are already one step ahead of your competition, because you know what effective digital marketing can do for your business. Being a business owner in this day and age means knowing the importance of a solid digital marketing plan. So, you will do well in using digital marketing as a way to drive sales, increase customers and grow your business.
Now, if you run a business and feel like you just can’t keep up with all the new marketing opportunities you are supposed to embrace, don’t feel lonely! In fact, recent research reveals that most small business owners feel slightly overwhelmed by the world of digital marketing and actually believe they are under-performing in their use of them.
Yes, digital marketing itself can be quite a daunting prospect. There’s so much to consider. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, websites, viral campaigns, Google+, email, blogs – it’s no wonder you might be struggling to separate sheep from goats here! But hey, don’t worry about it. You can start conquering the digital marketing scene today by asking yourself the following questions.
- Are your current marketing efforts effective?
If your response is, either “no” or “I don’t know,” then chances are your current efforts aren’t doing you any favours. In this case, don’t feel bad! Many other business owners are in the same boat, and all you need is a little nudge to steer you in the right direction.
- Who manages your marketing?
Depending on your answer to this question, you might want to consider dividing your digital marketing duties up into smaller pieces. If you currently manage all the marketing yourself, you might indeed feel overwhelmed by all the work you put into and underwhelmed by the results. It’s recommended that you get someone in your team to handle some of the marketing, or even better and if you can afford it – hiring an agency or third party for your digital marketing is a good idea.
- What kind of marketing channels do you currently use?
This is where you get to really identify what’s important and what’s not. There are literally so many ways of to market your goods or services – some of which include digital advertising and social media; email marketing; landing pages or purpose-specific web pages plus print advertising and direct mail. Understandably, it’s confusing to know your way around in the great variety of digital marketing methods. The answer however, is surprisingly simple: As a small business owner, you could very well choose more than one channel. But don’t over-face yourself choose a a maximum of 2 you know how to use AND are used by your target audience!
4.What do you use to store contact information for your leads and customers in order follow up with them?
This is quite an important factor to consider. The need to keep up with customer details and to use them effectively is paramount. Luckily there are plenty of platforms to help you with this. Using Gmail or Outlook is a good way to go, whereas using some kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool isn’t a bad idea either.Working through the above questions for yourself is a good place to start in order to boost your digital marketing efforts. Like any aspect of running a small business, digital marketing is all what you put in to it. Logically, the more you put in, the better the results will be. The good news is you don’t necessarily need a huge budget. All you really need is a drive and desire to try new things and learn from the results.
