Why Digital Marketing is Important for Growing your Small Business
If you're a small business owner, no doubt you're always on the lookout for ways to generate leads, increase sales, and grow your company. While marketing may not be one of your core competencies, you recognize how important it is for sustainability. Still, you may wonder whether investing in marketing initiatives, such as digital marketing, is really worth the time and expense.
The reality is, digital marketing is an absolutely essential component of almost any modern business plan. The good news is, you don't have to necessarily become a digital marketing guru to reap its benefits. In this article, we'll talk about why digital marketing is so important, what type of digital marketing strategies have proven successful for many small businesses, and how the experts at Pachira Marketing can help you grow your business.
Why Digital Marketing is So Important
The simple answer to this question is: almost everyone is connected to the Internet nowadays. Even consumers that would traditionally use other channels in their buyer's journey besides the Internet are now diving into the fray. For example, research published in 2018 found that 87% of shoppers begin product searches on digital channels — up 16% from the previous year! And it goes without saying that consumers perform millions upon millions of searches on Google and other engines each day.
Even if you operate a small business, digital marketing should be a key element in your advertising strategy. Think about it: even when a prospect is looking for a locally sourced product, won't he or she often conduct a Google search to find nearby stores that carry the product? Put simply, digital marketing is a primary advertising channel that allows you to not only reach the widest possible audience, but also those consumers that are most likely to buy from you.
Digital Marketing Strategies that Can Help You Grow Your Business
The world of digital marketing is vast; no single strategy works best for all small businesses. Nevertheless, there are certain techniques that, when properly developed and implemented, yield exceptional results most of the time. 5 such digital marketing strategies include:
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO for short) is perhaps the single most important digital marketing strategy in which you can invest. In basic terms, SEO involves a number of interrelated tactics designed to drive your company's website to the top of Google's search results for selected keywords. For example, if you run a Greek restaurant in New York City, you'll want to rank high for keyword phrases like: "Greek food in NYC."
Just how important is SEO to your overall marketing plan? Consider this: websites that rank on the first page of Google's search results capture a whopping 91.5% of all online traffic. In other words, for every 100 users that search for your product on Google, 91 end up visiting one of the sites on page #1! Obviously, you want to be one of those sites.
PPC
Pay per click (PPC) marketing is another common digital marketing strategy that operators use to grow their small business. With PPC, you bid against competitors for specific keywords or phrases on platforms like Google Ads. If you win the bid, a paid ad from your business will show up on Google's first page, above the organic (non-paid) search results.
PPC is a great way to quickly grow your online presence. Think of it as the "microwave" approach versus SEO's slower "bake in the oven" method. And with an average ROI of $2 for every $1 spent, PPC can be extremely cost effective, too!
SMM
This acronym (there are a lot of acronyms in digital marketing, huh?) stands for "social media marketing." SMM may involve organic marketing (creating content for social media platforms, uploading posts, sharing/commenting on articles from other users) or paid advertising (such as through Facebook Ads.
It comes as no surprise that SMM is a great way for small businesses to expand their reach. On the one hand, the social media giants have a global reach themselves — in fact, Facebook alone has well over 2.4 billion active monthly users. On the other hand, social media platforms also allow small businesses to target their content at local consumers, or niche demographics.
Retargeted Ads
Out of all the people who check out your website, very few are going to make a purchase on their first visit. This is where retargeting comes into the picture. Retargeted ads are basically ads that "follow consumers" around the Internet after they've visited a particular web page. The company bids for advertising space on a network of websites, and if it outbids the competition, its advertisements will show up on selected pages that the consumer visits.
Does retargeting work? Absolutely! In fact, research indicates that the click-through rate for retargeted ads is 10x greater than that of untargeted display ads.
Local SEO
For many small businesses, local SEO is a vital piece of the digital marketing puzzle. As the name suggests, the purpose of local SEO is to make your website rank high for a local audience. For example, if you run a roofing company in Denver, Colorado, you want to rank for search phrases like: "where to find roofers in Denver," or "roofing contractors near me."
Local SEO can be huge for business growth. Research indicates that 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles — usually within a day or so. And you want those consumers to visit your store!
