Recently we’ve published a blog about the booming businesses here in the Philippines (and elsewhere in the world) and you might have been influenced to finally open a small business this year and now wondering about the first steps to undertake. After the usual business requirements, one of the most imperative steps you need to take on is digital marketing for your small business. For a small one, you will need the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media, and other digital marketing means for your business to be established and reach far more people.

 

This post exists to provide you with the digital marketing insights for a small business this year, right from the marketing tips you need to consider, to what digital marketing for local business is and to the trends that you have to watch out for.

 

Digital marketing for small businesses: Strategies

First off, you’ll have to be clear of the digital marketing strategies that you will utilize to better formulate your entire digital marketing plan. Usually, there are fundamental digital marketing that many businesses, whether big or small, employs. They are the following:

  • Search Engine Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Email Marketing

 

For Search Engine Marketing, there is a need for you to be active in making sure you’re roping in visitors in your site through the use of keywords, meta tags, and other forms of website optimization. If you desire to be seen by people around your locale, you also have to maximize on the Local Search Marketing, this means adding geographical elements to your marketing plan and catering to people that have more chances of going face-to-face with you.

 

It’s also important to learn about your competitors so you can adjust depending on their strengths and weaknesses and with Search Engine Marketing, you could do just that. With SEO tools, you’ll be able to evaluate your competitor’s metrics and use the data to help upsurge your visibility on search results.

 

Social Media Marketing might be the most accessible form of digital marketing, both for digital marketers and consumers. This is of course due to social media being an everyday consumption for almost everyone. Marketing here ranges from being easy and complicated. Just a simple post on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter with engaging content will do increase your standing.

1 - Man with laptop - Redkite

Having said that, creating quality content is also something you need to focus on when working on digital marketing for small businesses. It’s one of your major marketing drivers as executing is mostly free albeit it will require your time and abilities to research and put down to words your own expertise. A primary output for content marketing are blogs and they continue to be as relevant as ever.

 

Last and never least is Email Marketing. Just like what’s listed above, Email Marketing is free and can be used to your heart’s content. These have methods such as sending advertising messages to different email addresses or just providing a remarkable email that will subconsciously show your business’ potentials.

 

Remember that all of these types of digital marketing for small businesses can only work effectively independently if they are interconnected with each other. For example, the content that you release should be filled with Search Engine Marketing tactics such as keywords. When they are beneficial to each other, your digital marketing plan should drive you to coveted results.

 

Basic Digital Marketing Guidelines

Gaining prominence is slow and hard-fought but all so worth in the end and you can do this by starting with what looks like miniscule actions which actually will greatly impact your digital marketing campaigns in the long run.

 

The first thing you should have is a working website, it does not need to be the fastest one as (we understand that some small businesses can’t afford to have a fast website) but it does not need to be slow either. With basic website analysis tools, you can learn how to make your website even more dynamic and even speedier for your customers. The assistance of a digital marketing company in the Philippines should help you with this matter.

2 - Open Signage - Redkite

The next thing you need to fulfill is your digital marketing for local business through the business listing and customer reviews. Google provides a channel for businesses to secure these rudiments through Google My Business where you can provide proper information of your business such as the address or contact numbers and where you can encourage your customers to put their reviews in.

 

Another guideline you can follow is having ads. Opposite to SEO, this is an inorganic way to have customers interested at your business. Still, it’s a very effective form to market and used by millions of businesses around the world. Again, Google has a channel called Google Ads designed for this industry.

 

With these pillars established, you can proceed with long-term digital marketing strategies such as social media and blog content, and SEO works.

 

Digital marketing trends to know about

The digital world is fast-evolving and for small businesses, it can be difficult for those utilizing digital marketing for small businesses to keep up. Still, it’s not impossible! And there are some latest digital marketing trends this year that are rooted with traditional digital marketing mediums that you could try for yourself!

 

Video

Because of social media’s continuous increasing presence, videos have become a key factor to market your products and services. According to a data from Renderforest, 4.6 billion videos are watched on the Internet, particularly in social networking sites, every year and 40 percent of these viewers take some action right after viewing the video such as contacting the business or downright buying from a physical store.

 

This is because videos target the emotions of people which is something you should learn to harness if you want successful digital marketing for small businesses. Of course, your videos should stay true to the nature of your business. If you are a starting boutique, having clips featuring stories of people wearing your brand is one way to do it.

 

Voice Search

These days, smart assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Home have voice search mechanisms where an individual will say what they wanted to search for instead of typing them down. This is under Search Engine Marketing and to make sure you will be one of the top choices in the search results, you’ll have to use long-tail keywords and pepper your SEO and content with local elements as most users who engage on voice search are specific.

 

Omni-channel Marketing

Omni-channel Marketing is a strategy of digital marketing for small businesses where you market using all possible areas of your business. Right from the initial query of the customer to when they arrive home with your product and even to the moment they return for your services. For example, a customer goes into a website and finds a well-mobile optimized site. With this, they called your hotline and there is a customer service associate that provided an incredible experience. Satisfied, the customer goes to your store and he or she is already welcomed by the products ready for inspection.

3 - Small Business - Redkite

Because all of the customer’s demands are fulfilled, they bought the product. Simply put, Omni-channel Marketing is being there for your customer at every step they need or wanted to take. We understand this trend is not feasible for digital marketing for small businesses but you could always start with something simple and grow from there. There are brands that use this marketing that you could model form.

 

Other hot digital marketing trends of today are the use of artificial intelligence and even augmented and virtual reality. However, these are all too advanced and are not ultimately practical and reasonable for your business.

 

When marketing a small business, a marketer must be willing to ride the ever-changing waves of the marketing industry and running a small business is not an excuse, it actually is your advantage as you will have plenty of time for experiment until you find your voice for your small business this 2019. For more tips on digital marketing for small business, connect with digital marketing companies here in the Philippines.