Four things to know about online marketing

Internet, digital, or online marketing is highly beneficial to any small business for getting acquainted with its potential customer base. It helps a business communicate with its customers and align their marketing strategy according to the way their customers make their buying decisions. In the present era of social media, new and small businesses across the globe have the opportunity to make their approach in the market as lucrative as possible. Today, more than 3 billion people use the Internet extensively. For small businesses, this is a great opportunity to reach and connect with as many people as they wish through the Internet. Though the Internet is available to everyone, using it to market and advertise a business can get tricky. Big companies have separate departments that are devoted to marketing and advertising the company in every way possible. Small businesses do not have that luxury and often have to rely on alternative ways of online marketing.

How can a small business set up its online presence?

• The first thing any business can do to establish its online presence is to have a social media page or account on multiple platforms that include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Most people and companies use these sites.
• What people or the customers think about the business is important. Customer review and feedback add to the growth of a company, and therefore, it is important that a business gathers customer reviews from various social media platforms.
• A small business should try and set up a website as soon as possible and add links to it on all their social media pages as that can lead many people from their social media page to their website. The construction of the website plays a vital role, and hence, it is important that the website offers relevant information to the customers. The website should also be easy for the customers to navigate through.

What are the essential marketing tools for small businesses?

There are many types of online marketing activities that can be used by small businesses. Different tools can be used to to make some of these activities more efficient.

• Due – Due is an essential tool that can be used by companies to track the time being spent on marketing activities. Small businesses can budget time the right way to increase their productivity.
• Buffer – Buffer is one of the top online marketing tools small businesses can use to manage their social media. Buffer helps in streamlining the effort put into social media posting.
• Spaces’ – Spaces’ is an excellent platform for small businesses to design their unique logo without having to hire a designer.
• Canva – Small business can use Canva for visual content designing. Illustrations, infographics, sales proposals, etc. can be designed or created using Canva.
• Evernote – This is a popular application/software that can be used for organizing daily tasks.
• SurveyMonkey – This is an effective online marketing tool for small businesses to secure feedback from their customers. The feedback can be used to increase productivity, creativity, and innovation.
• Mailchimp – Mass mailing is an important activity for every business to reach the masses. Most businesses rely extensively on email marketing and Mailchimp is one of the best ways to do the same.

How can digital marketing help a small business grow?

• Digital marketing helps a business expand its approach. Existing and potential customers can be approached more efficiently through digital marketing.
• Companies can extract accurate numbers with the help of digital marketing tools. These numbers help a company learn about its position in the market, how efficient their sales are, and the areas in which the company needs to work in order to increase their reach.
• Customer retention is an important goal of marketing. While advertising is all about getting new customers, marketing focuses on retaining them. Digital marketing can increase the customer retention percentage.

Is it important to outsource online marketing activities to other companies?

Small businesses can always manage their own online marketing activities without outsourcing it. Managing your own marketing activities can help you cut costs. However, it is important to know when to outsource marketing activities to the professionals. Here are some instances where the online marketing activities should be outsourced:

• When the current marketing activities are not reaping desired results.
• When the current team is not efficient at running the marketing activities in-house.
• If a small business can afford outsourcing the online marketing with a greater return on investment, it is wise to hire a digital marketing agency.
• When a business is too occupied with other activities and unable to allot time to the marketing activities, hiring an external agency can be a good decision.