The Four Online Marketing Channels Every Small Business Should Use
Facebook, Google AdWords, Email Marketing, and Remarketing should form part of the marketing strategy for small businesses in 2018. And here’s why.
Digital Marketing (online marketing) is critical for any business to grow. Among the many marketing avenues there are to explore, digital marketing is a goldmine for small businesses. It has become more accessible than ever thanks to the availability of various technological platforms.
While there are many digital channels small businesses should consider, we will focus on the most common.
Facebook offers a variety of advertising channels to help you understand your audience.
It has a robust data pool which enables you to group your target audience with different lifestyles and demographics to streamline your search.
However, the success of your campaign will depend on how you balance between how wide you cast your net and choice of your target audience.
To begin with, you need to start with the knowledge you already have about your customers. What is their location? Are they female or male? What is their hobby in relation to your services? Once you establish this, you then create a campaign:
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Choose your image
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Accompany your images with an eye-catching content
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Opt for a video where possible
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Install Facebook pixel which enables you to tack you campaign success
It is important to note that Facebook may not be ideal for your target audience. Therefore you will need to explore other social media platforms (ie Twitter or Instagram) available and choose one suitable for your audience, meaning simply, where are your buyers buying?
Google Adwords/Bing
This kind of advertising enables you to buy or bid on specific search terms relevant to your business and location.
It is called Pay per Click (PPC) advertising and allows the business to target keywords and pay for clicks, conversions or impressions from those searching.
If you have a tight budget or trying to target more specific demographics, Bing may be a suitable option for you. Bing can offer more bang for your PPC Campaign bucks.
PPC Advertising is useful when you have a local business and make use of your location to optimize your keywords.
It usually works well on a bidding basis and makes use of a complicated yet fair method to assess which ads deliver the most relevant search results.
To see an increase in your website traffic using paid search strategies, you need a specialist digital agency to manage the campaign. Otherwise, it is difficult to maximize your budget in a competitive digital space.
Email marketing
Email marketing is simple. All you need to do is have a campaign objective, choose your message, decide on your tone and deliver to your audience.
However, for an email campaign to succeed regarding click-throughs and high open rates, you need to consider these critical components.
- Accurate data
- Responsive template
- A Unique Selling point which addresses your reader’s needs
Many email platforms have a highly transparent and detailed reporting. The metrics will give you critical insights into actions your recipient takes in response to your email.
Such reports allow you to track and re-focus those who have expressed their interest in your business.
Remarketing
Do you ever notice when results of your previous search query, reappear either in the results page, Facebook feed or any other site?
Well, remarketing is a smart strategy marketers use to generate warm leads to convert into buying customers.
The primary objective of remarketing is to have a target audience who have interacted with you, either on emails, social media, search advertising or website.
You can potentially have a higher conversion rate with these audiences because you have engaged them before.
A well planned remarketing strategy will deliver impressive results with strong knowledge of analytics.
Understand your online marketplace
Trying to understand everything about internet marketing channels can be overwhelming. It pays to identify one which is most relevant to your business and audience.
Maximizing your budget can be difficult without an in-house marketing team or a marketing professional.
You can lose so much in trial and error so consider outsourcing your social media management to agencies. Return on investment is significant and marketing agencies can manage campaigns to optimize conversions and maximize sales.
