Simple Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses During COVID
The digital marketplace has become a way for small businesses to survive and thrive during COVID. The pandemic has altered how we do things. Firstly, if you’re a small business owner, you are not alone. There are ways to keep and even grow your business during these uncertain times. Most importantly, the best way for small businesses to compete in the digital space is to develop a marketing strategy that showcases their company’s quality, uniqueness, and value. A small business marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. View our digital marketing tips below to help you during these unprecedented times.
7 Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses During Covid
Whether your company is a favorite falafel joint downtown or a local flower shop that’s been a part of your community’s celebrations for generations, your business can benefit from optimizing your online presence. Check out these digital marketing tips that can help any company through Covid.
1. Establish or Increase Your Social Media Presence
Does your company have a Facebook page where your customers can make suggestions, ask questions, and get current offers? If your answer is no, there is no time like the present to implement this key marketing strategy for your business. Studies suggest 71% of customers use social media to review and share their experiences with brands online. In short, thanks to social media, remaining socially distant while staying connected with your customers has never been easier.
2. Get in Touch with Data
Data can tell you a lot about what is and isn’t working for your industry, customer base, and marketing strategies. Furthermore, using data as a touchpoint for your marketing efforts allows you to expand your reach and revenue as a small business owner.
3. Update (or Create) Your Website
Small businesses can benefit from having a web presence online. Only 50% of small businesses have a website. However, 91% of customers visit stores they find from company websites. Translation: having a website will give you an edge over others in your industry and increase your brand exposure. Moreover, a company website is an excellent opportunity for business owners to offer features like online ordering.
4. Be flexible
Evaluate the products and services you offer your customers, and above all, think about ways to expand online. For example: if your restaurant is a local favorite but revenue is down because of occupancy capacity, consider offering contactless delivery.
5. Update Your Google My Business Listing
Firstly, is your contact information up-to-date? Secondly, how about your hours of operation and services provided? In addition, are you posting regularly? Moreover, is your ‘from the business description’ filled out? There are countless ways to optimize your Google My Business listing to help you get in front of more potential customers eager to spend money with companies like yours.
5. Start an email newsletter
A newsletter is another fantastic way to stay connected with your customers while growing your audience through exciting updates, offers, or promotions. For instance, studies show that 70% of customers have used an email discount in the past week.
6. Offer discounts or promotions
Everyone loves a deal! So, reward your customers for following your social media or visiting your website by offering exclusive offers for your products and services through these platforms.
7. Keep an eye on the competition
What are your competitors offering that your business is not? See what works for your competition and test it out for yourself.
In short, entering into the digital marketplace can be an exciting step. Critical components of any small business marketing strategy include staying connected to your existing customers and expanding how you offer your products and services.
How to Start Your Small Business Marketing Plan
If you’re new to small business marketing strategies, the best place to start is the beginning. Creating a small business marketing plan can save you time and headaches down the road. Let’s get started.
1. Identify the key products and services you’d like to offer.
Bonus points if you can think of creative ways to expand those (Hello, free shipping! Contactless delivery? Yes, please!).
2. Pinpoint your target audience.
This step will help you stay grounded in who you’re marketing your efforts toward.
3. Establish your digital marketing budget.
If it’s not much, that’s ok. Social media is a great way to start building connections cost-effectively.
4. Discover what channels are best to reach your audience.
Social media, email marketing, and content creation can go a long way in legitimizing your business. Furthermore, these channels can establish your company as an industry authority.
5. Go forth and connect!
Building your audience will give you more ideas on how to expand. Additionally, it will provide you with data on what’s working best for your small business.
Maybe coming up with a small business marketing plan is overwhelming to you. Suppose you’d like to hire an agency that specializes in small businesses. Your next step would be to search for small business marketing companies. Then you can talk with a representative about your short and long-term goals. At Lights On Creative, we help small businesses leverage their products and services to expand into the digital space. Whatever your path into the digital space, know that we’re all in this together. Corona Virus has upended the way we work, spend, play, and live. Our mission at Lights On Creative in Chicago is to empower small businesses and help them through these challenging times. It’s time to create a marketing strategy that will keep your business afloat and help it grow during and after COVID.
FAQ’s
Why hire a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency makes your life easier by handling every detail of your online marketing strategy. At Lights on Creative, our departments work as a team to understand your business and customize a marketing strategy that improves your brand’s visibility and increases your customer conversions. A digital marketing agency can significantly impact your business’s success by tapping into the buying power of the digital world for your company.
What does a digital marketing agency do?
A digital marketing agency builds an online marketing strategy for clients utilizing search engine optimization, graphic design, social media, content creation, paid advertising, and brand reputation management. The extent to which each of these services is involved is based on each client’s needs and what is required to increase brand awareness and customer acquisition.
Why digital marketing matters?
Digital marketing is a fantastic opportunity for you to expand your brand’s reach to your target audience in an impactful, budget-friendly, and measurable way. If you are looking to grow your business and brand in any way, you should be taking advantage of all that digital marketing offers.