Today, small and medium businesses (SMBs) hold a powerful position in the market. They use the same powerful online marketing tools as multinational corporations without breaking the bank. Meanwhile many of the primary elements in any marketing strategy – such as a website, mailing list, or social media account – can be set up in a matter of minutes and can be scaled up gradually over time.

In order to get the most value out of digital marketing, a business needs to understand how its target audience is influenced online, and develop a strategy based on that insight. There are plenty of reasons to implement digital marketing strategies in your business. First a business needs to ask:

Are you moving into the space simply because your competitors are doing the same? Perhaps it’s right to set yourself apart from the competition by providing a creative twist on your digital marketing strategy. For example, if a local competitor focuses on interacting with customers over Twitter, you may find it advantageous to use a visual strategy to encourage customers to share images with one another.

Have you decided to move to digital marketing in order save money, or to get best bang for your buck? Digital marketing is certainly a cost-efficient method, but it does take up time and resources that you can deploy elsewhere in your business.

Are you aiming to raise awareness about your brand? If so, your SMB needs to have a strong online presence to ensure that others can find you with a simple search online. You will want to improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) using social media, by optimising your website to encourage web traffic, or by using Google AdWords, or your might simply want to focus on spreading the brand awareness via social network.

Using social media – which platform should I choose?

For most people, their digital marketing strategy will begin and end with social media, and it’s one of the easiest mediums with which to start building your brand. When selecting the best social network for your business, it is essential to consider the audience you’re hoping to attract. Each network has its own demographic and target audience, and each has its own brand and position that is different from the others.

"Imagine your social networks like the branches of a tree; the trunk binds them together with the core ideas"

Make sure that your content is suitable for the social network you want to target – your content needs to be engaging for your audience to enjoy and share. A few recent studies have found some fascinating statistics about the demographics of social media:

Facebook continues to be one of the leading social networks with over 30 million users in the UK – however, it’s not just for connecting with friends, as over 40% of users have mentioned a brand name in their Facebook status.

With trending topics and almost real-time discussion, Twitter has become a vital tool in tracking all sorts of events – for example, following the UK General Election, users tweeted the hashtag #GE2015 over 35 million times, making it easier for commentators to track public opinion. As this demonstrates, Twitter is a great tool for keeping your customers up to date with live information from an event or gathering.

LinkedIn is a great tool for networking and research shows that CEOs who regularly use the website have an average of 930 connections, opening up unlimited business opportunities.

Pinterest has become a social network haven for women online; 80% of its users are female with a median age of 40.

There is a lot of social media out there, so choose your weapons carefully

Focus on Lead Conversion

Look, gathering leads is all well and good, and this is an important step in the process. But, you need to make sure you focus on converting these leads into actual paying customers as much as possible. There are a lot of things that you need to consider when it comes to improving and enhancing your marketing process, and looking at the most effective ways to convert leads is really important.

One of the best ways of being able to achieve this would be to look at making use of search engine optimisation. It’s clear that SEO plays a massively important role in helping your company grow, and you need to make sure you think about the best ways of being able to accomplish this.

SEO is one of the strongest marketing methods you can use to help your business grow, as well as allowing you to attract more people to the company. So, you need to make sure you make the most of this as much as you can.

Hiring an SEO expert might be the best technique to use that can help with this, and it is clear that you can do a lot to help you in this regard moving forward. SEO is integral to any good digital marketing plan, and it’s something you need to make the most of right now.  

How do I maintain my online presence?

Although digital marketing offers a fantastic opportunity to be creative, do remember to keep within your own brand guidelines and remain consistent. Imagine your social networks like the branches of a tree; the trunk binds them together with the core ideas and values that are at the heart of your company.

If you’re keen for your customers to be interconnected between a blog, a Facebook profile and a Twitter account, make sure that all three are based on the same core identity, and that moving between the social platforms is a seamless experience.

For example, if your main audience engages with you through email campaigns, sending a hyperlink to a Facebook giveaway creates a gateway for people to discover your brand on another popular medium.

A digital marketing campaign should remain consistent; content needs to appear on a regular basis in order to maintain momentum and hold the attention of an audience. Many of the most successful influencers across social media have themed days throughout the week to provide regular and diverse content.

On a cookery blog, for example, the owner might post a different recipe each Monday, or set themselves a cooking challenge on Thursdays using only £5 worth of ingredients. By separating topics and linking them with specific days, your audience will settle into a routine.

If it’s engaging enough, they will log on regularly to see that content appear, and thus you create a structured approach to your marketing campaign.

How can I make my digital marketing campaign stand out?

The best digital marketing campaigns provide a human element, and SMBs can offer this to customers by putting a name and a face to their mailouts and interactions. When going through their inbox, many users will simply delete an email from ‘info@mySMB.com’ – however, if your team member Chris sends the same content from his own email address, customers are far more likely to engage with the content.

This is an advantage for SMBs, as employees can foster close relationships with clients and customers by interacting with them on a daily business. Because your customers know the person they’re working with, they feel that you’re creating a marketing campaign that’s designed specifically for them.

It also allows your team to develop key skills that can benefit the business as a whole – by placing them at the forefront of customer relations, they gain a deep understanding of the market and the customer.

The same goes for social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn; encouraging your staff to sign off tweets or posts with their own name for example will make your account appear less corporate and stilted, and making your audience more likely to interact.

Immersing your team within your industry, sharing key insights and connecting with others will improve employee engagement and knowledge. Your business can then continue to grow alongside your team, creating a strong and confident brand moving forward.

Henry Brake is the UK MD of AxiCom