With the evolution of online marketing, small businesses don’t need to have a big budget to invest in snail-mail flyers, billboards, TV commercials, and radio ads anymore. Apart from being more affordable, digital marketing is highly targeted and customer-centric. It helps you attract the right customers, nurture deeper relationships with them, and inspire their loyalty.
Here are a few simple SMB digital marketing tips to apply right now.
Leverage User-Generated Content
Sometimes, satisfied shoppers are your best brand advocates.
Use social media monitoring tools to track your hashtag and brand mentions. If your customers are publishing photos of themselves wearing the jewelry you designed or eating dishes your restaurant prepared, ask for their permission to share their content on your social media channels or website.
To get the most out of UGC, you could create photo contests. A customer that takes the most original photo of your product gets a valuable reward. When launching such campaigns, it is important to create dedicated brand hashtags and encourage customers to use them to boost brand visibility.
Encourage Customer Reviews
Afraid of the negative word of mouth, many small businesses don’t allow reviews on their website or social channels. That is a big mistake. Always let customers share experiences with your brand. Your hard-earned five stars and positive customer experiences will build trust with your prospective customers. Stats say that most customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Negative reviews can also benefit your business in multiple ways. First, they tell you why customers abandon their shopping carts and help you improve your products and services. Second, this may be a great marketing opportunity. Instead of ignoring negative feedback, respond to it, help dissatisfied customers solve problems, and turn them into brand advocates.
Tell your Story
Before buying from you, customers want to know who you are. You should illustrate the story behind your company and its people and emphasize the missions and values that drive it. For starters, you could write a detailed “About” page on your website and update your social media profiles.
For example, if you have sponsored a local event or team, write a PR article and start talking about your initiatives on social networks. Emphasize that you are donating a percentage of your income to people in need. If you are planning to launch a charity project, talk about it on your website and social to get customers involved. If you are designing sustainable products, emphasize them as your major competitive advantage.
Furrion, a global technology company, is an excellent example of how storytelling should be used for brand building. In the hypercompetitive market, their goal is to emphasize their competitive advantage – innovation and sustainability. They use storytelling and high-quality visuals to emphasize their values, evoke emotions in users, and build stronger relationships with them. Logically, customers that are passionate about innovative technologies, clean energy, and sustainability will be more likely to choose Furrion over its competitors because it shares their values.
Create a Customer Referral Program
Use your current customers’ enthusiasm to grow brand awareness and maximize conversions. Referral programs work for a simple reason – customers trust their friends and families’ opinions. By investing in a referral program, you are basically creating a cycle, where your existing customers get rewards for spreading the word about your business to their connections. This way, they will help you maximize brand reach, gain people’s trust, and attract new customers faster.
It is important to plan your customer referral program strategically. Make it relevant to your current customers. Choose rewards that will encourage them to spread the word about you and keep coming back. Dropbox, for example, gives extra storage space to all customers that invite new users to register.
Retarget your Audience
Sometimes, all your leads need to become profitable customers is a reminder. This is where remarketing steps in. It helps you put yourself in front of the online users that have already interacted with your brand.
The way remarketing works is simple. A user visits your website and then leaves it without making a purchase. Then, they open their Facebook account and they see your ad there. Your goal is to address them while the information about your brand is still fresh in their minds. This way, you will remind a visitor that you are still there and inspire them to continue with the purchase.
Keep your ads on-brand. All branding elements, from logo design and colors to your CTAs and messaging need to be consistent. A customer should recognize your ad and remember your brand at a glance before clicking.
Over to You
To stand out and gain a competitive advantage, small businesses need to invest in digital marketing strategically and creatively. While the tactics provided above may be your effective starting point, remember that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to apply. When promoting your SMB online, you should first define your goals, analyze target audiences, test the performance of your marketing strategy, and adapt it regularly to the needs of the market.
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