The internet has come a long way since 1983. Individuals no longer need to wait around on dial-up to surf the web or head to their local library for a school project. Instead, they have access to an abundance of information right at their fingertips. Whether you’re searching the web for a new nail salon in your area or shopping for clothes for the winter season,  everything you do nowadays starts with a simple internet search. As of July 2022, there are over 5.03 billion internet users. It may surprise you, but this number continues to increase at an impressive rate. It’s no wonder businesses have switched from traditional modes of marketing to a digital marketing business strategy. It's not just the big companies, either. Small businesses and local brick-and-mortar are finding that different digital marketing strategies can positively influence their company’s output. The opportunities to make fruitful connections with your customers are endless, no matter what digital marketing channel you choose. As long as you have a budget, a product or service and a marketing professional on your team you can utilize a suite of digital marketing for small businesses to connect with your audience in a whole new way. Here’s everything you need to know about the benefits of digital marketing for small businesses:

Why does my business need digital marketing?

It sounds cliche, but a digital marketing business strategy is the future of marketing. Think about it. When is the last time someone you know purchased a print magazine or read through a direct mail marketing campaign that wasn't thrown directly in the trash? That's not to say that these modes of marketing are completely ineffective. However, if a consumer sees your ad in a magazine, billboard or commercial and wants to learn more about your brand, they’re probably going directly to a search engine to learn more about you. If your business wants to increase sales or expand to new markets, you’ll need to strategically think about the benefits of digital marketing for small business — and how these marketing initiatives can take your brand to the next level. Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect from digital marketing:

• Improve brand loyalty;
• Enhance brand recognition;
• Increase sales and traffic back to your website;
• Build a community of loyal customers;
• Analyze data and results in real-time;
• Bolster your conversion rates;
• Expand your global reach and reach new markets.

When it comes to digital marketing for small business, it’s all about assessing your goals and understanding the types of results you're hoping to see. There are opportunities on every digital marketing channel out there, your business just needs to take advantage of the potential and develop compelling content for each channel.

How can digital marketing help my business?

Digital marketing is a tool you can use to generate leads and convert prospects into customers. Unlike traditional forms of marketing, you have an opportunity to tap into a global marketplace with limitless potential. You can see your data and analytics in real-time and make strategic changes based on your results to maximize your budget.  You can communicate with your customers at every step of the buying process and use your data findings to get to know your target audience. This allows you to make strategic changes to your digital marketing for small business and make impactful changes that benefit your budget and KPIs. Here are a few digital marketing channels your business can capitalize on today.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

As we mentioned before, business today often starts with a simple Google search. With the help of search engine optimization, a business can outrank its competitors and get its content recognized by search engines and new customers. With a buttoned-up SEO strategy, you can expand to new markets, increase web traffic and build your brand's authority. SEO initiatives are trackable and measurable, so you can assess how many leads, sales and new customers are coming from your SEO initiatives. SEO also allows you to improve the user experience. It pushes you to think strategically about the UX design, optimize your formatting, add clear headers and make your website easy to digest for the customer. By prioritizing the customer’s needs, you can make beneficial changes to your website content that positively impact your bottom line. The best part? SEO doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg. Even if you need to hire a marketing professional to spearhead SEO, the longevity of your initiatives will help you save money in the future.

PPC

With PPC advertising, companies can scale their business and capitalize on buyer behavior. PPC advertising is a targeted approach to getting your brand in front of customers on search engines. It allows you to strategically target customers who have clicked on your ads, interacted with your brand and visited your website. On Average, 65% of customers click on PPC ads. Not only that, but paid advertising in general has a 200% ROI. However, before you can see results with this digital marketing tactic, you’ll need a well-thought-out strategy and a game plan for tackling your ads. Think about the visuals, content and targeting options you have available with paid advertising. To get the most out of your PPC digital marketing business strategy, it will take some trial and error and data analysis.  

Social media marketing

Social media is one of the most popular digital marketing channels. It allows businesses to meet their customers where the consumer spends most of their time and build a community that loves and supports what they do. To get the most value out of social media marketing, you'll need a strategy. A strategy is an established content plan that allows you to assess what platforms provide the most value, so you can capitalize on the best opportunities for your business. With a social media strategy, you can enhance your online presence on each specific platform, which can help you increase brand awareness, conversion rates, web traffic and improve brand loyalty over time. Social media is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing channels and can provide some of the best results when you choose to take a creative approach that speaks to your customer's needs.

Content marketing

Content marketing touches every digital marketing channel. Whether it’s the social media posts you write, the landing pages you create, or the emails you send out, content is in everything you do! Creative content allows you to set your brand up as an industry expert and gives you the authority you need to leave a lasting impression on your prospects. If everything you do is consistent across every digital marketing channel, you can leave a long-lasting impression on your consumers. They’ll trust your brand and you’ll gain the visibility you need to have a competitive edge over your competitors. With the right content, you can easily engage with your audience, teach them something new and develop new connections with your customers. Keep in mind that it's not about creating content just to create content. You'll also want to ensure you develop high-quality content that positions your brand as an industry expert. Keep things relevant, establish authority and build trust with your website. If your content gets inbound links from external sources, it can provide you with higher domain authority. Which will help you outrank your competitors on search engines and improve your organic search results.  Content also allows you to improve your success across digital marketing channels. For example, after you write a blog, you can share it on your social media platforms. As more and more individuals click on your content, you improve your chances of getting noticed by Google’s Al. With higher visibility in search engines, you're more likely to get indexed by Google, which will help you increase your referral traffic over time.

Display ads

Paid advertisements are one of the oldest digital marketing options a company can capitalize on. These ads allow companies to use images, audio and videos to showcase their advertising and messaging across the internet. Display ads allow a business to get consumers familiar with their brand's name and products or services. They're great for driving brand awareness and recognition. This style of advertising typically costs less than PPC. This is because PPC is a pay-per-click basis on a search engine. While display ads are commonly found on different websites on the internet that have a similar audience as your target audience.

Email marketing

On average, 293.6 billion emails are sent each day to over 4 billion email users. Why? Because email marketing is a low-cost digital marketing channel with a high ROI. It’s a tool that keeps your brand connected with your current customer base through targeted messages that inform them about sales, new products and everything in between. On average, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect a return of $36. Emails are a great revenue builder that allows you to nurture your current leads and keep them coming back to your website for more. With an email marketing strategy and a consistent send cadence, you can build a stronger customer relationship with your audience and build excitement around your brand and product offering.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is an up-and-coming digital marketing channel that yields high results for brands in every industry. With the right influencer and content, your brand can expand your reach and gain authentic recognition from trusted individuals in the social media community. Working with an influencer allows you to develop authentic content that looks and feels organic on social media. In 2021, the influencer marketing industry was worth $13.8 billion. That’s a $4.1 billion increase from the previous year. With this steady year-over-year growth, we only expect businesses to continue to take advantage of this unique digital marketing business strategy in the future. To see success with influencer marketing, your company will need to think about the different markets you want to expand to and find influencers with similar audiences.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing refers to the process of rewarding third-party individuals for helping generate traffic and leads for your business. On average, this digital marketing solution generates around 15-30% of all sales for a company that utilizes this channel. It’s an easy and profitable way to increase sales, expand your audience and gain brand recognition. Affiliate marketing has low upfront costs, so you only need to pay affiliates when sales come through from their website. This digital marketing solution has low risk, high potential passive income and a high conversion rate.

Take your digital marketing efforts to the next level

Digital marketing strategies like SEO, PPC, social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing can help elevate your business’s trajectory. WorkForce Institute offers a Digital Marketing Bootcamp that teaches new and existing digital marketing professionals the skills you’ll need to thrive and grow your company’s business online. With the help of a Digital Marketing Bootcamp, you can stay in the know on the latest and greatest digital marketing trends and further elevate your company’s potential while accelerating your understanding of fundamental digital marketing processes and outcomes.