Digital Marketing for SMEs – 6 Key things to remember
Promoting your small business or start up can often be daunting if you not sure where to start. More often than not, small businesses will take to the search engines and try every tip and trick and platform with sub standard results. Here are 6 key things to remember when it comes to digital marketing for SMEs
You’ve taken the first step to starting your own business! You have a few clients from word of mouth and you have a simple website but no new clients are coming through. So you decided to turn to the world wide web.
SMEs often, when starting out, rush into digital marketing blind as they believe that digital marketing answers all their needs, until they don’t get the desired results.
Digital Marketing takes a considerable amount of planning and effort into creating a successful and viable strategy that works.
Here we outline 6 things that SMEs need to keep in mind when entering the vast world of digital.
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Presence and Outreach.
You’re probably thinking that having a website and a social media profile is all you need to get noticed. Yes, it is an element but there is more to it.
You need to consider your Presence online – this is where your brand is in the digital sphere – it is a mix of where it is but also what your say. Effective and engaging content can improve and bolster your presence.
Your presence will go hand in hand with outreach. This is the Proactive route taken by businesses to reach its customers, using both paid and unpaid activities.
Thinking about where your are and where you want to be will help your brand improve its online presence.
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Social Media Marketing is more than just a post
Many think that social media is free and easy to use and just requires a post here and there and then when the results are less than desirable, they are confused.
Social media requires expertise to create and nurture a high quality brand presence on social media and to develop content that is impactful and able to reach potential clients and customers.
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The opportunities are endless
For an SME, digital marketing can be used even before a strategy is created and implemented. Digital can serve as a means of getting valuable insights into what customers want, how they feel about competition and how they respond to advertising.
It can also play a role in trend spotting and uncovering new business opportunities before they become mainstream.
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B2B driver – not just for reaching customers
Those starting out often think that online marketing is for targeting customer directly and not about building relationships with businesses.
On the contrary, digital can be used for trade and dealer relationships and engagement as well as creating a whole new B2B layer for a new business
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Planning for digital success.
Businesses starting out often make the mistake of spreading themselves thin across multiple platforms and a range of activities.
This results in poor results with an even poorer return on your investment.
SMEs starting out in the world of digital can start off with fewer platforms to see what works for them rather than trying everything and losing money.
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Get help from external experts
There is no point struggling in trying to use digital tools if you have never used them before. Why waste valuable time and money when you can invest in an expert who can show you the ropes and advise on what will work for your business.