With all businesses expected to tighten their belts in 2023, we are sure to see small businesses focusing on tactics that will produce the most bang for their buck in the shortest amount of time.
Digital marketing for small businesses doesn’t have to be complex or expensive to be successful – all you need is thoughtful planning, targeted strategy, and consistent brand identity.
Creating a strong and consistent brand identity
A strong brand identity is essential for any marketing activity, especially a digital marketing strategy – where businesses are competing for the attention of consumers amongst a sea of other brands.
A strong brand identity should project a company’s mission and what makes it special, as well as be attractive to customers.
This starts with a well-designed logo and picking the right fonts and colours to represent the brand. These visual elements will help make your brand identifiable and project a polished and professional feel.
Remember, consistency is key when it comes to building your brand, so it’s important to stay uniform across your print and digital marketing materials and any communications that are sent to customers.
Maximise your website
Your website is the backbone of your business and your online presence – because it is your customers’ first impression of your brand. In addition to ensuring your brand is consistent across your website, there are some other things businesses can do to ensure they are maximizing their website’s potential.
The right domain name. Make sure to pick one that reflects your business name as closely as possible and is easy to remember. To help narrow down your search, ask yourself these questions: Does the name match my brand? Is it memorable? Is it easy to spell?
SEO. Search engine optimization (or SEO) should play an important role in your small business online marketing strategy. Optimizing your website using SEO tactics will improve your visibility in Google, drive more traffic to your website and can increase revenue by reaching more potential customers. Over time it can be a cost-effective marketing strategy that can help small businesses compete with larger ones.
Engaging web design. As touched on earlier, most people are visual, so try to use attractive, high-quality photos (or even a short video) and easy-to-read fonts.
Prioritise email marketing
With half of the world’s population using email, email marketing offers an incredible opportunity to connect with your customers, deliver key messaging and drive engagement, sales and revenue.
Start planning your email marketing campaigns using design templates that include your contact information, business hours and of course, your logo.
A few best practices to follow to ensure your email marketing campaign is a winning one include:
Clear out your list. Your subscriber list is the most important thing about email marketing – no matter how much time or effort you put into building your list, at some point, you’re going to have subscribers that are no longer engaged or interested in receiving your emails. Always make sure your list is up-to-date, even if it might be painful seeing your subscriber list go down – it’s better to have subscribers that are more engaged in your content, to avoid being blacklisted in the future.
Customise the ‘sender’ field. If you’re still sending your email from a ‘do not reply’ email, you need to think twice about this practice. There could be a major opportunity to create a more personalised connection with your customers, by sending from a personalised, branded address. This shows the reader that the email they’re receiving is from a trusted, valued sender, not a bot. Plus, personalisation helps to avoid your email being sent to the junk folder, never to be opened by the target.
Provide valuable content. Content is everything. It’s difficult enough to get people to sign up for emails; it’s even harder to get them to stay. Make sure when you’re sending emails that they’re personalised and the content is engaging and relevant to your readers and the company.
Personalise your subject line. Most people are bombarded with hundreds (or thousands!) of marketing emails each week. If you want your emails to get opened, you need a way to break through the clutter of an overcrowded inbox and grab your customers’ attention.
One of the best ways to do that is with a stand-out email marketing subject line. The best way to do this is to personalise it – use your subscribers’ data to grab their attention by putting their name in the subject line.
Through Vista Print’s 99 Designs, businesses can access professional, cost-effective start-to-end design solutions. Here’s the link to VistaCreate.
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