Digital Marketing Tips for  SME’s Post-COVID- 19

Every business needs a digital marketing strategy especially SMEs due to its cost-effectiveness.  However, it is more than just being online and generating traffic or followers, it is about being able to convert traffic into loyal customers and achieving business goals. If well utilized, it can be a turning point for a business.

The first thing to do is to identify and understand your target audience. Before delving into digital marketing, you need to first understand who your customers are, what they want, and locate where they are on the internet so as not to make the mistake of just marketing to ‘everybody’. Then go on to drafting digital marketing goals and strategies which are aligned to the business goals that will give you a direction on what you want to achieve online. Every of your digital marketing strategy should be influenced by your target audience.

• Social Media Marketing

For a business looking to broaden its horizon, a social media account/ page is important. This is where you will be able to interact and communicate with your customers often and monitor their consumer behavior.

It is a key strategy that keeps you engaged with your target audience by you creating content for your social media pages that keeps them glued. Your social media pages are just an introductory part of you. They should be linked to your website, your website has a broader and clearer picture of who you are.

For social media marketing, consumer engagement is essential to achieving business goals. Always talk with your target audience, not at them, and keep in touch with useful content.

• An Effective Website

Having a website is also important as a digital marketing strategy. A website is like the online home of your business which gives details about your brand.

A website helps people find you and understand what you do. An effective website means one that is designed to the taste and needs of your target audience and can help generate consumer interest and patronage. It is not just about building a website for the sake of it.

Search engine optimization is key to making your website visible on the World Wide Web and encouraging visitors. It is all about using keywords that are related to your business and rank higher in searches to create content (majorly texts) for your website. It is also important to optimize a website during its design stage.

• Content Marketing

Content marketing is the art of providing content that brings value to people online and also in the same vein selling who you are to them. In order for people to know you online, you have to provide value to them.

Content marketing can be in the form of useful blog posts, videos, social media posts, infographics, DIY’s, and the like. You have to be creative in churning out digital content for your audience’s satisfaction. You should not be all about trying to sell at all costs to your audience but also be about providing value to them online.

• Google My Business

Creating a Google My Business account allows you to be able to have a detailed business profile on Google and shows the world your business profile when businesses in your category is searched for on Google.

It lets you include business details like location, contact information, business hours, updates about your services, photos; get and reply reviews, and the like. It also helps you appear on the map for people to locate you.

According to Hubspot.com, one in two people who do a local search end up calling or visiting a store within a day. It is a free service that every business should have in order to maintain and grow the customer base.

• Email Marketing

Email marketing is also quite useful. Sending emails to your customers notifying them of updates about your business can place you in their minds. You can also use emails to keep in touch and engage your customers. However, you will need to get the consent of your customers before sending out emails to them. Customers can subscribe to receiving emails from you on your website.

Your emails should not be out rightly promotions which is likely to be ignored in the long run, it should be more of a personalized message plus a sales pitch when necessary.

With these tools listed above, you’re set to your small business to the next level. Your customers would stick with you and become loyal to your brand if used the right way.