The Price is Right: Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

For large businesses, the world is their marketing oyster. But, thanks to digital marketing, the same is true for small businesses that will make the effort to spread the word.

The absolutely best thing about electronic communication and internet tools is that they are FREE!!! It costs nothing to send an email. It costs nothing to advertise on your social media sites. The costs come in creating the material to send via those electronic means.

CSD Marketing works with small businesses to ensure that they are not missing out on potential customers and business because they are ignoring all of the possibilities digital marketing presents. Rather than spray to all fields with no sense of direction, companies can discuss their marketing needs with CSD Marketing and see a plan develop that will utilize your company’s assets and promote your company’s products and services in the best possible light.

And do so in a way that EVERYONE can see!

The basics of digital marketing

There are four specifics to be discussed when establishing a digital marketing plan for a small business. They are:

Your website – When a smart consumer finds the name of a business they think they might want to work with or purchase from, the first thing they do is look for the company’s website. In fact, your business aggregator sites like Yelp offer a website connection in order to eliminate a search step for consumers. 

The design of your website does not need to be complicated; in fact, most consumers have grown weary of websites that require a treasure hunter’s mindset to get the information they need. What your website DOES need is a direct message regarding what your company offers and what makes your company unique in the marketplace. The art of messaging comes into play. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important to get clicks from internet searches, your website needs to go beyond the buzzwords of SEO to convey the reason why a consumer would want what you offer. A digital marketing business plan should start with the website and work outward.

Email marketing – A busy consumer receives hundreds of emails a day, and that’s because email marketing works. But, again, you need to find a way for your email to stand out, which calls for directed messaging in titles and headlines. And, because it is 2021, you must ensure that your email shows up properly when opened on mobile devices, because we have reached the stage where a majority of email reading occurs on a mobile device. This is a particular area in which working with a professional marketing firm such as CSD is going to come in handy. You don’t want to lose out on a prospective customer because your email does not open properly on someone’s smartphone. 

Social media – You already understand the importance of social media marketing. The question is whether you are using your social media efforts correctly. It’s not as simple as just posting an interesting photo and some pressure-packed words. Social media marketing changes all of the time, and you need to be aware of opportunities that exist on sites you may not be using presently. Is Snapchat a place for your company? How are you using Instagram? More importantly, how are your competitors using those sites? This area requires constant attention and the willingness to adjust on the fly. 

SEO – This is an acronym that causes so much consternation in marketing departments because the parameters for successful SEO usage change so frequently. What worked in 2020 might not work in 2021; the algorithms involved are flexible and reflective of the marketplace. Precisely because proper SEO is so complicated, many companies choose to ignore it, assuming their email and website text will employ the words they need to get attention. It ain’t that simple, and is another area in which CSD can help because we likely pay more attention to current SEO standards than you do (which only makes sense; it is what we do).

Don’t tackle your marketing needs alone

There are reasons why successful businesses use CSD for creating marketing plans. Digital marketing is complicated, widespread, and ever-changing. It requires initial knowledge of the field and constant attention to the details of what works today versus what worked yesterday.

There is a way to attack this monumental task without burning out your marketing staff or your marketing budget. A conversation with us at CSD Marketing (csd-marketing.com) can create the initial program that can alleviate much of the stress surrounding the question: Are we using digital marketing correctly?

So, contact us. We will let you know the answer to that question.