The importance of investing in your company’s website cannot be overstated. Having a dynamic website that is easily accessible, and contains what customers are looking for is the difference between existing and thriving. Don’t just take our word for it though. According to SEO Tribunal, 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else. Couple that with that 88% of searches for local businesses result in a phone call or visit within 24 hrs, shows you the importance of investing in your website’s presence.  To us, all of our small business marketing ideas stem from the following services and tactics.

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Google My Business

Google My Business is a great tool for local SEO and connecting with customers in your backyard. This free tool from Google provides your company with great visibility locally as long as you have optimized your business. If you are a small business owner you should make sure that you have done the following for your company.

1. Created an account and claimed your business on Google.

2. Verified your business address with Google.

3. Optimized your listing. This means including your name, location, business hours, and uploading photos.

4. Started asking past customers for Google Reviews, to continue to optimize your account. 

Once you have completed these steps it is important to maintain your account. Log in weekly to highlight the work you have done. Continue to add photos of your business, services, or products. Profiles with updated photos receive 35% more clicks to their website and 42% higher requests for driving directions. Don’t be afraid to use Google Posts either. This free blogging tool allows you to highlight events, updates, and products related to your business. If you are a small business owner looking for small business marketing ideas, Google My Business is the first place you should look. 

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Invest in SEO

It is not enough just to have a website anymore. Go to Google and search for a service you offer in a city you wish to do business. If you do not see your company listed on the 1st page, you are losing business to other companies. Why is being on the 1st page of Google so important? 47% of clicks on search engines go to the top three positions in search result pages. 90% of clicks happen on the 1st page of Google. If you are not on the 1st page, you are hurting your business. There are many guidelines to search engine optimization and a million different ways to go about it. The most important three ways though are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and local SEO.

On-Page SEO – 

On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing each page of your website in order to rank higher in search results and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. That means optimizing each service you offer so that you can rank in the top 3 search results within the 1st page of Google. It is important that you focus on selecting the right search keywords for your business. Optimize your meta tag titles and meta tag descriptions, and create an alt-text in each image for your website.

Off-Page SEO – 

Here is a question for you. When you search for your company in one location versus another is your ranking slot different? If in one location you are on the 1st page of Google, but in another, you are on page 2 or 3, that is due to your Domain Rating. Your domain rate is how strong of a website you have. Off-page SEO is a strategy used to help drive high-quality links back to your website. This helps to ensure that no matter where you are searching from geographically, your website can be found in the top 3 search results. 

Local SEO – 

Already mentioned above, local SEO helps you to target customers searching within a specific geographical location. If your website is optimized for local search results you are in effect, almost guaranteeing yourself a chance at 47% of the web searches for the services you provide.

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Launch an SEM Campaign

Search engine marketing (SEM) or Pay Per Click is an easy way to start sending qualified traffic to your website. SEM campaigns leverage the power of search engines like Google to reach potential customers at the perfect time and at the buying cycle of the path to purchase. Pay Per Click campaigns relies on keyword phrases related to your business to target people when they are searching online. 

With the right ad copy and strategies in place, business owners can start seeing sales come in within a matter of a couple of days. SEM is incredibly easy to scale, test new ideas, and keep costs low if you are working with a limited marketing budget. 

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Get Social

Considering that there are more than 3 billion users on social media across the globe, there are endless benefits to social media for your business. If you are a business owner not taking advantage of social media, you are missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach your customers. 

Social media is known to increase your brand’s awareness. 60% of social media users discover new products on their social media platforms and connect with businesses through their accounts. Social media is also a great way to humanize your brand. Outlets such as Facebook and Instagram have the ability to create real connections with your customers and introduce meaningful relationships. 

Successful social media strategies involve honoring and committing to your company’s voice, setting goals, finding & identifying with your audience, developing a successful engagement strategy, monitoring your competitor’s, and engaging with your customers. If you do all of this correctly you will be able to deepen the relationship between you and your customers and create advocates for your business on social media!

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Email Marketing

Email marketing is a vibrant and powerful way to connect with past, current, and future customers. Email marketing is at its best when the message is personalized and tailored to your audience. That way your communication is relevant to their interest and creates a connection between you and your customer. 

Working on platforms such as Constant Contact or MailChimp gives small business owners the opportunity to have a cost-effective way of staying engaged with your customers. Even with all sorts of new technology and social media networks, email is still one of the most effective ways to stay engaged with customers. Not to mention it is 100% trackable. Your business has the capability to track who has opened your emails, which links were clicked, and how many people have unsubscribed from your list. There are countless opportunities through email marketing, you just have to be open to them. 

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Video 

The idea of video marketing is not new, but what has changed is how important video has become on every platform and channel od digital marketing. Video is central to your outreach and engagement with your customers. Video done right is conversational, actionable, and measurable in every way. More than 50% of customers want to see videos fro brands, even more so than traditional methods such as email, social media, or blog posts. Need some quick ideas for video marketing, here are 12 to consider!

1. Demo Videos

2. Brand Videos

3. Event Videos

4. Expert Videos

5. Educational or How-To Videos

6. Explainer Videos

7. Animated Videos

8. Case Study or Testimonial Videos

9. Live Videos

10. Virtual Reality Videos

11. AR Videos

12. Personalized Messages

With each video, you create you should focus on 6 items. Generating a hook for your audience. Telling stories your audience will identify with. Evoking positive emotions that will create engagement. Producing videos that will stick with your customers. Rely on visuals so that we process the information quicker, and it stays with us longer. And adding music to your videos when appropriate, creating a more captivating, impactful, and convincing video.

Small Business Marketing Ideas: Optimize Through Analytics 

If you are invested in the growth of your company, you need to pay close attention to your Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a great way to get to know your visitors and enhance their user experience. For example, you can learn what type of device they use to visit your website. You can see where a majority of your users are based out of using location reports. You can also see what age group is most likely to visit your website. All of this is helpful information not only in your digital marketing efforts but your traditional advertising as well. Google Analytics can also tell you what your best content is allowing you to optimize for more engagement. If you are serious about growing your business, get serious about Google Analytics.