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Opening a business isn’t an easy task. You have to source your product with a good supply chain, get a trade license, ready other necessary papers, and then jump right into your business.
But this is not the end at all!
Instead, it’s just the beginning of your endless journey with so many obstacles! Because, you just have prepared your product line, but not the consumer base.
And without a consumer base, you have zero business!
We know what you are thinking now! You plan to grab your potential customers from the social media channels by running ads over there and converting them into leads. Right? Hold on! This game is not that easy!
For winning a soccer match, one Messy is not enough! There needs a proper strategic game plan and the contribution from others. The same rule of thumb is fully applicable if you want your business to thrive.
Do I need professional help with digital marketing?
To shape your business, digital marketing is an unavoidable thing today. The fact is - it allows you to reach mass people more conveniently and efficiently than traditional marketing approaches. But in that regard, gaining decent knowledge regarding all the popular platforms such as - Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc., is a mandatory thing.
If you can do it on your own, then it’s okay. But If you don’t want to fall into the rabbit hole, it’s a worthy decision to consult with genuine professionals who have substantial expertise in providing digital marketing services!
Trust me! It will cost a little but will save way more than that.
What factors should you consider when developing a digital marketing strategy?
Digital marketing is not only limited to boosting ads on Facebook or Instagram to promote your products or services among customers. There are so many branches where you will need substantial expertise to brand your business wisely and efficiently.
Picking up the right strategy depends on the following things of your business -
● Your product/service
● Potential consumer/customer base
● Customer type
● Region
What are the popular digital marketing branches?
In short - there are three mother branches. And these are -
● Social media marketing
● Marketing with search engines
● Email marketing
Each of these branches contains many sub-branches. And you have obviously heard some of the popular strategies. Below, you will learn about some extremely popular marketing channels.
1. Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing or SEM refers to one of the extremely popular strategies to gain enormous traffic on your webpage or website by using search engines.
For example, Google, Bing, etc are the world’s most popular search engines that are used by billions of users. If you are the owner of an e-commerce business, by using search engine marketing techniques you can engage your potential customers with your webpage that eventually will help you to generate leads.
2. Local search marketing
Local search marketing is almost similar to the search engine marketing technique. But the core difference between these two is - Local search marketing techniques are mainly used when you need to engage your customers from a particular area as per your choice. On the other hand, the SEM strategy is used for engaging global audiences.
3. Content marketing
As per the bookish definition - Content marketing is the strategic process of producing and distributing content to attract customers and retain them as well.
If you write blog posts, make videos, record podcasts, you have to engage your audiences by doing proper deep research to determine which particular content can attract your audience base. You have to promote your content as well.
4. Social media marketing
Social media marketing or SMM is the process of running marketing campaigns on popular social media platforms to attain a particular goal, such as customer acquisition.
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms to reach your customers. Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc., are also very popular among digital marketing enthusiasts.
5. Email marketing
In your business journey, your database system will constantly track your customers’ emails while purchasing. Email marketing is one of the most efficient ways to get this task done if you want to make them your returning customers.
But the challenge is - it’s not an easy job to email thousands of your customers manually. And here comes the essentiality of email marketing. You will find many free and premium tools on the internet that will allow you to send thousands of emails simultaneously.
Through the email marketing technique, you can also schedule your emails.
6. Pay-per-click marketing
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the form of advertising where an advertiser pays for each click to their app or website. Popular search engines like Google, Bing allow marketers to perform PPC marketing with a set of codes of conduct.
Google Ads is the most popular example of a PPC advertising network, where advertisers can buy clicks by spending a certain amount of money based on the bidding rate of a particular keyword.
What digital marketing strategy is best for your small business?
I hope you have got a decent understanding of digital marketing and its popular branches. However, not all marketing strategies are the right fit for your business. Depending on your business type, you have to brainstorm on your own and figure out which particular branch suits your business. But for your convenience, I want to provide some general recommendations regarding which particular branch is suitable for which situation when your business is small.
● Search engine marketing: When your targeted audiences are far away from your business.
● Local search marketing: When the consumer base of your products or services stays in your region.
● Social media marketing: When you need super targeted customers within a short period of time.
● Email marketing: When you feel the importance of strengthening the bond between your business and customer base to increase returning customers.
Conclusion
Picking the right strategy for your small business is mostly a game of improvisation. To be very honest - there are no general rules of thumb applicable to all types of small businesses constantly.
But as the general recommendation, we can mention –
● Analyze the values of your product
● Understand the consumer base
● Do deep research to figure out their pulse
● Develop your content considering all the factors
And most importantly, start doing the marketing task wisely. Good luck!
Published by Rechard Jons
2 years ago 
