Online Marketing for Small Business
Do you own a small business or have you been contracted as an online marketer to market a small business online? If yes, then there are some key aspects that you will agree are vital characteristics of a small business and they affect online marketing. First, such businesses have a small operational budget and in particular, advertising. This means the methods adopted to market the business online should be as cost-effective as possible. Secondly, the majority of this business will target a particular niche as their market and will also be in most cases, geo-specific. Third, the majority of these businesses will have returning customers and in particular, they will depend on returning customers will still seeking to expand.
Based on the above, not all online marketing strategies will qualify for small businesses. The most appropriate will include;
Social media campaigns; social media is one of the most cost-effective online marketing strategies and even though it will be used by almost every other business, it is well suited for small businesses. A small business owner can easily open a social media account for their business. All their need is their own mobile device or PC and with an active connection, all it takes is a few minutes to sign up or for particular social media platforms like Facebook, only open a fan page as an administrator. Once the page is created, there are no costs required to maintain it, unless the services of an account manager are enlisted.
Blogs; blogs are more like social media platforms only that they allow for more detailed information. This is an appropriate platform for businesses to present news on new products, and other small business news that requires more than a few sentences. There are several free blogging platforms that come in handy among them Google’s blog post, and WordPress blog. If you have to use a blog as a small business, consider blogpost because one, it is owned by the industry-standard hence gives you priority in ranking and secondly, it has the option of an income through ads displayed on the page.
Local optimization; as earlier indicated, the majority of small businesses target niche or geo-specific markets. To reach these markets effectively, consider local optimization as an online marketing strategy. Local optimization might be criticized for not being wide enough, but it sure has an effective Return On Investment (ROI). Given the focus is on a given geographical area, every strategy used is sure to reach a potential customer. To get the maximum out of local optimization, the best-suited keywords should be used and the right tools used. For example, if you are marketing in the US, consider some tools like Yelp.
