Small businesses can often struggle with expanding their digital presence due to time, budget and resource constraints. It can still be done. Start by knowing exactly who you want to reach, make your website easy to buy from, then add one social channel and a small paid test. Measure what works and build from there. Here’s how each step works.
The first step: identify your target audience
Before anything, it is so important to identify and define your target audience. Think about the regular customers you already have and what potential customers you’d like to bring in. Who are they? Think about different demographics such as age, gender, location. Do you need to target a specific city in the UK or the whole country? What is their pain point? A pain point is a problem that they may be facing, that your business can solve. And finally, take a look at where they spend their time online. If you already have social media pages for your business, what demographic is interacting the most and on which platforms?
Optimise your website for conversions
Your website is usually the first impression customers will have of your business. Here’s a checklist of what you should implement:
- Ensure it is mobile friendly, as well as optimised for desktop and tablet use
- Make it user-friendly, to allow for an easy, straightforward experience
- Ensure it is clear what your products and services offer with a strong call to action
- Optimise your site for SEO, to ensure your business appears in search results with local keywords that are relevant to your business such as ‘best gym in Manchester’
- If you serve a local area, set up and keep your Google Business Profile up to date, so you show up in Maps and local results.
Engaging and informative content marketing
With engaging and informative content, your business will be seen as an expert. Content including blog posts that answer customer FAQs, how-to videos showcasing your products and services, and case studies highlighting success stories paired with customer reviews helps build your reputation.
Social media marketing
Not every platform will work for every business and that is OK! If your business is more visual like fashion, beauty and restaurants, Facebook and Instagram are the perfect place to start. If your aim is B2B and networking, LinkedIn is the ideal platform. If you want to focus on video content, both short-form and long-form, TikTok and YouTube are great options. Whereas Pinterest is good for lifestyle, DIY and home decor businesses to target people looking for inspiration.
Build a steady presence with organic posts first, then you can start to explore paid ads. Start by posting consistently and regularly engaging with followers and you will see a difference in your online presence.
Paid advertising
Paid advertising is great if you need quick results, and we always recommend creating and posting organic content alongside paid ads. Some options are Google Ads, to target customers who are searching for your products and services, and Meta Ads, to use detailed targeting to reach the people you want. You can start with a small budget to figure out what works best for you and your business; this will then allow you to optimise further and bring in leads.
Reflecting and analysing
Digital marketing always changes, so check regularly what is working and what isn’t working so well. You can use platform insights to see what content is most popular, and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to see website traffic and what visitors do.
At AIWIZ, we specialise in helping small businesses to succeed with their digital efforts. From SEO and PPC to social media marketing and graphic design, our team takes pride in creating digital solutions that help you stand out from the rest. Ready to get started? Contact us today for a free consultation. We’d love to have a chat to see how we can help!