First and foremost, it is necessary to understand that digital marketing is a fundamental tool for a small business these days.
And this is so because businesses that dedicate part of their time to the development of digital marketing activities and sales obtain faster increases of their turnover.
SMEs need to develop complex digital marketing strategies that include everything from the creation of a web page that optimises the users’ experience, to the management of their presence on social networks.
So, how do SMEs make a digital marketing plan?
The first thing that is required is to determine the essential difference between What we want to achieve, that is to say, the online strategy and How we are going to achieve said objective. Above all, because we have very limited available resources, both in relation to capital as well as time, and because it is always more expensive to repair botched or shabby jobs and often to have to re-do them properly from the very beginning, although we may take a little longer in implementing the solution.
As SME or Sole Trader, when developing your digital marketing strategy, you need to focus on What: What do I want to achieve? What is going to be my online strategy?
Before starting or investing time and resources in specific activities, it is very important to determine a number of things.
What is my target audience, who do I want? Put faces and names to them (Juan, Paula,..), imagine who they are, their likes, where they work, what they do in their free time, etc. Try to define your customer prototype. Familiarise yourself with him/her.
Depending upon this person and your business (what you offer and what you want to transmit regarding yourself), define the key areas in which you should invest.
And of course, look at what your competitors are doing, and what they are not doing, because you might see something in other countries or sectors that might inspire you.
From there, it is necessary to take well-defined and coordinated steps, because the digital marketing strategy does not substitute your general marketing strategy or, in other words, said strategies must be integrated.
The foregoing means that, as from this time, the web page of your business shall become one of your most important assets, however it is only part of a whole. It is not sufficient to have a web page, even if it is a good web page. Quality digital marketing is comprised of a series of different elements, that lead your business to a common goal.
One of the important premises when developing a successful digital marketing strategy would be to clearly understand what needs to be monetised and to apply analytics to the activities that are carried out. This is necessary in order to measure the results and to determine whether, depending upon the established objectives, you are achieving what you want with the resources and tactics carried out and will also help you to know whether it is worthwhile to continue along the same lines or whether it is necessary to change tack in monetary terms.
From there, it is necessary to specialise the type of content that you share; think about Juan/Paula. Talk to them about your brand, who you are and what you do. But you also need to provide them with interesting content; you know what they want, so show it to them! Show them your restaurant’s recipes, ask the supplier of your clothes store to provide you with a video of how the garments and clothes are made. Take into account that we are saturated with advertising material and information 24 hours a day via TV, mobile phones and everywhere, the differentiation is the key.
Then comes the most difficult part. Make yourself visible in search engines. Based on a series of different sources, it can be said that between 65-75% of consumers search for information via search engines (Google, Bing,..) and the rest of consumers search directly in the web page of the company/brand that they want, which means that concepts such as SEO and SEM form part of the “abc” of digital marketing, and require differentiated activities and investments.
What is SEO? Also referred to as web positioning. Search Engine Optimization are the results that are not purchased, and are those that Google (e.g.) decides what is relevant in relation to your web and, based upon an algorithm, decides whether you appear in a better or worse position in the searches. Said algorithm constantly changes depending upon what they decide to be relevant, and accordingly your web page needs to be updated regularly. Because no-one looks beyond the first page of the search engine results. In principle, we can say that it is free of charge, however nothing is really free in this world, because in this case there are certain investments required in order to determine your positioning and to take action in relation thereto.
What is SEM? Search Engine Marketing refers to the paid content, that is to say, you pay so that when someone searches for a specific word, your web page is included in the spaces that the advertisers have established at the start, end and also on the sides of the web page. Although it is true that it is notified that said content is advertising content (paid content) it is also true that said content is considered to be less “credible” by search engine users, however if for a specific need, logically it is not important. To manage this aspect, a tool exists called Adwords(Google) where you can contract the words that are of interest to you, and you bid with/against others.
We are talking about concepts that exist within a complicated environment, and although you are able to “do it yourself”, it requires relatively expert knowledge and accordingly is a profession that has taken-off in recent times.
For example, it is not always recommendable to bid for your brand, and is an aspect that needs to be assessed on a case by case basis.
Thus, in this case, or you specifically prepare and train yourself or it is better to put yourself in the hands of specialists. Because, moreover, in this case, the need to measure is as important as the need to breath.
In conclusion, everything needs to logically converge toward a sale, which is what we live off, whether in a physical store or via an online store, we have to get the customer to move, to take an action, and accordingly said strategies need to be perfectly planned and coordinated.