Digital Marketing For Small Businesses: The Ultimate Guide

Are you interested in growing your business, growing your audience and expanding your social and environmental impacts? Then our ultimate guide to digital marketing for small businesses will help you discover tangible ways to use online marketing to achieve your business goals. 

Did you know that there are 5.18 billion internet users around the world? And, there are 4.8 billion social media users. If your business doesn’t have a strong online presence, then you’re missing out on a major opportunity to be found and to connect with your customers and target audience. 

But digital transformation can be challenging for many small businesses who are struggling to juggle varied and complex workloads while also growing their customer base. That’s why many small businesses choose to hire a Sydney digital marketing agency like Green Socials that can strategically help boost their digital presence. At Green Socials we provide sustainable marketing services for eco, green and sustainable organisations in Australia and worldwide. 

In this ultimate guide, we explore the benefits of digital marketing for small businesses and provide strategies and tips to use online marketing and social media marketing to grow and thrive.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is different from traditional marketing in that it uses digital channels and tactics to achieve its goals. This includes websites, social media, digital newsletters, and advertising on search engines and social media platforms.

Small businesses can use the power of paid and organic digital marketing to cost effectively and accurately target potential customers. Digital marketing can help businesses to grow and be more profitable, but requires some expert knowledge and experience. You can either do this in-house if you have capacity, or you can outsource your digital marketing to a Sydney social media agency like Green Socials. 

Most social media agencies offer a range of integrated digital marketing services to suit both small and enterprise level clients, with bespoke offerings to suit your particular budget and needs. 

The benefits of digital marketing for small businesses.

There are numerous benefits of digital marketing for small businesses in Australia and around the globe. As our world is increasingly technology-driven and digital, marketing has had to transition to be more integrated within modern digital systems. This digital transformation has provided a range of new channels where businesses can reach and engage with consumers in new ways. That includes websites, blogs, social media networks, and online communities. 

Digital marketing can help small businesses increase their visibility, and online reputations and reach a wider audience which in turn can drive business growth and profitability. Digital marketing can also be far more cost-effective than traditional marketing, which is a significant advantage for small businesses that can fuel growth and success. 

The power of digital marketing is no longer an option - it’s a necessity for businesses of any size.

These are some of the main advantages of digital marketing for small businesses:

1. Digital marketing is cost-effective.

Compared with traditional marketing, digital marketing allows small businesses that are on a budget to reach a wider audience but with fewer costs. 

For example, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing - all while generating triple the number of business leads. And, a HubSpot study showed that small businesses that have blogs get 126% more leads than those without.

2. Digital marketing helps businesses increase their reach and visibility.

Small businesses can reach more potential customers and a larger audience anywhere in the world using online marketing. This can help to enhance brand visibility and brand awareness. 

Whether you’re launching a social media campaign, writing an SEO optimised blog series for your website, or you’re publishing a podcast series - there are many ways to target your audience online using digital marketing strategies. 

3. Find and connect with your target audience using online marketing.

Online marketing can help your target audience to find you online more easily and to connect with your organisation. If you don’t have a website or social media accounts, then people searching online won’t be able to find your brand. 

Compared with traditional advertising, online marketing enables you to target quite specific audiences. For example, you can target audiences based on where they live, their interests, how they behave, and their gender or age. This helps you to reach people who are more likely to resonate with and support your business. 

4. Online marketing helps increase engagement.

There are a range of online marketing platforms that can help you increase engagement rates through interacting with your audience. Whether this is done using social media platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn, or a targeted email marketing campaign - you can create personal relationships with potential customers online. This in turn helps create a sense of loyalty and customers are then more likely to buy from you again in the future. 

A recent Bain & Company survey found that when people connected on social media with businesses, they were more likely to spend 20 to 40 percent more with those companies. 

5. Digital marketing can boost brand reputation.

You can use social media, blogs, testimonials, and engagement online to build social trust and boost your brand’s online reputation. This helps to both attract and retain customers and can also help turn customers into advocates for your brand. 

6. It’s easy to adapt your digital strategy.

Compared with traditional marketing methods like billboards, TV ads, or brochures, it’s very quick and easy to adapt your digital strategy to the data and analytics you receive.

This allows you to test new strategies and adapt them to where you think they will be most effective. You can track metrics like conversion rates or levels of engagement and then use these insights to modify your online marketing strategy. 

7. Measuring results and analytics is quick and easy.

There are a range of digital tools like Google Analytics that can help you measure the success of your marketing activities. Using digital data helps you make better decisions and can also help you to improve your marketing efforts incrementally.

Where to start: what types of digital marketing do small businesses need?

As a small business wanting to scale and grow, you may be wondering what it takes to drive success using digital marketing. You may wonder what digital marketing services you need, which services will provide the best return on your investment (ROI), and whether to do everything in-house or to instead hire a professional digital marketing agency in Australia.

Below is a guide to show you the types of digital marketing strategies you can use and rely on to grow your business. It’s a good idea to start off analysing what you’re currently doing, what’s working and what’s not, and then create a digital marketing strategy to guide the development of your marketing activities and spending. 

With so many options to choose from, it’s best to start off using an integrated strategy that incorporates a website, SEO-optimised content, content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing. If you have the budget, then incorporating PPC advertising, social media advertising, and influencer marketing can all yield impressive results. You’ll also need to consistently analyse your results, ROI, and spending to make sure that your marketing is adjusted according to what works best for your business and to achieve your specific goals.

An overview of online marketing strategies for small and medium-sized businesses:

Here are 5 marketing strategies and tactics you can use to grow your business.

1. Create a professional website.

A website is an important marketing tool to help your business be discovered by people who are searching online for relevant products, services and information. 

Having a web presence is critical, but just because you have a website doesn’t mean it’s achieved its full potential. You may want to consider updating your website, making sure it’s mobile-friendly and optimised for search engines. 

You may also want to consider UX and UI design elements that could improve user experiences and help drive conversions. 

And, if you don’t have an active blog, you may want to consider starting one today.

Here are some useful marketing tactics to consider when building, redesigning, or updating your website:

• Develop a content strategy: by creating a content strategy you can use content marketing to attract your target audience to your website. This may involve creating a blog, producing downloadable content, or sharing useful videos. You can then share this content via your social media channels and newsletters, and use it to network and collaborate with other brands and influencers or establish yourself as a leader in your field. 

• Host a blog: creating authoritative, informative and relevant blog content on a regular basis is a great way to boost your website’s search engine ranking and be discovered by your target audience online. Blog articles also help create a personality for your brand which can help to create trust, align values, and build a community of loyal supporters. Plus you get to show off your expert knowledge and insights. 

• Optimise your content for search engines: there are thousands of different organisations with websites and blogs, so you’ll need to make sure you optimise your content if you want to compete and be discovered in online searches for relevant keywords. SEO-optimised content can help you improve your overall ranking and increase website traffic. 

• Consider paid advertising: According to HubSpot research, 68% of marketers consider paid advertising "very important" or "extremely important" to their overall marketing strategy. Once you know what keywords your audience uses to find you online, you can pay to host ads on search engines like Google, to attract your audience to your site. Using a strategically targeted advertising campaign, you can increase website traffic and conversions - helping you to raise brand awareness and boost sales. 

Tips and tools:

• There are a range of free website builder tools available. This includes Wix, SquareSpace, WordPress and Shopify.

• Read our article about how to develop a content strategy. 

• At Green Socials we create custom-built websites for organisations of any size. 

2. Create a social media presence

Having an impressive social media presence is now a necessity for brands and businesses. That’s because people use social media to discover new brands and connect with them.

Here are some useful marketing tactics to consider when creating your social media presence:

• Create a social media strategy: creating a vision and strategy linked to goals is a great way to prioritise your social media efforts and focus on what you want to achieve. A great place to start is to decide which platforms to use, develop a content calendar, and decide what type of content to share that will resonate with your audience.  

• Define your social media goals: Do you want to use social media to raise awareness about your business, create a community of advocates, or use social media to boost traffic to your website? Having specific goals is a good way to make sure that the effort you put into your social media marketing actually pays off. It also helps you to measure performance and return on investment.  

• Create and optimise social media profiles on select platforms: Did you know that the keywords you choose to use in your social media profiles can actually affect how likely and often people are able to find you online? Take time to carefully craft your profile on social media channels and optimise profiles by adding enticing and relevant information. 

• Create relevant, authentic, engaging content: If the content you post doesn’t resonate with your target audience, you’re unlikely to have good engagement metrics and you probably won’t reach your conversion goals either. Make sure the content you post on social media is relevant to your audience, is communicated authentically, and is crafted in a way that will elicit engagement and interaction. 

• Work with influencers: Influencer marketing can help you reach a wider audience and can also help create loyalty and trust. By collaborating with social media influencers, your business can leverage the power of influencers to help expand your reach and social standing. It’s important to have an influencer strategy to make sure you create the right sort of partnerships.  

• Consider social media advertising options: With millions of social media users, it’s increasingly tricky to get noticed on social media platforms. That’s why many businesses choose to advertise their products, services, or brands on social media - to help boost reach and engagement. Social media advertising can be tailored to your budget and can be an effective way of growing your business. You’ll need a good strategy to make sure you achieve optimised return on investment, which is something that a digital marketing agency for sustainable organisations in Australia can help you with.

Tips and tools:

• There are many social media scheduling tools you can use like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later. 

• You can create graphics for your social media posts using free design tools like Canva or photo-sourcing apps like Unsplash.

3. Create an email marketing strategy

Email marketing is a powerful tool to nurture relationships, spread news and connect with your customers. Did you know that there are over 4.1 billion email users worldwide?

It’s important to carefully design your email marketing campaigns, to build your subscribers list, and to create a positive customer journey. 

Here are some useful tips to consider when creating your email marketing strategy:

• Build an email list: It’s important to consistently grow your email marketing list and find opportunities to get people to sign up for your newsletter. You can do this by offering relevant content to download from your website in exchange for signing up. Or you can run a competition where people need to subscribe as part of the entry process. The bigger your email list, the more chances you have of more people converting and taking the action you desire - whether that’s buying your products or visiting your website. 

• Create great email content: No one likes spam or junk emails that clog your inbox. If you’re going to be sending out newsletters, make sure your content is relevant, engaging, well-presented and exciting. Otherwise, you’re likely to see people clicking unsubscribe. You can offer exclusive content, special offers and other incentives to keep your subscribers engaged and loyal while building trust and your reputation. This can result in people clicking through to visit your website and then buying your products or services. 

Tips and tools:

• You can use free versions of newsletter software like Mailchimp to create and schedule your newsletters. 

4. Use analytics to track what works best

There are many digital tools you can use to analyse and track how well your marketing efforts are performing. For example, you can use Google Analytics to see which keywords people use to find your site and other insights that can help you refine your conversion strategy. 

And there are a wide range of social media monitoring tools that can also help provide you with insights about the type of content that performs best on each channel. 

Here are some useful tips to consider when creating using analytics:

• Set goals for tracking and analysing data: Figure out which data you want to track and analyse. For example, if you have a website, you may want to install Google Analytics to track and measure website traffic, conversions, and search terms. If you have social media, you may want to set monthly goals for engagement, number of new followers, and reach. This can help you discover which types of content work best across your different channels. 
  

• Optimise your customer journey to increase your conversions: Once you have analysed your data, you can get insights into what needs to change to increase conversions. Consider your customer journeys and try to figure out where there are bottlenecks or what could be changed to boost sales. 

5. Leverage other types of partnerships too

There are a range of opportunities to help achieve your marketing goals. Creating strategic partnerships and networking is one of those. Here are a few tips to help you consider partnerships that may be relevant in your sector:

• Consider joining a sector-specific network: There may be various organisations in your sector that you could network with and possibly forge business partnerships with. Research whether there’s an industry association, network, or membership organisation that you could join that may be beneficial. For example, if you work in sustainable construction, you may want to join the Green Building Council. Or, if you work in conservation, you may want to join the IUCN. Industry associations typically have large networks of people in relevant sectors and arrange regular events and meetings to network. 
  

• Consider the benefits of eco-labels: No matter what industry you work in, eco-labels can help you leverage a range of benefits while also ensuring you create a positive impact on the planet and its people. There are many eco-labels to choose from such as Beauty Without Cruelty, GOTS-certified, FSC-certified, Fair Trade, and 1% for the Planet. 
  

• Consider joining communities of purpose: There are many sector-specific digital communities where people and organisations can share relevant information, network, and reach an even wider audience. This includes Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, social networking sites, and digital events. You can join these communities and share your insights and news, connecting with others and sparking potential collaborations. 

How to create an effective digital marketing strategy for your small business?

Digital marketing is essential for businesses of any size. But for small businesses that want to scale and grow, it can be challenging to create and implement an effective digital marketing strategy. This is particularly true if you don’t have extensive experience in digital marketing.

You may want to consider using the services of a sustainable marketing agency to manage your digital marketing strategy for you - so that you can focus on your core business. At Green Socials we’re an eco-friendly digital marketing agency in Sydney, Australia, and we’re passionate about helping small businesses to thrive and flourish. We have a range of packages that suit businesses of every size. 

Start enhancing your digital marketing today!

Businesses of every size can (and should) use digital marketing to help reach their goals. You can create a strong digital presence for your business by following some of the tips and advice in this guide. 

That may include creating an SEO-optimised website, launching a blog, using social media platforms to reach and engage with your target audience, leveraging email marketing to stay connected and build relationships with customers, and using paid digital ads to increase your sales.

Digital marketing can help your business be discovered online, create awareness about your brand, help prospective customers find more information about your business and values, and create a sense of social trust and customer loyalty.

➡️ Are you ready to take your small business to the next level? Connect with our team at Green Socials to find out more about our digital marketing services and how we can help your eco-business thrive.