09 Feb 3 Digital Marketing Fears Debunked

As a small business, you may be considering where to spend your dollars next to grow your customer base and get your name out there. Whether it’s considering an advertisement on Facebook, a shiny new website, or emailing your customer base you’ve been growing – having a digital marketing strategy will help your business in more than one way.

For many small businesses, even getting started with digital marketing is intimidating enough. How do you know where your money is going? Will it work? How will my company look? We get that it’s scary and you’re not alone – According to the 2016 Small Business Marketing Trends Report, 1 in 5 small businesses had no plans to invest in digital marketing of any kind last year, with almost 50% of them saying they had no idea what their marketing ROI is (psst… ROI is return on investment, the money your business makes back when it invests in digital marketing).

So, what does this mean for you? It means you have a unique chance to leapfrog your competition. Having a digital marketing strategy and using it to your advantage can set you apart. Yes, putting your company out there online can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be with the right strategy and experts behind you to make sure your company shines online.

With that, let’s look at three digital marketing fears debunked:

1. Social media is a big unknown world

Social media can seem like a big scary place where customers can openly complain, share reviews (good and bad), interact with you, like what you say, or hate what you say. While yes, bad things can happen in the social world, it’s not common for most businesses to fall into a social media mishap. With a good social media content strategy in place, social media can open up so many doors for small businesses. It’s a great way to reach many people at once, target specific audiences, and amplify your reach to set yourself apart from your customers.

The bottom line: Everyone is on social media. So, you’d be amongst good company – 81% of medium-sized businesses use social media. Not to mention, your customers are using social media!

2. How do I know my money is well spent?

Often times it can be hard to measure the ROI of a newspaper ad, coupons, a bus ad, or any traditional marketing tactics. However, digital marketing is awesome because it’s so easy to measure! Whether you’re posting on social media and tracking engagement, or tracking clicks from your blog to your website, or measuring leads from a Google AdWords or Facebook Ad campaign – analytics are going to become your best friend.

Not only that, but digital marketing is extremely affordable (link to Facebook for small business blog we did!). You can spend as much or as little as you want since it’s very customizable. For example, you can pay per click or per impression, pay for the frequency of the ad, pay for targeting, etc. Digital marketing really lets you zone in on your goals and allows you to find something to work with your budget.

3. Will it really help? I can’t compete with other people! Will my customers even care?

Yes. It will really, really help! Yes, you can compete! Yes, your customers will care! The great thing about digital marketing is that when it’s done right, it’s effective. Digital marketing actually levels the playing field for businesses, making it a space where customers can find your business, see what you’re all about, read reviews, read your blog, build trust, and then act.

Digital marketing puts your business out there and you have complete control for what gets posted and advertised. You get to control the message! You write the blogs you think your customers will love, you post things on social media your customers will be interested in, and you advertise to the people you think will want to know more about your business. It’s a smart way to get your company out there in a way that people are interacting with every company – online.

Like all good business strategies, digital marketing when done right can help your business grow. Doing social media “right” is easy, just think it out, talk to an expert, and try different tactics until you find out what works. The good thing about the internet is that everything changes so quickly, so you have a lot of leeway to try different things and find what works for your business.

Need some help figuring out your digital marketing strategy? We would love to help, don’t hesitate to reach out today!

Written by Brad Dalli

Founder and CEO of Dalli Digital