Anyone who has started up a business, or runs a business, will know that marketing is crucial to success – in many ways, it is at the core of a business’ operations. Marketing is how an organisation finds out who their target audience is, how they connect with that target audience, and how they appeal to that audience.
For small businesses in particular, digital marketing is probably the most effective form of marketing. We discussed this idea with TechQuarters, a tech company in London who are not only a small business themselves, but have worked with small businesses for years. TechQuarters specialises in managed IT services London businesses have been relying on for years, and they credit their success with clients partially to the fact that they focus on digital marketing as their main method for connecting with their target audience.
Digital Marketing
Marketing has been around for years, and there are many different methods and strategies that businesses employ. For example, paying to display a billboard next to a road in an area that is densely populated by one’s target audience is a traditional form of marketing. But as the internet, and technology in general, has become more commonly used by consumers, digital marketing has become not only more common, but more effective for many businesses. In fact, TechQuarters personally believes that digital marketing is the most effective form of marketing these days. It is certainly true that more than half of the global population – 62 percent, to be more precise – now use the internet. That’s a lot of people for businesses to connect with through marketing.
Advantages of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses
-
Increase Brand Discovery
The first thing to consider is how easy it is becoming to discover new brands using the internet. Social media and search engines are in fact designed to help users discover new brands, and if a business can take advantage of the algorithms employed by these types of platforms, they can feasibly open up their brand for discovery by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of new potential customers.
-
Target Your Customers
Another benefit of digital marketing is how accurately a business can target their customers and audiences. With the amount of data that is being generated by internet platforms, businesses are able to create a highly accurate profile of their ideal customer, as well as where to find them, and even how best to appeal to them. This type of data is even free to access, provided a business knows how.
-
Level the Playing Field
Marketing used to be more effective if you had more money and resources to expend on it. Think of the example we used earlier of a billboard – this would only be available to businesses that could afford to pay for a billboard. However, many digital marketing channels are available to use entirely for free – such as social media platforms. In fact, certain market demographics may actually prefer small businesses, seeing them as more trustworthy. That’s just one advantage that small businesses have over larger competitors, and digital marketing makes it easier for them to exercise those advantages.
-
Appeal to Customer Directly
With digital marketing, businesses can appeal to customers in highly specific areas. For example, TechQuarters offers IT support to businesses in several cities around the UK. If they want to offer IT support Manchester businesses are looking for, they can market themselves directly to businesses in that area, using channels like social media, and even search engines. Digital marketing can be used to present a brand directly to geographically-specific audiences in a way that never used to be possible before the days of the internet.
