Digital Marketing Basics For Small Business Owners

The use of digital marketing and advertising is currently on the rise worldwide, and business owners are currently spending tens of millions of dollars to promote their brands online.

It’s not too late to catch up and jump on the digital marketing train. Listed below are 10 basics that every entrepreneur who is looking for help with digital marketing in Atlanta ought to know.

1. What Is Digital Marketing?

Let’s start from the beginning. What is digital marketing?

Put simply, the term “digital marketing” encapsulates all kinds of marketing tactics that take place online or with the help of an electronic device. Businesses use digital marketing to reach people via the internet or through their smartphones (or other mobile devices) to grow their audience, build their brand, and increase their sales and profits.

2. Benefits of Digital Marketing

Some business owners are hesitant about diving into the world of digital marketing. They might be unsure of where to begin, or they might assume that their target audience doesn’t spend time online or using mobile devices.

If you fall into the latter camp, remember that there are over four billion people who use the internet each day and approximately five billion who own smartphones. Surely, some of these people are part of your target audience, right?

Before you assume that digital marketing isn’t for you, keep in mind the power it has to expand your reach and help you advertise to a larger audience. There are plenty of other reasons to utilize this marketing strategy, too, including the following:

  • Save money with cost-effective marketing that’s perfect for businesses with limited budgets
  • Easily measure the results of your digital marketing campaigns
  • Target your ideal customer
  • Increase your conversion rate
  • Reach people at the beginning of their buying journey

3. Which Businesses Can Benefit from Digital Marketing?

Nearly any type of business can benefit from including digital marketing in its overall marketing plan. Unless your company is known for not having any kind of internet presence at all (which is a strange business model in 2020, let’s be real), digital marketing can enhance your approach and help you stay afloat.

Don’t forget, too, that incorporating digital marketing into your strategy doesn’t mean you eschew all other types of marketing. It can be one piece of the puzzle, a piece that makes the others more effective.

4. Types of Digital Marketing

There are lots of different types of digital marketing that your business can utilize. Here are just a few examples:

  • Website design
  • Search engine optimization (or SEO)
  • Social media marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Pay-Per-Click (or PPC) ads

Most businesses use a combination of all these types of digital marketing. There’s strength in numbers, and a multifaceted approach will yield better results than focusing on just one type of digital marketing.

That being said, you don’t have to tackle every single one at the same time. Picking just one and developing it before moving on to another type is also an effective strategy and is more sustainable, especially for businesses that are brand new to all forms of online marketing.

5. Website Design

When it comes to digital marketing, a good starting point is your website.

A website will serve as a central hub for all your online content. It ensures that people who are looking can easily find your business and learn about your brand, as well as the products and services that you offer, of course.

Websites also add credibility, especially these days, and help to legitimize your business to folks who might not have heard of it before.

6. What You Need to Know About SEO

SEO is all about optimizing your website so that people can easily find it when they’re searching online for brands like yours. This type of digital marketing involves a wide range of practices, including the following:

  • Using specific keywords in your content and throughout your website so that it shows up on search engine results pages (also known as SERPs)
  • Regularly publishing content on your website to keep it relevant
  • Addressing technical aspects of your website like page load speed and security

7. Social Media

In addition to having a website, it’s also important for your brand to have a presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

A lot of people learn about brands through social media first, so it’s a great tool for building awareness and connecting with members of your audience. Start by creating profiles on these platforms, then make an effort to post on a regular basis and respond to comments that people leave on your posts.

8. Content Marketing

Content marketing involves creating, you guessed it, online content that helps you to promote your business. Examples of online content that you might want to create include blog posts, YouTube videos, and infographics.

Content marketing helps you connect to your audience, provide value to them, and get them interested in learning more about your company (and potentially making a purchase from you).

9. Email Marketing

Email marketing provides a method for you to further create connections between your brand and your audience. It allows you to reach people directly in their inbox and engage with them in a more personal way.

You can use email marketing to send coupons or discount codes, promote upcoming events, and share information that you’re not posting on your website or social media (tips, testimonials, etc.).

10. PPC Ads

Finally, we can’t talk about digital marketing without addressing pay-per-click ads. When you invest in these ads, you pay a small fee to a publisher every time someone clicks on your ad (presumably to buy a product or service or at least to learn more about your business).

You can use PPC ads through Google (known as Google Ads) or through Facebook or Twitter.

Need Help Moving Beyond Digital Marketing Basics?

Now that you know more about the basics of Atlanta online marketing, are you ready to start digitally promoting your business? Keep these tips in mind and you’ll have a solid foundation for building your brand.

If you’re ready to move beyond the basics, or if you need some additional assistance with online marketing, feel free to reach out to us at our Atlanta digital marketing agency today.

Eric Woodson
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