Digital marketing best practices for SMEs to improve growth

One of the keynote speakers at this year’s Business Show was Raja Saggi who leads Customer Acquisitions and B2B Marketing for Google in the UK and Ireland. Raja spoke about digital marketing best practices offering practical tips for SMEs to improve growth and overcome retention challenges. Here’s some of the key insights from his talk.

One single value proposition:

Find that one thing that you are best at and be known for it. For example, are you cheaper or faster than your competitors? Get to the bottom of what you do well and focus on that,

Persona development :

He spoke about the importance of developing a persona for your brand and making sure that your online visual aligns with your target user. Take a look at our blog on persona’s to help you understand the initial steps to developing one for your business. Speak in your customer’s  language so they understand how good your service is and how applicable it is to them.

Does your website pass the three second test?

If you can’t find what you need in three seconds then you fail the test. Keep websites basic, simple and clutter free.

Encapsulation, colour and directional cues:

‘What works on the internet may not work in real life’. Use a bold box out for a CTA, contrasting colours work really well at getting attention. Finally, directional cues such as arrows will make people look at it.

Customer reviews:

These still work. They provide social proof which is powerful for building trust and influence.

Reinforce your value:

Display your value proposition at every step of the website journey to avoid drop off and to reassure your customers. Sell benefits instead of features.

Cater for mobile:

With 5 billion mobile users by 2020 forecast, a mobile friendly website is essential. Speed is of the essence. Every second increases the drop off rate with a 7% reduction in conversion. Raja advised that ‘mobile design is about chucking stuff out’. Keep it simple.

Raja provided great insight into digital marketing and website functionality for best practice. If you couldn’t attend the show and have further questions about the functionality of your website then give us a call on 020 3137 1826 or email us on saymoo@smart-cow.com