Digital Marketing

Penguin standing out amongst other penguins - Smart Cow Marketing Digital Marketing Croydon

Digital Marketing Techniques and Tools

by

Digital Marketing Techniques and Tools: A Guide for Small Business Owners

In an era dominated by digital, small business owners are finding the need to not only navigate but also master the complex realm of digital marketing if they are to carve out a place in the market. From establishing a robust online presence to navigating the myriad of analytical tools, the digital world is packed with opportunities. 

This guide will walk you through some digital marketing tips, arming you with the strategic techniques and tools necessary to bolster your brand and drive success for your small business.

Book a FREE consultation

The Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

Gone are the days when a local storefront sign was key for small business advertising. Digital marketing offers a global way for reaching potential customers, providing a level playing field for small businesses to compete with larger businesses. It’s not just about reaching a wider audience; it’s about connecting with your audience on a deeper level through targeted strategies that foster customer loyalty and amplification.

  • Knowing Your Audience in the Digital Landscape  

Understanding your audience in the digital realm involves more than just demographics. It’s about behaviours, preferences, and digital patterns. With this detailed insight, small business owners can create campaigns that speak directly to their customers, offering tailor-made experiences that resonate and convert. 

  • Navigating the Digital Spend  

Costs can be a concern for small businesses, but with the right knowledge, digital marketing can be a cost-effective solution. Digital marketing tools offer a precise approach to spending, ensuring maximum return on investment and minimal wastage. 

Read More about Digital Marketing

Establishing Your Online Presence

The cornerstone of any digital marketing strategy lies in your online presence. For small businesses, this begins with a website that is not just functional, but exceptional.

  • Perfect Website Design  

Your website is your digital storefront. It should be fast, responsive, and visually appealing, with user-friendly navigation to ensure visitors do not click away. Continual updates and interactive elements keep customers returning. 

  • Social Media Mastery  

Social media is more than a tool for sharing cat memes; it is the heart of modern communication. An engaging social media presence allows small businesses to build communities, share their story, and provide customer service in real-time. But it’s important to choose the relevant channel to your business.

Content Marketing: Telling Your Story

  • Blogs  

Creating and posting blogs to your website is a powerful tool for boosting onsite SEO and sharing insights with your target audience. Regular, quality blog posts can drive traffic to your site and keep your brand at the forefront of your customers’ minds. 

  • The Power of Email Marketing  

Email marketing isn’t dead; it’s just evolved. Personalised, timely emails can keep your customers informed about your brand and drive traffic to your website or promotions in a non-intrusive manner.

Read More on Email Marketing Strategies

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Demystified

Having a website is not enough; it must be seen. SEO ensures that your online presence is discoverable by those searching for your products or services. 

  • Keyword Research and Strategy  

Targeting the right keywords can put you on the first page of search engine results. Invest in keyword research to understand what your customers are searching for and how you can rank for those queries. 

  • On-Page Optimisation  

How you optimise your website directly influences your search engine rankings. From meta descriptions to alt text, the devil is in the detail. Ensure your on-page SEO is regularly monitored and updated to maximise visibility. 

Read More on SEO

Paid Advertising: Accelerating Your Reach

While organic traffic is the holy grail, paid advertising can provide an impactful boost. For small businesses, the key to success here is in smart targeting and compelling ad creation. 

  • Google Ads – Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising  

Google Ads can be an intimidating prospect, but it’s an invaluable tool for reaching potential customers actively searching for your products or services. Start small, test, and refine to see what works best for your business. 

  • The Art of Social Media Advertising  

With detailed targeting options, social media advertising allows small businesses to reach their ideal customer base. Compelling visuals and copy that speaks to the user’s wants or needs are crucial for success on these platforms. 

PPC Services

Analytics and Measurement: The Data-Driven Advantage

The power of digital marketing lies in its measurability. Understanding the data behind your campaigns is essential for growth and refinement. 

  • Google Analytics: Your Advertising Blueprint  

Google Analytics offers a wealth of data that can inform your digital marketing strategy. From user demographics to behaviour flow, the insights gleaned can shape your next move. 

  • Social Media Insights  

Each social media platform provides insights into your audience’s behaviour. Use these tools to understand what content resonates with your followers and tailor your strategy accordingly. 

A Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

Pulling it all together, a successful digital marketing campaign involves cohesion and consistency across all online touchpoints. It requires adaptation and a willingness to learn as the digital landscape evolves. 

Offering a seamless experience across all your digital platforms is essential for customer satisfaction. Whether someone finds you via a Google search or Facebook post, they should encounter a consistent brand message and user experience. 

The only constant is change. Stay updated with the latest digital marketing trends and be ready to adapt your strategy to stay ahead of the curve.

Your Digital Marketing Toolbox

As a small business owner, your digital marketing tools should be robust and dynamic. By taking advantage of the vast array of tools and techniques available, you can amplify your brand’s reach and build lasting connections with your audience in the digital sphere. 

Armed with the insights provided in this guide, small business owners can confidently take their first or next step in digital marketing, capturing the attention of potential customers and driving success in an increasingly competitive online marketplace. Embrace the digital revolution; your business will thank you for it. 

Book a FREE consultation
Website design

A Small Business Guide to Building the Ultimate Website 

by

In today’s digital age, having a website is a necessity for small businesses looking to succeed in a crowded online marketplace. Not only does it help you establish your online presence, but it also provides you with an excellent opportunity to engage potential customers and build brand awareness. However, building a website can be a daunting task, especially if you are doing it alone. Here is a guide on how to build the ultimate website for your small business. 

Discuss Your Website Design

Determine Your Website Goals

Before you start building your website, you need to determine your website’s goals. What do you want your website to achieve? Is it to increase your brand’s online visibility, generate leads, or sell products or services? Knowing your website’s goals will help you decide on the right design, content, and structure that will help you achieve those goals. 

Choose the Right Domain Name

Choosing the right domain name is essential for any website. Your domain name is your website’s address, and it’s the first thing people see when they visit your website. Ideally, your domain name should be short, easy to remember, and relevant to your business. Make sure it’s easy to spell and doesn’t contain any confusing characters. 

Create a User-friendly Design

Your website’s design is crucial in creating the right impression with your visitors. A user-friendly design focuses on making your website easy to navigate, ensuring that your visitors can find what they are looking for quickly. A well-designed website should have a clean layout, a clear call-to-action, and use professional images. Make sure your website is mobile responsive, as most people now use mobile devices to access the internet. 

Write Content that Engages Your Visitors

Your website content is vital in engaging your visitors and driving conversions. Ensure that your content is relevant, informative, and written in a tone that reflects your brand’s personality.  

Optimise Your Website for Search Engines

Key to a successful website is having it optimised for search engines. This includes using relevant keywords in your content, using proper meta titles and descriptions, and ensuring that your site’s loading speed is fast. You can also implement local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies to help your business appear in local search results. 

A Website that Stands out

Building a website for your small business is a process that requires careful planning and execution. By following these tips, you can create a website that not only looks good but also performs well in search engines and helps you achieve your business goals.  

A well-designed website will help your business stand out in a crowded online marketplace and attract the customers you need to succeed. 

Website Pricing Calculator

Unsure of what budget you will need for your website? Then take a look at our website pricing calculator to get an estimate of how much a new website will cost you.  

We can also work with you to update your current website as a brand refresh.  

Get An Estimate For Your New Website With Our Pricing Calculator
365 Days of Social Media For Businesses

365 days of social media cheat sheet

by

It’s easy for businesses to neglect their social media, as posting every day can be difficult and time-consuming when you’re unsure as to what you should post.

We understand the pressures on business owners to continually create ongoing engaging content on a regular basis through social media.

That’s why we created our 365 days of social media posts cheat sheet, so that you never run out of ideas again!

In this guide, we provide you with ideas on the types of posts you can share each day of the year, from national days through to polls and talking about your personal business journey.

These tips will not only help you engage with your existing audience, they’ll also assist you in increasing your visibility on your social channels and attracting new business.

Download cheat sheet

Keep your social posts up to date with the latest events and trends with our cheat sheet of 365 days of ideas for social media posts.

Book a FREE consultation

The secret to content marketing

by

For small business owners we know that you’re tight on time. There’s so much on your plate to running a successful business and so many roles you have, from sales, marketing, HR, recruitment and finance to name but a few. With this many hats you’re wearing, thinking about regular content marketing may be blue sky thinking, however the benefits of fresh and regular content are vital for helping your business be found in search engine results pages (SERPs).

So, with the little spare time that you have, how can you ensure you’re sharing regular content across multiple channels? 

The secret is to utilise and repurpose the content that you have.

When you write a blog and upload it to your website, you’ll have spent time writing at least 500 words or so. Therefore, use it. Whilst a blog in itself can help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), as search engines look for fresh content with relevant keywords on websites, there’s so much more you can do for SEO.

More on SEO

Follow this simple process to maximise one blog to its full potential:

  1. Write social media posts. Review the content of your blog and break that down into bite size chunks. You’ll find that you can schedule a number of different social posts simply by lifting a few sentences from the same blog and sharing them on social. You may have to tailor them slightly for the different social channels you use, but it will take you a lot less time than having to think up fresh new content.
    Remember to add a link back to the full blog post and add an image (your own image or purchase a stock image – do not use google images as these carry copyright).
    Get your employees and colleagues to also re-share what you post on social media to spread the news through your social network.
  2. Conduct a poll question relating to your blog. This is particularly good on LinkedIn as it engages well with your network and allows them to comment.
  3. If you have an Instagram or Facebook account, share the social post to your Stories to highlight that you have a new blog post. The gifs on Instagram are great for stand out.
  4. Add a summary of the blog as an update to your Google My Business page with a ‘learn more’ button with a link back to your blog. And, if you are on any other listing directories such as associations or event websites, check if they have the option of adding regular updates from you as this all helps with link building.
  5. Send an email to your marketing database. If you have an email database then start to utilise that. Create a template for an email. Platforms like Hubspot allow you to create great looking email templates. Then use a small snippet of the content from your blog in your email and add a ‘read more’ button.
  6. If you want to build on your creative skills, why not create a short video with information taken from your blog? You can record a message simply on a mobile phone. Check out our blog with ideas for creating video for your business.

You can chat further with us about video creation if you want to know more about the scope of what you could do.

Get in Touch

Digital marketing strategy

All this activity will help with search engine optimisation (SEO). With the blog itself, ensure you have keywords included (the words and phrases that you want to be found for in search engines).

For social posts, email marketing and business directory uploads always ensure that you have included a link back to your website. Link building with quality links also helps show search engines that you are a thought leader as well as improves brand awareness and lead generation.

We provide digital marketing including SEO, Email Marketing, PPC campaigns and social media marketing.

Book a FREE Consultation
Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Instagram Youtube Envelope