Understanding Digital Marketing for Local Businesses

Digital marketing is essential for the growth of any business in today's digital era. Regardless of the size or industry of a company, a well-planned digital marketing strategy can help boost brand awareness and increase sales. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating an effective digital marketing plan for local businesses.

When formulating a digital marketing strategy, consider the following factors:

Your campaign should be low-risk, meaning it should offer a high likelihood of success without an exorbitant price tag. Options could include building a website or initiating an SEO or PPC campaign, among other things.

Your campaign should be scalable so that it can grow as your business grows.

You should have the freedom to terminate any component of your campaign at will. This ensures that you aren't locked into long-term commitments for methods that are not yielding satisfactory results.

You need to be able to monitor your campaign's performance effectively and calculate its return on investment (ROI).

A cost-effective, scalable, trackable, and flexible digital marketing plan is key to ensuring prolonged business success.

Here's how you can create a low-risk and high ROI digital marketing plan:

A website is essential. In some cases, you might need to revamp your existing website to make it mobile-friendly and competitive in terms of resources offered. It's advisable to explore various designers before making a decision based on their portfolio and pricing structure. While higher prices don't guarantee better websites, trustworthy design companies are crucial for this vital aspect of your digital marketing plan.

Once you've selected your design company, start searching for an SEO agency even before your website is complete. Ensuring your website is SEO-friendly right from the start will save you time and money in the long run. Avoid design companies claiming to be SEO experts and instead opt for dedicated SEO agencies.

Be careful when choosing an SEO agency, as unfortunately a large number of them are either unskilled or unethical. It's essential to do your due diligence by speaking with past clients, looking at ranking examples, and getting technical with potential agencies. A proficient SEO strategy can offer the highest overall ROI among all digital marketing components.

Next, consider initiating a PPC campaign, ideally through Google AdWords. As running an effectively optimized AdWords campaign can be quite complex, it's recommended to enlist a professional's help. PPC not only drives immediate business but also helps manage growth.

Once you've mastered these basic digital marketing components—SEO and PPC—you can begin exploring more advanced techniques such as social media marketing, retargeting, display advertising (banner ads), and blogging.

Blogging or content marketing can expand your website's reach while establishing your business as an authority in its industry. High-quality content attracts audiences and offers value to visitors.

Social media campaigns may not work for every business but they offer a platform for customers to interact with your brand and allow satisfied clients to recommend your services online. For effective social media management, either employ a high-end agency or manage it in-house with regular activity.

Retargeting works well for businesses with complex sales cycles or strong brands but may not be as effective for newer or smaller ventures. Start with PPC before investing heavily in retargeting efforts.

Display Advertising or banner ads generally perform poorly due to their CPM-based pricing structure. For those interested in display advertising, it's recommended to use Google AdWords' pay-per-click model and ensure that campaign tracking is in place to monitor ROI.

Building a solid digital marketing strategy involves mastering these core components and understanding what delivers the best results for your business. With time and experience, you'll be able to determine what works best for you.

If your business does not yet have a digital marketing team in place, companies like SharpNet Solutions are available to provide assistance.