Most private employers in Canada are actually small businesses and this is because most Canadian businesses are small businesses. A total of 99.8% of all Canadian businesses are small to medium-sized companies with less than 500 employees. Small and medium-sized businesses are significant contributors to the economy of Canada.
When small businesses get started, their main agenda is often on how to get the first customers through the door. They may depend on traditional forms of advertising like print advertisements, coupon mailers or even outdoor advertising.
Businesses may believe that since they provide a good service or product and it is just a matter of time until customers find their way to them. While this strategy may bring in a trickle of businesses, there is a better and easier way. Small businesses in Canada should consider the competitive marketplace of prospects online and benefit from converging their traditional and digital marketing. No small business, no matter how new, must overlook digital channels as a way to generate leads and convert interest into customers.
Why Digital Marketing is important for small business Canada
Let me tell you the advantages of digital marketing and the ways online platforms can be used efficiently to help grow your small business-
The potential customers you can get online are a much larger group than you can attract online locally. Using digital marketing techniques, you can reach a global audience in a way that is cost-effective, measurable and scalable.
- The ability to communicate with your prospects and learn exactly what they are in search of and get to know your customers better.
- Digital marketing has the ability to reach out to anyone and anywhere as there are no geographical boundaries with digital marketing.
- In digital marketing, you can target the right and potential audience at the right time and personalization is simpler and easier with digital marketing.
- You are able to interact with your prospects at every stage of the purchasing process.
- You can save money and time and can reach more customers.
- You will get to know your audience and drive engagement to establish brand loyalty. You can also get some inspiration from the power of customer loyalty schemes.
- You are able to track and monitor responses to your marketing efforts instantly and easily.
Importance of Digital Marketing in Small Business
When a business is started its main focus is to gather clients and small business owners find it tough in starting to get their potential clients. Taking advantage of digital marketing is no longer optional in this digital world. When it comes to establishing a marketing strategy, a number of small business owners in Canada are clueless and fail to adopt an effective marketing strategy.
Your customers have already moved on digital platforms
As a small or medium business, the marketing budget is limited and the owners struggle to get positive output. The only way to get more clients and profits is to market your services or products to your potential clients. The best way to reach out to your potential customers is by making use of Digital Marketing.
Marketing can help to gain a number of customers if you make an effective marketing strategy and choose the right online platforms to market your services or products. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, digital marketing late you and your business target an audience that would be interested in your products or services.
Different small business owners may come up with different reasons to avoid digital marketing but in the end, you have to accept that your customers already have moved on to digital or online platforms and are searching for your services and products online. If you waiting for your customers to come to you without any marketing strategy then I have to say that you are following a dumb and old approach.
Your competitors have already moved on digital platforms
If your want to become s successful business then you have your eye on what your competitors are doing and continuously implement better tactics than they are using. When you look at your competitors and what they are doing, only then you will find what will work for your better because what is working for your competition will work for you.
Get to know your target audience
Digital marketing allows you to engage with your potential customers and continue being in touch with your potential customers on the internet pushing them to use your services and to purchase your products. Digital marketing also helps you to establish your customers and push them to stay connected with your business for a long time.
A most effective form of marketing
In this digital world, digital marketing is the most cost-effective form of marketing as it gives you the authority of marketing your services or products only to the people who you think that is your future customers. Digital marketing establishes your brand value and increases your brand loyalty online.
In this article, I will discuss some of the marketing strategies for small businesses that will give your desired results
Personalized email marketing
Customers crave personal attention and email marketing has an ideal solution. Email marketing is one of the most used marketing strategies for a small business, email marketing is one of the preferred techniques for customer retention and acquisition. Personalized emails go a long way in establishing a bond with your customers.
Drip email campaigns using techniques for email list management can be used to grow leads at different stages and make their purchase journey as enjoyable as possible. Personalized email makes your business more genuine to the customers. Taking personalization further, you can provide customized deals and coupons to your customers based on their previous purchases and preference.
Marketing automation
Automation helps you to streamline a number of your business processes. For your small business, it is important to automate your marketing processes to save time and make your employees more efficient.
Automation is one of the best steps that you should take for your business if you want to work smart and grow. Best automation techniques are available for email marketing, lead scoring and nurturing, systematic content publishing, social media management, referral marketing and more. Automation can only boost the productivity of your team but also supercharge your conversion rate.
Story of your brand
This digital era is all about telling the story to market your services or products. Content marketing is still one of the best digital marketing strategies for your small business but with a brand new approach. Instead of telling your target audience how fantastic your service or product is, you should invest in creating custom content.
You should explain to your potential purchasers that how your product has helped solve a specific problem for your customers. Has your product or service been instrumental in helping your customers reach a particular goal faster? You should showcase it with real-life examples and data and to increase the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) value of your website content you can depend on top techniques.
Influencer marketing
It is not true that influencer marketing is beneficial only for bigger brands. Influencer marketing can be one of the most powerful marketing tools for a small business to establish brand awareness and generate quality leads. Influencers have their own loyal fan following on social media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube and Instagram who communicate with them and look up to them for personal recommendations. A high engagement rate makes this one of the best marketing took for any small business.
You can select and do an influencer contract with influencers working in your niche and your location to advertise your services or products in an authentic way.
GMB (Google My Business Listing)
GMB (Google My Business Listing) is a must for your small business to strengthen your business online presence. GMB is so important because people visit more than 1.5 billion destinations every month based on their Google searches and 75% of those who search for something nearby visit the store within one day.
So when your potential customers are in search of you online then it is important that you work towards establishing a strong digital presence for your small business. GMB listing can give your business the extensive visibility and credibility you are desiring. That is the reason it should be one of the top digital marketing strategies for your small business.
Digital event marketing
The popularity of digital events has grown exponentially in the past few years. Online conferences, podcasts, webinars and live discussions are some of the powerful tools for small businesses to generate quality leads digitally. These online events present an opportunity for businesses to gatehr audience data and to market to them directly.
A small business owner can either attend or host digital events to get their audience acquainted with your products or services and how they provide solutions to particular issues. Communicating with your audience through surveys and polls will also help you understand their preferences and accordingly tweak your marketing strategies.
Referral marketing
Referral marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies of any small business to leverage the goodwill of a satisfied customer using various types of referral programs. When your customers are happy with your services or products then you should ask them to spread the word about the services or products they love.
Get your website basics right
Customers call the shots and users are becoming demanding in terms of the experience they expect from a business website. Customers want a fast-loading website and ease of use a minimum need. As a small business, you may not have the same budget as the bigger, national or international companies but you can at the very least get the basics right.
You must understand that the faster your business website pages load, the more likely it is that users will stick around. A slow website will affect your chances of getting good rankings in search engines as user experience is now an important part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
