Last Updated on 16th September 2021 by ANKIT ALOK
This article is all about the importance of digital marketing for small businesses. Today humanity is surrounded by technology and its impact, technology is changing the world very rapidly and it has introduced a new face of marketing i.e digital marketing.
Everyone must have heard about digital marketing. Even you must have heard this word thousands of times as there is a lot of buzz going around the world about digital marketing.
But the main question that came to your mind when you heard about digital marketing is whether this digital marketing is important for small businesses or it is just another fad. You must be thinking about the credibility of digital marketing for small businesses. But don’t worry after reading this blog you will definitely get the point, how important is digital marketing.
The whole world is connected by the internet and billions of people are actively using it on their smartphones and PCs. This huge number of internet users attracted shrewd marketers and brands to capitalize on the marvelous opportunity. But the best thing about digital marketing for small businesses is that along with big brands and organizations it gives equal opportunity to them to use it for their growth and success.
Digital marketing is the form of marketing in which a brand, individual, company, etc promotes or advertises its offerings on the internet through electronic devices. Like traditional media, the internet has brought digital media (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) along with it, and it is revolutionizing the way of marketing. Digital marketing for small businesses is not a choice but a requirement in this crowded market.
Various ways in which digital marketing for small businesses can be done are as follows:
1. Social Media Marketing
2. Content Marketing
3. Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
4. Mobile Marketing
5. Affiliate Marketing
6. Pay-per-click(PPC)
7. Email Marketing
8. Influencer Marketing
Unlike traditional media, digital marketing has numerous methods under its domain for marketing purposes and a good digital marketer knows how to use these methods to their full potential and make the best use of digital marketing for small businesses.
List of 8 Reasons for Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Business
1. Affordable marketing cost
Advertising and marketing with traditional methods are very expensive and costly which cannot be afforded by small businesses.
Big brands and organizations spend hefty money on traditional media like television commercials, Billboard, etc but small businesses don’t have deep pockets like big brands, therefore digital marketing is most suitable for them as it is very inexpensive comparatively.
You can promote or display your offerings on the internet for a very small amount of money and reach a wide audience. For instance, you can literally start your advertising campaign on Facebook with a minimum amount of $1 a day. This allows you to save your hard-earned money and this cost-saving feature increases the effectiveness of digital marketing for small business.
2. Wider reach with less Money
If you compare digital marketing on the parameter of reaching the number of people with a constant amount of money then digital marketing will outperform almost every other means of advertising. You can reach a wide audience with limited funds and this is a blessing of digital marketing for small business.
For small businesses, this is a wonderful opportunity as they can reach their target audience more easily.
You can connect and engage with hundreds and thousands of customers simultaneously with the digital campaign and increase your chances of growth.
3. Customer Segmentation and Targeting
I know this is not a marketing class and these are technical marketing practices but I will simplify their meaning. Customer segmentation and targeting is the process of selecting a similar group of customers and then targeting the particular group of people whose needs your business can solve. They are also referred to as ‘Target audience’.
Since most of the small business operates in a specific niche or area therefore they have a selected target audience. Digital marketing methods allow you to reach and connect to your target audience in the best possible and optimal way.
If you are operating a business that sells products only for women then you can display your advertisement only to women on digital media, therefore specific targeting makes digital marketing for small business very important.
4. Increases Brand Awareness
There is no doubt that small businesses face a lot of competition from their peers. If you want to increase awareness of your brand or business with fewer funds then you can turn to digital marketing. You can make connections with new people on digital mediums and platforms.
The rapid rise in internet and smartphones users provides wonderful opportunities for digital marketing for small businesses to build relationships with their current and non-current customers and hence increasing brand recall value for them.
5. Increases Revenue
The main purpose of marketing and advertisement is to attract new potential customers who buy your services or products and remain your customer for life.
Digital marketing increases your conversion rates which ultimately increases revenue. You can use social media marketing(SMM) to generate leads and convert them into your paying customer.
Email marketing can be used to attract customers, as per reports email marketing has a high ROI, thus increasing your overall revenue.
Content marketing is another way for small businesses in digital marketing that helps you to engage with your audience and increases your response rate, leading to an increment in revenue.
6. Equal opportunities for Every Business
Today you can see big companies are eating the market share of small businesses. Take the example of Amazon and Flipkart, they both are billion dollars companies with a deep pocket spending millions of dollars on marketing and when you zoom in the whole scenario you will notice that they are actually competing with small businesses.
And to stand neck to neck with them and to challenge them, you can use Digital Marketing as a weapon, it provides you the opportunity to market your business online on the internet.
Digital marketing provides equal opportunities to every business whether you are a small business or a big corporation. Today you can see various small startups are competing with big brands by leveraging technology and digital marketing.
7. Better ROI (Return on Investment)
There are several studies that back the statement ‘digital marketing has a better return on investment as compared to traditional marketing.
With digital marketing campaigns, you can earn more revenue than you spend on it which means a better return on the money you invested, you don’t have to splurge a lot to earn new customers.
Many reports suggest that Social media marketing and Email marketing has very high ROI and it is very beneficial for small business to apply these marketing methods for the growth of their businesses. In digital marketing you can monitor every penny you spend on advertising which helps you in setting up your budget.
8. Measurable and Trackable
The main thing that differentiates digital marketing from traditional marketing is the advantage of measuring the advertisement campaign, there is no appropriate method to measure the campaigns in traditional marketing.
But Digital marketing provides you a report of every campaign with detailed information and you can use that data and information to optimize your marketing campaign. You can literally track and measure every activity of people interacting with your content on digital platforms.
This advantage of tracking and measurement is very useful for small businesses as they can use these data to improve their offerings and serve people in the best way, ultimately leading to increased revenue and growth.
Conclusion
I hope now you know the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.
You cannot ignore the impact of digital marketing for small businesses in today’s marketing landscape, not only it is a choice to do digital marketing, but as the competition is increasing day by day at a rapid rate you can see digital marketing as a survival mechanism and weapon to beat your competitors.
If you are a business owner then you can hire a good digital marketing agency for your business or if you are a marketing person, if you have an interest in marketing then you can also learn digital marketing for small business and convert it into a big brand. You can check out the digital marketing course on our website.