Questions from a Small Business Owner about Digital Marketing – Answered

So, the buzz of digital marketing has reached your ears. As a small business owner, you have ignored it for some time, but now, there’s no turning back!

You have to admit: digital marketing is THE PHENOMENON in the contemporary tech landscape.

We acknowledge your concern that it’s not always possible for a small business owner or a start-up to spend bucks on every new experiment. But take it from us, engaging digital marketing services can return you more profits than you could have imagined!
Still not sure? We read your mind! Check out the following FAQs to learn more about digital marketing.

Is Digital Marketing Relevant for My Company?

If you have not bounced and come up to this part, let us first congratulate you. We appreciate your desire to reach a wider audience.

Yes, you have got your answer. That’s what digital marketing does! It can drive higher visibility, spread more awareness about your brand, products or services, and in turn, help you expand your audience base.

Now you must be wondering whether it is applicable for all sorts of businesses.

Yes, mostly so!

No matter whether you own a small outfit, a jewellery boutique, a flower shop, opened a new coffee shop or restaurant, or provide a cab booking service – digital marketing is a great way to flourish your business.

And what’s the point of brainstorming to produce appealing and high-quality products / services if people don’t get to know about it! One of the fundamental advantages of digital marketing is that it allows you to reach the right people at the right hour and place to make them aware of your brand.

Which Type of Small Businesses Don’t Need Digital Marketing?

Remember we mentioned that MOST of the businesses can be benefitted from a digital marketing service? You must be curious which type of businesses don’t fall into this category? Here’s what.

If you own a small saloon in a locality or a grocery store that serves people within a periphery of 2-3 km, you need not invest in digital marketing. Rather save and invest that amount to expand your shop a bit. And the day your store size expands, seek assistance from the digital marketing experts to expand your customer base further and enhance ROI (Return of Investment).

Is Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing the Same?

This is a common misconception. Let us clarify.

Digital marketing is a vast field in which social media marketing is only a part.

Digital marketing includes the following components:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click campaign (PPC)
• Content marketing
• Email marketing
• Mobile marketing (through Google Play and Apple App Store)
• and of course, Social Media Marketing (SMM)

In digital marketing, you can drive awareness through various digital forums like search engines, email platforms, and so on.
On the other hand, social media marketing involves marketing your products/services through social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, and others.

Which Type of Digital Marketing is Suitable for My Business?

Okay, this answer is going to be long and highly informative! So, be attentive!

Pay per Click (PPC)

In the case of PPC advertisement, you have to pay a certain amount to the search engine every time your ad receives a click. A PPC campaign drives instant visibility to your site by boosting your rank on the SERP (Search Engine Rank Page). If you have recently launched a start-up or own a small business, you may drive instant awareness among your target customers through this type of campaign.

However, PPC is more beneficial for those businesses that offer common products / services which people may search about. Repairing service provider, cab company, gift shop, graphic T-shirt design house, and pet grooming service provider, among others fall into this category. On the other hand, if your business offers something uncommon, you may consider display marketing as a potential tool to drive more visibility.

Bidding on the right keywords is a crucial factor if you don’t want to squander your resources on vanity keywords. The experts at any reputed PPC management company can help you select the right keywords.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Optimizing your site with informative content and relevant keywords will boost your rank on the search engine. Through this you may earn organic traffic and unlike PPC, don’t have to pay any money to the search engine. Naturally, this is a cost-effective tool and highly effective in the long run. After you have drawn some visibility through PPC campaigns, you may focus on driving organic traffic through SEO.

Local SEO is a beneficial tool for any small business as it makes people in the surrounding locality aware of your business. Local SEO helps businesses to appear in the search results if someone enquires about a related product or service near them or at a particular place. Restaurants, laundry service provider, grocery store, etc., can be benefitted from this.

Remember, picking the right keywords is of paramount importance. Also, the keywords must not look contrived into the content. That’s why we recommend you to engage professional SEO services.

Social Media Marketing

We have already mentioned that PPC is not the right channel if you offer some uncommon services that people don’t usually search for. For instance, if you are a wholesale dealer of perfume glass bottle, you may not be highly benefitted from the above-mentioned digital marketing strategies.

For this, you may engage social media marketing services and draw more eyeballs.

You may also read our other article on SEO, SMO, And PPC: Which Is Right For Your Business?

How to Choose a Digital Marketing Company?

You need to be really cautious while picking a digital marketing company. Here we are mentioning a few pointers for you to start with:

Mind the experience

A company with substantial experience in providing digital marketing services can identify the nature of your business and suggest you the specific service best suitable for your business. That way, you don’t have to waste resources.
Read reviews – Customers’ feedback speaks volumes of the credibility and expertise of the company. Are the previous clients satisfied with the service? Do they recommend it? What about the customer support system of the company? Learn all about these if you do not want to end up complaining later.

Types of Services

There are some companies that provide a few digital marketing services while some others provide a comprehensive service. It’s preferable to seek assistance from the latter. They have adequate resources to customize your entire website and brand it properly.

How Much Do I Have to Pay For Digital Marketing Service?

The cost of digital marketing service varies from one company to another. It also depends on your requirement. For instance, if you require SEO service for a single web page, the cost will be lesser than someone availing the same for 10 web pages. So, it’s better to get an estimate of the service.

However, we don’t recommend you to look for “cheap digital marketing company”. Because if the self-proclaimed tech experts make any mistake, your entire resources will be drained without any gain.

Rather, opt for a quality service even if you have to spend a few bucks more. To get an approximate idea, you may ask for a free quote here.

How Long will it Take to Show Result?

This would depend on the type of service you are engaging. As we have already mentioned, PPC campaigns deliver instant results while SEO takes a longer time. Usually, PPC campaigns drive instant visibility on the SERP and you may expect to earn leads within a week. On the other hand, you may receive organic traffic within 4-6 months of continuous SEO activities.

The best part of digital marketing is that you can track its efficacy through Google Analytics. You may get a clear insight into how many people are watching your ads, how many leads are visiting your site, and how many of them are converting.

Do I Have Any Other Option Except From Digital Marketing?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. According to a recent study by Statista, globally around 4.54 billion people use the internet. Naturally, a digital marketing campaign can garner more eyeballs than a brochure, poster, banner, or billboard.
Further, there is no way you can track how many people are actually checking out your poster, banner, or billboard on their way. But digital marketing is traceable and you can easily understand which campaigns are profitable or how to customize your marketing strategy as per the customer demand.

Conclusion

We tried to cover several questions that a small business owner can come up with. If you have any other confusion, we are only a step away! Feel free to comment below or reach our professionals offering digital marketing services.