From the traditional industry, we now clearly have transitioned to an information technology-based economy with most of the time of our daily lives spent on the internet, may it be for work, school stuff, business, communication, or just leisure. And to keep up with the changes that transpired since the pandemic hit and the current restrictions of the lockdown in the Philippines, many small businesses have started to use different online platforms or channels to better market their products and services to a larger audience.
The online market can appear tough because of all the competition you have and the different technology advancements you would need to familiarize yourself with, but it shouldn’t hinder you from pushing forward to grow your business. Many small businesses settle for a “simpler” way to market their brand to avoid spending too much. But in reality, you can do more when you try to consider other options to market your small business that will properly utilize your budget and at the same time deliver results. Digital marketing is a fine component to optimize for growing your business in this digital age. And the good thing is that large enterprises are not the only ones who can benefit from digital marketing, but also small businesses who want to find their niche in the online market.
In this article, we will be giving you 7 digital marketing tips to grow your small business in the Philippines.
1. Construct a Marketing Strategy
Your digital marketing campaign wouldn’t be complete or properly implemented if you don’t have the right marketing strategies with you. Creating a marketing strategy beforehand helps set out your objectives and the goals you have in growing your business. It is important that you are able to determine your target audience, how you can reach them, and what tools you can use to market your brand to the right audience.
Being prepared with a marketing plan lets you gauge what digital marketing tools are best suited for your business. This way, your marketing efforts will not be wasted and at the same time, drive your business forward to its goals.
2. Create Relevant and Valuable Content
Creating relevant and valuable content regularly calls for the attention of both potential and current customers. Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that you can use to promote your brand and attract the right audience through the creation of blogs, videos, social media posts, and more. It is an example of inbound marketing because it uses valuable content to engage its audience instead of the usual outbound marketing wherein persistent ads or promotions are used to convince the customer to proceed with a purchase.
Posting content regularly will help your business boost brand awareness and online presence. When your posts are consistent in providing interesting content to your audience, it can result in an increase in social shares, bringing more qualified traffic to your business, and high ranks in SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Your target audience will be familiar with your business, which can positively influence their decision to purchase.
Be sure to include links to the landing pages of your business’ website or social media page in your content. And remember to create contents that will speak to your audience’s needs, keeping them tailored to start engagements and build trust in your brand.
3. Make Use of Social Media Marketing
Social media is one of the primary online platforms you can utilize to reach your audience in this digital age. There are 89 million active social media users in the Philippines as of January 2021 with each user spending 4 hours and 15 minutes per day on different platforms. This is why you can make use of social media marketing as a strategy to reach your target audience and pique their interest in the products and services you offer.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have creative tools that can help the contents you will post. On top of that, you don’t have to pay a large amount of money just to create a page for your small business because it is free. You only need to know how to properly utilize their tools and features. You can also consider paid ads such as Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads for better targeting. Don’t worry, you don’t need to break the bank to advertise your business on these platforms because you will be the one to set a budget or create a bid for your ad’s placement. Through these targeted ads, you can potentially increase your engagement, brand awareness, and conversion rate.
4. Optimize Contents for SEO
SEO enables you to increase your website’s visibility to a wider scale of audience in search engines. You can optimize your content for SEO when you are able to answer the questions of your target audience in the content you make. This helps increase your visibility and rank in search engines, leading more people to discover and click on your website and get to know your business better.
5. Create a Website
One of the ways to establish your online presence is having a website for your business. Since user experience is an important factor, you should consider going for a web design that is mobile-ready, accessible, and functional. The landing pages on your website should also include call-to-action buttons that will drive your visitors to proceed with an action that will increase conversions.
You can optimize your website for building up digital marketing strategies such as email marketing, social media marketing, SEO, and content marketing.
6. Build Trust with Your Audience
Business is not only about expanding sales, but it is also about building trust with your audience. This helps create good relationships with your customers, which in the long run can also establish a positive reputation for your business.
In order to build good relationships with your customers, you have to reach out to them and make them feel that you are listening to them. You can start a conversation by replying to their comments, feedback, or suggestions. May it be positive or negative feedback, you have to let them know that you address all of those comments. Let them know that you appreciate their positive feedback and that you sincerely want to improve your product or service by taking note of the negative feedback. Doing this will help your small business stand out and lead your customers to remember you. It is profoundly enjoyable to see your business grow knowing that you are able to make your customers happy and satisfied with your products and services.
In the event that you encounter negative feedback, here are some tips on how to handle negative online feedback from customers.
7. Consult with a Digital Marketing Agency
Digital marketing involves a lot of technicalities that only professionals in the field such as digital marketers can do. You can use your knowledge of social media and the internet to bring sales and grow your business, but it will take time in producing the results you want. It will be a series of trials and errors on your part because you will have to learn how to better market your business manually and step-by-step, which will not be good since it will consume a lot of time and effort on your part as the business owner.
If you want to get things done properly and see results in your business, it is advisable to consult with a reliable and reputable digital marketing agency. Since they are professionals that have years of experience in the field, they already know what strategies to create that will benefit your business. Digital consulting helps you save time and focus on other business matters, maintain relevance in the market, access the right marketing tools, welcome new sets of ideas, etc.
If you’re looking for someone to help you with the digital marketing of your business, contact us today, and we’ll be glad to help you!
