Online or digital marketing is now essential for all small businesses, schools & organisations.  As well as your website & social media it is a wider approach to marketing a business online.  With this in mind, we have created a simple step-by-step guide of what you need to consider when creating an online marketing strategy for your small business: 

Define Your Audience

A great first step for marketing your business online is to create a ‘User Persona’ – putting together an idea of your target audience is going to help you in lots of ways further down the line.  Think about their gender, age & demographic – this will give you a greater insight into how to reach those people & tell them about your products or services.

List of Keywords & Hashtags

Keywords are one of the most vital components of content marketing, they help drive traffic to your content & well researched keyword use is one of the best ways to improve SEO and rank better on Google.  Keywords are for long-term benefits whereas hashtags are for more short-term results.  Although hashtags are short lived they push prospective clients  to your content within the social media platform & help you to reach users that may otherwise not have discovered your business.

Research Competition

Researching your competition is not only going to help define your own brand it is going to give you a good understanding of the marketplace you want to be a part of & where you need to concentrate your efforts online.  You need to have a clear understanding of the whole to have a true understanding of you place with in it.

Which Social Media Platforms to use

Once you have researched the market place & your competitors you will have a good idea of what platforms you need to be a part of.  Your budget may also influence your decision.  Google Local although a directory also has the facility to post & is the perhaps the only platform that is essential for any business, whereas your combination of the other social media platforms will differ depending on your business.

Organic Marketing or Paid Advertising?

Depending on which platforms you decide to use to market your brand you may require (if available) an advertising budget.  Decide this from the start, you can review it further down the line but it’s a good idea to set a figure.  Many small businesses don’t have the luxury of an advertising budget & should therefore focus on the best platforms for organic reach.

Social Media Content Calendar

Creating a social media content calendar is a great way to begin to add a structure to your advertising campaign.  Your marketing may focus around an up-coming awareness days, events or product / service launch.  Pin point the important dates & work your campaign around them.

Sample Content

Once you have spent some time researching & compiling your findings you will be in a much better position to begin creating content.  You will need great images & engaging content so begin to put together your ideas & create some sample content.  Discussing & brainstorming your ideas will help your push you to some better & successful content.

Posting Schedule

Use your social media platforms insights & analytics to better understand when your audience is online & when your content will have the most impact.

Monitor the results

Decide on a weekly / monthly schedule where you regularly check your analytics & keep track of your growth, this will give you a better understanding of what content is working best for you & allow you to see your achievements.

Refine Content

Keep your content fresh & engaging, check your analytics regularly & take note of what content works. Think creatively about how you can achieve great content that really reflects your business & what you are all about.

Red Desk are here to support small businesses with varied tasks from project administration or management through to full-scale social media campaigns.  Do get in touch if you would like to discuss your next business project with us; lindsay@reddesk.co.uk