In today’s world, almost every business, brand, and individual has an online presence. Whether you’re a multinational company with a global reach or a local business with a small storefront, chances are you have an online presence. Your website, social media profiles, videos, reviews, and more, all form part of your digital footprint.

If you’re serious about local marketing and want to make sure you’re reaching the right audience, then you need to consider online marketing.

Why Online Marketing

The trend towards online marketing is clear – 73% of American Express survey respondents said they’d spend more on digital marketing, and 66% said they’d spend more on email marketing.

Traditional marketing methods like radio ads, TV spots, and magazine spreads aren’t going away, but you don’t need to fully rely on them. With an online marketing strategy, you can reach more people, have more impact, and track the results of your efforts.

When a customer finds your product or service online and makes a purchase, you can be certain that they’ve heard about you or your brand through another source. So when they find good reviews or see an affiliate link to a product they like, they have a better understanding of what your company is all about. They may not be a perfect fit for your product, but they’ll certainly know enough about it to make a purchase decision.

If someone visits your store or sees your products online and later decides to purchase something different, that’s okay. With digital marketing, you can track all of these touchpoints, so you can continue to optimize your efforts and grow your business.

How to Get Started

Like many new businesses, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of work that goes into running a successful marketing strategy. But don’t worry – we’re here to help. Below, you’ll find the essential components of an online marketing strategy for small businesses like yours.

1. Product Research

If you sell clothing, shoes, or accessories, you probably already do a lot of research before hitting the stores. Before you start marketing your products, you should do the same. The first step is to identify your target audience. Who are they? What do they want? What are their needs?

By answering these questions, you can create buyer personas and use this information to guide your product research. If you’re unfamiliar, buyer persona is “a fictional profile of a person who is most likely to buy your product,” according to HubSpot. So, for example, if you sell menswear, you may want to create a buyer persona who is a married businessman with four children who wants to purchase a nice bottle of scotch for himself after a hard day at work. The more you know about your target audience, the more you can tailor your product offerings to meet their needs.

Once you’ve created buyer personas, you can delve into the questions listed above with a clear goal in mind. Are they looking for a new pair of jeans? A new watch to accompany their existing jewelry collection? A way to entertain themselves while traveling? By better understanding your target audience, you can provide them with value and convince them to buy what you’re selling.

2. Website Design

If you’re just getting started, the first thing you need to do is hire a web designer to build a professional-looking website for you. You can find cheap, but you may compromise on quality. So it’s better to spend a little more money upfront on a good-quality design that will give you everything you need and more. 

Your website is your business’ digital storefront. It’s where customers find out what your company offers and whether or not they want to work with you. So it goes without saying that your website needs to be well-designed and user-friendly. The last thing you want is for potential customers to leave your site due to frustration or poor design. 

To save money, you can start with a basic website using a free platform like WordPress or Square (disclosure: Square is a HubSpot partner). But don’t underestimate the value of good design and UX. Once you’ve established a stable flow of customers, you can explore budget options and move towards a more advanced tool like Shopify, Square, or Weebly.

3. Social Media

You might be familiar with the term “digital marketing,” but did you know that social media is one of the largest and most effective tools in the industry?

If someone is searching for your product, they’re probably on social media. If they see a friend posting about your product or service, they may decide to give it a try. To ensure that you’re reaching the right audience, you can use social media to follow, connect with, and listen to people in your target area. You can also use social media to follow, connect with, and listen to people across the country and around the world.

On your LinkedIn profile, you can connect with other business owners, marketers, and executives who can help you advance your career. Plus, you can follow other business leaders, thought leaders, and luminaries to stay abreast of industry trends.

4. Email Marketing

If someone is searching for your product and makes a purchase, you’ll get an email from them thanking you for the transaction. However, if you use email marketing, you can encourage customers to come back and purchase more, even if they’ve purchased something previously. To put it simply, if you have an email list, you can send them content to keep them engaged. You can also send out special deals and discounts to entice them to open up their wallets.

While most businesses only use email to communicate with customers, you can take advantage of the platform’s functionality to engage with people across platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Using tools like HubSpot, you can organize your email marketing and gain insights into the success (or lack thereof) of your campaigns. You can even set up automated emails to be sent out on a weekly basis.

Basic Checklist

Now that you have a basic understanding of what an online marketing strategy is and why you need one, let’s look at a basic checklist to follow when developing your strategy. Before you start your campaign, make sure you’ve done the following:

• Product research – Know your products and your target audience
• Website design – Establish a functional and appealing website
• Social media –Create a presence on the major platforms
• Email marketing – Set up automated campaigns and be sure to follow best practices related to email marketing
• Optimization – Continue to optimize your site’s performance and ensure it’s appearing in the right places (search engine results)
• Measurement – Set up tracking and analysis so you can measure the results of your efforts
• Review – Reflect on your progress and what you can do better

If you’ve followed this guide and implemented the suggestions and tools mentioned above, you’re ready to move towards more advanced tactics like content targeting and automation.