When you run a small business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day logistics and struggle to find the time to grow it.
Sure, you have loyal customers who keep sending their friends and contacts… but referral leads alone can’t bring you all the business you should be getting.
To really scale your small business, you need leads to reach you from a host of sources: You want them to find you via SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS, and ADS (at the very least). And that’s exactly what you can realize by staying on top of the latest digital marketing developments around these channels. So let’s see how you can approach these three core digital marketing channels in 2021 and see results as early as next month!
Here goes…
Your website *should* work 24*7*365 to generate leads for you.
But most small businesses settle for a brochure website — one that, at best, exists.
It lacks quality copy, doesn’t have all the needed SEO pages, and has poor or zero on-site SEO. As a result, it never shows up in the search results for any of its target keywords.
It doesn’t even follow basic conversion design and copy principles and fails to convert most of the leads who do land on it.
Nor does it help the brand stand out.
Just look at your website… and then at five of your competitors.
Do they have a better website? If you think so, they do.
Also, review your website’s performance:
If you discover that your website is slow (perhaps because you’re using a “heavy” WordPress theme or a slow website builder) or that it’s clunky to use on a mobile or just doesn’t convert, it’s time to get a website revamp.
There’s more…
With its upcoming algorithm update (that’s all set to go live in May 2021), Google is making “page experience” a ranking signal.
From how long it takes to load to how it’s designed, Google will score many factors about your website to determine your organic rankings — making this an excellent time to consider a design upgrade.
At 2Point Digital Agency, we’ve helped dozens of clients redo their old websites. Like this one.
From this…
… to this:
For one local business, a website redesign doubled its sales:
As a small business, can you sell entirely from your social media profile? Agreed: You can’t possibly have the full discovery to checkout sales cycle happening there (the social commerce thing!).
But can you at least say, for sure, that each time people matching your target personas stumble across your social profiles or when your followers revisit them, they see a personable, likable brand?
Said another way: You need to ensure that your social media touchpoints offer value and inspire your leads to actually drive to your center.
Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner, tells brands to humanize on social media to connect with leads in 2021 and beyond:
“Smart businesses will understand that being transparent, authentic, and even vulnerable is smart marketing in 2021. People connect with people. This means the brand should be personified in a way that reveals who they stand for and what they stand for.
Get more faces out there, create more video, and talk about what matters to your core tribe.”
To put this in perspective: If you run a salon, you could go live on Instagram every week and run, say, a series like “Haircare Tuesdays” where you show your leads how to take care of their hair on their own. You could post before and after pics of makeovers. You could tell your staff’s stories, share hair trends, or give a virtual tour of your place. And we’re just getting started.
Here’s a local eatery’s Instagram feed (managed by 2Point Digital Agency)
Running social media paid campaigns is part of this mix too.
Suppose you run a pediatric dental clinic and serve a 2-mile radius. Naturally, when someone looks up for a pediatric dentist in your target area, you’d want your clinic to show up.
Paid advertising gives you this chance. It places your business right in front of the people who are actively looking for you; about 85% of consumers search for local businesses online.
They’re all hot leads. They don’t need to be warmed up to an offer. They’re almost ready to call or visit you the same week; 88% of these local searchers actually end up visiting a related business within a week.
Consumers’ searches that show strong buying and local intent with qualifiers like (“open,” “now,” “near me,” “closeby,” etc.) have also been on the rise.
Image: A local business’s ad showing up for a high-value commercial keyword. (Google Ads Account managed by 2Point Digital Agency)
Because of these reasons, many small businesses do try the PPC channel. But they often do so on their own. And sadly, not all are able to translate their ad budgets to leads.
They don’t just lose money but also hurt their accounts and end up paying more per click.
Ideally, your cost to click/convert should reduce over time, but this takes both time and expertise.
ALL of this is about to get more challenging in 2021, with Google sharing lesser advertising data than it used to. With lower visibility into the keywords driving paid clicks to your website, you’ll have to relearn some of the paid advertising you know, if you do it on your own!
We could have well covered about a dozen digital marketing channels here… but these three would still be the ones that would contribute the most. So start with these first. What could you pick next? Most probably, the email channel.
Many small businesses that don’t have the time to keep their marketing future-proof engage us to do it. We’re their partner that does all this work for them while they work on delivering great services.
If you, too, struggle with your daily ops and can’t commit to these, get in touch. We might be able to help!
About 2Point Digital Agency: Since 2006, 2Point has been helping business owners build, manage, and expand their businesses using digital channels. Get in touch to see how we can help yours.