For example, Instagram has been rolling out a checkout feature that allows users to make purchases without ever leaving the app. They also offer Instagram Shopping, which provides brands the ability to add tags to posts that link directly to product pages on their site. (See! That website’s already coming in handy.)

But even if you can’t take advantage of social media shopping features or don’t have an eCommerce-capable site, you can easily generate sales through online brand awareness using social media. To craft a winning strategy all you need is some creativity and time.

All too often we see businesses try to keep up with all the latest online trends by juggling a ridiculous amount of social media accounts. Far better is to focus on a select few social media channels and do it right.

Not sure where to start? Should you tweet, gram, post, tumble, or tok?

Facebook and Instagram are two of the top choices, particularly because of how well they tie-in with commerce activity and online advertising. Go ahead and add LinkedIn to that list for B2B companies. We also recommend amplifying your digital strategy with video because it routinely produces the highest ROI, and can be easily shared across all your social accounts.

Quite simply, the pandemic deepened the digital divide between those businesses active online and those who aren’t. That’s not as delightful a consequence as the uptick in knitted dog sweaters, but just as important to be aware of. But it also means that the concept of SME digitization is more important than ever!

In the not-so-distant future, every business will either need to get online or risk falling behind. Those slow to react and still reliant on more traditional business models — like brick and mortar — will fight for survival, while those that cater to customers on the internets will see their gains amplified.

Your customers (and their cats) are online. So the first step to reaching them is to get online, build an online presence, and engage them online. Emphasis on the word “online.” See a theme forming here? If you’re digitizing your business than it’s important to realize that your brand’s website cant just be an afterthought or a placeholder for your online presence – it needs to be a full-blown digital marketing hub in and of itself.

Webrooming is the consumer practice of researching products online before buying them in a physical, brick-and-mortar store. (Think visiting a showroom, only on the web.)

When users on your site become a lead, paying customer, subscriber, or take some other desired action, you’ve achieved a conversion. Digital marketing serves to target your best demographics, drive traffic to your site, keep potential customers engaged with your content and make the purchase process as streamlined as possible, thus positively influencing your conversion rates and your bottom line.

Digital marketing allows you to reach your target audience where they spend the most time online and helps you learn more about the groups you are trying to reach. By building an online marketing campaign centered around your target audience and built upon your knowledge of their online behaviors, you can make conversion rates soar.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a fundamental piece of the digital marketing puzzle. SEO begins with the process of making critical website improvements to boost user experience (technical SEO). This fundamental basis of SEO involves ensuring your website is mobile-friendly, loads quickly and is simple to navigate, allowing users to access your high-conversion pages to become paying customers.

However, the most well-known SEO practice involves the use of relevant keywords and phrases to ensure Google’s algorithm displays your website when a user searches for a relevant topic (organic SEO).

For example, if you want your homemade candle business to appear prominently when users nearby search for “scented candle,” using that key phrase strategically in your site content will ensure Google serves your website on its search engine results page (SERP). Optimizing web copy and other content can increase visibility and drive relevant traffic to your site.

Creating a relationship with customers is a must for small and local businesses to keep them coming back. In a survey conducted by The Keap, local business owners answered that one of their biggest challenges in 2019 was building a lasting relationship with customers and getting former customers to re-engage with their company.

Digital marketing offers a variety of ways that you can interact with your customers and create relationships that keep them coming back. From a live chat bar on your website to a personalized, automated follow-up email after someone makes a purchase, your business can interact with its customers frequently and effectively.

With its inception, social media created a world of ways to promote your business online. By creating a social media account for your business, you are already taking strides to make your company information more accessible to your audience. There are billions of users across several social media platforms, making social media marketing one of the most effective types of digital marketing with the highest conversion rates by far.

A social media presence is an amazing way to build your brand and reach local, regional and global consumers for small businesses. Whether you want to drive more traffic to your site or looking to create more long-term customers, social media accounts can help your business in many ways. Not only can you advertise and promote your products and services, but you can also learn a lot about your customers.

Companies need to dive deeper than common popular keywords their audience might search for. By knowing your target audience, what they’re interested in or how they may react to specific content, you’ll be able to shape your content and marketing strategies to promote more interaction with your business.

Creating content that interests your audience and ultimately influences them to interact with your products or services is what’s known as creating content that converts. Conversely, content that isn’t interesting, relevant or helpful can detract from your appeal, undermine your status as an industry expert and lose potential customers.

Digital marketing isn’t just for global corporations with a world-renowned online presence; local businesses need digital marketing to grow and thrive, as well. According to a 2018 study, 87 percent of consumers begin the shopping process by researching goods or services online, even if they intend to spend their money locally.

Whether on phones or laptops, these online searches create an ever-widening audience for your products and services. What’s especially great for small businesses is that digital marketing can help you connect with local consumers and potential customers who would otherwise be completely out of your reach.

Creating content that interests your audience and ultimately influences them to interact with your products or services is what’s known as creating content that converts. Conversely, content that isn’t interesting, relevant or helpful can detract from your appeal, undermine your status as an industry expert and lose potential customers.

So build a content strategy that keeps trends in mind, appeals to your target audience and engages readers of all types.

However, the most well-known SEO practice involves the use of relevant keywords and phrases to ensure Google’s algorithm displays your website when a user searches for a relevant topic (organic SEO).

For example, if you want your homemade candle business to appear prominently when users nearby search for “scented candle,” using that key phrase strategically in your site content will ensure Google serves your website on its search engine results page (SERP). Optimizing web copy and other content can increase visibility and drive relevant traffic to your site.