Gone are the days when pamphlets/flyers in letterboxes, small print ads in local newspapers, booths at trade shows, and posters on community noticeboards were enough to market small businesses.
Sure, maybe you’re still utilising one or more of these marketing channels, depending on what industry you’re in and what customers you serve.
But suppose you’re not utilising the power of digital marketing and social media. Then you’re ultimately leaving money on the table and missing out on getting new eyeballs on your business.
Why digital marketing?
While the benefits of digital marketing are vast and could be preached about in an entirely separate (and long) blog post, some of the core benefits of digital marketing for New Zealand small businesses (well, any business for that matter) are:
- Growing your brand, reaching new customers and establishing authority in your industry
- Measurable results – track your marketing efforts, ROI, and ROAS (return on ad spend)
- Highly targeted channels to reach your ideal customers
- Low entry-level costs – you don’t need a large budget to start online advertising (and don’t forget that it’s free to set up any social media account)
- Many different digital avenues are available, of which the most relevant can be used to suit your specific business and needs
Whether you’re a local brick-and-mortar business or a national service provider, your customers are online.
So why aren’t you?
Let’s go through 5 essential digital marketing tactics that small New Zealand businesses need to be adopting in 2019 to market their business effectively:
1. Social Media
Social media marketing is one of the most prominent ways to market your business online. To avoid getting overwhelmed with the options available, utilise the platforms most suited to your business/industry (such as LinkedIn if you’re a B2B-focused business). Some of the main keys to success on social is consistency and using social media not as a billboard to shout your promotions from the rooftops, but to provide value, engaging content and to build an online community.
Remember: Social media is a long-term game, not a short-term fix. One Instagram post won’t explode your business – unless a huge influencer has posted about it!
Better yet, outsource to a freelance Social Media Manager to take it off your hands and build your brand online for you!
2. Online Advertising
Paid online advertising is one of the key ways so many businesses are able to grow and scale fast. But don’t let the word “paid” put you off! You don’t need a corporate-sized budget to start making your mark online and reaching new customers. Whether you choose AdWords or Facebook/Meta Advertising (or both, ideally, as they’re very different ad platforms and therefore have different benefits), start small and scale as you begin to generate results.
p.s. As a Social Media Manager, I also operate as a Meta Ads Specialist where I can manage your monthly campaigns to generate higher reach, website traffic, leads, and customers for your business.
3. Website
Your website is highly important for your digital marketing presence. It is crucial to keep this user-friendly and updated with your current information and, ideally, regular new content such as a blog to help with SEO. What’s more, make sure your website features essential information such as what your business is (“about”), how you help your customers, what services you provide and your contact information.
One last note: You could have the best Facebook Ads on the planet sending traffic to your website, but if your website and/or landing pages are bad, that traffic is less likely to convert!
4. Email List
Now that you have an updated and swish website, it’s time to build your email marketing list. Have a pop-up subscribe form on your website and keep a form embedded on each webpage to make it easy for (and to encourage) your website traffic to subscribe.
Your email list is made up of “warm” ideal customers, so it needs to be nurtured with regular mail-outs (you decide whether daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly is appropriate to your audience). This will help them along their “buying journey” to eventual purchase/booking.
5. Content Creation
As you may have already heard, “content is king”! Content is a broad term and so can include a myriad of different formats, such as the written word (e.g., a website blog, case studies, whitepapers), video (e.g., YouTube channel, Instagram Stories, a “how-to” series of clips), and audio (e.g., podcasts).
Producing all of these types of content will likely require the help of a freelancer or an in-house marketing team! So if you’re not ready to outsource help, choose the type of content that is most relevant to your business and its audience, and the content you are most comfortable with producing (e.g. if you’re a bit of a writer, create a new blog post each week to put on your website with thought-leadership in your industry that helps educates your target customers).
Of course, you should share this new content with your email list and on your social media channels!
So there you have it, 5 key digital marketing tactics to help propel your small New Zealand business into a giant in the online space.
But I know that it can feel exhausting thinking about all the different digital marketing tactics that need to be executed. There’s only so much time in the day to get it done and run a business.
Which is why I am here to help. I work with New Zealand businesses who are ready to invest in their online presence. If you’re looking for social media or content writing help, contact me to book a free call to discuss your needs.
Feature Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash