Are you still advertising offline? If so, why? And are you seeing results? Creating an online presence could be the key to the success of your business and right now you’re shying away from getting online due to being scared of getting it wrong. However, having a go is better than not trying at all and we’re happy to help up get started.
Why get Online?
Has your competitors Facebook page popped up on your feed recently? That wouldn’t be surprising since a recent national survey carried out by Business Matters concluded that 76% of small and medium sized businesses do all of their marketing online, allowing them to slash their advertising spend but see improved results. So by ignoring the need to build an online presence you’re already lagging behind your competitors. Small and medium sized businesses, like many of the clients we currently work with here at Purple, are turning to digital marketing for an improved return on investment. 47% of survey respondents stated online marketing was cheaper but still played a huge part in their annual income figures. 10% even said that digital marketing had become the sole contributor to their annual income! Other benefits include being able to tailor their marketing efforts to suit their business and customers a lot more effectively. And, unlike with many offline methods the results are easily measurable-analytics tools are completely free and will highlight your successes.
The Fear
A clear issue highlighted within the survey was that digital marketing is time consuming and difficult due to the ever-evolving technology and methods. To be successful online you need to be in the know. What you were putting out there online last week might have done well but do it again the following week and you could see it flop and your effort wasted.
The most popular online marketing method for smaller businesses is social media, with over 80% of respondents using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to market their businesses. You may be a wiz when it comes to using the networks for personal use but running business accounts is a whole other kettle of fish. It takes years to fully understand the ins and outs of each platform to utilise them effectively to benefit your business. We work on the networks every single day and are often surprised with new features for us to get out heads around-goodness knows why the creators decide to make it all so complicated!
How can we Help?
We regularly have clients approach us hesitant to leave behind traditional marketing methods-it’s all they’ve ever known and switching online seems complicated and like one big hassle. But that hassle turns out to be worth it. As we mentioned, many SME’s are able to cut their advertising budgets-getting rid of magazine adverts they weren’t even sure were working in favour of personal, varied content with measurable results.
Are you looking to switch to a digital marketing strategy? To be honest we think you’d be mad not to-it can be as simple as posting carefully constructed content on Instagram a few times a week. We’re happy to help with all things digital whether that’s just a few pointers on how to grow your following or a complete overhaul of your social profiles and help creating interesting content that’s going to generate noticeable results.
Get in touch if it’s time for you to take your business online for 2019. We spend hours researching the latest trends and methods to get noticed online and we’d love to see what we could do for you and your business.