It’s a no brainer that getting more people through the door is the key to growth for small and medium-sized businesses – ok, any size business, really. If you’ve been relying on traditional (meaning non-digital) means of advertising as a business owner, you’re probably seeing a slow trickle of new traffic, rather than an increasing stream that you need to grow and thrive. Investing in online marketing campaigns can provide a serious boost to your business.
You need a strategy for maximizing your potential to attract a wider audience and generate an increase in traffic. Considering that the modern marketplace is increasingly digital, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that online marketing is how you’re going to attract more customers, encourage repeat business, and continuously build your brand awareness.
Why Invest in Online Marketing?
The fact is, the majority of consumers search for specific products and services online before they even consider other avenues of contact. For your business, there’s no better way to reach a broader audience, earn their trust, and nurture them into customers than with online advertising.
Still a little hesitant about dipping your toes into the world of online marketing? Take a look at some of the reasons for implementing an online marketing strategy.
Everyone Is Online
The overwhelming majority of consumers today are connected to the internet in one way or another. Whether they’re lazily scrolling through their smartphones, or sitting in a café with their laptop, people spend hours every day online. When you want to reach more customers, you go where they can be found, and today that’s through internet marketing.
The digital landscape is also where you’re going to find your competitors. Devoting some effort to online marketing means you’re on an equal territory with the companies that are competing for your business. You get the chance to see how they’re engaging with your shared customer base, and how those customers are responding. This can help you develop a more effective strategy for attracting a wider customer base.
You’re Playing a Numbers Game
Ok, marketing isn’t just about numbers, but your ability to reach a wider audience through online marketing is a huge advantage over traditional marketing strategies. With traditional strategies, you’re relying a lot on chance. You’re sitting there with your fingers crossed, hoping they heard your ad on the radio or didn’t immediately toss your mailer into the recycling bin.
With digital marketing, you’re reaching a broader audience – which is important, but you’re also reaching an audience that’s more targeted. This means that instead of reaching the masses and only having a few pay attention, the larger audience you do attract is one that’s more likely to have an interest in engaging with your business.
Brand Recognition
There are a lot of businesses out there, many just like yours, that are all competing for the attention of the same audience. There needs to be something that differentiates your business and sets you apart. For today’s digital consumer, that thing is brand recognition.
Online marketing helps you build a consistent brand across multiple digital platforms including social media channels, email marketing, pay-per-click ads like Google Adwords, and content marketing like sponsored blog posts. As customers develop more familiarity with your brand, they’re also more likely to stop, pay attention, and engage with you online. This opens the door for new possibilities with your target audience.
Affordability
As a growing business, you want to get the most bang for your buck from a marketing standpoint. Online marketing is one of the most cost-effective means of reaching new and existing customers, which means for every dollar spent, you’re maximizing your reach compared to other ad strategies.
With online marketing, you also have the advantage of being able to quickly access metrics on your marketing performance. If something isn’t working, you learn about it faster and you have the information and tools to make quick adaptations to generate more positive results. With traditional marketing strategies, time and money can both be wasted – which limits your ability to reach a wide customer audience.
Accessibility
You’re a consumer too, right? If you could list the perks of engaging with businesses online, what would top the list? If you’re like most people, you might cite things like more options, as well as the fact that you can shop whenever you want and reach companies outside of the standard business hours. Accessibility is a huge perk of for modern consumers, and online marketing helps to establish your business as one that’s accessible, approachable, and willing to go the extra mile to connect with customers.
Online Marketing and the Mobile Consumer
When was the last time you met an adult who didn’t own a smartphone or didn’t have one on their person at that very moment? The percentage of adults in the United States who own and use their smartphones daily is astronomical. We’re not just using them to scroll through social media either. Now, more than ever, mobile devices are how consumers are making connections with businesses.
Online marketing allows you to reach this mobile customer base – the one that’s seemingly always connected and more likely to visit a business once they make a connection. If you’re a business with a physical location, it takes a lot less nurturing to convince a mobile consumer – who might already be en route to you – to make their way through your door, than it does to generate traffic through traditional marketing strategies.
Discover How Online Marketing Can Help You Reach More Customers
As a growing business, it’s crucial that you’re consistently working towards reaching and connecting with your audience. We can help you discover the target audience that’s going to become your new customers and show you exactly how to reach them. Today, traditional marketing strategies aren’t enough. You need a successful, strategic approach to online marketing, and that is where we enter the picture.
At Double Up Digital, we’re the digital agency with a proven track record of generating results for businesses like yours. Contact us today to speak with one of our online marketing experts and start connecting to your customers today.
