The landscape of digital marketing is constantly shifting, with various technologies and platforms evolving and new ones constantly coming online. For small to medium businesses (SMBs), having a strong, current strategy is vital, which is why we must focus on the 2024 digital marketing strategies. People often don’t truly realize how good your business is until they become your customers, highlighting why marketing is essential.
Lesson Learned: Marketing Trumps Technology
While having a superior product is important, marketing often dictates success. Consider the joint venture between IBM and Microsoft in the 1980s, which produced the personal computer line known as the PS2 and the operating system OS2. Following a split between the corporations, Microsoft developed Windows, while IBM continued with OS2, both being multitasking operating systems. OS2 was technically far superior—much more robust—while early Windows versions were glitchy and had terrible graphics. Yet, Microsoft dominated because they were “a whiz at marketing”. They knew how, where, and who to fish for, ultimately winning the market share. IBM finally ceased production of OS2 and the PS2 about 14 years later. The lesson is clear: marketing matters more than just having the better product.
Step 1: Start with a Plan
Do not get involved in the details of digital marketing—which are numerous—before first setting out a plan. Luck is not a strategy. Like surgeons, Navy pilots, and home builders, business professionals must follow a plan for their marketing.
The first crucial step in this plan is to identify your target market. You must clearly define who your client is and what specific problem you solve for them. This succinct understanding will help craft your messaging.
To solidify this, you need to create a Buyer’s Persona. This is a fictitious person who would use your services or purchase your products. You should determine their lifestyle, where they frequent, and what they like. This persona informs the platforms you choose and the systems they use daily to find the services they need. For instance, if you are selling high-end fishing poles to retired individuals who take long vacations, you probably wouldn’t aim your message at teenagers.
Step 2: Clarifying Your Message
Once the target market is defined, clarifying the message is critical. You need to be able to tell anyone about your company succinctly, without overwhelming them, ideally in 30 to 90 seconds.
A powerful tool for this is the oneliner or elevator speech. In networking groups, you often only have 30 seconds to a minute to tell the group about your business. The elevator speech must present three components:
1. The Problem of the customer or client.
2. The Solution (how you solve it).
3. The Reward (how they are better off as a result).
A well-crafted oneliner is a sentence or two that clearly explains your business offering and why people should buy from you. For example, if an airline called Cloud9 Airlines presented the problem as “being crammed into a teeny seat,” the solution/reward would be providing the desired legroom and elbow room, allowing the passenger to arrive refreshed.
On a company website, the messaging challenge is even greater: you have only 15 seconds to convey who the client is, what they do, and how visitors can access the service.
Step 3: Determining Channels (The Places)
After crafting your message, you must determine the channels that will carry it. These are the platforms your buyer persona uses.
For businesses that rely on location or experiences (like tour guides, hotels, or restaurants), platforms like TripAdvisor are critical channels for creating a profile and gathering reviews. Most businesses should also have a website that is connected to these channels.
You need to secure or claim your online listings on these platforms and add appropriate categories so that your business starts showing up in various searches.
Key Online Platforms and Directories
While this list is not exhaustive, here are some critical platforms to focus on:
• Google My Business: By far the largest platform; essential for virtually any service. You can list your address, link your website, and add photos. To access it, go to google.com/business.
• Facebook Local Business Page: Useful for customer engagement. Bing.com uses Facebook for search, pulling in reviews and address details for its map search.
• Apple Maps: Growing, but still smaller than Google. Apple iOS (Siri) pulls its rating system from Yelp reviews.
• Yelp: You should claim your free listing. However, unless you pay money or receive a large volume of reviews, your profile will be slim and weak, preventing you from uploading photos or featuring your logo.
• Bing for Business: An essential platform.
• Nextdoor: Designed to connect people within local communities.
• Premium Options: Angie, Houzz, and Zillow are premium options, with Angie typically requiring payment for home service providers.
Google: The King of Local Search
Google is currently the reigning leader in local search.
1. Google My Business (Regional Service): If your business does not have a physical store or office, you can set up your Google Maps profile as a regional service. You must provide your personal address to Google, but it will not be displayed to consumers. Instead, you specify the cities or zip codes you service, allowing your listing to show up in searches within that area.
2. Google Local Ads (Guaranteed/Verified): Google offers Local Ads, also called Google Guaranteed or Google Verified. If your business falls into one of the almost 100 available categories (e.g., contractors or pool cleaners, but not digital marketing companies), you can sign up to run these ads. Verification requires a background check (via Social Security), uploading your business license, and insurance if needed. Once verified, your listing appears at the top of the mapping list marked as “sponsored” or “ads”. Google even offers to compensate customers up to $2,000 for their loss if they use your verified service and are “ripped off”.
3. Website Optimization (Local SEO): For a local service company, your website should contain Local Schema. This jargon refers to various codes embedded in the HTML that present critical local information to search engines, including your organization name, geo-coordinates, operating hours, address, reviews already received, and local business type. This helps search engines geolocate you so you are more likely to appear on local search lists. Furthermore, you can enhance local SEO by creating service pages that present your location, mention local services and sites, and include testimonies that reference specific geographic locations (e.g., “Mary in Lynnwood, Washington said…”).
Step 4: Count the Cost
A fundamental part of your marketing plan is constantly evaluating and counting the cost. Your marketing is effective if the customer lifetime value (CLV)—how much you can make from a particular client—is greater than the acquisition cost of that client.
If you are handling your marketing yourself (DIY), you need to assess the cost of your time spent on setting up profiles, creating content, or attending networking meetings. Be aware of whether you are spending excessive time on platforms like social media if you rarely receive converting leads.
Alternative: Business Networking
Advertising can become costly, especially when facing high competition. If you are just starting out or cannot afford extensive advertising, business networking groups are an excellent alternative. These groups—such as BNI, Meetup, La Tip, or your local Chamber of Commerce (e.g., Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce)—are designed to meet other business professionals and share referrals.
The core concept for receiving referrals within any business network is that people need to know, like, and trust you. This requires spending time with group members and building strong business relationships.
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