We have learned something about the COVID-19 epidemic: it is that virtually anything can happen. This includes meetings, gym classes, and networking events. It turns out that digital is a great platform for business.
Between February and May 2020, social distancing measures resulted in twice the e-commerce sales in Canada than in the previous year. The trend is similar south of the border in America: An IBM August 2020 U.S. Retail Index shows that the pandemic has accelerated ecommerce adoption by five year, while an McKinsey October 2020 report showed that digitization of customer interactions and supply-chain operations has been at least three years faster. Digital approaches won’t go away. This is why it’s crucial to be familiar with the tools available to you and how to use them to create a strong strategy. Enter Avery Swartz. She is a Toronto-based digital market consultant. Camp Tech offers training in digital marketing for individuals, small businesses and non-profits. She shares her thoughts on how to improve your SEO and build an audience on social networks.
Do not put all your eggs into one digital basket
Swartz states that digital marketing skills will be relevant well after the pandemic. However, small businesses have many options. Online channels aren’t the only way to market a company. Let’s take a look at it as a whole: There are many offline marketing options, including events. Even though we are looking at online channels, the best strategy is social media, search engine optimization and paid advertising.
Data is your friend
Swartz states that most small businesses don’t need “mega dashboards” to track everything from website bounce rates to Instagram reach. I love scrappy. She suggests that you simplify the task by asking yourself this question: Where do you want your business to go in six months to one year? Make a list of your marketing efforts and then choose a metric that will help you determine if you are getting closer to your goal. Congratulations! You now have a key performance indicator. Make sure you are tracking the right things. Your KPI should not be just the number of new subscribers. It should also be the number and frequency with which each email is forwarded. If your goal is to attract new customers outside of your existing audience, you may want to track how many clicks a paid advertisement earns. Digital marketing is lacking confidence. You want to be confident that you have five new subscribers today, and know why. Data can help you achieve this confidence.
Your audience is yours
Swartz states that while social media can be a great tool for building a company, it is also a good way to build your own online presence. Consider the Cambridge Analytica scandal. After news broke about the misuse of Facebook user data by the consulting firm, the platform started rejigging users’ newsfeeds. This deprives business pages of the content they want, and prioritizes content from friends and family over content from businesses. Post visibility dropped for many small businesses. The same thing can happen on other platforms.
“Social media can be amazing until the purpose of the platform changes. Then you’re kind of knocked to the knees. Don’t try to build your castle on someone else’s property. She advises customers to sign up for your email list. Swartz likes email because it is less time-consuming than other social media and less expensive than advertising. But, the best part about it is that you can directly access your customers. They are more likely to stay with you if you send them meaningful, relevant, and engaging messages. She says that there is a boatload of data showing that people who sign up to email lists are more likely stay on them.
Invest in SEO
Although it’s not glamorous or fast, search engine optimization can pay dividends, Swartz states. Let’s get started: create a website. Although it doesn’t need to be fancy, you will need to sign up for an email (see Swartz previous point) as well as some copywriting that speaks directly to your customers in their language. She says that it’s not about ‘we have the best product’. “Don’t center yourself, centre the customer.” The copy should also include keywords. These are words that someone might type into a search bar to find a business similar to yours. This helps search engines direct visitors to your site.
The smart digital marketer will then want to get backlinks. These are links that point to your site from other sites. Swartz uses the example of Mean Girls to illustrate this. “So, Lindsay Lohan’s character Cady shows up. She has been homeschooled all her life so she is practically an unknown quantity. She is unknown to anyone. We don’t know whether she’s cool. She makes friends with the most popular kids at school, and everyone else notices. Swartz claims that backlinks are equivalent to Regina George’s cosign. Backlinks, which are the confirmation that others agree with you, are keywords that tell search engines that your website has the information they need. Swartz states that getting listed on citation websites like Google My Business or Yelp can help “up your visibility in local search.” “Let’s say you are a Toronto area pizza shop. Google will show you more results if you’re listed in several online directories that include your address.
Use your advertising dollars strategically
The best part about online advertising is its speed. You can easily advertise your new loungewear to 20,000 people in Toronto with a Google Ads Pay Per Click campaign. It will cost you, and that may not be the best way for you to spend your money, especially if your business is bootstrapping. Google ads can be very expensive and you can spend a lot of money quickly. She says that if you do not have a budget, you won’t see enough data to determine if it is working. Swartz recommends that you budget for $1,000 per month for three consecutive months in order to get useful results. She advises that if you have less than $100 per month for three consecutive months, then it’s time to enjoy Facebook. You can also look into niche channels if you have $50 or $100 per month. This could be buying an ad, a mention on a blog, newsletter, or possibly hiring an influencer or running a contest.