| 5 minute read |

Whether you run a local clothing boutique, a micro brewery or a landscaping company, there is a group of eager buyers just waiting to be connected to your business—and they’re waiting online. But when you’re focused on serving your customers, managing your employees and maintaining operations, it can be difficult to find the time to work on growing your small business.

Here are five digital marketing functions you can easily outsource to reach a larger audience and increase revenue.

1) Google My Business

Google My Business is an easy-to-use online tool that businesses can use to promote themselves across Google. The best part? It’s free! Google My Business helps potential customers that are submitting an online search or a Maps query to connect to businesses. If a user searches for a term related to your business, they could be directed to your website based on their proximity to you, or based on the keywords they have entered and how well they match your website’s content. Get started today by visiting the Google My Business webpage.

2) Social Media

For small businesses, the benefit of social media is that your buyers are almost certainly present on some digital channel. If you sell clothing for young women, you might use Instagram as a key part of your visual sharing strategy. If your buyers are senior executives and you sell software to businesses, you will likely have an easier time reaching them on a professional platform like LinkedIn.

Whatever the case, social media offers you the unique opportunity to connect with your audience by offering them value in the form of content that matters to them. Social media also boasts some of the most affordable platforms for advertising, with some of the most targeted audience specifications.

3) Search Engine Optimization

If you’re wondering why one of your competitors appears on the first page of a Google search while your small business appears on the third, it’s likely because they have invested in a digital marketing strategy called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Effective SEO requires an ongoing investment of your time, but the stats prove that its worth it. The first organic listing on a Google search results page gets 33 percent of search traffic, according to Search Engine Watch. The second listing gets 18 percent, and results continue to drop off from there on.

We won’t go too far into the technical side of SEO, but feel free to reach out if you have questions as to how it works and why its worth investing in.

4) Content Marketing

Content marketing is exactly what it sounds like—creating engaging content that educates your prospective customers on what you do, how you do it, and how it can benefit them. Content can be produced in many forms: blogs, white papers, videos, podcasts, product sheets, brochures, and so on. Check out our previous blog post on creating content for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Content marketing naturally integrates with your other digital marketing tactics. For example, blogging with keywords that your customers search online can help improve your SEO, videos and podcasts can be shared on social media, and new product sheets can be integrated into your email marketing strategy.

5) Email Marketing

Email marketing is a fantastic tool for small businesses. Not only is it cost conscious, but if done right, it can be one of the most effective marketing tactics. Since you are marketing to an opted-in list of customers or prospective clients that are already interested in your products or services, the audience is already engaged and potentially ready to buy.

Offering your email marketing subscribers information on product discounts, new and exciting services, rewards programs or other incentives could be just the push they need to make a commitment and buy from your small business.

Want to learn more about digital marketing for your small business? Feel free to slide into my DMs, send me an email or give me a call to talk shop.