David Hunter July 31, 2020 Digital marketing isn’t rocket science. If you have the right tools, that is.
Your digital marketing strategy will depend greatly on your overall business goals, but if you are just getting started — by moving an existing business online, starting your own business from scratch, or simply giving in (finally) to the fact that this stuff is important — you might have questions about where to even begin.
No need for fear. Here are three digital marketing tools for your small business and everything you need to know to get started using them, today.
Google My Business (GMB)
Having a Google My Business account is of the utmost importance in the digital age. It allows potential customers to search for and find your business while providing critical information such as adjusted hours, sales, additional photos, and other notable information.
Making sure you have a GMB account is the first step in strengthening your digital marketing strategies, especially for local businesses. It is this account that showcases your business as a card on the right-hand side of Google searches or in Google Maps. In most cases, this card is the first digital interaction potential customers will have with your business.
It is never too early to build your GMB account either. If you’re a new business owner just getting started, organize your account to let the public know your business is “Coming Soon.”
Canva
Canva is a powerful digital marketing tool with a great app that works well across iOS and Android platforms. Additionally, the desktop interface is equally as simple to use and Canva free offers more than enough capabilities to get you started.
We need not explain the importance of social media for your small business. But knowing why a gripping feed is important is very different than knowing how to make your profiles impactful.
A program like this — which is used to create high-quality visuals — is important to build a cohesive social media feed. With Canva, any layperson (non-graphic designer, in this case), can make an eye-catching graphic for any social media platform in a matter of minutes.
With pre-made templates or the power to create your own, import all types of static media (i.e. text, .png files, .jpg, etc.) this free app is easily worth the download if you are building your arsenal of digital marketing tools to help your small business grow.
Hotjar
While the first two digital marketing tools were pretty basic — focused on getting you started and drawing in an audience — this last one, Hotjar, is crucial in understanding your audience once they make it to your small business website.
Hotjar is an analytics tool designed to track a user’s movements and experience on your mobile or desktop website. With in-depth tracking, you can see how a user browses your site, where they get stuck vs. what draws them in most and much more.
By utilizing this tool, you can predict how customers will act when planning site updates and collect tangible evidence of how your current site and content is performing.
As you go about installing digital marketing tools into your regular workflow you may find some work better than others based on your needs and team’s skill set. Be sure to do some of your own research on other available tools to see what fits your small business best.
Digital marketing: Getting Started
Small businesses are different from larger corporations or organizations in many ways, but primarily in personnel power. That should never hold you back. Instead, you should look for ways to “work smarter, not harder” and explore programs like GMB, Canva, and Hotjar that will help you grow your small business and expand your digital marketing strategies without putting extra strain on your team.
In the world of digital marketing, there is a lot to learn, but by getting started with the basics and actually capitalizing on their strength your digital strategies will have a solid foundation for success. With these three digital marketing tools, a small business — no matter the age, prior digital marketing success, or size — can grow into a bustling eCommerce site.
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