Digital marketing strategies for small businesses

Marketing online can be daunting for a small business. With the many social and digital platforms available (Facebook, Twitter, websites,  Google+, emailing and blogs) quite a lot needs to be considered.

To help out, here are five digital marketing tips that every business should know:

• Learn by example

Digital marketing is all about how much effort business is willing to put in. While a big budget isn’t always necessary, being driven and having a desire to try new things is essential. Before jumping on the digital marketing bandwagon, business should look at the digital marketing strategies of those businesses that are doing well. Take a look at those who have a strong, loyal, online following, as well as other companies in your industry.

• Understand your audience

The goal of digital marketing is to get potential customers to engage with your brand so that you can sell your products to them. And since it is virtually impossible to do that without understanding those who you’re trying to sell to, spend time asking for feedback on your products or services, engaging with your customers wherever they are and embracing complaints.

• Communicate with your customers

There is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to communicating through digital marketing. For example, younger customers usually prefer mobile apps, whereas older customers are more likely to prefer email. So, if your business sends out emails, consider the email structure, from the subject line to the content and design. Businesses could also have a blog as part of their website. Blogs are a useful digital marketing tool because they offer a personal insight into your business, making it feel more human and approachable. Having a presence on social networks can also help raise a business’s profile.

• Understand the power of Google and SEO

SEO (search engine optimisation) means making sure your website ranks well in search engines like Google. The job of a search engine is to provide search results that are useful to the people who use them. To accomplish good SEO results, businesses need to help search engines achieve that goal by using a strong website structure, publishing relevant content, using keywords in category tags and page titles and ensuring their website is accessible on all devices.

• Focus on sales

Since digital marketing is all about sales, businesses need to be using quality accounting software to keep track of their marketing expenses to compare them with any increased sales revenue. Keep renewing marketing campaigns and testing new ideas to find out the best way to promote your products.

Seven steps for business growth

Once your business is up and running, you need to identify and understand what works and what doesn’t. Owners need to take a step back and be strategic about how and when they should grow their business.

Opportunities for business growth can be exciting, but turning an idea into a practical reality takes careful research, planning and investment. Here is a short checklist owners can use:

Review your cash flow
Growing a business starts with reviewing your cash flow. Work out how much money comes in and goes out, and use this information to plan the year ahead. Identify how much money is needed to invest in the business’s growth and what it will be used for e.g. hiring employees or buying equipment.

Review your daily processes
Could your staff be more efficient in the way they do things? Check your business practices and policies and review day-to-day processes to identify what can be improved.

Prepare your team
Having a team of skilled and committed employees is key to business, particularly to those who plan on expanding. Consider how your team can be prepared for change and business growth.

Know your market competition
Businesses must be clear about their place in the market. Look at your market share and your main competition.  

Update your website content
Before you start encouraging new audiences to visit your website or blog, check that your site’s content is up-to-date and that the website can be easily found online.

Update your communications plan
A well-thought-out communications plan identifies the key messages you want to get across to your customers.

Prepare for an economic crisis
No one likes a downturn, but since they do happen, it is important to make sure you’re ready. Review your cash flow and identify the liquid assets you have. Setting up an emergency fund may be a good idea for when times are lean.

Making the final hour of your workday the most productive

Office productivity is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. And while some people are blessed with the power of concentration, most of us aren’t. By the time the workday starts winding down, a person’s willpower badly needs replenishing. That’s why it is so hard to finish the day as strong as it was started.

Luckily, forming habits can help preserve a person’s willpower. Creating and following a specific routine can help you get the most out of your last hour at work without having to think about it too much.

Here are six strategies (broken up into two categories) every worker can implement at the end of the working day:

Before the last hour

1. Check your emails: Review any unread messages and respond to the ones that need to be addressed before the end of the day. Mark the remaining emails requiring a response as unread so you remember to deal with them later.

2. Leave your communication channels: Signing out of your inbox and leaving other messaging applications is crucial to keeping your concentration. Not being able to view your notifications means you’re not left wondering what they’re about and thus, avoiding being distracted.

3. Take a quick break: Take a couple of minutes to drink some water, eat a healthy snack or go to the bathroom. Make sure you stretch your legs, as you’ll need to stay put to ensure the last hour is as productive as possible.

During the last hour

4. Reprioritise your to-do list: Use this time to assess your list. Identify what is most important and what could be pushed to tomorrow. See if there is anything that can be entirely removed from the list. If you need to, move items so you can determine what your real priorities are.

5. Review tomorrow’s schedule: Before you get to work on the next step, make sure there’s nothing you’ve forgotten about today. Have a quick glance at your schedule for the next day to gain a sense of how busy you’ll be and what priorities will need to be addressed.

6. Do the thing: Pick the most important of your priorities to finish now and leave everything else for later. Spend the last hour making as much progress as you can.

Managing flexible working arrangements

In a rapidly changing business environment, it is essential that owners of small businesses get flexible working schemes right. Today’s employees continue to look for more balance between their personal and work lives. While some employers may think this may have a negative effect on their business, flexible working arrangements have been shown to benefit both the employee and the business they work for.

Nonetheless, it remains the employer’s responsibility to address how flexible working arrangements can be implemented in their business so all employees remain happy and satisfied. Here are some suggestions as to how employers can manage flexible working within their company:

• Get to know your employees

No two employees are the same, which means employers shouldn’t take the same approach to every situation. Some workers may need to modify their working hours due to parental commitments, and some others may be more proactive with work if they are allowed to work remotely due to travel time or mobility issues.

• Implement a system for reviewing performances

If flexible working arrangements will see employees working more outside the office than inside, then it is vital for employers to keep communication consistent. Scheduling regular performance reviews and using a system to calculate work productivity can make employees more productive since they have measurable targets to aim for.

• Recognise your legal obligations

Flexible working schemes are also an obligation under Fair Work Australia. Employers must recognise that there are statutory legal requirements that cover flexible working arrangements for people like parents, those living with a disability and those who are 55 years or age, or older. Therefore, employers need to have the latest updated legal documents, contracts and processes to ensure their business continues to work within legal requirements.

Business challenges of 2016

No matter where your business is in its lifecycle, there is no shortage of challenges that will affect its ability to grow. But there are ways owners can overcome these hurdles if they simply invest enough time and effort into planning for the future.

Here are three challenges 2016 so far that every business should consider if they want to achieve success:

• Cash flow

One of the greatest concerns for many small businesses continues to be cash flow, with the most significant negative influence being the time it takes to receive payments which affects how well small businesses can meet their ongoing expenses. Planning ahead and carefully management of cash flow can help ensure cash flow concerns don’t impact on a business’s long-term viability.

• Digital strategy

The ever-growing digital world continues to reward small businesses with a comprehensive digital strategy. Last year saw the introduction of mobile friendliness as a ranking factor for websites, due to devices like tablets and smartphones becoming the devices of choice for consumers browsing the web. Staying ahead of developments and trends, like making your business’s website is mobile friendly, will ensure your business will stay ahead of the competition.

• Succession planning

Succession planning continues to be an issue for small businesses. Family businesses, in particular, usually struggle to plan for the future, particularly in relation to preparing for the next generation. In 2016, small businesses need to spend time planning for the future in areas like succession and business continuity.

Bottom line basics

Talking about money makes many of us uncomfortable. Sometimes we’re even conflicted about wanting to make money.

Money, after all, is one of the few things left in modern life we don’t discuss openly with even our closest friends or family members. In a business context, this discomfort with money often extends to a reluctance to deal with budgets, bookkeeping, and accounting. Most of us are intimidated by numbers. More often, we just find it unpleasant to think about bills and expenses, cash flow and profit margins, and most especially, debt.

Well, if you’re in business, you’re going to have to discuss money. And you’re going to have to be able to do so without it seeming like a report card of your character. If a customer’s bill is overdue, it’s not impolite to tell them. When meeting with a prospective client, you’re not being rude when you let them know how much you charge. When hiring a consultant, it’s reasonable to ask not only their hourly fee, but how much the whole project will cost. And to set limits.

The bottom line of business, after all, is the bottom line. Of course, some of us just feel lost when we hear people using financial terms; it seems like a foreign language. So, to make talking about money – and finances and accounting – easier, here’s a handy list of some commonly-used terms.

“Red ink” or “in the red”
On accounting ledgers, negative numbers used to be written in red ink. So the expressions “red ink” or “in the red” refer to showing a loss.

“In the black”
Positive numbers, on the other hand, were written in black ink. So if your accounts finish “in the black,” you’ve come out with a profit.

The “bottom line”
At the top of your financial statements, you list your income. You then deduct your expenses. The number you’re left with on the last line of your profit-and-loss statement is how much money you’ve made — or lost. That’s your company’s “bottom line.”

Overhead, or fixed expenses, or your “nut”
These terms refer to each month’s expenses, even if you don’t make a sale. Fixed expenses include rent, utilities, insurance, and administrative salaries. Your “nut” is the total amount of these fixed expenses.

Variable expenses
Costs that change depending on how many sales you make. In other words, if you run a sporting goods store, your rent is fixed every month, but your marketing expenses change depending on how many advertisements you decide to run.

Cost of goods sold (COGS)
This refers to what it costs you to purchase the inventory you sell or to purchase the raw materials to manufacture your products.

Revenue
Total amount of money received from sales.

Income
The amount of money received from any source. You can, for example, have money coming in to your business from loans or investments.

Profit
Money you have left after deducting your expenses. There’s gross profit or net profit.

Gross Profit
The amount of money you receive after deducting the cost of goods sold and sales commissions but before deducting general and administrative expenses.

Net Profit
The amount of money you receive after deducting the cost of goods sold, sales costs, and general and administrative expenses.

Net Loss
The amount of money you’re in the red if, after deducting all expenses from all revenue, you’ve lost money instead of having made money.

Boss or leader?

Entrepreneurs like to be in charge. You start your business so you can call the shots – not someone else. But if you want to grow your business, you’re going to have to learn to give responsibility to others. The question is – how do you become a leader, not just a manager, of others?

The reality is that it takes time and attention to learn how to be a good boss. We may be good at what we do, but being a boss isn’t a natural skill. While it is hard enough to get used to the idea of having others make decisions in your business, the problem is exacerbated because many entrepreneurs never had positive role models of how to be a good manager.

Moreover, the old-fashioned concept of being a boss meant issuing orders and having others follow. Sort of a militaristic hierarchy. For some, this idea of “My way or the highway” management is still appealing. Many entrepreneurs hire their first employees with the idea that they’ll do a lot of the dirty work the entrepreneur no longer has time for. They’ll be extra sets of hands – not extra brains.  

But if you want your business to grow, you need extra brains, no matter how smart you are. Those who are on the front lines of carrying out a task – whether it be making a product, making a sale, or shipping the boxes – are usually in the best position to suggest improvements. So we need employees who can think. This requires leadership, not just management.

While this may seem self-evident, hire well. Just as it is easier to be a good parent if you have good kids, it’s much easier to be a good boss if you have good employees. You can’t choose your kids, but you can choose your employees.

When we need help, we’re often tempted to hire anyone we can get. But if you want to be confident giving someone authority, you need to hire someone you consider capable and trustworthy. Of course, this means paying a competitive salary with competitive benefits. You can’t hire good employees on the cheap.

Never give someone responsibility without also giving them authority. If you’re going to give someone a job, allow them to do it; don’t make them come back to you for every decision. This means you have to learn to be comfortable with people making some decisions that are different from those you’d make. Some decisions are just different – not wrong.  

Sometimes, however, employees will indeed make what turns out to be a wrong decision. How do good bosses handle that? They spend time with the employee learning why a decision was wrong and how to avoid it the next time rather than rehashing the history and looking for blame.  

You also have to share information. Many bosses dole out information as infrequently as bonuses. As a result, employees often don’t have enough data to do their jobs well. You can’t just hand off tasks to others, you’ve got to sit down and spend enough time so they know all the relevant details: the project’s purpose, customer pressures, deadlines, budgets. Let them know their limits: how much can they spend without coming back to you?  Be clear on the importance and priority of each task.  

Most importantly, let people know they’re being given responsibility because you know they can handle it, not just because they’re a warm body. Most people try to live up to the trust they’re shown.

Finally, recognise that while you want to be a good boss, you’re still the boss. You’re the one who sets the overall vision, direction, and standards of your company. Organisations need leaders, and employees respect fair and thoughtful leaders, especially those who also respect them.

Being smarter, not just smaller

Over the last couple of decades, few things have changed the landscape for small businesses as much as the advent of huge megastores. Small businesses now need to get consumers to understand the importance and benefit of buying local; to recognise the ripple effect on the entire community that local purchases and local businesses have on the economy and what happens when those close.

Small, local businesses also need to get smarter. It is not just enough to complain about supersized stores, you have to beat them. While it’s difficult to survive in today’s retail environment, it’s not hopeless, and many small companies are managing to thrive. Here’s what the survivors are doing:

Specialise
Big stores aim at big markets; they can’t afford to market to and serve niche markets. You can. Identify a segment of the market with special needs and tailor your offerings and service for them.

Compete on your terms, not theirs
You won’t be the low-price leader; they will. So don’t try. Instead, clearly differentiate yourself from them. Make the experience of doing business with you as different as possible from going to a superstore. That means you’ll have to be more convenient, more service-oriented, more responsive.

Differentiate what you sell
Offer a mix of products and services that are clearly distinct from the big competitors. Make it hard for a shopper to find the exact same thing elsewhere.

Outsmart them
Big businesses move slowly; you can adapt to new trends and market developments more quickly. Stay abreast of industry and market trends and keep informed. You can’t just take care of day-to-day business; you have to plan a strategy for even the smallest company.

Use inexpensive marketing approaches
Big businesses have to spend a fortune on marketing. Keep your marketing costs low by using approaches such as trade shows, public relations, customer retention and referral programs.

Improve employee training
Megastores often provide better training — at least in sales techniques — to their workers. Small companies often neglect to train their workers adequately. Make sure they know the products and know how to interact positively with customers.

Using social media as a tool to enhance the business

With everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon, there is no surprise that businesses are using the continually evolving digital platform as a valuable marketing tool.

For those who are yet to be swept up in the hype of our radically changing cyber space, the question is not whether they will join the masses, but when.

With around 1.59 billion Facebook users alone and hundreds of social media sites worldwide, it is impossible to deny its prevalence, and increasing dominance and influence in society.

Because of the internet’s immediacy and anonymity, businesses are able to gain a virtually accurate reading of how customers perceive the business.

Social media allows businesses to gain a real understanding of your customers.  It is also a great platform to throw out new ideas and see how customers respond. What would they like to see from the company, what would they like to be improved, or abandoned altogether.

LinkedIn is a great business networking site for both communicating with the target market and also seeking prospective staff. This site, which is aimed at business professionals, directs potential customers through their connections with others. Each user compiles a list of connections, which they trust and therefore promote to their own connections.

Businesses can also recruit for prospective staff, or request for referrals through their personal network of professionals on LinkedIn.

Securing the business’s presence online

Businesses are becoming more concerned with having an online presence; however they should also be concerned about the security issues that this can cause.

There is always a risk of malicious campaigns or viruses occurring online in an attempt to infiltrate business systems.

Even if the business is not directly active online, its employees most certainly are. This can prevent a risk if the employees are discussing the business online, or if they are accessing their social media accounts on the businesses computers.

The best way to approach the businesses security online is through a frequently reviewed set of procedures and policies. However, there are a number of ways to secure the business’s online presence:

• Create a policy and procedures document on social media activity within the business. Ensure that all employees are familiar with it, and what they can and cannot do concerning their personal online presence.

• Double check when opening a link from a social media page on business computers as hackers may create false pages to obtain a business’s log in details.

• Ensure that the business has different emails for each social media platform. If hackers are able to get their hands on the email for one site, they are likely to attempt to hack different accounts.

• Advise employees to choose their online friends wisely and that it is not wise to accept friend requests from people they do not know.

• Hold regular workshops and seminars with employees and technical assistance to educate them on the latest security practices and what dangers they may be facing online.