The world is accelerating, and with-it digitalization. It has literally entered our daily life, but also in the sphere of the professional environment. Users today are hyper-connected. Everything must be a click away, fast and efficient. More and more companies have understood this, it is a real challenge for them. Most bosses have started building a digital marketing plan for their small business. According to the France Num 2021 barometer, carried out by CREDOC for the DGE: “66% of the companies questioned have a website presenting their activity, excluding social networks. They were 37% before the crisis. “. They must be present on the web, inform and interact with their customers. In 2021, 81% of them have at least one online visibility solution. But, is it enough? Are you the manager of an SME and are you asking many questions about how best to approach this development? You should probably ask yourself about the cost, the method of organization or the communication tools to adopt. Here we show you how to develop a digital marketing strategy for your SME and the steps to achieve it.
Analyze the situation of its market and its competitors
This is a prerequisite that should not be overlooked before implementing your digital marketing strategy. Ask yourself about your web positioning and check if your company has the skills to achieve the planned objectives. Audit your online presence and that of the competition.
You can use the SWOT method (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) which will allow you to identify the strengths and imperfections of your company:
- Strengths: its expertise, its added value;
- Weaknesses: its shortcomings;
- Opportunities: the elements on the market that can promote its development, the axes to be taken advantage of;
- Threats: its adversaries, the prices charged, the constraints to be respected.
At the same time, study the digital communication of your rivals. Observe their ranking on search engines. Identify the tools and means they used. Also analyze their techniques, especially those that have had repercussions. Thus, you will be able to draw inspiration from it to build your SME’s action plan.
Define the objectives and the typical profile of the personas of your company
Once the audit is done, set specific goals to achieve with the SMART method. They must not only be stimulating for the project team, but also achievable, estimable and profitable for your company. Then you will have a well-defined idea of the tasks to be accomplished. Here are the 5 criteria of this technique:
- Specific: your objectives are simple, concise and clear;
- Measurable: they have a numerical value to be assessable and quantifiable. This is so that you can follow it up, assess the results and make adjustments if necessary;
- Reachable: they are accessible and daring to arouse the interest of your employees;
- Realistic: they are relevant to the expected purpose;
- Temporally defined: set a deadline not to be exceeded so as not to get lost in your tasks and better organize yourself.
In order to approach and attract new customers, you need to identify your ideal target and their behavior. Who is she? What are its requirements, its motivations? Where to find it? But also, his age, his socio-professional category, his way of life, his habits, etc. You have the possibility of determining several of them. This phase is crucial to better discern your clientele, refine your offer and personify it.
Develop a digital marketing strategy for your SME
Designing a marketing plan can quickly become expensive. So, budget it right from the start. Then determine the most appropriate channels to reach your target by identifying those where it is located. They are multiple and more or less expensive. Web text messaging, for example, is a cost-effective, fast, easy, and reliable tool that can be easily added to your communication mix. You can possibly rely on a digital agency such as Wiki Specialist INC that will be of great help and will accompany you throughout your project.
To optimize your online presence, you have several possible fields of action:
- the creation or improvement of a website, a blog, or an e-commerce site;
- social media to interact with your subscribers, retain them and increase your audience. Detect the one that is most suitable for the coveted prospects;
- emailing (newsletter);
- a mobile app.
To maximize your SME’s visibility on the web, use the inbound marketing approach. It aims to capture the attention of your potential customers by publishing content (texts, videos, audios). You can thus optimize the existing pages of your website or compose new articles on your blog part. Then share them on social media. This will make your site more dynamic and therefore increase your indexing on search engines.
Call on a professional, the web editor. It will capture the attention of your prospects and seduce Google’s algorithms. He can also integrate publications into your WordPress, retouch your current pages, prepare editorial schedules… you have understood that he is a real collaborator who will boost your results.
Measure the results of the digital marketing plan put in place for your small business
In order to check the effectiveness of your campaigns, analyze them regularly using KPI (Key Performance Indicator) performance indicators. You will see in this way if your objectives have been achieved or are in the process of being achieved. These barometers will also allow you to identify opportunities or areas for improvement to work on. Choose them according to your needs.
To track your website traffic, look at:
- the number of unique visitors;
- the time spent on your site;
- the click-through rate (CTR);
- the bounce rate;
- the conversion rates.
To gauge your audience on social media, monitor:
- the volume of subscribers;
- shares;
- mentions;
- les likes.
Also take an interest in your ROI (return on investment) by looking at the customer acquisition cost (CAC). It indicates the expenditure of a marketing action to transform a prospect into a customer. You can track it by operation and by digital channel. Also look at the cost per lead (CPL). This is the price of obtaining a prospect through online advertising.
Study your SEO ranking, i.e., the position occupied by your site in search engine results.
Follow the news in digital marketing
The digital world is growing exponentially, we even speak of digital frenzy. New technologies have appeared such as artificial intelligence, gradually interfering in our lives. Today’s algorithms are more efficient and far-sighted. And tomorrow, what will it be? Find out about these developments, immerse yourself in them in order to guide your future strategy. Here are the ones that are emerging or making a comeback this year:
- relational commerce: monetize or distribute your product on social media;
- short videos: expansion of this format from three to sixty seconds. They are perfect if your company wants to approach the younger generation;
- podcasts: easy to design at a lower cost and lead to a close relationship with your audience;
- interactive publication: have internet users contribute (example: games and competitions);
- the metaverse: 3D virtual world in which a user evolves through an avatar. Thus, he can have fun, create, work and interfere with other actors;
- ethical content: highlighting the values and eco-responsible approaches of your SME;