10 Benefits of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses
Introduction
Your small business is thriving off word-of-mouth referrals. Your social media presence is iffy at best, but you don't feel like dealing with it. You hear all the time that it's important to have an online presence for your business, but why? What are the benefits of digital marketing for small businesses?
This post covers if digital marketing is necessary and 10 reasons why you should prioritize digital marketing as a small business owner. If you're new to digital marketing and you want to join a community full of business owners managing their own marketing, click here to check out the Bloom Membership!
Is digital marketing necessary?
Before we begin, you may be wondering if digital marketing is necessary for your business. The truth is, there are so many ways to market your business. If you don't have an online presence, you're missing out. BUT that doesn't mean you can't have a thriving business without it.
First, consider your goals. Are you hitting your revenue goals? Do you have plans for growth, or plans to stay consistent? Is your community strong?
If your clients or customers are coming from another marketing avenue and you're content with your revenue and relationship with your community, then digital marketing may not be needed. If you'd like to change any of those things, you could benefit from digital marketing.
10 Benefits of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses
Here are 10 benefits of digital marketing for small businesses to convince you to expand your online presence today.
1. It's a community building tool.
My personal favorite benefit (as a marketing strategist and community builder) is that it strengthens your community. You'd be surprised how loyal Instagram followers and email subscribers can be!
Why? Digital marketing allows people to get to know you, your business, and the heart behind what you do. It builds trust and sparks deeper conversations. This is how you build a loyal following.
2. It expands your reach beyond word of mouth.
Word of mouth is powerful—trust me, I solely relied on it for the first few years in business. But there's no denying that word of mouth can only go so far.
For example, thanks to SEO and Pinterest efforts, I've had clients from all across the globe. If I solely relied on word of mouth, my client base would likely be only from Maryland or within the US at best.
3. It informs customers about your business before even meeting you.
Have you ever met an Instagram friend in person, and felt like you've known them forever? A benefit of digital marketing is that customers can gain a deeper understanding of your business and who you are before they even meet you.
You may see the other end of this by scoping out a restaurant on Google. Perhaps you look through photos on Yelp. You watch some TikToks of the fancy cocktails. All of these aspects boost your excitement to visit and help you understand what to expect.
4. FOMO can be used in an ethical way.
FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a popular and effective marketing strategy. By seeing your content, upcoming events posts, weekly specials, etc., you're creating FOMO in an ethical way.
A potential customer sees your content, and they naturally don't want to miss out—they want to take advantage of the limited-time offers you have.
5. It helps your customer discover you.
Don't you want to make it easy for people to find you? If you own a hair salon, think about how many people search Google for "hair salons near me". If you don't utilize digital marketing and aren't on the list, your customer can't be served by you.
You expand your horizons and the amount of people you can impact by leaning into your online presence.
6. It connects you to other small businesses.
This is an underrated benefit of digital marketing—using it to build relationships with fellow small business owners. On platforms like Instagram especially, small businesses in the same area LOVE to support each other.
Just in my city, I've connected with coffee shops, bars, restaurants, hair salons, makeup artists, and more from Instagram alone. We support each other's content, and there's always potential for us to collaborate down the road.
7. It drives people to your website and email list.
When you focus on your digital marketing efforts, your ability to serve people expands. Now you aren't limited to only helping clients and customers—you can serve people on your email list with information and resources. You can drive traffic to your website to answer FAQs and help leads find what they're looking for.
Both website traffic and your email list are key indicators of the health of your business, and prioritizing online marketing supports those two metrics. Don’t have an email list yet? Click here to try Flodesk, the email marketing platform I recommend, for free and get 50% off your first year!
8. It allows you to share stories, and stories sell.
Do you want to increase sales? Tell more stories! Stories connect you to your audience, because they allow you to go deeper. Stories are easier for people to remember and share with others than pure facts are. Stories build trust, and trust often leads to sales.
9. Digital marketing involves a low overhead and high ROI.
Aside from paying for ads or hiring additional people for your marketing team, digital marketing often has low overhead. It's worth the investment to get your custom marketing plan (something I often do with clients in my 60-minute strategy sessions or inside the Bloom Membership), but once you have that, managing and maintaining your marketing doesn't have to take a lot of time or money.
The best part? The ROI, or return on investment, of digital marketing can be quite impactful. To ensure you're getting the most bang for your buck (or time), track your efforts and put the most time into the marketing avenues that are already working for you.
10. Loyal customers become raving fans.
Digital marketing is your ticket to turning loyal customers into raving fans. Once you get an online presence going, you'll see your favorite customers supporting you in the comments, sharing your blogs, and tagging you in their posts. You're building community every time you log on.
Looking for digital marketing help?
If you're ready to prioritize digital marketing for your small business but you need some help, the Bloom Membership is the place to be.
This community brings together small business owners across all different niches to brainstorm with each other, virtually cowork together, hold each other accountable, and support one another. I'm in the group daily writing paragraphs of custom feedback, so you essentially get personalized marketing support without spending thousands of dollars.
Click here to learn more about the Bloom Membership and join the community!
