Do you have a physical place of business?

Are you struggling to get more customers to your business?

Spending too much money on flyers / newspaper ads / billboards, etc?

If you answered YES to the above questions, I have good news for you!
Digital Marketing is the way to go! Now, you have so many questions in your head… where do I start? I am not tech savvy. What marketing strategy do I follow?

Let me stop you there!

If you are not using digital platforms to grow your business, you are not only falling behind, but missing out on a huge potential. But if you are serious about scaling your business using digital marketing, below are 8 simple steps to get started.

1. In-depth Analysis of Product/Service Offered:
This step is the most crucial & is often overlooked by many businesses. Take out time to get a deeper understanding of the products/services you offer by asking the below questions:
a. How does my product/service solve a customer’s problem?
b. Are my customers happy after buying my product/service?
c. Is my product/service rightly priced?
d. How can I improve my products/services?

This will not only help you improve your products/services offered, but will also help you identify any grey areas or gaps and areas of improvement. Once you have completed this step, you will have more clarity in marketing and selling your products/services online and offline.

2. Measure Past Marketing Efforts (if any):
If you have done any sort of marketing and promotions for your products/services in the past, you would have learnt what worked and what did not work for your business. This could be valuable information in helping you promote your business online.

3. Identify Your Target Customers:
Having an amazing product/service is one important thing, marketing it is the second. When it comes to marketing a product/service using digital marketing platforms, it is very important to whom you promote or sell to, because if you are promoting or selling a product/service to a person to whom it is not relevant to, it is sheer waste of time, effort and money. Below are the demographics to consider in helping you identify the potential customers for your product/services.
a. Age group
b. Male/Female?
c. Topics of interest
d. Location
e. Relationship status
f. Are they parents?
g. Work status

Once you have identified your target audience, it will now be easier than before to promote and sell to them.

4. Website:
In today’s technology driven world, if your business doesn’t have a website, it is as good as non-existing. More importantly, a mobile-friendly website as we all know how smartphones are making everything easily available to us. So, to scale your business, invest in a really good multi-device responsive website with enough information on your products/services along with a call-to-action (enquiry form or contact number).

5. Google Local Business:
This is one of the best digital platforms to promote your business on Google for free. It’s a very simple process- go to Google My Business create an account & simply fill out all the information about your business and products/services. Make sure to add in as much detail as possible- website link, images, videos, business logo, etc and submit it for approval. Within a few days, your Google Business Listing will be live.

Now, that was just setting up your business listing, it is important to keep posting updates on your listing page to keep your target customers updated on the latest happenings, offers, trends, etc. Make sure to keep sharing image & video posts from time to time. What will help the most is reviews, get your existing and new customers to review your products/services on your business listing, this will get it ranking better on Google search results.
Look out for my upcoming blog post on how to optimize your Google business listing to reach out to more people.

6. Facebook:
According to Statista , as of July, 2019, Facebook has 270 million daily active users in India. This is the potential of this social media platform. Facebook has been one of the fastest go to digital platforms to reach out to your target customers and promote your business. You will be stunned with the number of businesses using Facebook to grow their sales. Now it’s your turn to use Facebook for your business, if you are not.

To get started, simply create a Facebook business page, fill in as much information as possible about your business and it’s products or services. Next, invite everyone on your Facebook friend list, send out a WhatsApp message to your customers, have a small poster at your place of business that says ‘follow us on Facebook’ to let everyone know about your amazing product or service.

Next, you need to keep your followers engaged with the latest updates on your offerings. Make sure, you post updates 2-3 times a week. If you don’t know what kind of updates to share, look out for my upcoming post on the types of content you need to use for your business on social media.

Now, this was the first step towards creating an awareness for your products/services. To reach out to your target customer, you will need to run Facebook Ads from time to time as relying only on organic reach, might not get you the results you are looking for. So you will need to set aside a budget for this. The best part, with Facebook Ads you can laser target your customers, they are way cheaper and have a huge potential compared to any other digital platform.

Now you must be getting overwhelmed with all this information, I’m sharing here with you. Let me make things easier for you, schedule a free consultation with me and I will ensure I help you reach your target customers using Facebook Ads no matter how small your marketing budget is.

7. Instagram:
Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform. With 69 million active users in India according to Statistica, you definitely need to have an Instagram business account.

As a digital marketer, Instagram is my favorite social media marketing platform. Why? Coz, it isn’t so complex like Facebook when it comes to reaching out to and engaging with your target audience.

So, in my opinion, you should have an Instagram business account and share atleast one post every day. A few best practices- use high quality images, keep your captions brief, a minimum of 15-20 hashtags in each post & don’t forget to add a location tag in each post.

Now, coming to the best part of Instagram, use stories, it is the best way to connect & engage with your followers. You will be surprised with the response you can get from this compared to Instagram posts.

8. WhatsApp:
Did you know WhatsApp has 400 billion monthly active users in India. That’s how popular it is today. The question is are you using WhatsApp to promote your business? If you are not, you better start today! Your next question is how? Let me clear this out for you.
All you need to do is ask your existing /new customers for their WhatsApp mobile number and most importantly their permission to send them product/service updates.

Next, you need to create a broadcast list with their numbers & you are ready to send them updates. Now don’t spam them by sending messages everyday, keep your messages to a minimum of bi-weekly or monthly. Your messages could be Images/Videos or simple text updates related to your products/services. You will be overwhelmed by the response you will get from doing this.
You can also look out my upcoming post on how to leverage WhatsApp to promote your business.

If you think you can’t spare time to do the above to grow your business using digital marketing, don’t worry… I can help you grow your business by 10X with my holistic digital marketing strategies. Get in touch with me to know how.