Digital marketing is vital part of marketing mix of a business strategy regardless of its size .
Marketing for a local small company may include many offline local advertising methods, but it must also include a part of digital marketing strategies in order to maximize sales in today’s economy. A small business needs a good digital marketing strategy for its online business that helps its visibility to online users .
There are various Digital marketing ideas for small business for online marketing . Some of them are helpful for offline businesses, while others are more effective for those exclusively operating online. Many small scale businesses engage in multiple areas of marketing on the internet.
Digital Marketing ideas for Small Business
Take a detailed research at your targeted audience and identify where they spend most their time online. digital client base of your business might be a different audience than you’re targeting. Your budget will be an important factor in determining which digital marketing strategies to apply.
In digital marketing, a plan can be executed successfully on a prefixed budget. All it takes is some patience and time . Many digital marketing opportunities are available to business owners interested in maintaining their budget and growing their business.
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine marketing is very critical for a small business. It gives you a chance to compete with large business companies by being more visible in search engine results page. Since people use keywords to find products both online and locally, it is necessary that your company place on top in search results for search queries that relate to what you are selling. Digital marketing firms offer this service through search engine optimization (SEO), which can help your website rank higher on search engine results pages through methods such as:
- Keyword research and volume
- Internal link building
- Optimizing content to produce high-quality information.
Local Search Marketing
Location marketing includes website optimization for search results with a search engine’s maps function. with Google map, where your business can be listed with mapping and you can provide your address information, giving the targeted audience what they need to visit your company. Your phone number and website address can also be displayed to customers. Customer service option is also available if someone is interested in your product or service.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategy used to attract, engage, and retain existing customers by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This method promotes companies brand and keeps your business at the top of mind of customers when it’s time to buy what you sell.In the past, content marketing was often executed through printed brochures and guidebooks. Today, the strategy relies on delivering valuable and relevant articles and information on your company’s website that attract potential customers, and serve as a call to action.
The consistent use of content marketing establishes and nurtures relationships of your business with your prospective and existing customers.
Social Media Marketing
The term social media marketing (SMM) refers to the use of social media and social networking sites to market and display a company’s products and services. Social media marketing provides companies to engage with existing customers and to reach out new ones while promoting their business. For some companies, being in touch with their existing customers and giving them news article can be an important element of success.
Other businesses,such as a local restaurant use latest specials and new Dishes to their menu. The most important Part of social media is to use it to strengthen your customer base to achieve consistent sales.
updating on social media platforms can be difficult for small business owners with limited resources. Instead, figure out which online channels are good for your business and the customers you’re trying to reach. Are you targeting professional clients then LinkedIn might be your ideal tool. Does your marketing need a strong visual communication then Instagram could be the best fit for your business.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is crucial to a small business’s for both its online and offline activities. Email marketing is promoting products and services electronically—through newsletters, updates, promotions, or general messaging—and is reliant on building relationship with a list of existing and prospective customers. This database of names and emails consists of people who are interested in your business.
Many Digital Marketers consider this a very important, long-term small business marketing strategy.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a group of target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites, email, SMS , social media and ecommerce apps. users experience nowadays is largely increasing through a mobile device—whether they’re searching for the product or company, doing a price comparison, or actually buying a product or service.
Businesses can take advantage of technology that can target client based on time or location, like sending customers a discount code and coupons when they enter a store.
Pay-Per-Click Marketing
Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is running online advertisements where the company only pays if the ad has been clicked on. There are many types of online ads including the ones featured at the top of search engines ,Display ads and sides of a search, promotions that run before videos and ads that show up in mobile apps or while browsing online.
Some benefits of PPC marketing are that the business only needs to pay for results and impressions, and that ads can be targeted towards a specific geographic location.
The cost of PPC marketing depend on how much the company is willing to invest in advertising. Pricing is based on keyword competition—search volume of keywords that have high competition will cost more .
Regularly review your Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is an important Analytical tool of how your website is performing . It is a free analytic tool by google for tracking your website and the way visitors are interacting with it. Google Analytics offers details and information about the behavior of your users, such as how visitors are using your website, which page they are using,the overall performance and what areas need to be reassessed.
The End
If you own a small business, you need to take the above mentioned techniques of Digital marketing ideas for small business into consideration. Formulate a plan and combine it with other Digital marketing efforts. The Above areas of marketing techniques will be more important and effective, depending upon your business.
Now for faster results working with an experienced digital marketing agency could be the best decision.
Get in touch with Fernweh DomainEnroll Pvt Ltd leading Ecommerce and digital marketing solution provider in India and Ireland for more consistent and fast growth in your online business!
When it comes to business, the only thing that remains constant is change. Businesses must understand their customers’ needs and be innovative in order to withstand in the market. Every business has its own way of doing things that may have worked for years, but there is no surety that these methods will work for you in the long run. This is because, in this ever-changing world, customers demand changes with time.
It’s a good thing to own an offline retail business. However, owning both an offline and an online retail business is much better.
The ongoing pandemic has already caused irreparable harm to the entire traditional businesses all over the world. Even after this is all over, it’s highly unlikely that the offline business will remain the same.
As we all know, in this age of digitalization, buying behavior of customers are rapidly changing, necessitating the need for businesses to go online in order to reach more customers and increase their market visibility. Customers’ interest in online shopping has been increasing at an alarming rate. And the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for this new shopping trend.
Your customers, even the most loyal ones, have no other choice rather than adopting to eCommerce. Even if they wanted to, they can’t reach you in most cases. So Your customers quickly became accustomed to this new way of shopping. They begin to fall for it, and there is no turning back.
Customers who were once yours have become someone else’s. This occurred as a result of your failure to act at the right time. The best time to realize it’s time for a change is before it’s too late. It will be too late to react if you wait for your customers to inform you. You would have probably lost them.
Importance of E-commerce for Retailers
Trends in the ecommerce industry play a critical role in determining the fate of the entire retail industry. Ecommerce has a significant impact on the retail industry, influencing it to provide an equally engaging shopping experience.
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Enhanced Customer Engagement
Personalisation allows ecommerce companies to have a significant influence on customer’s shopping journey. Customized pop-ups, messages, emails, and so on aid in gathering customer reviews or feedback. This, in turn, helps ecommerce stores in enhancing the customer engagement.
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Improved Shopping Experience
AI and chatbots are a boon to the retail industry, allowing it to better understand customer conversations and provide a better shopping experience.
Retail stores are being influenced to use AI and analyze insights on customer behavior in order to streamline their product portfolio and deliver a much better retail experience. This results in a more pleasant shopping experience for the customer.
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Reduced Sales Journey
Chatbots are increasingly being used by ecommerce websites to better assist customers. Chatbots assist customers in shortening their sales journey by making product searches simple and allowing them to buy products quickly.
This will not only improve customer service, but it will also shorten a customer’s sales journey and increase sales volume.
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Improved Shipping Options
Logistics and shipping is a field that has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Small improvements, such as free shipping, have occurred in recent years, but nothing extraordinary in the shipping arena took off until 2013, when the same day delivery concept became popular.
Drones will be able to deliver products to local areas more efficiently and quickly in the near future.
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Increase In Conversion Rates Using Voice Search
In the ecommerce industry, voice search is taking the lead! It is becoming more popular, and retailers who want to increase their returns should include voice search features in their online portals as well.
All these point clearly states the importance of e-commerce and need of business transformation from offline to online.
Benefits of Moving Business Online
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Feasibility To Operate Business From Anywhere
One of the most highlighting aspects of having an online business is the ability to run it from anywhere in the world.
You are not required to live and work in the same location because all major operations can be managed online.
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Low Operation Costs
Another significant advantage of online selling is the lower cost of operation.
Because you won’t have to maintain the showroom or hire salespeople, or incur any other additional costs, your overall spending will be reduced.
In order to open the store, you’ll need to make some initial investments. But keep in mind that these are long-term investments that will pay off for a lifetime.
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No Time Boundations (24×7 Availability)
Time is one of the most significant constraints that an offline store faces. There is a limit to how many customers you can accept in an offline store.
Customers can now access online stores 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, eliminating all these boundations.
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Scalable & Easy To Reach A Wider Audience
Expansion is one of the major reasons why offline businesses fail. The challenge of managing multiple offline stores in various locations is similar to fighting a war with a butter knife.
However, by bringing your offline business online, you can avoid these issues and sell globally.
In comparison to a small town or a city, your target audience will now span the entire globe. And that’s where e-Commerce’s true power lies.
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Easy To Track The Business
Maintaining balance sheets and records is a time-consuming task that necessitates a lot of effort, time, and accuracy.
Even if you can really get all of these metrics correct, you’ll be able to analyze the actual performance (profit/loss).
In the case of eCommerce, however, everything is handled by them. All records are updated in real-time, with no margin for error, allowing sellers to track their monthly, weekly, daily, or yearly performance with just a few clicks.
Requirements/Checklist for Converting an Offline Business to an Online Business
The following are the prerequisites for taking an offline business online:
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Creating a Business Strategy
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Recognizing the Customer/Target Audience
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Deciding which products to sell
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Maintaining/Updating Inventory and Warehouse
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Attending to the Technical Requirements, such as an active internet connection, mobile phone, and so on.
How can you bring your offline business online?
Here are 12 easy steps to take to start moving your offline business online:
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Setting Up The Server – Select the right server for your eCommerce website based on its features and compatibility with your business model.
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Buy a Domain – Create your online identity by selecting an appropriate domain name for your business.
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Buy Cloud Hosting – Based on the size and needs of your business, select a secure and efficient hosting solution.
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Downloading a Framework – Choose a framework that meets all your business requirements, preferably Magento.
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Setting Up Your Website – Create your website from the scratch and move all your products to online.
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Configure POS and Payment Methods – Choose from a variety of payment gateways based on your target audience.
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Configure Shipping Methods – Include the shipping methods you want to use to ensure that your orders are fulfilled and delivered on time.
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Using PWA, build a mobile app – Develop a mobile app for your store that is highly responsive on all mobile devices.
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Check for License and Tax Compliance – Ensure that all legal obligations are met by paying attention to the license and tax structure.
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Enhance the website’s appeal – Make sure your website’s content is valuable enough to entice visitors to become customers.
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Marketing and SEO Planning – Increase your visibility by making it easier for search engines to find your websites and products.
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Exposing Your Website Via Many Channels – To attract customers, connect your website to multiple sales channels such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.
Wrapping It Up
In this article, I have shared the need for moving your offline business online. In today’s world, being online is essential for any business, that is planning to reach the wide pool of customers out there. To effectively create a business plan and goal, you must conduct thorough marketing research. As a result, it is possible to conclude that the online world is full of internet business opportunities that can indicate a company’s success.
I hope you will find the information in this article to be beneficial in moving your company to the online world. If you wish to start your online business right now, please contact us for further information. If you found this post useful and informative, please share it with your network. Please ask any questions you might have about this post in the comments section.
How long have you been planning the steps to create an Ecommerce App for your Business?Are you someone who’s still not sure about taking your medicine stores, grocery shop, supermarket store to online?The recent COVID-19 outbreak has totally changed the past scenarios. where buying and selling of goods can be done without going to shops and malls. So, it is high time to start an e-commerce app development to elevate your falling sales and services.
Developing an e-commerce app isn’t a big question . it’s a question of how to do it systematically. This blog explains the Steps to create an Ecommerce App
If an online store wants to acquire and retain customers effectively, it needs to offer the best possible customer experience in all channels. The key to doing this is by connecting with customers on all available points, providing a great experience each time.
In today’s busy world, the most effective touch point of online business is a seamless mobile experience. That’s because mobile traffic is for over 60% of all other traffic, with mobile sales quickly increasing. Furthermore, store shopper checks out the mobile site of that store as well for new updates and offers.
Check out these strong points that say people love to use in mobile than stores:
1.People love to shop online
According to a recent survey 64% of smartphone users are now using mobile phones to shop online.
According to a survey report from Clutch, the top attractive reasons for people to use e-commerce apps are as follows:
- To receive latest deals and offers(68%)
- Flexibility to buy products at any time(64%)
- Compare products and prices with other store(62%)
- Save time from the offline store(54%)
2. Small businesses perform better through mobile solutions
small business owners use mobile solutions for attracting new customers,to gain competitive advantage and to increase the sales. recent studies show that small businesses are making 30% more conversions on the mobile route than otherwise.
Steps to create an Ecommerce App
But how can we actually develop an effective mobile e-commerce app that results in more unique visitors ,engagement and sales. We have developed some successful e-commerce applications. And our experts have decade long experience in mobile app development. The process we follow at Fernweh Domain Enroll to build e-commerce applications is unique for every customer. Keep reading this blog to find out the exact steps we’ve used to build our Apps.
step 1. Identify Your Goal for your ecommerce app
Before you start creating your e-commerce app, it’s important to know what is your goal – and how you will measure the success of your Business. Your goals and KPIs will directly impact the features and service of app you want to develop.
To determine your future goals, you should know the current status of your business. How much traffic does your offline store generate on a monthly basis? How much of it is from mobile or from website? What is your mobile conversion rate?
Step 2. For whom are you creating your ecommerce app?
Once you know about your goal think about who your audience is B2B or B2C?Knowing your target audience will enhance your development process and improve your app marketing too.
Some easy steps to find out targeted audience
1.Audience’s average age?
2.Targeted Audience interests?
3.Which products do they already like and buy?
4.What do they read?
5.How are they finding our business?
The answers to these queries, together will make specifications for our Steps to create an E-commerce App.
3. Planning Essential Features
The Integration of the essential features for e-commerce apps is the next step on the e-commerce app development process. We need to understand that users are now more mobile-dependent. Hence it is very important to ensure mobile features in the application.
For example, an e-commerce app with products in disorder will disengage users and put them off. Some essential features for every mobile application focusing on e-commerce are:
- Authentication feature like social media login or two-step login features, etc
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Product search with categories and sub-types
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Rating and review systems
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Multiple payment methods that are fully secure
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Easy-in and out policy
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push notifications
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Customer support
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Tracking of the products
Step 4. Choose the right platform
For e-commerce retailers, there are two different kinds of methods you can choose from: Progressive Web Apps and Native Apps. Firstly PWAs are next-generation websites that offer the same kind of speed, interactivity, and performance as a native app. This can be used without downloading from app store ,Then you have Native Apps. These are downloaded and stored in a user’s phone. Native apps have to be developed separately for both iOS and Android. Operating System specific development (iOS and Android) full use of all the features a mobile phone.
Step 5. Pick the right budget and process
Now that we have figured out what our e-commerce app needs Now let’s talk about budget and process.
The big questions here are: how much time, money and resources we want to invest? And how do you want your App when sending out push messages, adding new features, changing your design, etc.
Making a bespoke app
With this process, you need to hire a development team to develop a brand new app. Firstly, a bespoke app helps you to be very specific about your requirements. Bespoke App is expensive and also it is a long development process. when money is not a matter we can use Bespoke App.
SAAS solution
Small and medium size stores usually choose this option, but for big stores some custom adjustments are needed. E-commerce apps based on SAAS- technology are fast and easy to develop . smart plugins can turn your web store into a Progressive web App or native app. But With SAAS-solutions, you can’t just pick any feature or integration you want; you can only pick the features that are available. But usually, SAAS-solutions offer all the features to be used on mobile App. For instance, all of the features mentioned above, are part of the app package at Dli’n E-commerce App by Fernweh DomainEnroll.
Depending on how much you can invest on development process and how flexible your App need to be, you can choose any one option: develop a bespoke app, or make use of SaaS solution.
Step 6. Market your app
Although this blog is about creating e-commerce apps, marketing them afterward is very important. After all, how good is the e-commerce app .The social media promotions, the google ads, video ads and many other techniques can help your app get the right reach ,downloads, product views, or purchases.
Final words
Now you have the Information and steps to create a successful e-commerce app. If you want to start with yours today, contact us for more Information.
We’ve helped many e-commerce brands make and market their apps, and we’ll be Happy to do the same for you next.
Our service is affordable, with low start-up costs and even more attractive monthly pricing Packages. We can create and market your e-commerce app also update it as time goes on.