How Small Businesses Can Leverage Digital Marketing to Compete with Major Corporations

1. Establish a Business Niche

One of the greatest growth strategies for small business owners is to establish a niche within their industry. Although it seems advantageous to appeal to several different audience segments, marketing campaigns aimed to target personas will perform better.

Investigate niche groups commonly ignored and disqualified by large businesses. Gain the trust of your customers or audience by offering unique insights or producing content they relate to. Once you meet their specific needs or pain points, you’ll gain a loyal user base and can begin expanding your efforts toward large groups.

2. Create Stand-Out Designs

Grow your brand name with unique and captivating designs to anchor your product or service in the minds of a niche audience. Keep customers in mind when creating design elements to hook their attention and deliver an innovative experience.

In terms of competition, small businesses need to earn their spotlight with cheaper, more efficient, and revolutionary products or services. Take note of the value you can offer your chosen audience segment and highlight those factors to elevate your brand and gain positive attention.

As reported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses should base their marketing and graphic design budgets on a percentage of their current revenue. This amount can range anywhere from 1% to 12%.

3. Hone into Customer Service

Personalize the consumer experience by offering valuable service factors that will help you boost conversions. The best way to beat larger companies is to harvest deep, meaningful, and lasting relationships with new or loyal customers. Big businesses have lost the personal touch, which has made quality interactions a premium feature within customer service.

TCN, Inc. released “Consumer Insights about Customer Service,” where they reported that 7 in 10 respondents would prefer talking to a live agent by phone instead of email or an online chat system. Therefore, your small company could outperform large corporations by establishing simple practices such as hand-written “thank you” notes, personally responding to online reviews or interacting via social media channels.

4. Local Promotions & Competitions

Your small business has the advantage of reaching local groups, organizations, and the surrounding community with digital marketing and local promotions. Develop a regular schedule for events based on seasonal reports or customer feedback.

Depending on the season or general audience behavior, engage your growing community by promoting giveaways, discounts and contests. Leverage your social media accounts by publishing announcements and updates to grow a positive brand reputation.

5. Leverage Branded Content

Link your company name across the local neighborhood and use online marketing as a vehicle to spread awareness across the community. Branded content is a creative way to establish trust and build a base of prospective customers who can find value in your product or service.

A digital marketing agency can help you produce a series of branded materials to drive people to your website, store locations or social media channels. Additionally, a company’s brand should help business owners share their story, values and mission with customers. Find the marketing method that best suits your small business and leverage all efforts to make sure your local community knows how and where to find you.

6. Establish a Strong Online Presence

Small businesses can react faster to current trends and use creativity to build innovative solutions for designated audience segments. In particular, large companies have additional legal restrictions and longer processes before making changes to their brand or promotional campaigns. For small companies, it should be feasible to reach local audiences with minimal investments and experiment with several avenues or techniques to drive in customers.

By working with the right digital marketing agency, small business owners can develop their online marketing presence through optimized content across search engines, websites or social media platforms. These can assist in bringing user-friendly and engaging features to establish valuable market share in the industry.

Enhance Your Digital Marketing Strategies as a Small Business

As a small business, you recognize the advantages your local status carries. Although large chains and corporations may have predictable revenue, your company could produce valuable profit within your community.

By following these six initiatives, you can establish a plan to carve a profitable path toward optimized conversions. Whether you’re looking to expand your online marketing presence or drive growth locally, contact Forthea to learn how we can help you get started with the right strategy for digital growth!