A Quick Guide to Digital Marketing Strategy for Small Business Owners

Introduction

Every entrepreneur struggles with creating a balanced digital marketing strategy that maximises ROI. We often get stuck wondering, "Which digital marketing channels should I focus on?" or "How do I integrate different marketing efforts effectively?" When you’re unsure what to do, it’s hard to move forward. The good news is you can easily bring order to the chaos by developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. In this post, I’ll define a digital marketing strategy and provide 3 key components for the perfect mix. I hope this will give you a roadmap to get started with digital marketing and achieve sustainable business growth.

What is the perfect digital marketing strategy for entrepreneurs?
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Digital Marketing Strategy: A digital marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how your business will achieve its marketing goals via online channels like search engines, social media, email, and websites.

In other words: A comprehensive digital marketing strategy involves integrating various marketing channels to drive traffic, engagement, and conversions. The added benefit is that a well-rounded strategy ensures you are reaching your target audience effectively and optimising your marketing spend.

Component #1 - The First Ingredient: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Definition:SEO involves optimising your website and content to rank higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.

This is a crucial component because a strong SEO strategy increases your online visibility and drives organic traffic to your site. Many entrepreneurs start with good intentions but get stuck because they don’t know where to start or how to implement effective SEO techniques. And then they wind up wasting a lot of time with minimal results. The key to ranking well on search engines is to conduct thorough keyword research and optimise your site’s on-page and off-page elements.

To get started here:

• Conduct keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz or SEMRush.
• Optimise your website’s meta tags, headers, and content for target keywords.
• Build high-quality backlinks to improve your site's authority.

Component #2 - The Second Ingredient: Content Marketing

Definition: Content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and more.

If you’ve spent hours creating content but something still feels off—like you’re not getting enough engagement or traffic—this is likely the piece that’s missing. Without a strategic content marketing plan, you can publish post after post and still not achieve your desired outcomes.

What can you do? A really useful technique for brainstorming content topics is to use content pillars. These are broad themes that support your brand and business goals.

To implement this:

• Identify 3-5 core content pillars related to your business.
• Create a content calendar to plan and organise your content around these pillars.
• Repurpose content into different formats to reach a wider audience.

Component #3 - The Third Ingredient: Paid Advertising

Definition: Paid advertising involves paying for ad placements on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This can drive targeted traffic to your site quickly.

Here’s where you’ll really start to see results from your digital marketing strategy. Of course, this will take some time and investment, but consider using a mix of paid ads to complement your organic efforts.

The approach you can use to integrate paid advertising into your strategy is:

1. Set Clear Goals: Define what you want to achieve with your ads (e.g., increased traffic, lead generation, sales).
2. Choose the Right Platforms: Select platforms that align with your target audience.
3. Create Compelling Ads: Design ads that are visually appealing and have a strong call-to-action.
4. Monitor and Adjust: Regularly review your ad performance and make necessary adjustments to optimise your campaigns.

Once you’re done, you’ll be well on your way to driving targeted traffic and conversions.

Outro

Putting it All Together for Your Perfect Digital Marketing StrategyThere you have it! The 3 components of your perfect digital marketing strategy. It may sound like a lot, but like most things, practice makes perfect. Just focus on implementing these key components one step at a time. This will help you build a robust online presence and start achieving your marketing goals.

If you're interested in a trip down the rabbit hole of DIgital Marketing, we really recommend the Digital Marketing Diploma (DMI Pro) course at the DIgital Marketing Institute. Everyone on our team has completed this course, it's a vital resource to keeping up with the latest tools, tips and tricks.

Call to Action

Digital Marketing can be a little bit overwhelming. The internet is a treasure trove of ideas that you COULD implement on your business. Sometimes though, you need to start with the basics.

The Originate Accelerator is Marketing Simplified. It's the perfect start for small business owners who want a quick and affordable boost to sales. We start with your brand, ensuring it resonates with your vision and audience. Next, we'll build you a frictionless, highly converting website. Finally, we'll send traffic your way via Google Ads.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in learning more on, why not book in a 30 minute call with the team?