We know we sound like a broken record, but if you haven’t done so already, then 2020 really is the time to get your business buzzing online.

For many small and medium sized business, digitisation can seem like an expensive and arduous task – especially during a time where making investment decisions can seem pretty overwhelming.

However, looking at the way the past 9 months has gone, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, businesses must utilise digital streams if they’re going to survive in a post Covid-19 world.

And, it really needn’t be that scary, there are plenty of small, manageable steps you can take in order to futureproof your business and safeguard it’s continuity, whilst also making sure that you’re doing all that you can to keep revenue streams ticking over in the immediate.

As a starter for ten, we’ve put together some handy top-tips on how you can get a POA together for a robust, workable and digitally-savvy future.

Here goes…

Tip 1: Fix up look sharp

Does your brand look good online? Are you happy with how it appears on your computer, phone or tablet screen? Is your imagery optimised for your social media channels and is your website responsive across all devices?

Creating a positive perception of your brand online is the key foundation toward building a loyal and wide customer base. Even if you don’t quite know what you’re doing yet in terms of engaging with your audience digitally, it’s important that everything looks the part. Imagery that is correctly sized, branded and curated to support your offering and ethos is an essential component in the digitisation process and makes marketing your business so much easier.

Tip 2: Website Reboot

As aforementioned, your website must be responsive if you want any chance of maximising your opportunities online. Over 50% of all global web traffic is generated via mobile*, this means that whether you like it or not, your prospects are engaging with businesses just like yours on their mobile devices. Therefore, if your website isn’t built to respond to mobile devices – and doesn’t work or look good on a mobile screen – it’s important that you update it so that it does.

Look into how you can update your website to a responsive version, not only will this now enable you to utilise potential revenue streams online with much more ease, an easily navigational and modern CMS system will allow you much more control and autonomy over your site – and your business.
Tip 3: Get Social

When resources are tight, and you might not have access to the marketing or promotional support that you’re used to from your team, upping your activity on social media is a sure-fire way of raising the visibility of your business in a cost-effective way. Your posts will show up in the feeds of the people who follow you, and as your community shares and engages with them, your audience grows. It’s a form of digital word-of-mouth marketing where other users, and not the platform itself, do the promotion.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to effective social media for your business, but one this is a clear – consistency is key. This means that you need to think seriously about who your customers are and then get to work with sharing content that is likely to interest them, every single day. The beauty of social media is that we all use it, so there’s nothing to stop you from developing the skills you need to really make it fly. Additionally, there are a lot of support and packages available to you to help get you started. We’d suggest soliciting an initial social media strategy and comms plan from an expert to start with, and then working out from there what you are able to take on in house and what you might need extra support with.

Tip 4: Put your money where your Ads are

With even a small amount of advertising budget you can get a big return on your investment by running paid social campaigns. By running paid ads using native ad tools you can create, schedule, and post targeted ads for a specific audience that’s defined by location, preferences, gender etc.
Social media platforms are powerful marketing tools because they have features that allow companies to reach specifics audience with ease and they also come with built-in tools for market research. These can however seem overwhelming when you don’t know what you’re doing, so don’t be afraid to ask for help from those in the know. Even if you have to pay out for initial support to kick things off, the long-term benefits of how far this type of digital marketing can reach will undoubtably pay off for the future success of your brand.

Tip 5: You’ve got mail

Contrary to popular belief, email is not dead – in fact, it’s more effective than ever. Utilising email to promote your business digitally is a sure-fire way of reaching your audience with details about your new products, discounts, limited time offers etc while the majority are glued to their screens during a socially restrictive time.
To streamline your email advertising campaigns, take advantage of professional creative design and marketing automation tools that are designed to make your life, and business growth, easier to manage, market and plan for.

We hope that you’ve found our top 5 tips for maximising your SMB online helpful, if you need help, support or advice on any of the services discussed, simply drop us a line today we’d love to chat with you about your goals.

*https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/