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How to develop the digital marketing strategy of an SME

A digital Marketing Strategy, In an increasingly online market, it is essential for businesses of all sizes. SMEs cannot live without this either, especially if they are taking steps in e-commerce or want to expand their offer. However, the rapid advance of technology is catching many small entrepreneurs overwhelmed and trying to adapt to it, added to the effort of managing their own business.

Knowing what the competition is doing, what digital users of a brand are saying or reaching more customers are activities that SMEs cannot stop doing. All of this information is essential for creating a good marketing strategy and also for evaluating its results.

Main barriers to address a digital marketing strategy

There are several barriers that an SME or a self-employed person can encounter when establishing a digital marketing plan for the company. Among them, there is ignorance or fear of changing deeply rooted processes, also having a budget in a difficult economic time can delay this measure. Let’s see it in detail:

1- Ignorance of the subject

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One of the first questions that small business leaders ask themselves when this topic is brought to their attention is, β€œAnd who is going to do it?”. The problem is that not only do they have no knowledge of digital marketing, but they also do not have the staff or budget to delegate it.

This is a big barrier from the start, which ends up with the idea in the bin, along with many others. Therefore, it is important that the task is made as easy as possible for them, with tools that are capable of researching and analyzing information on the Internet, quickly and comfortably for them.

Government funds for digitization

Another of the great barriers to the adoption of digitization plans is the lack of resources or budget. Most SMBs tend to leave investment in areas with a long-term ROI (return on investment) outside the budget or with the “crumbs” of it. This is what happens with everything that has to do with marketing and communication. The more traditional businesses, which do not understand that the world has changed, think that they can better spend their money outside of these departments.

However, when it comes a digital reputation problem or they do not know why they do not sell more, having invested in these aspects with a less immediate ROI could have avoided or minimized these risks.

Fortunately, we are in a good moment for capital injection with programs such as the Government Digital Kit. With it, SMEs can request aid of up to 12,000 euros to implement technological solutions that allow them to draw up a good marketing plan. It is one of the lines that can be subsidized with these European funds and that can already be requested.

What steps to take to establish an interesting marketing strategy?

Once the big stumbling blocks for the digitalization of communication and marketing, ignorance and lack of budget, the next step is where to start to establish this strategy. Obviously, it depends on the level of digitization of each business. Let us think of the vast majority of Spanish SMEs and freelancers that do not even have a web presence, these are the two steps that will build the basis of a future and solid digital strategy:

1 – Create a web page

Is about The most basic to have a minimal online presence. Having profiles on social networks is fine, but it is not enough, since more and more users want to browse and learn about the brand, product or service through their website. Moreover, a company that does not have it tends to generate suspicion and can make you lose many potential clients. The rise of online scams is making online consumers more and more cautious, especially international buyers.

Today, there are simple platforms where you can make your own website yourself, but you will need specialized companies to professionalize it. Especially if you want to add ecommerce, management, advanced features, SEO, etc.

  1. Study the competition online

As we have said throughout this article, Knowing what the competition is doing is essential for the proper functioning of the company. And this is so, even before considering a business. There are so-called business plans where, one of the aspects to be discussed, is what “the neighbor” does and how he does it, to give us added value. This is done in the offline world and also in the online world, the difference is that, while the first is finite, the second is unfathomable if you do not use technologies.

And this is where tools like rankingCoach, that is capable of analyzing thousands of websites in a short time and searching for the data that most interests you. With this information, you will not only be able to compare your situation in the market, but also see the business opportunities and available market niches, in a simple and comfortable way.

  1. Maintain a good positioning (SEO) and brand image

Once a plan is established, you have to maintain a good brand image and a good search engine positioning. And this is a job that requires perseverance and dedication. For this it is necessary to have control of your own content, but also to be aware of what they say about you on the internet. In addition, Google does not maintain its static positioning policies, but rather modifies them from time to time, and it is necessary to be aware so as not to lose our influence within this search engine.

In short, there are some barriers that prevent Spanish companies from making the leap to a digital strategy, among the most important are lack of knowledge on the subject and lack of budget. As we have seen in this article, all these challenges can be easily assumed and solved with the right technology. It is only necessary to carry out a deep intention of wanting to be competitive in the digital world.

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