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Digital - it's the word of the century. Virtually every aspect of life is digitized today, and business is certainly no exception. It only makes sense, then, that when considering small business marketing ideas, your focus should be on digital. Millions of Americans shop online every single day, and not just for physical goods. The average American spends 24 hours a week online, according to a recent MIT study. And while American are online, they're noticing products, companies, and much more.

It's a lot of screen time, and it's time that you could be in front of your target audience with the right digital marketing strategy. Understanding exactly what you should be doing is key to ensuring at least part of those 24 hours online are spent with your company. These strategies can help you make that happen.

Strategy 1 - Social Media Matters!

Any discussion on digital marketing strategy must include social media. It doesn't matter where you begin, but if you're not reaching out to the social media universe, you're not really reaching out these days. It is, well, highly social. People share, comment, and interact with brands in a way that is changing how they buy, sell, hire, and fire today.

The business world has shifted dramatically since the days of MySpace, and it's only going to continue as more platforms are introduced and people change their social habits. If you’re not already on board, it’s time to jump on. The best part about this strategy is that it's low-cost (free to join - but you do need to allocate time and personnel to monitor).

Among the many small business marketing ideas vying for your attention, social is one of the best.

Strategy 2 - Your Advertising Should Be Digital Too

When you search for a given term on any search engine, you'll see ads placed somewhere on the page. Why isn't your business taking advantage of that opportunity now? It's a way to instantly connect with your audience, with or without SEO (which we'll discuss in a moment) - and you're only going to pay for those ads that people actually click on.

Google data indicates a first position ad typically attains a click-through rate of 27.7%. Those are prospects you can't afford to lose. Just ensure you have well written ad copy linked to a great website that's ready for the traffic!

Strategy 3 - Think SEO

Many of those online hours begin with a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search. Google alone, by their own estimation, handles more than 3.5 billion searches per day. With nearly 644 million active websites, you have fairly stiff competition if you don't have an SEO strategy in place now.

If you're unfamiliar with SEO, the acronym stands for Search Engine Optimization, which includes a number of techniques you can utilize to boost your rankings when search engines crawl your site. For example, ensuring you have a defined theme with content, matching titles and header tags, good descriptions, and well-placed keywords throughout the site help engines make sense of what you have to offer and give your site a higher organic ranking.

Strategy 4 - Don't Ignore the Potential of Email

In the early days of the internet, email was a novelty. But marketers immediately realized its potential. By the time people were enjoying AOL's "You've Got Mail" catchphrase, inboxes were literally cluttered with unsolicited emails. Soon, rules were put into place regarding spam, but that only helped email marketing evolve.

These days, you can offer users an experience unlike any other, and the results can be stunning. A WordStream blog held that 59% of marketers suggest email is their single most effective channel when it comes to generating revenue. You can use email marketing to do literally anything for your customers. Let them know you're out there. Help guide them with tips and advice. Advertise a new blog post. Tell them what's on sale. It's easily one of the best ways to reach out to your customers.

Digital isn't going away, so if you haven't bought your ticket for this train, or you're still standing on the platform evaluating small business marketing ideas, the time to board the digital marketing strategy express is right now. Let the team at THAT Agency help!