The Importance of Digital Trends For Small Business
Whether you run a big or small business, you need to have your eye on digital trends. All age groups are now looking online to find their next service professionals, from lawn care to maintenance. If you’re not online, you’re not being found by your next customers.
Unfortunately, many small business owners make the mistake of thinking digital marketing is better left to the big-name businesses. There are simply too many trends to keep up with, to much to learn, and it’s not necessary for your day-to-day success. In reality, these are all myths that hold your business back.
In 2017, 46% of all Google searches were local searches. This means that your customers are out there searching for businesses in their area. While things like newspaper ads and radio segments might have worked 10 years ago, times are changing. Now, you need your business to be online if you want to be visible. Here’s why digital trends are essential to small businesses.
The Value of Digital Trends
Many small business owners are used to the way things “used to be.” They remember when word-of-mouth was their biggest source of new customers, and if they wanted more attention they’d invest in a print ad. While this was an excellent strategy a decade ago, it’s time to invest in something else.
Digital trends are shaping our world. For example, users are spending 69% of their media time on their smartphone. That’s a lot of scrolling through social media, watching videos, and visiting websites. How have you positioned your website? Do you even have a website? These questions are key today.
Maybe you do have a website. Maybe you’ve invested good time in making sure your website functions and looks nice. Beyond that, you didn’t think you needed to do anything else. While that’s an excellent first step, it can’t be your only step. The digital world moves fast. Having a website was a great way to get noticed a few years ago, especially if other local businesses didn’t have a quality website. However, today that’s just the expectation.
Social media platforms come and go. New ones gain popularity. Algorithms change. Suddenly, what worked before doesn’t work anymore. That’s why following digital trends is the only way to notice any improvement in your marketing.
Following a Digital Marketing Strategy
Keeping up with digital trends can be a big task. It’s important for your business to have a digital marketing strategy in place. It can be easy to become overwhelmed. But there are few things you’ll want to make sure you’re covering.
Set clear goals for what you want to accomplish, but be realistic. Here are some key focus areas that matter for small businesses:
Responsive Website Design - Your website needs to look like it’s designed for this century. If it’s not mobile responsive, you’re losing customers. Use a template or work with a professional web developer to ensure everything looks perfect before you publish.
Geotargeting - When creating ads whether you’re on Facebook or Google, use geotargeting tools. This means you can target consumers who live near your business.
Video Content - Nowadays, video is becoming more powerful than written content. Showcase your best customer stories via video on social media and your website to establish trust with potential customers.
Analyze - Nothing will work perfectly upon the first try. Be willing to analyze your marketing results, make some changes, and try again. Eventually, you’ll find the winning formula.
As you can see, it’s essential you dedicate your time to finding the right digital marketing strategy. Using a timeclock software trial you can track just how much time you’re spending on your new digital marketing. But digital trends will come and go, and you need to build a business that stands the test of time. Crewcut has it’s own internal marketing department that is dedicated to helping you grow and develop your business.