Overview
Small businesses in India are the heart of the Indian business ecosystem. We call them MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises). There are about 6.3 crore MSMEs serving the majority of the Indian population with their small and ordinary products and services.
Post demonetization, digital marketing is seen as one of the fastest ways to grow a business. It is affordable, easy to operate, and has more benefits than traditional marketing methods like newspaper ads, television ads, etc.
Some of the iconic brands that leveraged digital marketing effectively are PayTm, Zomato, Nykaa, Sabyasachi, and more.
The Indian startup and entrepreneurship market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.
In this blog, we will discuss how affordable Digital Marketing is the need of the hour and how effectively you can run your marketing campaigns with affordable digital marketing strategies.
What is Digital Marketing?
Any activity on the web with an intent to attract, engage and convert a potential customer into an actual customer is Digital marketing. It can be in the form of email marketing, social media marketing, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Online Reputation Management.
When compared with traditional marketing mediums such as newspaper ads, television ads; Digital marketing is slightly different. Right from the strategy building till its execution, digital marketing is more precise, better targeted, and gives measurable results.
We will learn more about the benefits of Digital marketing for small businesses in the later section of the blog. Digital marketing is about marketing a product or service through digital platforms such as websites, social media. Though the medium has changed, the principles and law of marketing will remain the same till eternity.
Firstly, there has to be a market need for your product. It has to be unique otherwise no quantity of marketing will impact significantly.
Secondly, you ought to have a reputation-building process for the long-run success of your business. Mere selling products will not help you build a strong brand. You must have good after-sales service that can help you generate trust and respect from your customers.
People do not hesitate to make a purchase if your product is –
- Right for them.
- Helps in making their lives easier.
- Comes at an affordable price.
Your potential customer will only purchase your product –
- When there is a need for the product for him/her.
- When your customer is convinced that what you are offering them is authentic.
- Your brand has strong trust elements like customer reviews and ratings etc.
With Digital marketing, you can do almost all of the above-mentioned things seamlessly. All you need is an effective digital marketing strategy, and a team to execute it.
Affordable Digital Marketing modules for small businesses
India is going through a digital boom and post covid unrest, more and more small businesses want to have an online presence.
For many agencies, it is an opportunity to make quick money by selling their digital marketing services at higher prices. But, we all know that businesses have already suffered bruises due to the lockdowns and affordable digital marketing strategies and services are the need of the hour for small businesses.
So let us now see what are the best affordable digital marketing strategies for small businesses.
Facebook Business Pages –
Facebook Business Pages are also called Facebook fan pages. Anyone can create a Facebook business page in 4 steps.
Once your Facebook Business Page is created, you will be able to showcase your brand’s ethos, products, and services.
Facebook pages also allow you to create a Facebook shop online where you can upload your products and show them to your page visitors.
Email Marketing –
Consider your email list as one of the greatest assets that you are building as you go along executing digital marketing strategies.
Emails are still one of the best ways to warm your cold leads with personalized emails, and consistent communication.
The real game resides in Lead Generation and if you are interested in learning quality lead generation strategies, read this blog – How to generate leads for your business! by Rytham Arora, a Digital Marketer with profound experience in Lead Generation.
Website Development –
Websites are very important in the modern-day and age. Businesses consider it the most effective online address. The better website you will have, the greater traction you will be able to create. We will learn more about website development in the next blog. (Stay Tuned..)
Websites are still affordable and easy to get built. Thanks to WordPress that has eased the process of website development.
You can start a website in India for as low as Rs.1,500 including domain and hosting.
Social media marketing –
We all love scrolling social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc. The average time engagement on these social media channels accounts for about 2 hours.
Almost every major brand can be seen leveraging social media platforms to get the attention of social media users.
Social media is free to use and to promote their products and services to their target customers.
You will be amused to know that Facebook offers far more and better features to creators and businesses than the end Facebook user.
Online Reputation Management –
A brand’s reputation can determine a business’s success or failure. Online Reputation management is one such area of digital marketing where you can build a brand reputation by resolving your customer queries online.
It can be through social media engagement (replies to customer comments and DMs, or through content marketing platforms such as Quora, Reddit, etc).
Managing a brand’s online reputation is free and should be done on a day-to-day basis.
Benefits of Online Marketing
The online marketing industry is a highly anticipated industry and has tons of benefits for small businesses. Let us see what each one of them has to offer and which one will suit you the best –
Potential to turn a Local business into a Global business
A local business can be simply understood as a nearby shop that sells products or services. A beauty salon, a travel agency, a 3-star hotel are some of the examples of local businesses.
With Digital marketing, local businesses can be turned into global businesses accessible through websites and social media channels.
Potential customers will be able to find your business and can easily contact you through websites and social media.
Suppose there is a hotel near a popular UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is more likely that people coming from different cities of the world will prefer to book in this hotel rather than choosing a hotel that is far away from the landmark site.
If the hotel has its own website, it will be easy to take reservations from tourists from across the globe. Further, the tourists can see the hotel property on the website and can also make payments very easily.
Similarly, hotel customers will be able to make their reservations easily after checking the hotel property images.
Imagine the convenience that a website is giving to this hotel as well as the tourist who is looking for a hotel. This is how digital marketing works and helps both the business and the customer.
Pocket-Friendly and easy to operate
Starting with digital marketing is affordable and easy to operate. Facebook for Business is one example where you can create a Facebook business page for absolutely Free.
Similarly, you can start a website with dirt-cheap price hostings and domains. What’s best of both worlds is CMS providers like WordPress that allows you to build a website without any technical coding. It makes the work easy and covers all the major elements that a website needs.
The tools for Digital marketing can be easily learned by anyone. Any entrepreneur can learn the basics of digital marketing and can execute them without spending much.
You can learn to build a professional website through YouTube channels that tell you step-by-step procedures.
Measurable Results
The results of digital marketing activities are measurable. Everything that happens on the web is measurable. Be it Facebook likes, engagements, page views, etc, or be it your website visitors. It all comes in handy through digital tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, etc.
Google Analytics shows the real-time audience of your website. It also shows the following details of your visitors –
- Real-time audience
- Audience Demographics
- Acquisitions
- Behavior
- Conversion
All the above measurements are accurate and help in understanding your website visitors better.
Conclusion
We all need digital marketing in the modern-day and age. Businesses have suffered immense losses due to the covid pandemic. Seeing consistent losses in business is indeed a hard pill to swallow.
Nevertheless, the silver lining became the online businesses. In the upcoming years, the penetration of online businesses will eventually grow and will make purchasing and selling products and services more convenient.
Recent Comments