Pitcher Partners digital director Terrence Teh offers insights to SMEs on how to make the most of their digital marketing.
There’s been an enormous appetite for eCommerce in the medium market for business during and post COVID but, because many are jumping straight into it, they don’t always know what questions to ask or where they should be spending their money.
Our clients have experienced agencies that use jargon to create complexities in digital sales and marketing, using any metric that sounds impressive to make it seem like their digital strategy is working.
Metrics like impressions and reach are used a lot, but what does that actually mean in terms of revenue impact.
One of the really important elements in digital is focusing on conversion; turning website visitors into sales, and employing an approach tailored to their business and market, not just some cookie cutter approach.
Mere webpage traffic is not revenue, and neither are leads.
It is what happens after the user lands on a page that matters; how much traffic is actually being converted to sales.
So, effective digital and marketing strategy has to revolve around understanding how to help customers find what they’re looking for.
This is one of the fundamental principles to conversion optimisation.
The first step is gaining a solid understanding of business strategy and growth objectives.
You need to understand how your business is positioning itself among its market.
For example, if the ideal customer is a 30 to 40 year old professional, what drives their decision making when it comes to purchasing clothes?
Understanding customer persona goes a long way in predicting search behaviour.
Secondly, being found on Google search is one of the most powerful ways to grow leads.
Many clients use paid search to drive traffic but they need to understand the cost of acquisition to use it effectively.
Having strong search visibility is crucial if you want to be relevant when people search for a solution to their need or want.
SMEs wholeheartedly understand digital investment but can do much better at being found online and through search engines.
Social and paid marketing remains an important part in acquiring customers but search engine results remain one of the best ways to be found in an increasingly crowded digital world.
It’s an exciting time for SMEs in the sense of digital transformation and opportunities but businesses need to be strategic.
A great starting point can be asking: 'what does digital really mean to my business and why?'