1. Get feedback through social media

Susan Buchanan, the owner of Humdinger Kettle Corn, a business that sells flavored popcorn, asks users to provide feedback via social media and help her pick new flavors to develop. The advantages to her business go beyond fan participation — she’s also essentially getting free insight into what her customers are looking to buy. With that knowledge, she is better able to successfully roll out new product lines.
 

2. Create a YouTube channel

YouTube allows just about anyone to set up an account, brand it with their business identity, and post videos, all for free.

For a business like Catullo Prime Meats, a YouTube channel was a pretty logical fit. Danny Catullo, the owner and operator of this specialty butcher shop, uses the channel to offer his customers recipes, how-to-guides, and other fun and useful information. He’s even created family videos and had the good fortune of having a turducken video turn into a viral video marketing star — resulting in a five-fold increase in sales one year.
 

3. Treat content like king

If you’re setting up a website for the first time, you obviously want it to look nice, perform well, and be easy for customers to use. But don’t forget about your content marketing.

Content marketing essentially means creating content in order to acquire customers. In order to do that, Danny Catullo advises making sure that your website is built so that it’s easy for you or someone on your staff to add, delete, and update content. Most modern websites are built on a content management system (CMS), which is essentially a publishing platform for your site.

If you’re paying a vendor to set up your site, make sure right from the start that you’ll have access to your CMS and discuss whether or not training is included in the project quote. If you’re setting it up yourself, consider open-source alternatives, like WordPress, which also has the advantage of being free.
 

4. Make your content useful 

While we’re on the subject of content marketing, here’s one of the best ways you can make content resonate with customers: Make it helpful.

Think about who your customers are, what problem your business could potentially help them solve, and then create content that does that (being careful not to give away your goods or service for free, of course).

Examples of this type of content include blog posts, videos, a Pinterest page, Facebook posts, and more. Catullo Prime Meats hosts a YouTube channel of how-to guides, cooking tutorials, and more. Darn Good Yarn posts recipes on their Facebook wall, gives remodeling advice through their Pinterest page, and connects with younger customers on Instagram.

Remember, content doesn’t just refer to writing – it can be almost anything your customers might find useful.
 

5. Use website analytics

One of the best things about digital marketing is that it’s so measurable. Not only can you measure traffic to your website, you can also learn where the traffic is coming from, what they do while on your site, how long they stay – and much more.

You can also use website analytics tracking tools to measure ad campaigns, efficiently buy ad placements, and more. The advantage to you as a business owner is that you can measure the return on investment (ROI) of your site and marketing, use what you learn to enhance performance, and make smart decisions about what to continue and what to drop.
 

6. Tap into online local search 

If your business relies on local customers, online local search could be a game changer — and compared to targeted media like TV, radio, or billboards, it can be relatively cost-effective.  

Online local search marketing basically means ensuring your business is included in search engine results for your geographic area. For example, if you own a carpet cleaning business in Phoenix, you ideally want your business to come up when someone types “carpet cleaners in Phoenix” into Google. Anyone performing that kind of search could likely be a potential customer, so it makes sense to have your business represented.

There are 2 basic ways to do that: 

• Local search engine optimization (SEO), which involves creating content on your site so that it targets those keywords.
• Local search engine marketing (SEM), which means buying keywords from search engines like Google or Bing.

Both ideas have been used successfully by the 2013 FedEx Small Business Grant winners. Danny Catullo attributes about 60% of his local business to a combination of SEO and SEM, while Ari Hoffman has used SEM to great success.
 

7. Digital is bigger than your website

If you’ve just started your digital marketing, or even if you’re getting ready to revamp your existing efforts, there’s a natural tendency to want to go for broke with your business’s website.

But you should be careful about putting all your digital eggs in one online basket, according to Danny Catullo. Instead of spending a fortune on a flashy site, he used Shopify, a turnkey e-commerce solution, to get up and running. By paying small monthly fees, he was able to launch quickly without a huge initial investment, and he even gets ongoing support.  

Plus, small businesses need to plan for the long term, says Ari Hoffman. Even the slickest website in the world won’t do your business much good if it can’t adapt and evolve. He advises setting aside 15% of your initial investment for future modifications.