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There is no question that digital marketing is a critically important part of any overall marketing strategy. Big or small, you need to understand and properly execute a digital marketing campaign if you want to be competitive.

The good news is that it’s easier than ever before for small businesses and solopreneurs to conduct digital marketing themselves — as long as you’re willing to put in the effort.

The following are some useful tips and suggestions for getting the most out of your social media and online marketing efforts:

Know who your target audience is

Before investing time and money into digital marketing, ask yourself who you are trying to reach. What are your customer’s interests? What do they like to read about? What kind of content do they share with their family and friends? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you target customers as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Business owners and accountants looking to find an online accounts software solution are our core audiences. They are our target audience(s). It’ ok to have more than one.

Reach out via email when possible

When promoting your business, or a piece of content you’ve created for your business, try to reach out via email first. While social media is a great way to contact people, a well-crafted email tends to make more of an impression. It might take some effort to find an email address, but it’s often worth it. Plus, if you manage to find a hard-to-find email address, chances are you’re one of the few who made the effort.

Don’t believe the reports that claim email is dead, it’s far from it; email is still a superb communication medium.

Personalise your communications

It’s ok to have a general template when reaching out to bloggers and websites, however it is absolutely imperative that your outreach is personalised to the individual. Show you know who they are, and that you’ve read some of their recent content.

Conduct A/B testing

Even the most seasoned marketing experts use A/B testing. A/B testing is particularly useful in digital marketing because you can compare results almost in real-time. A/B testing might sound scientific and far too complicated but it’s a prerequisite for modern online marketing and here’s the thing – it’s not that difficult.

The team over at Unbounce have a pretty good definition on what A/B testing is. Check it out.

Know what your goals are

It’s important to know what your goals are with digital marketing. Is it to build brand awareness? Perhaps you want to market directly to customers, and sales conversions are a key performance indicator. Whatever your goals, make sure you know what they are, and have a way to measure your success or failure. Success, great, you’re on the right track. Failure, time to regroup and evaluate your shortcomings and restart the process until you get it right. That’s one of the great attractions of digital marketing – the real-time analysis that empowers you to make changes immediately it’s apparent that your campaign tactics are not working.

Don’t underestimate the time required. While many of the tools are relatively free/ inexpensive, it’s your time that may turn out to be the big expense.

 

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

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