Digital marketing can be overwhelming for many businesses and what usually happens is that you take a shotgun approach to social & digital, which results in wasting money and missing opportunities to leverage your digital footprint.

Digital offers so many opportunities and now is the time to change your analogue thinking to digital. The best place to start is with the basics however many businesses miss some of the most basic tactics that end up costing them in lost sales. As a customer I experience poor digital experiences all the time so I just go to the next business to buy (and I am not alone).

So here are a number of tactics every small business can fix immediately to increase leads & sales:

• Respond to your email enquiries – if someone is sending you an enquiry they are interesting in buying from you. Responding 1 week later (even 24 hours later) is not acceptable. This one simple thing costs nothing but time and believe me, by not responding you are sending prospective customers straight to your competition. Your customers live in a world of immediacy and this also applies to getting information in order to buy quickly. We live in a world of digital immediacy so use that to your advantage.
• Respond to social media comments & enquiries – it might seem simple right but is one area many businesses fail at. If you are on social media then expect to get enquiries and feedback that needs to be answered. Customers will often reach out on more than 1 channel so if you don’t respond on email don’t be surprised to see a Facebook or Twitter message appear. If you are not going to be present or respond on your social channels then don’t have them. This is a minimum customer expectation. Think of your Social media channels as customer service portals.  They must be monitored several times a day, you need to acknowledge interactions and personalise yours answer to questions.
• Look at your data & analytics – every website should have Google Analytics set up on it. This is a basic requirement and needed to determine who is actually interacting with your brand. You cannot start creating content until you know your audience and you do this through analytics and social media insights. It is free and accessible, you just need to take the time to look at it. A basic that most businesses miss that costs nothing to do.
• Build a website – A Facebook page is not a website for many reasons. You don’t own your Facebook page audience or any of your social media channels and you should aim to drive as much traffic as possible to your ‘owned channels’. These are the channels that you control like your website, newsletter & blogs. Your customers expect you, at minimum, to have a website with the basic information on it. Failing to have one is a massive missed opportunity.
• Include basic information on your website – this includes clickable contact details, google maps AND your address, menus, email address, phone number & opening hours – think about what you potential customer might want when they are on the go. It amazes me the amount of businesses they miss the basics and most obvious information. If you are unsure, hire a digital specialist to do an Audit which will give you a fresh perspective.
• Make it easy for customers to stay in touch – After you have spent all this time, money and effort getting people to your website, capitalise on that traffic and have some sort of opt in or newsletter sign up that allows them to get ongoing communication from you. Keep it simple and show them the benefit in doing so. Do not spam them and make sure you are offering education and value, not constantly trying to sell them.

Now you have no excuses to be leaving money on the table.  The above tactics are not earth shattering, unique or even clever – but they are necessary (and often missed) and form the foundation on which to build more complex digital marketing tactics and channels.