Small Business Sales: 4 Digital Essentials

Posted by Mike Coombs on December 22,2017
This post is the first of 5 posts discussing 4 digital sales essentials for small business.
1. Overview,  2. Mobile, Web, SEO,  3. Compelling Offers/Clear Messages
4. Automatic Lead Capture CRM & Follow UP5. Expertise-Execution

Find experts who execute and measure.

Today, in small and medium size businesses, digital marketing is more directly related to sales than ever.  Your digital assets, your website, your "relationship" with Google, your email and CRM,  must automatically sell as well (hopefully better) than your person to person "sales" do. Customers expect this. And SMB's  should get clear, tangible ROI from their efforts.

The typical challenge for CEO/owners and those charged with SMB "marketing" is that they do not see ROI. While they "know" the digital market/sales marriage should improve their bottom line, they also have no feedback about what truly works. So they tend to dabble in lots of things and measure nothing.  Combine that with myriad possibilities and it all ends up too complicated; or too expensive.  Marketing spend seems a waste, and those who spend it seem not to know what they are doing.

Still, they know it "could/should" really yield profits. Finding experts who can find and execute "the right" formula is the challenge.

So here's my take for SMB marketing: There are 4 basic digital marketing topic buckets that are, well… essential to get right for real ROI and business success. I’ll write about each in more detail over the next few posts. Here's the overview.

  1. Mobile Web SEO
  2. Compelling Offers/Clear Messages
  3. Automatic Lead Capture CRM & Follow Up
  4. Expertise - Execution

Mobile Web SEO

Hand holding smartphone with hand drawn media icons and symbols concept.jpeg

"Getting found" on the web is the front door of your business. Without at least a modest (but great!) website, you do not exist as a business.

You know this.

But it has to be “great” in that is has to be mobile friendly. It must "sell" on a phone. Yes, a phone.

It must be SEO and content optimized to be "found" by Google searchers, either locally or nationally, when searchers are looking for your product or service.

Plus, your website is the front door and the center piece for a variety of other efforts (CRM, email, re-targeting, e-commerce) that are now expected business practice.

More on how business websites are the centerpiece of a larger portal/marketing automation approach in future posts.

Compelling Offers/Clear Messages

Conceptual image of electric bulb with business sketches.jpegWhat value do you provide? This is the most basic and “old school” of my points. You know this too, right? Value propositions and clarity matter. This hasn't changed. Still, business often gets this wrong. We’ve all seen business spend big on "creative" messaging that really lacks a clear message.

Small business simply must get it right immediately. Simple, clear, attractive always wins. It’s not good marketing creative if it doesn’t answer the customer need immediately. Immediately!

Instant results and instant customer gratification are essential.

The internet generation is NOT looking for your service to be entertaining. Smart? Yes. Valuable? Yes. Informative? Yes. Entertaining? Not so much.

When potential customers “find you,” you must tell them clearly and immediately what they "can buy" and why it’s a great value for them. Truly understanding the core customer need and making them believe you satisfy that need... immediately, is key to Search Engine Optimization, message creation, and resulting sales.

Automatic Lead Capture CRM & Follow Up

Process Automation on the Mechanism of Metal Gears..jpegThis is the NEW part. This is the part small business folks don’t know. But it’s essential.

With a great website, and good offers, you must get your potential customer to engage with your business. Calling you to buy something or visiting your store is great.

But for long-term success, you want a potential customer to identify themselves by entering their email address...

...which automatically sends that email record to a CRM, that automatically sends them an email acknowledgment, and automatically records every visit to your website, and every transaction, and automatically sends them marketing emails, and automatically places re-targeting web ads in places where they will be reminded about your great offers, and automatically tells you, or your sales team they are a great lead. This should all happen… did I mention… “automatically”?

This is new, and where it gets a bit wonky for a typical small business, but… the technology for this exists, is affordable, and is very effective.

Expertise-Execution

Someone has to make this stuff happen for you.

You don’t need a writer, web designer, videographer, SEO dude, brand expert, CRM IT vendor, and customer service rep.

You need a business person/marketer who understands all these digital crafts AND your business, AND project management execution. 

Business man pointing to transparent board with text Turn Knowledge Into Action!.jpeg

Why? The crafts are all widely available at wildly different "levels" of cost and quality.

Coordinating them efficiently and specifically for your business is the most difficult challenge. Great creative and craft is easily available.

Wisdom is not.

"Building the machine" requires business, and marketing, and technical, and creative and project management skill... probably in just a few people. Getting the “scale” or cost of one craft or the other “wrong” for your business, spells defeat. Finding capable pros is the most crucial, and ultimately profitable part. It should not be an expense. There should be return on investment.

There is no “one size fits all” recipe for small business selling success. So very, very efficient, and very, very wise judgments (and compromises!) must be made throughout all the crafts and all the creative and all the messaging. Finding experts who execute can be your biggest challenge.

And your biggest opportunity.

Here are the rest of the posts in this series:

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Topics: SEO, Online Lead Generation