The digital economy offers more opportunities than ever for delivering a small business marketing strategy. But it also comes with more pitfalls.

In an online era that sees a client’s website face fierce competition from other sites, an array of social media, advertising –  and even the advanced techniques informed by use of SEO and analytics – it’s incredibly hard for a small business to make a splash.

Especially when competing against big business than can have what seems like an endless budget. But there does remain a path here for small business to have great campaigns, it just requires a strategic approach.

The digital dynamic

The world is changing. It’s projected by 2019 that 51% of advertising in Australia will be via the internet or online. This statistic is already startling, but comes alongside the 13.7 million citizens having an internet subscription as detailed by the nation’s Bureau of Statistics in June 2017.

These trends are mirrored throughout the global audience. Today 56.2% of global internet users go online via a mobile or tablet device, and the rise of portable devices has drawn new advertisers to the new digital audience accordingly.

Once upon a time it was taken for granted certain groups in the community wouldn’t actively use the internet. Aussies living in rural areas, seniors, and children. Times have changed, digital literacy has grown, and connectivity is essentially universal across the Great Southern Land.

That means any small business marketing strategy must look proactively to the digital arena, but do so with the recognition a good strategy requires precision and agility to impact. And also represent real value for money. This is also an issue on the global level.

Whatever one’s view about the merits of a particular law or proposed new bill, its clear developed nations around the world will face growing competition in the years ahead within the global economy. As new tech emerges and disruption grows, an effective response will be necessary to ensure small business keeps up economically, and continues to grow productively.

In the meantime, many small businesses can be faced with irritations of red tape regulations, and high, outdated tax rates. This means there’s often little cash in reserve to spend in marketing. And many marketing agencies fail to recognise this, offering a marketing strategy that is vague, indefinite, and provides a scattergun approach instead of a lean and agile strategy.

Creating a marketing strategy the cucceeds

At its core, a small business marketing strategy is faced with a central tension in the digital age.

It’s now easier than ever for businesses to advertise online, and there are many ways this can be done quickly and economically. But the trade off to this greater access is the volume of ads in the market‚ many of which are of questionable quality.

This means not only is a lot of competition for eyeballs, but many users now readily ignore by default much online advertising, given their previous poor experience with ‘fluff’, and otherwise forgettable content. As a result, a small business not only has more competitors to deal with locally and globally, but also needs content that really stands out.

Putting it simply, the analogy of a surfer is useful. Once marketing provided you a series of small waves to catch momentum on, but today it’s a sea of huge and powerful swells. This can be really intimidating to small businesses, especially when new to digital marketing and on a tight budget. The upside of this is once a big wave its caught its momentum can carry a long way.

This means hiring a good marketing team is vital. It provides the dynamism and precision required to ensure a campaign really cuts through. But not all marketing agencies can provide the right fit for a great small business.

Speaking the language of small business

That’s why an approach like the Sticky Growth Marketing Accelerator offers is really good. The step by step approach of Story, Target, Influence, Convert, Keep, Yardsticks is unique in composition to Sticky, but a formula that will resonate will all small business and agencies.

Operating out of Sydney, NSW, this agency provides a dedicated solution to small businesses looking to grow lean and fast. One that puts a real emphasis upon achieving results in a timely way – which is always vital to a small business anguished over the money in their marketing budget – while also seeking to build strong and enduring foundations for long-term client growth.

Marketing accelerators are something all digital media agencies need to be receptive too. A tailored program for small business that prioritizes strong results quickly. Medium and large businesses often have the luxury of taking a long term view, but this is less common with small business. That’s why programme’s like this find success with small businesses near and far.

Ultimately, with Australia possessing 2.24 million businesses as of June 2017 – and having grown a sizeable 3.1% in the year-to-date prior – the nation possesses not only millions of businesses hungry for growth, but an audience of prospective clients for a resourceful agency.

The execution of a small business marketing strategy is a win-win for small business as clients, and agencies as their providers. And these outcomes are global, and desirable to all businesses.

Final thoughts

Serving small business today requires a recognition of new and enduring challenges.

Small businesses have always had a limited budget for marketing. Small business operators need to know the money they invest in marketing with professional will deliver real returns.

Something that goes above and beyond what amatuers can do to build an audience online.

A small business also needs to see quick results.  A big business or corporation can plan ahead for the next 10 years. A small business often needs to keep an eye on its market profits for the next year – even month to month. That’s why a small business marketing strategy that is attuned to these challenges is essential.

A small business benefits best from quick and strong results. At their core small businesses are like rocket ships. Once they are in orbit they can allow for a more gradual pace. But when they are first taking off‚ a strong and powerful strategy is essential. The Sticky Growth Marketing Accelerator has done well in this regard and serves as a useful template for all agencies seeking to identify an avenue to provide clear-cut and robust results to small business clients.