Is digital marketing the biggest challenge to your business growth? 60% of small and medium businesses say so.

If you are a small or a medium business the challenges to retain your customer base and grow against your available marketing budget would be one of the main concerns amongst number of other challenges in today’s digital contest.

Digital space is indeed a great opportunity at the same time the biggest puzzle for most of us. As the online market place and advertising has become the mainstream marketing method for any business, if you are not active in this space, it is fair to say that you have lost the interest in your business. There are number of barriers I have identified in this process and mistakes we do as well. This simple explanation I hope would help your business to overcome some of these barriers with simple techniques and tools available for free or at an affordable cost.

1.      Budget

If you have a large budget, there is no limitation to your online ad spending on various platforms like Facebook ads or Google Adwords to name a few. If you have not identified your target market correctly and do not use the available analytics to understand the results, you may be pouring money down the drain, understanding the basics of digital marketing is key. I always advise to start small to test what works and gradually make large bets when you begin to see visible results. This is a highly addictive space so make sure to keep a good account of the impact towards your customer growth vs expenditure.

2.      Too many to choose from

With hundreds of platforms to choose from you will have to select the right platform based on your industry, content and skill. Also there are very basic requirements on this such as a website and a couple of social media accounts of your choice (again based on the industry you are in). In my experience it is better to manage fewer accounts well rather than many badly, as lack of content, infrequent posts and poor engagement can easily tarnish your brand. Getting the right feedback and constant engagement with your followers/ potential customers is also a key to success of your digital marketing strategy.

3.      DIY or pay someone else

Personally I would learn most of the hacks and skills myself before I hand over the digital marketing aspect of my business to a third party for a fee. This will save you money and will be more effective when you hire a paid consultant. I am not totally opposed to hiring a professional however it is very important to assess the skills, creativity and experience of the paid consultant before you commit. Please be aware there are many professionally experienced digital marketing consultants as well as beginners who claim to be experts in this space therefore I recommend spending time to evaluate who you want to go with. Having a good understanding of the time and skills required will ensure you hire the right consultant for the right price at the right time.

 4.      How do I bring traffic

This is one of the key elements of your digital marketing journey. Having the right look and feel to your profile is great but you need to ensure you have a strategy to direct traffic to it in order to achieve the desired results. It is very important to understand what works well and what doesn’t from beginning to end of this process. If you see a growth in your acquisitions it’s a matter of amplifying what you do and if you do not achieve the expected results it’s simply time to make a change.

If your digital marketing machine is not working I suggest breaking down the process in to four elements. Number one is to make sure you have right content and right channels set up. Number two, make sure you have created methods to bring traffic to your channels for example interactions/engagements, paid campaigns, referrals etc. Number three, check you have the right process in place to convert your traffic to sales. Usually a conversion rate can vary based on your business sector; nevertheless you should know you’ll get the right returns against how much you spend. Finally you need to make sure your products or services fit the target market. If you manage to tick all the boxes correctly I am sure you will see the results and smiles all round.

5.       Tools

It’s no secret that finding the right tools for the job is key, but that doesn’t always have to come at a cost. Using a mix of new and established tools can usually be more cost effective and don’t be afraid to plunge in to the pool of Free tools as many of them could work very well for your business.

Your logo and branding is something we have put at the forefront of this process. At GotKard we have done extensive research on traditional and modern methods of marketing and have identified that the traditional business card with your company logo, email, website and phone number is still a great way to divert traffic to your digital channels. However we have identified many limitations of paper business cards which we have strived to provide a solution to with our approach on the GotKard digital business card profile.

Firstly, if you share your business card via GotKard, there is a 75% improved ratio of receiver visiting your website, email or contact you (enquiry) purely because of the convenience. Unlike in the case of a paper business card, a card share on GotKard platform has live links to your call to action buttons which eliminate the process of typing the details to the receiver’s smartphone. The second biggest advantage against paper business card is the collection of the emails and mobile phone numbers on GotKard. Every card shared on GotKard will collect your business either an email address or phone number which is vital for your digital marketing campaigns to keep your potential customers and existing customers informed. You can send offers, product updates or any other strategic communication via this option to your market, increasing the traffic to your online channels. This will also help your business to inform your target market with any updates on your channels which is designed to trigger acquisitions and engage with them regularly. This process is repeated every time you share a business card via GotKard app ! GotKard app is also built with heaps of other benefits to support your contact management techniques such as paper business card scan, basic CRM features and free advertising platform to increase your businesses search ranking and more. So do your business a favour, follow the 1 to 5 process and make sure to gain your market share and fast growth.

Here at GotKard we are always happy to help with your digital marketing Journey. So keep us posted on our social media channels or feel free to email me or James directly with your success stories or challenges. Lets build business together.

Dinesh Mandawala, Co founder

www.gotkard.com

Your Business. Your Contacts. Your GotKard