You’ve probably heard that small businesses are the backbone of the economy.
In the news, big companies and up-and-coming start-ups make headlines with policies and growth strategies. However, almost everything in your life is supported by a smaller or family business.
Your local supermarket may be a franchise, your favourite restaurant is probably family-owned, and even when you order online from a big store, there may be small businesses executing operations, payment services and logistics.
Small businesses are essential, but they face many challenges.
They struggle to grow, possess fewer resources, taxes can put them out of business if they have a bad month, and they need to juggle HR, finances, operations and marketing daily with little help.
The digital world has proven to be an opportunity for small businesses.
Small businesses were once local; now, they can be global.
With process digitisation, it is easier for small businesses to get help by using monthly-subscribed software that frees up time from operations.
The virtual assistance market has been on the rise. More and more entrepreneurs delegate tasks to these professionals when they are not prepared to make significant hires. And, of course, with social media and digital marketing, local services can expand their audience and find clients in different locations.
This also happened to online advertising. Instead of advertising in magazines and newspapers without knowing what the actual return will be, you can now start with a small budget and improve online presence and sales through targeted campaigns.
So, it is a good time to have a small business: costs are lower, reaching multiple audiences beyond your location is perfectly possible, and there are tools to help organise operations. On top of that, online ads make all this possible.
How can online ads help my small business?
Being active in the digital world is the first step to growing your business. Create social media profiles and use a content strategy framework to communicate your brand and business and engage with clients.
In addition to an online presence, you should invest in online ads to help you reach your goals.
There are multiple advantages in using online ads:
- Get more website traffic instead of relying on newspapers, radio or television, all of which have higher costs;
- Increase online sales for an e-commerce shop;
- Easily introduce new products with launch campaigns;
- Generate more leads, especially in B2B markets;
- Improve brand awareness to be top of mind among consumers;
- Create special promotions or sales;
- Have a more local presence, with map search and mobile search;
- Expand your word-of-mouth advertising — with online reviews, you can be recommended to different audiences.
Why do you need online ads? They take your business from stagnant to growth
If you leave things as they are, you can retain your regular customers. Weekends may give you good revenue, but how do you increase movement on weekdays? What if customers move somewhere else? What if they cannot go to your store anymore? What if new competition arrives? If your sales go down, how can you reinvest in the business to grow?
As a small business, you need to do more to grow and be successful. You need to upgrade your service, offer new, different products which your audience may need.
To start online ads, you don’t need a huge budget. With careful planning and a clear understanding of your buyer persona, you can create content and campaign ads with offers that will attract new customers or increase orders from current ones.
To do this, create an online ad strategy, see how much you need to spend per client acquisition to break even and accelerate your ROI. Then, use the profit to optimise campaigns, improve current products, expand inventory or launch a new idea.
Also, remember that when you advertise online, your word-of-mouth can increase! People spend many hours online and can check reviews of your service on multiple sites and recommend it to friends and family.
In conclusion, small businesses need online ads to keep working
Online ads can be beneficial to small businesses. With investment, time and engaging content, you can find new customers, grow your business and improve your service.
Expand your audience and find new people. By reaching potential customers, you can get more revenue and create an opportunity to receive feedback and improve.
The extra money can also be useful to reinvest in the business and its people, therefore increasing the service and possibly customer satisfaction. So, even if you start with a small investment, online ads really help small businesses in the long run.
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