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6 Small Business Digital Marketing Ideas You Haven’t Tried Yet (but Should)

Recently updated on November 11th, 2017 at 12:41 am

You have been exerting a lot of effort on your digital marketing strategy. You’ve got engaging content on your business blog. You get high reach in your Facebook posts and your Twitter followers love retweeting you.

But what’s next?

The internet is a battleground for marketers. You are not only fighting against your competitors in the industry but also against the deluge of marketing content from other industries that flood your consumers’ feeds. Consumers are always looking for something new and something fresh.

small business lemonade stand

If you’re looking for a different marketing strategy to try in your online marketing efforts, I have you covered. Here are 6 digital marketing ideas you haven’t tried yet, but definitely should.

1. Try a new social media platform.

While Facebook and Twitter dominate the social media scene, some social networking sites have carved a special niche for themselves to offer their own subscribers a unique experience that distinguishes them. Pinterest, for example, lets users create their own mood boards and collect images from the internet that fit their mood. Tumblr provides a microblogging platform with multimedia functionality. Vine enables their subscribers to share and view brief video clips, focusing on shareability and virality.

 

One of the most effective examples of digital marketing on these niche social networking sites is the mastery of Oreo on Vine. Granted, Oreo is the master of online marketing with a dozen of awards for their successful social media campaigns. Their portfolio that includes the 100 days of Daily Twist campaign and their infamous Super Bowl tweet can attest to that. But the young and growing social media platform gave Oreo the opportunity to add a new twist to their online presence, all in 6 seconds. If you haven’t done so yet, try researching for other niche social media sites that are a good fit to your business. Most of these sites can be integrated with your other social platforms and can serve as a compliment to your main social media accounts.

2. Build relationships (or friendly rivalries) with other business accounts.

This one is quite tricky and may not show an immediate benefit to your online marketing strategy. For one, coordinating a marketing campaign with another business costs a lot of resources and may even result in bad publicity. Case in point, the attempt of Burger King to partner with McDonald’s last year to pause their rivalry in honor of Peace Day. McD’s was put in a tight spot but chose pride instead of lovin’ with a cold reply from the CEO Steve Easterbrook.

A friendlier example for engaging other businesses for promotion is Old Spice’s sassy Tweets to sometimes unsuspecting businesses. Known for their viral humorous video advertisements, the manly brand does not shy away from engaging even the Mexican fast-food giant, Taco Bell, and our favorite digital marketer, Oreo.

In a small business context, you can engage with some of the local businesses near you. This is especially effective in close-knit communities. Even just liking their pages is a huge step to a mutual and beneficial online relationship. Contact them and agree to share some of their posts on each other’s walls or even partner in offering contests or deals together.

3. Participate in small business sites and forums.

Not only is participating in small business sites a learning experience, it is also a viable marketing strategy, especially if you are a small B2B business. Sites like Startup Nation or Reddit’s /r/SmallBusiness and /r/Entrepreneur subs are places where owners and marketers can discuss and exchange ideas on strategies and marketing campaigns.

small business trade show

Create a case study of one of your business projects or marketing campaigns. Most entrepreneurs, especially young business owners, are always looking for tips and tactics that that can incorporate into their own business. In addition, you can include some links to your social accounts, blogs, or even your own business sites if they are relevant to the discussion. Traffic is always good, but an even better reason is the potential for optimization in search engines.

4. Publish a business ebook for free.

With the internet, you don’t need to go to a publisher to submit a manuscript and print stacks of books that can take up useful inventory space in your warehouse. The digital era provides an easier way to put your ideas and expertise out there to an even wider audience.  If you participated and contributed to small business sites, you can easily compile some case studies and tips you’ve created in your blog and in your forum and expand them in detail.

screenshot kindle website

Not only does it provide potential traffic and eventually conversion, publishing an ebook can also increase your credibility both online and offline. If you’re looking for a place to publish it, you can check out Amazon Kindle self-publishing. You can even convert your manuscript into an ebook reader-friendly file and publish it on your business site and blog.

5. Start a video channel and upload relevant business content.

The internet is all about visual content. Sharing visually appealing images and 6-second vines might be the quick road to virality and wider reach, but recently, content creators are not shying away from lengthy and in-depth videos.

screenshot rooster teeth podcast

(via Rooster Teeth)

Starting a video channel can give you a digital marketing experience that is drastically different from the usual social media posting. It may be easy to just sign up for a YouTube or Vimeo account but continuing to upload videos in a scheduled manner can be tiring. The investment can be staggering but the payoff is huge. Create your own local advertisement or provide information on how you do your business. Show off your office environment or interview some of your customers. Even the occasional humorous content can provide a big boost to your channel and humanize your business. You can even monetize some of your videos for an added revenue stream.

6. Show off your community and social responsibility efforts.

Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of everything that they purchase and consume. Most of them are concerned about the businesses they patronize and put greater value in companies’ efforts to improve the community and the environment.

corporate social responsibility tree planting

Giving back to the community is not only socially responsible, it can also be a great marketing tool. Of course, marketing your business is not the intent of socially responsible policies. Supposedly. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it for your digital marketing strategy.

Create a manifesto in your website enumerating the values you believe in as a company. Integrate these concepts into your business model and be transparent about your efforts. Give back to your local community and host environmental and community-building events. Feature your brand’s social responsibility efforts within your digital marketing strategy. Most of all, be sincere about it. Your actions will impact the consumer’s perception of your business.

 

Do you have more digital marketing strategies? Share them below!

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