7.5 ideas for using the web to market a small business

You run a small business and it's extremely geographically based. 100% of customers are within 20 miles of the location.

Or maybe your national, but your a small business in terms of revenue or scale.

How can you use the web effectively?

First, let me say you have to find the right marketing mix for your business. That is a trial and error thing; no magic bullet. Plan to test, measure, analyze, and learn. I love digital marketing, but it's only a piece of the puzzle.

Also, whatever you decide, you should consider how it integrates with your offline strategy. These things need to work together.

Lastly, you must know what your goals are. Without them you are just trying trendy things, seeing what happens, and not getting any better.

Yeah, I mean, maybe you're doing what the cool kids are doing, but you know, the cool kids are probably all unemployed now.

But seriously; goals: know who you are after, where they are, what you want to share with them, and what you want them to do. Doesn't need to be more then 1 page on a word document. 

All that said, here are 7 suggestions to try when building a digital marketing strategy for small business:

1. Have a home base. A website is good. A blog is good. I'd go blog if I was choosing one or the other, but honestly, having both works as well -- just make sure they are integrated. 

2. Make this home base social and interactive. Images, video, content, press releases, presentations, pdf's, etc. Any content you can produce should either live here, or you link to it from here. The goal for all your media efforts is to get everyone back to here to experience this stuff.

3. Test all of the key social channels: Facebook fan page & FB places, Twitter [preferably as a human, not a brand -- i.e. Barry Judge, CMO of Best Buy], Youtube channel, Flikr and Foursquare. Develop content for them and focus on them daily.

And  integrate these into your home base [via live FB feeds, "like" this on FB buttons, "tweet this", etc.]

4. Develop an Email database and test ways to use it. Groupon and Living Social have shown that email marketing is still relevant, despite industry buzz of email dying. I've tested both, and both have produced results. But again, you have to know what you are trying to do with them. 

Side note: with a solid email address collection strategy you can be your own "Groupon". 

5. Submit your url to the major search engines and register as an "owner" where you can. This allows you to add content to "places" and location results. It's amazing how this simple thing enhances the user experience, but not many small businesses even bother with it. 

6. Test geo-targeted keyword buying on google and yahoo. This can be effective if you have specific goals, and your not competing with too many businesses with endless budgets. You'll have to find out if it works for you.

Side note: worst case, you can use google and yahoo as a "poor mans" messaging focus group. Create a handful of copy options -- that get your message across -- and track click through. It's a great indicator of what general pop responds too.

7. This isn't a digital tactic, but it's important. Good copy is king. And it's essential to the success of everything above: site, content, social, email, etc.

I recommend spending some time on blogs dedicated to copy writing; Copyblogger is fantastic. Also, look at some of your favorite advertisers and take notes on their copy. And Practice.

7.5. Yes, I wanted to add one more, but I didn't want to screw up my odd numbered list. Woops. 

I felt I couldn't make a list like this and not highlight MEASURE YOUR RESULTS. You have to measure everything you do. For sites, there are analytic tools; for FB, there are interaction reports; for Twitter, there are tools like Klout. Definitely plan to use those tools.

So, this isn't everything you can do, but it's a start. What ever you do or try, I suggest you make this one of your goals: ENGAGE with the consumers where they are. 

All of these resources exist so that you can build relationships with the people that are looking for you -- they already exist. And you don't have to sell to them; they want to buy. They are merely waiting for you to solve their problem.

That's the beauty of web -- you can find them and start a conversation. But you have to go find them where they are. Taadaa.

Have some more to add? Please do so in the comments; love to hear them!