Digital Marketing for Startups or Small Businesses

Unprecedented times.. Part 2

Covid-19 has presented the world with a huge number of challenges that we are all fighting to overcome. We know however, that it will come to an end and we will have a new normal. Social distancing will continue for some time - maybe until the vaccine is rolled out - so an online presence for any business is essential.

It’s not just a web site that is required. You need a social presence and if anybody is going to find you you’ll need to spend some money with Google and Bing.

At SimSof - a typical brief that comes in is something like this..

“… You said that you are intending to sell sports shoes online, that you have the logo done, the domain registered but no web site and no social channels created other than Instagram. You are unable to get the product made under the current Covid-19 crisis but want to start raising awareness of the brand in anticipation of the lockdown ending sometime (soon…) when you’ll be able to sell via your eCommerce web site.”

SimSof primarily creates social campaigns – we create content, source images and schedule posts to all channels including Instagram (which isn’t as smooth as the others) i.e. Twitter, FB, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

What we can do:

• Create the channels for you which carry your branding consistently on each one

• Create paid ads on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram – whereby you can target to geographic locations, gender, age group etc.. produce detailed reports on each channel

• Run your YouTube channel

• Run your Customer Service by monitoring customer enquiries and providing timely answers

• All posts can be created in advance and posted at optimum times over days, weeks or months.

In this example brief since there is are products to showcase the messaging will be of what is to come and soon !

The initial tasks would include:

• Channel set up – join relevant groups, Bots

• Competitor analysis – is there anyone/site that you like or want to replicate..?

• Content creation – editorial calendar, editorial guidelines.

The first posts could show the business as an industry expert – just waiting to get going and also re-post others’ content. Are there any USP’s and is there any imagery at all?

The ultimate target of a Social Campaign for a business is to drive sales and complements the web site of any organisation. We can get involved in all aspects of digital promotion from hosting, web site building and SEO.

But what about a website ?

As far as a web site is concerned you need to think about the following..

Hosting:

• 123reg (they recommend the Unlimited package @ £93.48 for the first year and then £155.88 thereafter – all plus VAT)

  • WordPress / MySQL. Unlimited bandwidth

• Squarespace (simsof.com is on this..). Their Basic Commerce package is £20 pm (if paid annually) plus VAT.

• SSL Certificate – around £40 pa

• You have to registered a domain name – what is it?

• Need email addresses for the registered domain to have credibility

The Site

• Modern template – or bespoke design

• Flexible so products can be added

• Simple to use

• Blogging

• Content/No. of products

• WordPress would use the WooCommerce plugin There is a cost here too.

• Above all mobile optimised !

Payment

• Setup with PayPal, bank or third party – bottom line is it must be simple. •

SEO

• No one will find the site on Google, Bing or Yahoo unless this is attended too.

• Content/Keywords/Structure

• Google MyBusiness and Bing Places

• Backlinks

• Competition is stiff – you’ll struggle to get up the google listing without spending some cash.

SEA or PPC

• Google Ads - £100 per month or more

• Paid for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or LinkedIn posting

It’s all in the testing to find our what works best for you and YOUR clients. Don’t forget that if your eCommerce site does not work your business will lose credibility from the start!

Want to talk to us about your project?

We can help you with & do all of the above. We won’t take our finger off the trigger - we’ll stick at it and see to it that your business has a prominent digital footprint.

Give Andrew a call today on +44 (0)870 766 9321 or fill our our contact form below :