Techblog
Use Digital Marketing to power small business growth
Armed with the power of digital technology, SMBs and start-ups are overcoming entry barriers in many industries. This is great news if you’re after a slice of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) e-commerce market valued at US$1.1 trillion by 2022.
Today smaller businesses are no longer hindered by their location or size. New digital channels are opening up the global market. To reach this market, business owners must embrace a new marketing mindset - one focused on digital.
“Whereas in the past, large companies with high numbers of physical stores have had the greatest consumer reach, digital channels have allowed smaller companies access to consumers all over the world,” claimed the Insights to Digital Commerce: An APAC Perspective by Accenture Consulting. “Indeed, smaller, more flexible, niche businesses have been much better at taking advantage of these new channels and disproportionately driving the growth of the consumer goods industry.”
The Accenture analysis says that the competitive landscape in retail has shifted significantly in the last five years. Current players in the region have lost around 2% market share to new entrants. The key to reaching this new market is digital marketing.
Finding your niche
While small businesses are not able to compete with established big businesses in scale, the digital market presents a unique opportunity for them to target specific niche markets. Operating digitally means they are able to reach a wide niche audience on a global scale, without the need for massive global operations.
To capitalise on this opportunity to serve the niche, businesses need to beef up their digital operations, whether it’s in terms of business strategy or marketing. Apart from the traditional marketing activities of getting your pricing, promotions and advertising campaigns right, businesses need to factor in digital practices such as search engine optimising your web presence, social media and etc.
Enhance cost-efficiency
Digital marketing is more cost-efficient than traditional mass media marketing. SEO done right offers business websites the opportunity for more search traffic.
When you do embark on paid digital marketing options – Google AdWords or Facebook – the cost is significantly lower than traditional newspaper advertising. It is empowering, particularly for SMBs, to now enjoy the capability of reaching a much wider market while maintaining operational efficiency.
Also, the impact of digital marketing can be much easier to measure than results from traditional marketing. Digital technologies and campaigns can readily extract data on customer preferences and purchase decisions.
Leverage personalisation
The level of personalisation that digital marketing can provide is a particularly strong feature. The digital transformation report from the World Economic Forum reveals that customers now expect personalised interactions online. “Whether it is personalised viewing suggestions from Netflix’s renowned recommendation engine or specific discounts for shoppers from Shopee, customers expect a product or service that is tailored to their needs.”
The static nature - remaining the same with every view (i.e., posters, magazine and newspaper articles, etc.) - is a major drawback of traditional marketing techniques. Customers can’t interact with the content the way they can respond instantaneously to digital information. And businesses can’t change messages in static media as quickly as they can tweak digital content.
Target Millennials
The move towards digital marketing has partly been as a result of changes in consumer demographics. The World Economic Forum reports that people born between 1980 and 2000 – millennials – are poised to comprise the largest group of customers in business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.
These millennials, and the generations that will follow them, are digital natives. They are an influential group that can affect purchase decisions, a power they wield by simply advising older customers on technologies to spend money on, or discussing the value of products and services through social media. To connect with this influential market small business needs to market where they spend their time - search and social.
Summary
- Digital technologies are removing barriers to entry in many industries, allowing small businesses and start-up companies to pursue new opportunities that were previously out of reach to enterprises with meager resources.
- Businesses need to combine traditional marketing techniques with digital methods to generate demand in a changing competitive landscape.
- Digital marketing is more cost-efficient than traditional media and it allows a deeper level of personalisation that is highly valued in a digital economy.
- Traditional marketing can be slow and expensive to change.
- Millennials and generations to follow are digital natives and will become the dominant consumer demographic.