Small businesses should advertise online. It is a no brainer! With a proper digital marketing strategy small businesses can see real results that impact the bottom line. While traditional advertising methods have their place, there is so much opportunity to be realized by reaching and engaging with customers online.

Many small businesses ask this question, and we love it. Check out these top 4 reasons a small business should advertise online. The best thing about these reasons is they lead to more efficient advertising and more sales for your business.

1. Reach more customers where they are.

In marketing reach is simply the number of potential customers you can get in front of.

If your business is not online, you are missing out on more customers. 80% of consumers are researching online before they make a purchase. Relying solely on traditional media or word of mouth advertising is going to result in lots of lost opportunity. And guess what? Your competitors are capitalizing on those opportunities. People are searching for your products and services on a variety of platforms. Increase your reach and make your brand more accessible on Google, social media, Bing, and hundreds of other sites.

2. Digital advertising is more targeted.

A marketing target audience is a group of potential customers that a business wants to reach with its marketing strategy. Traditional media, such as tv and radio, does have a large reach. BUT they aren’t always getting in front of the right audience. This means you may be wasting advertising dollars on people that aren’t relevant to your business.

With a proper strategy small and local businesses will not only reach more people, but the right people. Not everyone watching tv needs what you offer. Additionally, not everyone online is searching for your business. So, why waste your advertising dollars on impressions that are not relevant? Proper targeting will put your product or service in front of consumers when they are ready to buy. Whether you are advertising on Google, social media, or other platforms you can target by age, gender, interests, and much more!

A great digital advertising strategy with excellent execution results in the most efficient advertising spend and maximizes your return.

3. Create more awareness for your small business.

Brand awareness can be defined as the likelihood customers are able to recognize or remember a brand. Creating awareness for small, local businesses should be a focal point of an effective marketing strategy. Small businesses do not have the seemingly unlimited resources and budget as large corporations so, it is vital to create a positive brand image and awareness.

Not everyone searching online will already know how great your brand is. Afterall, if they did, they would already be coming to you rather than searching on Google.

An online presence will help tell your story and show off your products or services to those researching online. Great brand awareness also comes with additional benefits such as improved word of mouth and referrals.

4. Customers engage more with businesses that are online.

Customer engagement is any interaction between customers and a business. This can happen both online and offline. Ensuring you can engage with customers online will only increase overall engagement. However, it is also important to make sure these interactions are positive ones.

According to Scott Gould’s article Engagement Statistics, engaged customers spend 60% more on each purchase and buy 90% more often. What does this mean for a small business? A loyal customer is cheaper to keep than it is to find a new customer. So, by engaging with customers online they are 90% more likely to be a repeat customer. These same customers are more likely to make larger purchases when they have positive interactions with your brand.

Being online creates more opportunities for engagement and in many cases will allow customers to easily like and share your content. And if all goes well, they will even share their experience with their friends online!