Any small business owner knows that managing a tight budget often means making some sacrifices. Certain areas of the business are likely to see budget cuts in order to be able to keep the current staff and avoid having to layoff any employees. One area that is likely to face some budget cuts is marketing and advertising. Although choosing an advertising agency to work with may help secure some more business, the initial costs can still be too much for a small business to take on when they are struggling financially. Luckily, the Internet has made it easier than ever for all businesses to do their own online promotions marketing, allowing them to create an online presence without spending much money. The following digital marketing tips can help struggling small businesses improve their image and gain more business without further stressing their budget.

1. Give the Company Website a Makeover – The starting point for any digital marketing campaign is a company’s website. The company website needs to be professional, easily accessible and easy to navigate. Customers that find a website confusing or hard to work with won’t waste their time on it and will likely move on to a competitor’s site. To avoid this, companies should update their websites to provide customers with the best online experience possible. Custom website designers are a company’s best bet for getting a unique and professional website, but if they have someone in-house that does web design, that is a great way to save a little money.
2. Promote the Company Website – Once their website is updated and looking good, companies need to start promoting. There are a number of free ways to do this online, including social media, blogs and SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, involves creating content based around key words from the company’s website to help drive traffic to the site. This in turn helps improve the website’s search engine rankings, making a company more visible to online shoppers. Again, if a company has an employee that is familiar with SEO, they can save quite a bit of money by having them handle this instead of hiring digital advertising agencies.
3. Keep in Touch With Customers – One of the most important digital marketing tips is to connect with customers over the Internet. The Internet has made it much easier to reach out to and communicate with customers on a more personal level, allowing companies to actually personalize their marketing efforts. By creating and maintaining accounts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, a company can get easily get feedback from their customers and keep track of negative company reviews. It also allows them to quickly address any issues.

Thanks to the Internet, marketing and advertising techniques are more accessible than ever before. These digital marketing tips can help small businesses on a tight budget to continue their marketing efforts without spending a lot of (if any) money. Refernce materials.