Uncovering the marketing challenges facing small business owners in 2021

As we slowly but surely gravitate away from the pandemic, certainly here in the UK, the attention of governments, analysts and business owners is on economic recovery and growth. With over 6 million small businesses in the UK that account for over 99% of the business community, the small business sector has seen the ups and downs of the last 15 months.

Grants, bounce back loans, VAT cuts and furlough schemes are just a few of the many initiatives that have been used to help businesses overcome the effects of the pandemic. The digitisation of society has accelerated with more and more of us engaging with each other on social media, working remotely, streaming our favourite shows and completing purchases online.

The knock-on effect has been a more switched on digital society that now expects to interact with their favourite brands online. For large businesses this has not been so much of a technological challenge as they have access to budgets, resources and personnel that have helped them dominate online.

In contrast, small businesses have found it much harder to navigate the digital world as they try to move away from traditional forms of marketing. For example, most small businesses do not have the experience, resources or time to develop effective online strategies and therefore they have found it difficult to compete in the digital world.

Digital marketing and the use of technology is evolving so quickly, especially when you consider how it affects small businesses. As we highlighted during last week's blog, there are a number of statistics online that point to the need for small business owners to enhance their online presence. There are also many opportunities for small business owners to engage with their audience online as a number of touchpoints can be incorporated into an overall marketing strategy.

In this weeks blog, we wanted to uncover some of the biggest challenges facing small business owners in 2021 as they navigate away from the pandemic.

The customer journey
Every business, small or large, is trying to serve their customers as best they can. It has been proven many times that it’s far more cost-effective to retain an existing customer than it is to constantly attract new customers.

With this being the case, many businesses are trying to digitise their customers journey and offer a frictionless and automated way to interact. While in theory this sounds relatively straightforward, in practise it can seem daunting for inexperienced business owners who are struggling to grasp technology and digital marketing.

For example, lets look at a customer journey from a small business perspective. A small business could interact with a customer on social media and direct that customer to their website via a URL. On the website, the small business owner could position certain products/services that can be secured for a huge discount and display a promotional code as an incentive to secure the sale.

Once a purchase has been made, the customer details could be dropped into an email list to start a nurturing campaign that maximises the lifetime value of that customer. Finally, once the product/service has been consumed, the business could automate the outreach and ask the customer for a review to boost the social proof of the business.

While this example seems simple, many business owners would struggle to implement this workflow as it requires time, technology, experience and resources to optimise. It is for this very reason that many small businesses are struggling to connect and retain their customers.

Marketing challenges
Online marketing is vastly different to traditional marketing campaigns and can often lead to great results. The 2 biggest advantages of digital marketing are reach and optimisation. Firstly, it seems as though everyone is online and this makes it easier for businesses to connect with audiences on a local, national and international level. In contrast, traditional marketing does not give a business the same level of exposure.

Secondly, digital marketing campaigns can be tracked, analysed and optimised to boost the effectiveness. Details reports and metrics allow business owners or agencies to identify what is working and then to amplify the results.

However, there are challenges along the way for small business owners which we’ll now highlight:

1. Technology
   Most small business owners are not confident with technology as it’s not their main skill. Many business owners have successfully built businesses around their passion but this very rarely includes digital marketing. As more customers look for an online presence, business owners are turning to agencies to help them integrate solutions above and beyond a basic website.


2. Budgets
   Unlike big business, small business owners do not have the luxury of huge budgets when it comes to digital marketing. Instead, small businesses are looking to deploy their marketing spend on areas that will achieve the best possible result within a short time frame. It is for this reason that many small business owners look to leverage social media as a way to connect with their audience.


3. Competition
   Every business faces competition and this is especially true in the online world. With low barriers to entry and increasingly savvy customers, small businesses are often competing with similar businesses across the globe. Therefore, it’s crucial that small businesses identify and communicate their USP, values and mission to stand out in the online world.


4. Experience
   Many small business owners do not have the experience of running digital marketing campaigns that target customers across multiple touchpoints. The online world has made it easier than ever for business owners to target customers across multiple mediums including web, search and social. A lack of experience often hinders small business owners from leveraging multiple platforms to offer a frictionless experience to their customers.


5. Data
   We are sure you’ve heard the phrase, “the money is in the list”. Basically, every type of business should be capturing customer data such as name, email address, phone number, spending habits etc. This helps the business nurture the customer relationship and maximise the lifetime value of every customer. However, most businesses do not have processes for capturing customer data and then actually using the data to aid marketing campaigns.


6. Leads
   Every single business can benefit from more leads and the topic of lead generation is something that is often discussed between business owners. Online advertising and tools actually give small business owners the ability to generate leads from multiple channels including search engines, their website, social media, to name just a few. However, small businesses often need help in generating leads on a consistent basis.

How can these challenges be solved?
Solving problems for customers is a key ingredient for long term success. As we have highlighted in this blog, there are a variety of challenges that small business owners are facing when trying to improve their online presence.

All of these challenges can be solved with training, education and a commitment to improve the lives of small businesses in our community. However, so often small business owners can be consumed by the day to day running of their businesses that they don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to self-improvement.

A direct consequence of this is the need for businesses to turn to Digital Agencies and specialists that can solve some of these challenges. This allows the business owner to focus on their core activities whilst the digital marketing is handled by a dedicated specialist.

Summary
The world of marketing is changing and there is now a greater emphasis on digital marketing than ever before. Small businesses that fail to evolve and market online, run the risk of becoming invisible over time. There are a number of simple ways for every business to improve their digital footprint and begin to compete online.

To find out more about how you can help local businesses enhance their online presence through your very own Digital Agency, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.