Digital Marketing Options
Lead Generation Services Other
Online lead generation companies like Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and RedBeacon offer guaranteed customers--if you're able to sell them after their initial request. Some sites charge a membership fee; others take a percentage of the contract amount.
Blogging Social Organic
Blogging is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and build relationships with prospective customers, peers, and your existing customers. It can give a big boost to your SEO but requires a significant time commitment.
Facebook Pages Social
Facebook Pages offer an easy way to get a conversation going with your customers, improve loyalty, ask for feedback, and build community. Successful Business Pages on Facebook require frequent monitoring and content updates.
Q&A Sites Social
A number of sites offer opportunities to answer questions for prospects; some of the best known of these include Quora and Yahoo! Answers. Industry-specific examples include Avvo and Travellr.
The more questions you answer on sites like these, the faster you'll build your reputation.
Location-Based Services Local/Mobile
Location-based services like Foursquare and Facebook Places give you the ability to learn a lot about your customers … if you have time to analyze the data. Offering specials (usually small dollar-value) can bring in new customers from these services as well.
Twitter Social
You can think of Twitter as a kind of public-email-listserv for the web. Depending on the type of business you operate, you might use Twitter to announce new products, chat about news items in your industry, or offer discounts. Based on your industry, success may require either minutes or hours of participation per day.
Email Marketing Social Local/Mobile
Providers like MailChimp and Vertical Response offer the ability to maintain your email lists and send branded emails at a reasonable price. It probably won't bring you a ton of new business, but few strategies can match email when it comes to building existing customer loyalty.
Social Media Ads Social Other
Ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are easy to set up on your own. You can select a target audience for your ads based on potential customers’ demographic information, geographic location, and interests—all at reasonable prices. Some guidance is still recommended to ensure the best use of your ad dollars.
Search/Display Ads Other
Paid advertising programs such as Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter charge your business a fee when a searcher clicks on your advertisement. This is sometimes called "PPC" or mistakenly called "SEM." Guidance is recommended to ensure your advertising dollars are spent wisely.
Online Video Other
Video is a fantastic way to engage with prospects—both on your website and on search engines like YouTube and Vimeo. There are some exceptions, but video production is usually tough to do in-house, and companies like SmartShoot and Spotzer can be expensive.
Pinterest Social
Pinterest is a digital bulletin board—a highly visual way for people to share interesting content they come across online. It's a lighter version of a Facebook wall, with lower follower expectations of update frequency.
Offline Ads w/QR Codes Other
A bridge between the offline and online worlds, QR codes allow smartphone owners to scan them and be directed to a webpage that contains more information about the product or service being advertised. A number of websites offer free QR code generators, but there's cost involved to purchase the ads themselves.
Local SEO Local/Mobile
Optimizing your local business listings like Google+ Local, Bing Places, and Yelp is one of the most time-effective and cost-effective digital marketing opportunities for local businesses. Get started by updating your listings at Moz Local!
Website SEO Organic
On-page SEO—making your site more visible in the search engines for keywords related to what you sell—is something that can usually be accomplished fairly quickly by a professional, but generally requires technical knowledge. Without link building, simply adjusting your code may only have a limited effect.
LinkedIn Forums Social
LinkedIn is the largest social business network. Developing a strong reputation by joining LinkedIn groups related to your industry and answering questions in their forums may pay off for your business. LinkedIn charges a small subscription fee for optional Pro accounts which give you additional intelligence about other users.
Daily Deals Other
Daily deal offerings like Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers give merchants the promise of guaranteed customers—at a high price. Third-party guidance is recommended to protect against dissatisfied customers or huge financial losses.
Linkbuilding Organic
Link building is a key component of traditional SEO. When done well, it's one of the most successful long-term strategies on this list. It's also one of the hardest and most time-intensive to execute, and often requires help from a professional agency.
Reviews / Social Reputation Social Local/Mobile
Customer reviews play a role in your local search engine rankings, and more importantly, they influence whether customers ultimately choose to contact your business. Many—but not all—review platforms allow you to encourage customer reviews as part of your regular point-of-sale or follow-up process; a handful of web companies like CustomerLobby or Reputation.com can also help.
Mobile Apps Local/Mobile
Most small businesses probably don't need to develop their own app—or even have anything beyond a basic mobile website. But in certain high-value, highly visual industries like interior design, home construction, or finance, developing your own app might make sense as a customer recruitment tool. AppStack is one of several companies that seeks to make app creation for small businesses affordable.