Survive the Recession with a Smart Digital Strategy
We’re ending a tough economic year with little prospect of relief in 2023 – but it’s not all doom and gloom!
The news may not be good with the UK having fallen into a recession predicted to last more than a year, with living standards dropping dismally in the face of inflation and huge energy bills.
This all means that consumers have less money to spend with your business – no matter what sector you’re in. And the spare cash that is out there is up for grabs in an increasingly competitive market.
There is, however, a smart strategy that savvy business owners or operators can employ to help them keep afloat on this stormy sea during 2023 and beyond.
It’s simple – look to boosting or improving your web presence to make an impact on those potential customers who have money to spend on your service or product. Online the best website – backed up by a wise digital marketing strategy – will win the conversions, turning casual callers into paying customers.
A Winning Website that Works for 2023
Why a website – I hear you cry! Isn’t social media enough of a web presence?
Perhaps you don’t have the time or inclination to manage a business website, or already have one that just sits there in cyberspace, rarely visited or engaged with? There are also business owners/operators who don’t think a website is relevant to what they do, or others who just believe a business website is a waste of money.
Wondering where to peg your 2023 marketing budget? Here’s some advice from Experian on how to calculate your business marketing budget: To calculate your budget, take your gross (or estimated) revenue, decide on a percentage spend (somewhere between 6-20% depending on the size, scale and longevity of your business). Take this total figure and break it down further to create an allocation for each of your planned marketing activities, using data from previous campaigns to help you. |
These are some of the reasons why an estimated one third of small businesses don’t have a website at all (PR Newswire). The same goes for why businesses with outdated or underperforming websites tend not to invest in upgrades, website re-design or SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Have you ever heard the saying “you have to spend money to make money”? It is credited to ancient Roman playwright Titus Plautus – but it is just as true today as it was in 100-odd BC.
When it comes to investing in a business website this old saying is certainly proven. My experience with our hundreds of happy clients at Dentons Digital agency is that a new website injects new life into any company, from sole traders to corporates.
In fact, when it comes to your marketing budget for 2023 there’s no better way to spend it and get a great return on your investment than to commission a website that can form the basis of a cracking digital marketing strategy.
What Makes a Website Work?
Probably the most important factor that determines whether a website is going to be successful as a marketing tool or not is the quality of its design.
We’ve covered the importance of web design and it’s influence on lead generation in a previous article, so suffice it to say that good web design ensures your site is enticing, user-friendly and conversion-driven – if it fails on these markers its time for a revamp if you want your website to work.
A professionally designed website serves many purposes – not least of which is clear communication of your company ethos, quality of service and all sorts of other information, to your customers.
A premium website works well to:
- Confirm your business’s credibility
- Showcase your brand
- Draw in organic traffic and rank in search results
- Bring in sales leads
- Act as a point of contact for your customers
- Save time by answering customers’ questions
- Act as a landing page for digital marketing campaigns
- Obtain and analyse data and insights about your customers
- Build a mailing list for email marketing
- Sell products or services online (e-commerce)
….. and so much more.
The Foundation of your 2023 Marketing Strategy
A well-set up website with a carefully thought-out site map, well-placed calls to action, good responsiveness (fitting all devices) – and all the other things that experienced web designers and developers know a business website needs – forms a solid foundation for a successful digital marketing strategy.
Your website will serve as a hub for all your other digital marketing initiatives, such as:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – applying all the techniques required to capture the attention of the search engines, and increase your site’s visibility in search results.
- PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising campaigns – a flexible method of advertising that can be tailored to your budget and targeted at your preferred customers.
- Social Media – consistent posting on appropriate platforms can point traffic to your website where you can snare conversions.
- Email marketing – still very effective when targeted at your customer database, which you can capture via your website.
As we see in the New Year Dentons Digital is keen to make 2023 prosperous for all of us, despite all the economic pressures we and our clients are facing. We’re here to help with our in-house team of website designers, developers and digital marketing experts, ready to launch you onto the internet with an affordable website that will bring you great results, whatever your line of business.
Let’s Talk! Call 01373 580 126
