What Are Top Digital Marketing Issues for San Diego SMBs?

Let's face it. Digital marketing is challenging simply because of the amount of data to process and the many marketing tools one needs to use in order to stay on top of the game. It is easy to get carried away, especially for small- to medium-scale businesses, in a competitive local market!

An expert San Diego digital marketing agency handles the following issues for SMBs:

• Preparing digital marketing budgets
• Selecting the right social media platform
• Creating relevant content
• Keeping on top of the latest digital marketing technologies
• Earning quality leads

This article covers these top issues and gives tips for preventing them. Let's go!

Want to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to Digital Marketing? Watch this video!

Preparing Digital Marketing Budgets

Because of limited financial resources, preparing a digital marketing budget can be challenging for small to medium-sized businesses. They need help allocating a budget for digital marketing activities and must balance that with other business expenses, such as rent, salaries, and inventory.

SMBs may need a dedicated marketing team to prepare a digital marketing budget. A lack of expertise can result in underestimating the cost of marketing activities or overestimating the potential return on investment (ROI).

SMBs often have limited time to plan and execute a digital marketing campaign. As a result, they may rush through the budgeting process or neglect to allocate the appropriate resources to digital marketing. If you are a small business in San Diego and new to creating marketing budgets, follow these strategies:

• Define goals before setting a budget. Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales?
• Research your audience's online behavior, interests, and preferences to choose the ideal digital marketing channels.
• Estimate the costs of each activity. For example, you need to calculate the cost of ad creation, targeting, and monitoring for a Facebook ad campaign.
• Prioritize the tactics that have the most impact.
• Monitor and adjust digital marketing campaigns regularly, and adjust your budget accordingly.

Selecting the Right Social Media Platform

SMBs may not have the resources to effectively manage multiple social media platforms. They may lack the time, staff, or budget to create content, engage with followers, and monitor performance on multiple platforms.

They may also lack the expertise to create engaging content, develop effective campaigns, and measure results. Choosing the right platform requires an understanding of your target audience’s behavior and preferences on each platform. Thus, SMBs may not have access to the data needed to make informed decisions about social media platform selection.

Without access to data on their target audience's behavior and preferences, businesses make unsupported guesses about which platforms will be most effective. To overcome these challenges, small to medium-scale companies can conduct research to understand their target audience's behavior and preferences on each platform. Here are some steps that San Diego SMBs can take:

• Determine who your target audience is and where they spend their time online. Research their demographics, interests, and social media habits.
• Evaluate each social media platform based on the platform's features, audience size, engagement rates, and advertising options.
• Consider the type of content you plan to create and how well it fits the platform. For example, with visually rich content such as images and videos, Instagram and YouTube may be more suitable than other platforms.
• Set specific, measurable goals for your social media marketing efforts. To generate leads, focus on platforms with efficient advertising options like Facebook or LinkedIn.
• Test different social media platforms to determine which is most effective for your business.

Creating Relevant Content

Due to limited resources, creating relevant and consistent content can be challenging, especially for SMBs. They may need a dedicated content marketing specialist or an experienced writer who can create compelling and relevant content.

Some SMBs may need access to data to help them understand their target audience's preferences, interests, and pain points. Without this information, it can be difficult to create relevant content.

And even if SMBs create great content, they may not have the distribution channels to get it in front of their target audience. Reaching a wider audience without an established social media following or email list can be challenging.

By partnering with a San Diego digital marketing agency, SMBs can overcome these challenges. Marketing experts have a firm understanding of the market and the content that engages it. 

Based on a company’s specific needs and market, strategists might make use of the following content-creation strategies:

• Develop a content strategy that aligns with business goals and the target  audience.
• To create relevant content, they will leverage existing resources, such as customer feedback, reviews, and testimonials.
• Repurpose existing content into new formats, such as turning a blog post into a video or podcast, to create more diverse and engaging content.
• Collaborate with industry experts, influencers, and other businesses to reach a wider audience.
• Use data and analytics tools to gain insights into your audience's behavior and preferences.
• Engage with your audience on social media, email, and your website to build relationships and create content they love.

Keeping on Top of the Latest Digital Marketing Technologies

SMBs’ limited resources also affect their ability to keep up with changing digital marketing technologies. They may need an experienced digital marketing specialist or dedicated trained staff to ensure their business uses the latest tools, software, and applications.

With the digital marketing landscape constantly evolving and new technologies and platforms emerging, SMBs may not be able to keep up while managing day-to-day business operations.

Also, many digital marketing technologies can be complex, requiring specialized knowledge and skills for effective use. These companies may need more expertise or resources to implement and manage these technologies for their best purposes. But it does not mean SMBs cannot keep up; they will just need to work harder. These strategies can help.

• Prioritize learning about new digital marketing technologies. Set aside time for industry events, blogs, and news articles; participate in webinars; and take online courses.
• Stay up-to-date with industry associations and trade groups.
• Consider outsourcing digital marketing tasks to a third-party agency or consultant, such as an expert San Diego digital marketing firm.
• Collaborate with other businesses and industry experts to share knowledge of the latest practices and technologies.
• Set up Google alerts for relevant keywords and topics related to digital marketing to stay updated with the latest trends and news.

Earning Quality Leads

Producing quality leads is a time-consuming and tedious task. A business needs a dedicated sales or marketing team to create effective lead-generation campaigns and optimize lead quality. Because of SMBs' limited resources, especially for tools and knowledge, they may be unable to fully target their ideal audience, resulting in low-quality leads.

Also, SMBs may need training to nurture leads, resulting in a low conversion rate. To address these challenges and create high-quality leads, SMBs can take the following steps:

• Develop buyer personas to create more targeted and effective lead-generation campaigns.
• Use targeted advertising to better and more efficiently reach their ideal audience.
• Optimize website design and content by providing clear messaging and easy navigation.
• Nurture leads through personalized email campaigns and follow-up calls.

Summing Up

San Diego SMBs face the following digital marketing issues: preparing digital marketing budgets, selecting the right social media platform, and creating relevant content. They may need help to keep up with the latest digital marketing technologies and earn quality leads.

But these should not hinder SMBs from achieving their marketing goals. By working with a digital expert agency, SMBs can look forward to higher leads, conversions, sales, and revenue. Contact the experts at Digital Authority Partners today.