Growth means a lot of things to an entrepreneur; improving brand awareness, increase in sales, attracting investment, expansion of product. In this age of digital technology, growth involves strategy building for online marketing of a small business.

No matter the marketing strategy you choose, it has to keep pace with the growing digital marketplace – and this is irrespective of the type of business you operate; could be a brick-and-mortar store, online store or the two in combination.  This can be achieved through:

1. A well-defined goal

If your goal is not clear to you, how will you effectively communicate it to your audience? According to Lyndon Jonson,  the founder of Toronto based public relations and marketing firm for entrepreneurs, Comms.Bar, “Public relations is about building and maintaining relationships that are crucial to the success of a business”. In digital marketing, these relationships are converted into online actions that add value to the business. A well-defined goal helps you track your success as well as customize your marketing strategy.

2. Begin your campaign offline

Relationship building has to start offline, "Whether it's to share something, to buy something, to make a recommendation, or to write a review, you've got to build those relationships offline first," Jonson advises. Starting offline will help you analyze the need and behavior of your target audience.

3. Contents must be genuine and consistent

Publishing or sharing insightful and quality content is a great way to strengthen your relationship. This could be videos, articles or podcasts shared through social media channels, blogs, and website. To build rapport, the content needs to be interesting and informative, says digital marketing leaders. A call to action becomes necessary at this point – this should come with some incentives.

4. Track your success

Marketing strategies need to be flexible i.e. allow you to make changes to its part. Tracking what works and what doesn't through a robust feedback system will help you to know where to put a little more effort or where to weed off. Insights into customer behavior can be achieved using Google Analytics – which is, by the way, a free tool.

It is up to you to decide how simple or complex your digital marketing campaign should be. But, how well you integrate your clear goals with the offline relationship, quality content, and analysis will determine how successful it becomes.