How women entrepreneurs can grow their business with digital marketing

“Ignoring online marketing is like opening a business but not telling anyone” – Anonymous.

A phenomenal platform

In the new era of modern technology, the consumption of mobile, internet and social media by any target group has been on a rise. The prospective consumers of any given brand today spend a lot of time on gathering information and interacting with the brands along with evaluating various options available online, before making buying decisions. Hence, it has become inevitable for brands and businesses to be available on various such internet mediums and reach out to their audiences, at the right places and the right time.

For an emerging woman entrepreneur, digital marketing is the go-to tool for creating the awareness and recall that she is looking for her products/services. The beauty of this platform is that it allows you to showcase any nature of business/brand that wishes to communicate its target audience. Be it a small saree designing artwork to offer, or customised services for interior decorations, digital platforms ensure every woman can become a successful entrepreneur by applying some digital marketing techniques to her business model.

Depending upon the nature of the business, she can choose from a wide variety of enhanced tools like social media marketing, affiliate marketing, SEO, email marketing, and digital advertising through AD spends Depending upon the brand personality and viability of various social and digital platforms, an entrepreneur can choose to market their product and services through these various digital channels.

Perfect choice for women entrepreneurs: 74 per cent of internet users are using social media, with women (76%) having a slight edge over men (72%) (Source: Brandwatch). However, as the report suggests, women spend time on the internet to build personal relationships, keeping in touch and for social purposes more than they do for enhancing their business activities. Men, on the other hand, utilise this platform to research and gather relevant contacts to build their referrals and social media image over a period of time.

I think women have a very strong communicating power, and they should channelise this through planned approach on the digital platforms as well. We women by nature are more engaged with social media platforms, and we should totally engage with our target group through these very marketing channels for businesses. Make use of your Facebook followers, and get tweeting about your business on Twitter! Post pictures of products on Instagram and ensure you connect with the right set of people on LinkedIn. We women in general, love socialising and well, what better way than to do it for your own business.

Challenges involved in managing digital marketing: A true women entrepreneur has a critical eye for identifying what works for her business and what doesn’t, and constantly evolving basis the feedback she receives. Lack of proper guidance and knowledge can also backfire digital marketing, if not adapted consciously. Basics about which digital channel works best for your business and the dynamics of planning marketing goals to achieve through it, is crucial. It is important to identify the platforms that one should focus on to gather maximum digital and social media mileage. Also, digital marketing has many aspects of skill sets that include designing, content, and copy writing along with digital management expertise. As an entrepreneur, one must remember to analyse the team potential before appointing responsibilities. Market research and understanding of target group behavioural patterns is also important to strategise the outreach. Overall, a woman needs a strong army and great analytical skills to evaluate the right candidates for the job.

Myths about the medium: There are various myths about digital marketing which refrain women entrepreneurs from trying it. The magnitude of the platform is huge, it might make you feel intimidated. However, this is exactly where our super-power to multi-task comes handy. Managing so many social media platforms and chalking out planned digital executions, is something a woman can manage effortlessly. Another myth about this platform is not being able to identify the right channels to invest in. This is where all the number crunching and financial management we do for our monthly household expenses help us to invest wisely on crucial platforms for our business.

Digital is that one unique platform that has made possible to have a two-way communication between the brands/businesses and the target audience, evolving the service standards by multiple folds. Digital strives to create new marketing models keeping the traditional models intact. This booming industry of digital marketing is worth a net $68 billion and is predicted to grow 40 per cent every year. I think we women have an eye for potential profitable businesses, so digital is definitely the way!