Small Business Online

Knowing more about the failure of small businesses online

The internet is the perfect forum for small businesses to compete with big brands. Audience reach, social sharing and unlimited sales and marketing opportunities have leveled the playing field between big and small companies. Still, a surprising percentage of small businesses have remained on the sidelines. Either they don’t have an online marketing strategy, or the one they’re using is inadequate, and therefore unsuccessful.

Starting a small business is a challenging task that requires focus, strategic planning, and proper marketing insight. You need to be able to anticipate problems, do market research, and find solutions to your problems. Many small businesses today will fail in their first year, not because of the lack of funds, but because they have no precise and strategic plan that focuses on understanding their market and consumers, and inventing ways to turn them into regular buying customers. Many are even asking why small businesses crash and burn online. Here are some reason why.

Failure to market online

In an age where “Google” is a verb, if you’re not marketing online, you’re not selling as much as you could be. According to Invesp, 80% of Internet users have used the Internet to make a purchase. Additionally, 81% of Internet users research products online before making a purchase. In order for your business to thrive, your business must be visible to consumers doing their online research and shopping.

Google is always updating its algorithms

SEO is a cornerstone of every digital marketing strategy, but a small business that doesn’t have a team of content marketers constantly keeping up on the latest trends and updates will quickly find that their approach is outdated.

Insufficient capital

One of the biggest reasons for startup failures is that new entrepreneurs invariably underestimate the high costs that will be required to implement their business vision. Along with this, they will also overestimate the amount of projected sales. This double-whammy leads many new businesses to close their doors before they’ve even started.

Many internet services companies are geared toward a larger clientele and can charge thousands per month. That’s out of reach for the average small company. Even lower-priced marketing companies come in at wildly different price points for seemingly similar services. It’s often hard to separate the intangible value of “Our Company will craft a content strategy for you” from the more tangible “Our Company will implement a content strategy for you.”