If you run a business in Darlington, we often hear that digital marketing is identified as the solution for small local businesses’ marketing. Let’s set the record straight – marketing is marketing.
What do we mean? When we look at marketing, we look at the different channels and tools that are available to organisations to expand their reach. Today, however, we are focusing on how local businesses can develop and deliver their digital marketing.
What is Digital marketing?
Digital marketing is the use of online platforms and tools to promote your local business, connect with customers, and build your brand. This can mean running a social media campaign to reach more customers, developing your SEO strategy so your website appears on search engine results or creating and delivering content on social media, email and podcasting platforms. It even covers delivering PPC and paid social advertising to attract more customers.
Put simply, digital marketing is designed to grow your reach online.
Why does digital marketing matter?
Digital marketing puts you in people’s pockets. We live in the digital world; smartphones have removed barriers to accessing the internet. This means that if you are not appearing in the digital spaces, you are missing an opportunity.
“In 2023, 89% of people used their mobile phones to go online compared to 28% in 2009.” Uswitch (2025)
Source: https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/studies/mobile-statistics/
Accessed: 19th August 2025
Secondly, digital can provide cost-effective marketing solutions, and social media platforms are (predominantly) free to access. You can use your social media platforms to tell your story and share your message directly with the consumer.
Finally, you can use digital marketing to provide an outlet to promote what it is you do. This could be via email newsletters, blogs, videos and podcasts.
Digital marketing tools local businesses can use
There are lots of options when it comes to digital marketing. The most important thing of all is that you approach your marketing efforts with consistency.
- Social Media Marketing: Use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, X and LinkedIn to engage with your community. Create a social media plan and start engaging with your community.
- Video & Photography Content: Showcase local businesses with professional visuals. There are lots of in-app editing tools on social media that have made video and photo creation easier.
- Podcasting: Build authority and connect with your audience in a personal way.
- Email Marketing: Keep your customers updated with offers and news. This is a great way to engage with your customers and keep them informed.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Rank higher on search engines when people search for local services. This does require a bit more work, but blog content is a great way to start. Equally, it keeps your website up to date.
Get started with digital marketing
Before you start, you need to know where you are going. Set yourself some clear goals. This could be that you want to gain a social media following or increase your website traffic to improve your leads.
Understand your audience or customers, establish what motivates them to get involved, and set out a clear customer journey for them to follow.
Take your time to deliver quality content; don’t just generate anything with AI and put it on your website. Please give it some thought.
Finally, be consistent! This is the most crucial thing in marketing: you need to consistently show up and deliver your marketing and then adjust your marketing if things are not going to plan. Marketing is easy for a few weeks; however, you need to show up day after day.
Summary
Everything you do in marketing needs to be supported with logical thinking. Look at the data, look at your customers, look at yourselves and look at your product. Systematically strategise what it is you are trying to do and then get stuck in.