Ever notice how some businesses seem to be everywhere online? That’s no accident—that’s digital marketing in action and it’s the key to reaching customers where they spend most of their time: on the internet.

Before we dive in, let’s be clear: this isn’t another complicated guide filled with confusing terms. This is a simple walkthrough designed for business owners who want to understand the basics of how online marketing actually works and how to use it to grow their business.

Contents

• Understanding Digital Marketing: What It Actually Is
• The Main Ways to Market Online
• Getting Found on Google (Without Paying)
• Paying for Ads Online
• Using Social Media to Grow Your Business
• Creating Helpful Content
• Email: How to Talk Directly To Your Customers
• Other Ways to Market Online
• Choosing What’s Right for Your Business
• Getting Started: Your First Steps
• The Future: How Technology Is Changing Marketing with AI

Understanding Digital Marketing: What It Actually Is

Digital marketing is simply using the internet to promote your business. Instead of putting an advert in the local newspaper or on a billboard, you’re putting your message where people spend most of their time these days: online.

Think of it this way, if you run a bakery then traditional marketing might be putting a sign outside your shop or an advert in the local paper. Digital marketing would be making sure people find your bakery when they search “fresh bread near me” on their phone, or posting pictures of your cakes on Facebook.

The brilliant thing about online marketing is that you can see exactly what’s working. Unlike a newspaper advert where you never know who saw it, with digital marketing you can see how many people clicked on your advert, visited your website, or bought something from you.

How Digital Marketing Works

Digital marketing works by meeting your customers where they already are – online. Whether they’re searching Google for something they need, scrolling through Facebook, or checking their emails, digital marketing puts your business in front of them at just the right time.

The key differences from traditional advertising are:

• Digital marketing can be a conversation, not just a one-way message: you can actively communicate directly with your customers
• Digital marketing is measurable: you can see where your customers are coming from so you can focus on what works
• Digital marketing is agile: you quickly make changes to update your marketing, try new things, or optimise your campaigns

The Main Ways to Market Online

There are lots of different methods and technologies to market yourself online. We’re going to focus on a few key methods, each of which serves a different purpose. You don’t need to use all of them - in fact, it’s better to start with just one or two and do them well.

Search Marketing

This is about making sure your business shows up when people search for what you offer on Google. There are two ways to do this: the free way and the paid way.

The Free Way (SEO): This means making your website show up naturally in Google search results. It takes time but doesn’t cost money for each person who clicks through to your site.

The Paid Way (Google Ads): This means paying Google to show your advert at the top of search results. You pay each time someone clicks on your advert, but you get results immediately.

Since most people use Google (it handles over 93% of searches in the UK), this is where you want to focus your efforts.

Social Media Marketing

This uses platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to build awareness of your business and connect with customers. You can post content for free or pay to show your posts to more people.

With nearly 55 million people in the UK using social media (that’s about 8 out of every 10 people), these platforms offer huge opportunities to reach potential customers.

Content Marketing

This means creating helpful content like blog posts, videos, or guides that solve problems for your customers. Instead of directly selling to people, you’re helping them first. When they trust your advice, they’re more likely to buy from you.

Email Marketing

This involves sending messages directly to people who have given you their email address. It might sound old-fashioned, but email marketing is incredibly effective - businesses typically make £42 back for every £1 they spend on email campaigns. That’s why it’s still one of the best ways to stay in touch with customers.

Getting Found on Google (Without Paying)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of making your website show up higher in Google search results without paying for ads. This matters because most people click on one of the first few results they see, so being higher up means more visitors to your website.

The Five Main Parts of SEO

The world of SEO can complicated and consuing, but what it really comes down to is producing good quality content for your site that answers the questions people ask in a search engine. We can break this down into five key principles:

1. Finding the Right Keywords: This means working out what words and phrases your customers type into Google when they’re looking for businesses like yours. For example, if you’re a plumber, people might search for “emergency plumber” or “blocked drain repair”.

2. Creating Helpful Content: Once you know what people are searching for, you create content on your website that answers their questions or solves their problems. You don’t have to use every possible keyword, but you should make sure you talk about the concepts they relate to.

3. Making Your Website Clear for Google: It’s important that Google can easily understand what each page on your website is about, so make sure your page has a logical strucuture and layout. Think of it like putting clear labels on everything in your shop.

4. Getting Other Websites to Recommend You: When other websites link to yours, it tells Google that your website is trustworthy and worth showing to people, which can help make your website more prominent in the search engine results.

5. Making Your Website Work Properly: This means making sure your website loads quickly and works well on mobile phones. Google prefers websites that give people a good experience on all devices.

Why SEO Matters for Your Business

SEO builds trust over time. When your business appears in Google search results naturally (not as an advert), people trust it more. It’s also sustainable - unlike paid advertising where you stop getting visitors the moment you stop paying, SEO continues to bring people to your website as long as you maintain your position in search results.

The downside is that SEO takes time - often months to see real results. But once it starts working, it can bring you customers consistently without ongoing advertising costs.

Paying for Ads Online

Paid advertising lets you get your business in front of potential customers immediately. Instead of waiting months for SEO to work, you can start getting visitors to your website within hours of setting up an advert.

UK businesses spent over £35 billion on digital advertising in 2024, which shows just how important this has become for companies of all sizes. This massive investment exists because it works, and businesses can track exactly what they’re getting for their money.

Types of Paid Advertising

Search Ads: These are the text adverts that appear at the top of Google when someone searches for something. If you’re a plumber and someone searches “emergency plumber near me”, your advert could shown and help you win a new customer immediately.

Display Ads: These are the visual adverts (with pictures or videos) that appear on websites. They’re good for building awareness of your business.

Social Media Ads: These appear in people’s feeds on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. They can be very targeted, meaning you can show your advert only to people of a certain age, in a specific area, or with particular interests.

Remarketing Ads: These target people who have already visited your website but didn’t buy anything. It’s like following up with someone who looked around your shop but left without purchasing. You can usually remarket to people in Search, Display, or Social channels.

Why Paid Advertising Works

The main advantage is speed - while SEO takes months, paid advertising can bring customers to your business within hours. It’s also highly measurable, so you can see exactly how much you’re spending and how much business it’s bringing in.

Nearly half (47%) of all digital advertising money in the UK goes on search ads, which tells you how effective businesses find them. This isn’t just big companies - search advertising works for businesses of all sizes.

Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

Social media marketing uses platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to build awareness of your business and connect with customers. With 55 million people in the UK using social media, these platforms offer enormous opportunities to reach potential customers.

Like with search engines, there are both free and paid options for using social media as a marketing tool.

Free vs Paid Social Media

Free Social Media: You can post content without paying, but only some of your followers will see it (and even fewer people who don’t follow you). This approach takes time to build momentum but can provide excellent results without ongoing costs.

Paid Social Media: You pay the platform to show your content to specific groups of people. This gets results faster but requires ongoing investment. Social media advertising in the UK is expected to be worth nearly £10 billion in 2025, showing how much businesses value this approach.

Key Platforms and Why They Matter

Facebook: With 38 million users in the UK (that’s more than half the population), Facebook remains the biggest social media platform. It’s particularly good for reaching people aged 30 and above, and offers sophisticated ways to target your adverts.

Instagram: With 33 million UK users, Instagram is excellent for businesses that can showcase their products or services visually. It’s especially popular with younger audiences and has become the second-most-used app among 18-34 year olds.

LinkedIn: This is essential if you sell to other businesses rather than directly to consumers. With over 34 million UK users, it’s where professionals go to network and find business services.

TikTok: This platform is growing rapidly and is particularly effective for reaching younger audiences through short videos. UK users spend nearly 50 hours per month on TikTok, showing how engaged the audience is.

Creating Helpful Content

Content marketing works by capturing the attention of potential customers and helping them solve problems. Instead of immediately trying to sell to people, you provide valuable information that helps them. Over time, they start to trust your expertise and are more likely to choose your business when they need what you offer.

What Makes Content Effective

Valuable: Your content should solve real problems that your potential customers have. If you’re an accountant, you might write about how to keep better business records. If you’re a fitness trainer, you might share simple exercises people can do at home.

Relevant: Your content should relate to what your audience actually cares about, not just what you want to talk about. Think about the questions your customers ask you most often - those are perfect topics for content.

Consistent: Publishing content regularly is more important than creating one amazing piece and then nothing for months. People need to see that you’re active and reliable.

Why Content Marketing Matters

Content marketing establishes you as an expert in your field and builds trust with potential customers. It also supports your other marketing efforts - you can share your content on social media, include it in emails, and it helps with SEO by giving you more pages for Google to find.

The content marketing industry in the UK is huge and growing rapidly, but what matters to you is that it works. Businesses invest heavily in content marketing because it brings them customers and builds long-term relationships.

Email: How to Talk Directly To Your Customers

Email marketing means sending messages directly to people who have chosen to give you their email address. This might include newsletters, special offers, or helpful tips related to your business.

Despite what you might think, email marketing isn’t dead - it’s actually one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. For every £1 spent on email marketing, businesses typically make £42 back, making it incredibly cost-effective.

Email Marketing Best Practices

Like with SEO and Content Marketing, good Email marketing is all about value and relevance; it’s important that you give people a reason to open and read your messages. Some top tips for making the most of your email marketing are:

1. Keep Your List Clean: Regularly remove people who never open your emails, as this improves your chances of reaching people who do want to hear from you.

2. Make It Mobile-Friendly: Most people read emails on their phones, so make sure your emails look good on small screens.

3. Use Catchy Subject Lines: When people look at their inbox they usually just look at the subject line, so make sure it’s catchy and tells then about the content of your message.

4. Personalisation: Using someone’s name in the email makes them much more likely to read it. Modern email tools can do this automatically.

5. Clear Next Steps: Make it obvious what you want people to do after reading your email, whether that’s visiting your website, calling you, or making a purchase.

Why Email Still Works

Email gives you direct access to your customers’ inboxes, which most other marketing channels can’t offer – in fact nearly half of UK customers have bought something because of a marketing email. However, the average person opens about 22% of marketing emails they receive, so it’s important to try and stand out from the crowd with your content and presentation.

Unlike social media where platforms control who sees your posts, with email you can reach everyone on your list (as long as your emails are good enough that people don’t unsubscribe).

Other Ways to Market Online

We have focused on what we think are the most important ways of marketing yourself online, but there are lots of ways to do digital marketing.

Video Marketing

Video marketing means using videos to promote your business. This could be anything from a simple video showin g how your product works to a behind-the-scenes look at your business.

Video has become incredibly important online - about two-thirds of online display spend now goes on video adverts, up from half of spend just five years ago. This shows how much businesses value video and why you should consider it for your own marketing.

Video works because it’s engaging and can explain complex things quickly. A 30-second video can often communicate more than several paragraphs of text.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you team up with other people or businesses to promote your products. They earn a commission for each sale they bring you through their unique link.

In the UK, businesses make about £17 for every £1 they spend on affiliate marketing, meaning it can be highly profitable and because you only pay when you actually make a sale there is a lower risk of spending money on advertising that doesn’t work.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing targets people on their smartphones and tablets. This is crucial because over 80% of internet users in the UK access the web through their mobile devices, and more than half of all Google searches now happen on mobile phones.

This means your website, emails, and adverts all need to work perfectly on mobile devices. If they don’t, you’re missing out on the majority of potential customers.

Choosing What’s Right for Your Business

You don’t need to use every type of digital marketing. In fact, it’s much better to choose 1-2 methods and do them really well rather than trying to do everything poorly.

Guidelines for Different Types of Businesses

If You Sell to Other Businesses: Focus on LinkedIn for connecting with other business owners, Google Search to catch people searching for your services, and content marketing to show your expertise.

If You Sell Products Online: Prioritise Google Search to catch people ready to buy, Facebook and Instagram to help people discover your products, and email marketing to encourage repeat purchases.

If You’re a Local Business: Focus on local SEO so people in your area find you on Google, location-based mobile marketing, and community-focused social media.

The 70-20-10 Rule

Smart businesses split their marketing budget like this:

• 70% on methods that already work well for them
• 20% on improving their existing methods
• 10% on trying completely new approaches

This ensures you keep getting results while also discovering new opportunities.

Getting Started: Your First Steps

Week 1-2: Foundation Setting

• Work out exactly who your ideal customers are and what you want to achieve
• Set up Google Analytics to track visitors to your website
• Look at your current online presence and see what’s already working

Week 3-4: Choose Your Focus

• Pick 1-2 marketing methods based on where your customers spend their time online
• Set up tracking so you can measure your results
• Create your first content or adverts

Month 2: Improve What’s Working

• Look at your results and see what’s performing best
• Improve your successful campaigns
• Test small changes to see if you can get even better results

Month 3+: Expand Gradually

• Slowly add new marketing methods as you master the ones you’re already using
• Increase spending on campaigns that are working well
• Develop more sophisticated approaches as you learn what works

The Future: How Technology Is Changing Marketing with AI

Artificial intelligence (computer programs that can think and learn) is changing how businesses advertise online. These smart computer systems can now analyse huge amounts of information about customers to show them exactly the right advert at the right time.

AI tools can now create adverts, write marketing copy, and even make videos automatically. This means small businesses can create professional-looking marketing materials without hiring expensive agencies.

These systems can also predict what customers are likely to do next, helping businesses adjust their marketing before problems occur rather than after. AI chatbots can handle customer questions 24 hours a day, providing instant responses even when your business is closed.

As we move through 2025, AI is becoming essential rather than optional for digital marketing. The businesses that learn to use these tools effectively will have a significant advantage over those that don’t. However, the core principle remains the same: successful marketing is about understanding your customers and providing them with genuine value.

The good news is that AI is making digital marketing more accessible to small businesses, not less. Many of these powerful tools are now available at affordable prices, levelling the playing field between small businesses and large corporations.

How Digital Gurus Can Help

Digital marketing success comes from understanding your customers, choosing the right methods to reach them, and continuously improving based on real results. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your existing efforts, focus on providing genuine value to your audience, and the results will follow.

At Digital Gurus, we understand that navigating digital marketing can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve built our platform using the best AI systems to make advertising as simple and effective as possible for small businesses. If you’d like personalised guidance on implementing these strategies for your business, we’re here to help you grow without the complexity. Feel free to reach out or book a demo with one of our experts.