It is a subject that comes up very quickly in discussions with new clients. As a business mentor and coach, how can I advise small businesses in their approach towards digital media? Should they create their website by themselves? How much should they invest in SEO and key words? And how……..the questions roll off the tongue.

Just this morning, I met up with a new business, which had created its own site. It was clearly in need of improvements.

I have no intention of trying to cover all of these subjects in one blog. However, yesterday I moderated a session of the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum. The session was dedicated to ideas that ‘take marketing to the next level’. Two speakers, Avi Maderer and Charlie Kalech, gave some awesome presentations that unlocked some of the secrets of digital media.

Avi was quick to point out that you need to deliver and keep delivering quality and relevant content. In order to do this, you need a ‘clear perspective of your niche community’. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time, creating materials for the wrong people, who simply may not look at the information. (And especially for small enterprises, they lack time and resources. So this is a double blow).

In some ways, what is described here is a pretty obvious message. Yet you will be surprised how often I come across people, who ignore these guidelines.

Charlie delved more into the specifics. Google has ensured that SEO and key words are becoming increasingly old-hat. This kind of approach is less likely to drive new customers your way.

Instead, a small business should concentrate on the “intent” of the potential customer. What questions do people ask, when they go to Google? Who are the ‘people in authority’ in your field, and what are they looking for? Dig into these issues and you can start to create some great and directed content.

How much time and money should a small business invest in digital media? Again, the answer is too complex for one blog. That said, from my experience, those CEOs who bother to take the effort to get it right tend to end up with a big fillip in their sales.