The original version of this guide was published in December 2020 however the content is regularly reviewed by our team and new elements are constantly being added. We want this to become an open source platform for small businesses internationally so are committed to improving and enhancing the content over time as marketing and the tools used to market change.

When we first start working with clients, often the first thing that we do is work on defining their proposition and brand and then building their website. However this guide specifically avoids talking a lot about this process. This is because there is a huge amount of variation in the process and requirements when approaching these elements. Different companies need their website to do completely different things and defining a companies proposition and brand is a creative process that is more art than science, we might come back to talk about these elements in more detail at a later date but for now we wanted to focus on the nuts and bolts of setting up a digital presence and starting to connect with your customers online. 

Zephyr is a digital growth agency. We help small businesses and startups transform their businesses digitally, defining their digital profile, connecting with their customers online and in doing so creating digital marketing funnels that can power their business.  We wrote this guide because we wanted to share our knowledge of how to grow small businesses with small businesses across the UK and beyond. We wanted to allow all those who don’t have the funds or inclination to employ an agency to still be able to set up the basics of their digital profile and to compete against bigger, better resourced competitors. That being said, if you are interested in us doing the heavy lifting and helping you digitally transform your business then please do not hesitate to get in contact. While we have tried to make the guide as detailed as possible, it only covers a fraction of the strategies that our team can carry out.

This guide was created to help small business owners setup or improve their digital profile in order to grow their business. Given the sections on local search, businesses with a physical location are likely to benefit from this more than those without. However if you run or are part of a business without a physical location it will still be very helpful for you. When we started writing this guide we hand in mind businesses that have between 2 and 15 full or part time members of staff. [highlight]In all cases we are assuming that the companies are looking to grow organically without a huge amount of upfront investment and that therefore hiring agencies or building out a large marketing team is just simply not an option.[/highlight] Some examples might include: • An art gallery looking to generate sales and enquiries.• An accountancy firm looking to find new customers.• An escape room looking to generate online bookings The guide tries to explain all the technical elements of the process as clearly and as simply as possible, that being said an interest in tech and digital is helpful and a basic understanding of how websites work (most importantly your website) will...