digital marketing tips

marketing strategy
digital marketing tips

The Marketing Strategy Timeline Quandary

Having worked with hundreds of clients over the years, I have had my fair share of comms about the “timeline to leads.” It’s always a sensitive topic for both sides, as marketing is the top-down driver to gathering those leads. Still, marketing is a science. An effective marketing strategy takes time to develop the best channel mix, messaging, branding, and targeting through regular analysis and testing to build a better mousetrap. For the client, the leads are why they have invested in a marketing strategy for the season, so urgency is always a factor, which is totally understandable. Quantity vs. Quality Leads The fact is, fast results are not often good results. Ad campaigns can be built in a few hours, including graphics, launched and tracked, and may easily start seeing impressions and clicks a day in. But what is the quality of those leads? How was the audience targeting set? How was the messaging and creative built, and what action was the ad intended to drive and to where? Was the action meant to take place on your website? On a social page? On the app store? If a form being submitted to your website was the action you are tracking as a lead, do you have a blind landing page where that form lives so you can confirm the conversion came from a specific campaign? See, it isn’t that leads are the target. Marketing or Sales Qualified Leads are. To truly drive these convertible leads, you need a marketing strategy that is clearly defined across all channels, tactics, and creative assets. And that build takes time. This is even more accurate in the digital marketing space. As marketers using online tools. we have a ton of data at our disposal that offers detailed insight into the performance of every tactic and asset in your plan. To do the job right, we need time to do the initial work to build a custom marketing strategy and test campaigns, as well as track results to gauge the need to adjust messaging, targeting, or creativity to improve results. Then, you use that test data to build the formal campaign, which means more time has passed. See how often that word comes up? If you’re a business owner needing results, it can be hard to be patient and allow your marketing team to do the necessary homework, research, and analysis to build a strategic marketing plan to drive quality leads. We get it. We totally get it. But here’s the quandary: Without deep-diving into your competitors (at least 2) and your target audience(s) and analyzing your existing pages, platforms, and profiles for messaging and branding consistency and optimization, you are building a marketing strategy with blinders on, and your lead quality will show that lack of effort. An Effective Marketing Strategy Has to be Intentional, Specific and Traceable As I mentioned previously, we have a plethora of data available to us in real time. To do the work right and ensure the best results, we need to take the time to analyze the critical data that guide a strategic build. These criteria are: Your marketing team can use this information to build out A/B tests for your target campaigns, which should run for two weeks to gauge engagement with your target audiences. While they are running, you can use the time to build out an editorial calendar for all channels and creatives to go with that content and develop your dashboards to track the performance of all assets in play. The entire research and testing timeline can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, depending on the complexities of your industry, your competition, your existing brand baseline, and how much cleanup has to be done to launch. You don’t want to launch campaigns that drive down a broken bridge, as in a slow-loading website, a landing page with poor messaging, inconsistent branding across channels, or error-ridden creative assets. Time is a Necessary Component of an Effective Marketing Strategy As you can see, time is necessary to do solid marketing planning and implementation. Time is needed to analyze performance and assess results for all your marketing efforts. Time is necessary to allow your market to learn about and begin to engage with your brand. Yes, it sounds arduous, but like a good carpenter, a good marketer always wants to measure twice (or thrice) and cut once. The results will be tangibly better when you do.

marketing channels
digital marketing tips

Diversification is Key to Success with your Digital Marketing Strategy

As a business owner, where you put money to grow your business is a constant focus. The goal, of course, is to invest where you can see the most consistent return, whether it be in technology like a new computer network, staff like new partners or managers or in marketing, to draw in and convert new business. Any of these potential investments are also the bane of most business owners, and based on our experience, this is even more true for marketing. Marketing is often perceived as a necessary evil to most companies, regardless of size or industry. And the fact is, the only important word in that perception is “necessary”, because foe any company looking to grow, or gain foothold, marketing IS necessary. When it comes down to it, the adage rings true: “You have to spend money to make money.” The question is, where do you invest and how to you ensure that investment offers the best return for your company? No matter where you invest money in your business, be sure that you have a plan of action, a short-term and long-term strategy with specific goals and check points to gauge success. Impulse investments, rather like gambling, often don’t pay off. Think of your Business Investment the Way You Would Your Financial Investment Portfolio Any financial advisor worth their salt recommends diversification of your investment portfolio, right? The whole “don’t put all your eggs into one basket” rule holds true for investments into your company as well. The same goes for your marketing program. When you look to grow your business, the first thing to consider is how to expand your reach to your target market, how to get more of the pie, and that means proactive and intentional marketing not only to your existing clients, to allow for cross-sell or upsell opportunities, but to that part of your audience that may not be aware of your business yet.  That includes friends and neighbors of your existing client base, those that have gotten word-of-mouth referrals and anyone completely unaware that you exist. The answer to most efficiently developing this awareness? Marketing, with the lions’ share of your funds going to web marketing. It’s no secret that online marketing is at the forefront of success of the leaders in most markets, not that there aren’t still good ol’ referrals, but even word-of-mouth references are being vetted online. This is not a trend that is going to change, and as mobile continues to drive the world to an increasingly-online reality, any company not investing in their digital brand is losing out on a significant potential for new business. Diversify, Diversify, Diversify When it comes to marketing, as long as businesses have needed to promote themselves, they have sought the “one thing”, the one investment they can make that will work to build their brand, engage new clients and keep existing ones. Well, as these same business owners have come to find, there is no one tactic that will do all this for any company. I mean, even the kids with a lemonade stand use signage and verbal sales to get customers, right? That said, no matter where you invest your marketing dollars, it’s critical to remember the basket of eggs rule. Diversification, like that of a financial investment portfolio, is needed to garner the best return on investment and grow your business effectively. Marketing is like any other business investment. You need to gauge the risk against the cost and potential gain to make an educated decision where you invest funds to grow your business. The key is to balance risk and potential return. Keep these 4 points in mind when diversifying your marketing investment: Keep in mind digital marketing is necessary for any business. Even word-of-mouth referrals vet potential vendors online before deciding. There is no single marketing tactic that will work alone to drive business or build your brand. Dovetail your investment to ensure you vary your tactics to get the response you seek. Digital marketing does not remove the need for any traditional media, but it can enhance and supplement it. All strategies, online and offline, need to dovetail as far as buyer persona, geography, message, timeline and goals. Invest in your marketing to meet competition, market trends, requirements and best-practices of the media you are targeting as well as your business goals. So, balance your marketing strategy. Track for response and real-time business effects and augment as needed to build your business at the pace you are most comfortable.

local search
digital marketing tips, Google Algorithms, Google Compliant

What do Google Algorithms, Mobile & Local Optimization and Your Business Have in Common?

If you have a website for your business, chances are you’ve heard of Google algorithms or their nicknames like Panda, Hummingbird  or Penguin. If not, you probably have noticed that sometimes your website is visible in search, and sometimes it isn’t. The hard and fast of it is, Google algorithms are the math-based elements that drive search potential and they change hundreds of times a year, with a few “big” changes happening throughout. There is no  absolute rhyme or reason to the scheduled changes except that Google is always innovating and looking to improve the UX, user experience, via their browser. At this stage in the game, user engagement and response drive your search potential, which means how your site visitors interact with your website and pages is crucial to your ability to improve your market share online. Google makes these changes so the right people can find the right businesses online when and how they want to. The algorithms define the building blocks your web platform needs to use to support your digital brand’s search potential. So, I ask again. What do Google Algorithms, Mobile & Local Optimization and Your Business (and  your ability to make money) Have in Common? Everything. With more than 87% of people using the internet to find products, services and partners for their needs, a business that is not paying attention to their digital brand is losing business. Further, any business not paying attention to their web platform’s compliance with Google’s many and ever-changing algorithm focuses – like mobile-first indexing and local optimization is losing ground to the companies that are, which means less market-share (a/k/a/ money) for you. Did you know that a website should load in under 3 seconds on a mobile device to be compliant to Google guidelines? How about the fact that, according to Google, 53% of site visitors abandon a mobile site that takes more than 3 seconds to load? And one more to drive it home – 62% of people who have a poor interaction with a brand on a mobile phone or tablet will not return to the website. What’s so important about local optimization, then, you ask? Mobile lead the local optimization need. When your client is on the street or in your vicinity, they should be able to find your office via search when they’re nearby. Have you checked on your local listings – like Google Maps, lately? What’s the Bottom Line? If your website is not compliant with the latest and upcoming Google algorithm updates, you’re losing out on business and losing position in SERPs. These algorithm updates are not a shock to digital marketers who have been watching the search results adapt to the latest technology uses and user behaviors. Mobile devices are not going away, so local and mobile will continue to be a focus for search performance potential, using user engagement (do they click on your sites and pages) and lead generation (do they call, chat, email or stop in) as performance criteria. Ensure that your digital brand and properties, website, social platforms, local listings, etc. are hitting the markers Google has set to be able to drive business for your company. Need help? We’ll do a free audit of your digital program and let you know if there are any gaps in the bridge leading your leads to your business.

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