Here’s the truth: Not all digital marketing strategies are made for your situation. It’s one of the main reasons why we don’t sell digital marketing services as a bundle or in a package deal. Some services won’t work for you, whether it’s due to budget, your marketing goals, who you’re wanting to reach, etc. And we’re A-OK with telling you that upfront. We’re not here to sell you snakeoil or some marketing cure-all. We do well when you do well. We’re here to help grow your business and for it to become a success story.
So, What Digital Marketing Services Should I Do?
It’s a great question—with an all too familiar answer: it depends. It depends on your company, depends on your budget, depends on who you’re trying to talk to, and depends on what you have to offer.
However, we do recommend a few things out the gate. You’ve got to have a good website or, at the very least, a good landing page. Preferably both. You have to have somewhere for people to go when they want to learn more about your product or what you can offer them. That’s what they want from you: what you can do for them. They don’t want flash. Or pizazz. They don’t care about being entertained. They want you to help solve their problem.
How We Start
When we pitch, we’re not looking for a quick sale or an easy ride. We want to do right by you and your company—from the get-go. That’s why we take the time to figure out exactly what your goals are and what kind of shape your company is in. Are you looking to grow? Are you trying not to close? Understanding these things from our fact finder and initial consultation gives us what we need in order to pitch what we believe will work for you and your business. The strategy we come up with will depend on what you tell us about where your business is, where you’d like it to be, and what you’re willing to do to get it there.
The Fundamentals
As we mentioned earlier, you need a good website and landing page. You probably also need high-quality videos. Essentially, you have to have somewhere to drive traffic to. Without those things, it doesn’t matter how good the strategy is, your business isn’t going anywhere online.
Our Service Recommendations
You’ll notice this digital marketing funnel pictured. At the very bottom are our fundamentals, a landing page and video (also website). Again, these are essential and what we’ll recommend for each and every client we meet.
Bottom line: Get with it with a landing page, website, and video(s).
Retargeting Ads
First up the funnel is retargeting ads. These kinds of ads are just about as baseline as you can get; they’re beyond necessary. If you’re in business, you know how hard it is to get people in your door or on your website. Retargeting ads take that audience that has already been to your site (they’re interested in you and what you do) and puts you in front of them again and again.
The people in this audience are potential customers; they’re not yet ready to buy and they might even be looking at your competitors. But they’re interested. They’ve been to your website, they’ve seen what you do, and all they need is that extra push to convert into a sale.
People that visit your website are typically 80–85% new business—never been there before. If you put some spend on retargeting them, it’s a great use of your money and makes it so your brand is top of mind, rather than your competitor. Remember, they’re likely in the market for what you do and you’re actively being considered. You’ve already done the heavy lifting; a few more ads (try 30–40 nowadays) and they might just convert to being a customer.
Bottom line: Retargeting is great for just about everybody.
Ongoing and Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Next up the funnel is SEO or search engine optimization. People in this camp (i.e. people finding you in search) know what they want and they’re looking for someone to do what you do. They’ve found you in a search result and they’re researching. This doesn’t mean they think you’re it—that you’re the one to do it for them—but they’ve come across you. They don’t yet fully know or trust you, but you’re now in the game for their business. And, guess what, they likely trust Google (at least to an extent), which is what you’re showing up in. This is a great start for them to get off Google and get to your website (that is, they’re in the sales funnel).
Bottom line: SEO is a long-game; it’s a great service for a steady business that’s doing well and is the right size. It’s paired well with retargeting ads for obvious reasons.
PPC
This part of the funnel is PPC or pay-per-click ads. PPC gets you noticed fast. In this audience, the customers you’re after aren’t settled on a business just yet and this gets you on their radar. If they decide to click to your website, it’s looking even better. The downside to PPC is that it does run more expensive and there’s the potential that they’ll just click out or click back (maybe even to a competitor).
Bottom line: This service is great for a business in trouble or that needs some quick wins. It might be more expensive upfront, but it has the potential to drive tremendous traffic and get more business. PPC also works wonders with retargeting ads, and we won’t recommend doing it without them both. All said and done, it’s a pretty good spend of your money, especially if things aren’t looking peachy and you need some quick business.
Behavioral, Geotargeting, and Social Posts/Ads
The top of the funnel is behavioral, geotargeting, and social ads. These are akin to ‘old school’ marketing techniques you’re probably used to like billboards and direct mail advertising. They’re just the online version of it. They’re really good at creating brand awareness and introducing your business to the right type of person.
Where they differ from traditional marketing methods is in how effective they can be targeted to a certain audience or group of people. In traditional marketing, you’re kind of just throwing your brand out in the open and hoping someone you want to reach notices. Through online advertising, you can zero in on an audience that is in the market for what you do and actually wants to hear from you. You’re not wasting your money—like in traditional marketing—on advertising to people who have no interest in you or what you have to offer.
Bottom line: These kinds of ads are a great use of budget if you’re trying to introduce yourself and your brand, you have a lot of competition in your industry, and you’re pursuing other means of digital advertising, like retargeting. They can also be game-changers if you have a brand new product nobody knows about or is actively searching for. Even if you’re ranked #1 for a product, if nobody knows about it or what to search for, opting for a SEO strategy wouldn’t do you any favors.
The Bottom Line, Bottom Line
Digital marketing has the tools you need to stay in front of your audience and lead them down the sales funnel toward conversion. Sales is a slow-going process; it takes time and repeated attempts to drive action. You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you if you just met, would you? How do you think that person would respond? Someone might be interested in a date, but full-blown marriage might be a tough sell (pun intended). Generally, making a sale isn’t a ‘home run’ type of deal; it’s an ongoing effort of driving a potential customer through the sales funnel toward becoming an actual customer. Digital marketing is uniquely equipped to help make that sale a bit easier.
Want to know more? Give us a call at (205) 974-5618 or fill out our contact form to schedule a Fact-Finding Session with us. In this meeting, we’re not trying to sell you anything; we are simply there to learn more about you and your business.
