Saving your brand’s digital marketing plan is essential as 2020 comes to an end. We know times are tough, but now is not the time to eliminate the budget for marketing. In fact, it’s time to shift from being reactive to proactive.
We know it’s been a tumultuous year, full of twists, turns, and uncertainty. There are ways to work around tight budgets. You can keep your team together, as well as your brand alive, as we tip-toe into a new year.
If you’re in a position to either stay on track or resurrect your brand, then read on for our 3 tips to save your brand’s digital marketing plan.
Tip 1: Go Organic
If your brand is deeply concerned with saving marketing costs, then organic is the way to go. It will take some time to find the right content but certainly saves that budget.
Organic marketing costs save on paid advertising, instead, shifting the budget towards your staff. While it will take time for your crew to find the content needed to promote the brand, the relationships you are building with consumers will be stronger for it.
According to a study by our friends at Sprout Social, when customers feel connected to a brand, they are 68% more likely to recommend them to a friend. And a whopping 76% more likely to purchase from that brand over a competitor.
[Image: Sprout Social]
Do you know who does a great job with user-generated content (UGC) for organic? Bark Box! It’s hard not to love photos of animals, or share them with an audience. A true win-win!
[Image: BarkBox]
Another great use of UGC is from Brother Sews and Brother Crafts. There’s nothing people love more than sharing projects they are working on and tagging the company!
[Image: Brother Sews]
And one more, because he is the people’s champ and 90’s me would be remiss to pass this up! Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is no stranger to sharing UGC for his tequila brand, Teremana. With over 500K views, you can see his customers enjoy Teremana’s content.
[Image: TheRock]
Ultimately, the benefit of organic marketing lies in the ability to cultivate trust and loyalty. It’s the loyal customer that will return and also recommend your brand, which therefore leads to a boost in sales.
Furthermore, if you’re looking for ideas to level up your social marketing, then check out this article and this helpful planning guide.
Tip 2: Plan Micro Influencer Content
In lieu of going organic, bringing micro influencers into the fold is another great option. Not only are you saving money on big ad campaigns, but you are further building up the trust and relationship with your customers, the micro influencer’s audience, and your brand.
The photos below are from Stitch Fix’s Instagram account. They’ve done a great job showcasing micro influencers with variety, appealing to all shapes, sizes, and races that use their service.
[Images: Stitch Fix]
Finding the right micro influencer is very important because they come with their own niche audience. Markerly conducted a study with Instagram users that had at least 1,000 or more followers. The study concluded that the higher the follower count rose, the lower the rate of engagement. Interesting, right?
[Image: Markerly]
Markerly also discovered that influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers would receive comments 0.5% of the time, while those with over 10 million received 0.04%. That’s a difference of nearly 13x!
[Image: Markerly]
Tip 3: Plan To Keep Spending
B Squared Media’s Paid Media Director, Candi Anklin gets right to the point: “Keep spending!”
In this instance, we’re not thinking of ‘saving’ in monetary terms, but more along the lines of keeping your brand alive. Companies are too quick to eliminate the marketing budget, advertising spends, and even employees during times of crisis. We stand strong that this is precisely the time to stretch it for a big payoff in the end.
Candi lays it out perfectly, “Less competition means the cheaper cost of advertising. It’s THE time [to focus on paid ads]!” She goes on to state, “Many companies have paused advertising, so there’s a huge opportunity there.”
We’re talking across the board – paid advertising on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. This article from HubSpot does a great job of breaking down online advertising by social media platforms.
In fact, Brooke Sellas recently wrote The Ultimate Guide To Online Advertising On Facebook. If you aren’t sure where to start advertising (or which specific platform) and you’d like to learn more about how B Squared Media’s team can help you, then visit us here to get started.
Summing Up
Use the 3 tips above to save your 2020 digital marketing plan and set your marketing team up for success in 2021!
In an uncertain year, make sure you are not eliminating the key components for a strong brand. Keep your team together and make the necessary adjustments that will strengthen the brand in the near future.
Think organic, grow your crew of well-curated micro influencers, and spend where you can.
Planning your digital marketing strategy for the New Year starts now!
What are you doing to save your digital marketing plan in 2020 and beyond? Let us know in the comments section below!
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