Here’s something I hear a lot: ‘My business is held back by digital marketing costs.’
I think, ‘That’s a shame.’ And then I almost immediately forget about them. Not to be unnecessarily harsh. It’s because I’m busy helping businesses who realise how important their marketing is. When done right, digital marketing is the most effective way of reaching your target audience. This means more leads, which turns into more conversions, and in turn more customers, better revenue, etc., etc.
But then I thought, maybe I shouldn’t just forget/ignore businesses who believe they don’t have the resources to showcase themselves.
Consequently, you’re reading this. Sorry about that.
I want to show you that the price of great digital marketing is not extravagant and if anything, it’s more costly for your business to neglect. So, tear this page out, roll it up and stick it in your back pocket for the next time you need to remind yourself (or your boss):
- Why you need digital marketing
- The roots of the cost myth
- How you can market effectively on a tight budget
Keeping up isn’t optional
The B2B buying process has drastically changed over the last few years and grown in complexity. More stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process and the movement through the sales funnel from awareness to purchase is no longer linear.
Gartner research shows that customers need to complete six different ‘buying jobs’ before finalising a sale. The key to winning their business is to simplify this operation, as buyers are more likely to feel like they’ve entered a ‘high-value, low-regret’ deal when given information that helps them advance to purchase – which is where digital marketing shines. It nurtures buyers through the sales funnel by getting the right information in front of the right people, at the right time.
So, what are some of the reasons behind the myth of high digital marketing costs?
Bad past experiences
There are a lot of cowboys in every industry and this goes for marketing too. Don’t let bad experiences define your opinion forever.
Throwing money at it
Digital marketing isn’t reserved for those with big budgets. Start small. Write some content, optimise it for the right audience, offer that audience value, shout about it on your social channels and you’re well on your way.
It’s confusing
It really isn’t. Creating goals and measuring results is straight forward. Plus, there plenty of tools out there to help you along. We recommend this one we made ourselves.
Ready to get started?
Blogging
The simplest way to market on a budget is to start blogging. Time is the only currency you’ll need. Write two or three posts every month. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience, ask the questions they want answered and deliver the answers.
Learn the fundamentals behind great blog writing here.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
If you’re delivering high-quality, keyword-optimised content that matches the searcher’s intent, it won’t take you long to catapult your way up the search rankings. Here’s an SEO crash course with your name on.
Free platforms like Moz and Semrush offer a suite of SEO tools that allow you to perform basic keyword research (note: you’ll need the premium subscriptions to get more advanced data).
Email campaigns
Email marketing is an effective method to get your brand in front of your target audience. In fact, it has the highest ROI of any marketing channel available. And it’s not expensive to get started.
Social media
Like email, budgetary constraints are no excuse for the absence of a social media presence. While email has the highest ROI of any marketing channel, social selling offers a lot of potential. These channels put you on the front line with direct communication and access to customers. Check out our blog to discover more about social selling and how it can help get you more leads.
Measure your success
Difficulty understanding how to measure success can stop businesses from investing in digital marketing. However, tracking the progress of a digital campaign is much easier than you think.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a perfect way to discover what’s working and what isn’t. They’re metrics that you measure regarding your content: your content wants to talk back to you, and KPIs are the best way to let it. Let’s look at some popular KPIs you can choose for your campaign:
Click-through rate (CTR)
CTRs offers valuable insight into which content is the most effective, allowing you to tailor your strategy based on this data.
Website traffic
An obvious metric to determine the success is the bump in the number of visitors to your website. More traffic means more eyes, brand awareness and eventually sales, so driving people to your site should be an important KPI.
Conversion rate
The journey through your sales funnel has begun and interest is piqued, but you want prospects to jump to the next stage. How many enquires are you getting? Compare the number of visitors to the number of people who contact you to understand the adjustments needed to achieve your desired results.
Leads
Whichever social channel you choose to host your content will have its own set of metrics you can judge your performance against. Understanding how many leads are generated per channel is key. Insights into which channels are under-delivering can highlight a need for a change of tactic, or an understanding of what to concentrate on.
The myth of expensive digital marketing costs busted
You shouldn’t ignore the instrumental role digital marketing can play in the growth of your business. It doesn’t need to be expensive, especially when starting out. Take this blog as your starting point, get your marketing journey going and see how far you’ve come in six months. You’ll be amazed, I guarantee it.
Forget counting how much digital marketing costs. Count the wins instead.
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