When economic times are uncertain, it is instinctual for companies to want to pull back on spending. Reviewing operational expenditures through a filter of “must-have” versus “nice-to-have” is a normal part of doing business. Unfortunately, marketing budgets are often the first ones to get the ax when it comes down to the wire. AND arbitrarily cutting back on marketing budgets is not going to help you build a viable pipeline of sales opportunities, (which will only cause more harm than good in the long run).
The thing that most people don’t know about digital marketing is that it takes time for it to be effective. They think that you create a piece of content, publish it online and BLAM you get tons of inbound leads. Which, honestly, is not how it works.
In fact, most people don’t even really understand that digital marketing is an umbrella term that covers so many different tactics from SEO to Social Media Marketing, Content Syndication and digital advertising.
Getting clear on the precise areas of your digital marketing strategy that are getting the most traction and focusing on THAT (instead of spreading yourself thin) will help you maximize ROI. You’d be surprised at how tweaking the way your marketing budget is spent will create a major impact on the overall efficiency of your programs.
So how can you get the most bang for your buck to ensure success?
Here are some easy ways to help you move full speed ahead with the most effective digital marketing tactics that won’t break the bank…
Create Better Converting Landing Pages
Creating landing pages (instead of revamping your entire website) can be a more effective way of communicating with your target audience, especially when you focus on niche segments (industry verticals or specific job titles). By leveraging valuable assets (eBooks, case studies, or whitepapers) with the right messages, you can attract more of the right people to those pages, capturing their contact details for further nurturing and outreach efforts. Tap into your internal resources to share those landing pages on their own social media profiles as part of your promotion strategy.
Rank for (the right) Keywords
Writing content around keywords is an important part of any SEO strategy. But when was the last time you revisited those keywords? Are they still the most pertinent ones to rank for? Are there others that are getting traction that you should look at? Are your keywords too broad, thus making them very difficult to rank for? What are some niche focus keywords you can add to your list? These are questions that you should ask when you are looking at improving your overall SEO ranking. You can also look to see which pieces of content are bringing the most traffic to your website. It’s important to do this exercise a couple of times a year so that you can promote the content that brings the most value to your target audience, and create new content that resonates with them.
Assess Organic versus Paid
While paid advertising can give you faster results, organic outreach is often more valuable. Advertising can mean big budgets for low-quality results so it is important to see how your budget is being spent by checking in with how well your ads are performing. Organic outreach (like ranking for keywords or organically building a following on social media channels) can bring you more highly qualified leads, so sometimes it’s better to sacrifice quantity for quality. You can also tap into online groups and forums to engage in discussions and reach your target buyer personas where they are. When done right, this will help you increase thought leadership for your brand.
Evaluate your Omnichannel
Everyone loves talking about omnichannel and cross-channel outreach, and don’t get me wrong—being present across channels is important to increase visibility for your offer amongst your target audience. However, omnichannel does NOT have to mean EVERY channel. Spreading your resources thin by trying to create a presence everywhere is a waste of resources. Instead, focus on the channels that bring the most value to your business.
Kill Two Birds with One Stone
Hosting a webinar is one tactic that can go a long way because they are cheap to organize (unlike physical events) and can be leveraged on-demand for months after the event has taken place. Think of a topic that is likely to grab your prospect’s attention; make sure your webinar will bring the attendees something unique and has a strong call to action to continue the conversation once it’s over. You can use the webinar as a hook for email marketing campaigns, online promotion, and offline discussions to really get the most out of it across the board.
Leave a Reply