If you’re even remotely familiar with search engine marketing, you know that the landscape is always shifting. Just a few components, like having authoritative links going to your website and creating quality content, remain timeless. Most of the time though, the marketing techniques that give businesses an advantage over each other change suddenly.
Over the past year, we at Market My Market have learned ways our clients could gain an edge over their competition and received numerous requests from potential clients who lacked a comprehensive marketing method from their current agencies. The following components of a solid marketing plan are all items that we believe any client should receive or at least pursue during their relationship with their chosen digital marketing firm.
Integration of Automated Tools
The amount of tools and technologies available these days for automation is staggering. Years ago, the biggest automation and CRM tools were somewhat daunting with fairly large learning curves for those who wanted to take advantage of them. Since then, such tools have become much more user-friendly for business owners. Marketing funnels for email follow-ups, SMS/text follow-ups, appointment confirmations, and other periodic touch points has never been easier.
Businesses that want to nurture and keep track of potential leads should jump to the opportunity of integrating automated tools. is an example of an automation tool that makes booking appointments, sending reminders, and ClickSend for texting follow-ups a breeze. Since digital marketing companies already do so much to generate leads, it makes sense that they should help businesses maximize them. While we wouldn’t state that agencies should be experts in automation, they should at a minimum encourage their clients to make the most of these tools and help them get set up.
Transparent Marketing Plans and Ongoing Work
We recently had a potential client relate to us that his current marketing company “is always doing something;” in reality, he couldn’t pinpoint what they did at any given moment. Unfortunately, this was not the first time we’ve heard this; rather, understanding what their marketers do remains a puzzle for many people working with digital marketing agencies.
It shouldn’t be a client’s responsibility to call his marketing agency and ask questions such as “So, what have you been doing for the past month?” only to receive an ambiguous response like “Building links, fixing links, disavowing links, etc.” Marketing agencies should thoroughly organize the work they do and provide a complete and detailed overview of the work to their clients. Agencies should stick to a schedule which allows clients to receive work on a steady basis. The work they complete should also be presented with transparency so the client knows exactly what has been accomplished. An organized approach also greatly benefits those working on the account.
As an example, we’ll discuss what we do here at Market My Market. After onboarding clients, we provide a content 30-60-90 plan which lays out everything our clients will receive as far as content goes for the next thirty, sixty, and ninety days. We also have an SEO 30-60-90 plan that lists all of the digital marketing projects that will be performed in the timeline. We break our timeline up into a span of several weeks so our clients can see what we’re doing on a weekly basis. These are just two examples of how we keep our clients in the loop.
Having a Knowledgeable and Reachable Point of Contact
What’s worse than speaking with someone knowledgeable about your account and establishing a great relationship, only to find out that he or she is moving onto “bigger and better” projects and you now have to work with a completely different associate who has yet to learn about your business? This isn’t something we think happens; we know it happens. This scenario describes the top complaint we get from potential clients.
Business owners who work with marketing companies that thoroughly understand expectations and have a solid team in place should expect to receive attentive service for the duration of their relationship. Getting a hold of an account manager or SEO that hasn’t worked on your account when you need something urgently is not acceptable.
Thoughtful, Well-Written Content
If “Content is King” is thrown around by just about every digital marketing agency out there, why is the content that results from them subpar? We review dozens of websites a week, and the rate of content crimes is staggering. Some of the most common offenses include:
- Blogs that fail to provide pertinent information, fail to target long-tail keywords, and instead read like tabloids/gossip.
- Adding several pages to the website about identical or nearly identical topics. Pages that are almost duplicates of one another pose a problem for SEO.
- Poorly-written content which includes blatant grammatical errors, awkward sentence structure, spelling errors, and other glaring mistakes.
- Content that does not have an appropriate tone for its intended audience.
It can take time for a business to find its online voice. Marketers should take a genuine approach to content that treats it as a top priority. They should produce content that is professional, readable, and engaging.
A Team You Can Reach
This one is pretty straight-forward. Clients should not have to wait several days for answers to their and concerns. Marketing teams should consist of people who are dedicated to making sincere efforts to elevate your online presence in ways that positively impact your business. The work they produce should encourage a partnership that lasts indefinitely.
At Market My Market, we dedicate ourselves to addressing all your concerns regarding strategies that will help you attract and retain leads and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. We will also keep you in the loop every step of the way so that you know where your hard-earned marketing budget is going. Call (800) 954-9441 for a free consultation or . We’ll be in touch!
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