One Size Fits All: Great for Cool Hats, Not Great for Digital Marketing

If you’re in the digital world, or you’re a web-savvy business owner, you’ve probably heard the terms ‘Google Adwords, ‘SEO, ‘Social Media Marketing’ and ‘Conversion Rate Optimization’. We get client inquiries all the time that are looking for these services and want to see what the Bronze, Silver and Gold packages can do for their business.

Stop right there! No business is completely alike—so, why would your digital marketing plans be? If you’re getting bucketed into a ‘package’, I’d highly recommend reconsidering your digital marketing strategy. Going a step further, if you can get a hard strategy and price quote in the first conversation you have with an agency, you should run.

Getting to the point of what this post is all about, let’s talk about how we construct a marketing plan for clients and why a one-size-fits-all solution is great for cool hats, but not great for digital marketing.

The services might be the same, but that doesn’t mean the plan is.

When you simplify digital marketing down, there are really only two primary objectives that you should care about.

How people get to your website
How people interact on your website once they’re there

Now, we can start talking strategy. There are several different marketing tactics you can implement, but which one is right for you? Here is our broad take and questions we ask on each tactic.

Organic Search

• The holy grail to work toward.
• Goal is to rank #1 for all target keywords.
• Generally slower-moving results (unless you crack the code early on with highly effective content)

Facebook & Instagram Advertising

• This is you putting your business in front of people you want to see your business. Not active searchers.
• Better for consumer-facing businesses
• Cheaper clicks and impressions
• Great for brand building and remarketing
• Is your audience using these platforms? If so, how?
• How can you stand out from the crowd?

LinkedIn Advertising

• This is you putting your business in front of people you want to see your business. Not active searchers.
• Great for B2B businesses
• More expensive, but more qualified clicks
• What industry and job function are you targeting?
• What would they care about that would make them click?
• How do you connect with your audience?

Google Adwords / Search Advertising

• Make sure your business shows up in front of people that are searching for products and services that you offer
  Keyword driven
  More complex and difficult to manage
  Organization of campaigns a key to scaling for growth

Constructing a Strategy

Strategy starts by identifying your audience. What cookie-cutter campaigns often lack is a clear understanding of customer behavior, goals, concerns, and the platforms on which they’re most active. With those in mind, we can start to build a campaign strategy, which may include a combination of our services based on the order of importance.

The biggest piece that is often missed in a digital marketing campaign is the website itself. You can pay to send traffic to your website, but if your website isn’t working, you’re throwing money away. With the website in mind, ask yourself.

How people interact on your website once they’re there?

• Do they buy?
• Do they contact you?
• What info do they care about?

What action do you want them to take on your website?

How are you tracking your users so you can monitor website performance?

If you’re able to think through (and probably whiteboard out) all of your answers, you can start understanding what actually matters for your business. Remember, this isn’t a one time process. You (and your agency) should be tracking, testing, analyzing and repeating.

To Summarize This Whirlwind of Information:

• Digital marketing isn’t a one size fits all
• Pay attention to your audience and where they are
• Make sure your website is serving your audience you’re targeting
• Track, test, analyze and repeat!