For those who are inexperienced in digital marketing, what’s the number one thing they should know?

Don't start digital marketing unless your website clearly answers the top 5-10 questions a prospect has, and you have a clearly defined call to action.  Sending traffic to a landing page that doesn't convert traffic to leads / sales is wasted money. 

Two digital marketing campaigns with identical targeting can have drastically different ROI - the landing page determines whether or not they call you / buy from you.

Hire a professional! Also, think of your company a a brand. How can I maximize my opportunities online to reach potential customers and when I do how can I make the process easy for my customers. 

Social Media is great however only if you can keep it up.  Creating content is one thing, but distribution and testing is another.  How do you know what is working? How much should I spend on ads.  Do I have the right keyword association for my product or service? Do I measure ROI the same as I would with anything else? Do I have internal problems with my brand, product or service that prohibits success.  

Most of our clients really understand their business.  We help our clients tell a story using digital marketing platforms to engage potential audiences.  Engagement does not directly lead to sales however, it creates a process in which customer loyalty can be created.  Loyalty creates sales or purchase of a product.  Why do you purchase anything as a consumer?  It’s those conversations that really leads to great sales or products or services. Last but not least content creation is also key. How do you present your product or service visually to the public!

Boots on the ground, engage in social distancing networking events and Zoom meetings to reinforce your social media network, edify other businesses with Alignable and Linked In, turn OFF your reviews on Your Facebook business pages, avoid Google My business and other apps that rank your business on a star rating like Uber or Lyft do... ONLY accept Positive Reviews, no negatives, customer complaints should not be handled on Any social media sites compromising your business reputation and requiring unnecessary damage control for your business...  when BBB or regulatory remedies are available.!  

The more important thing to remember about digital marketing is that it is not one thing that is important but a broad mix of tactics that creates an optimized online footprint to get you found and develop results. The biggest challenge for business owners is to get over thinking they really understand digital marketing because they know a couple of things really well. It's the old adage of "You don't know, what you don't know" that is significant to internalize.

First, digital marketing is an excellent way to target the right consumer. I have seen fantastic local campaigns work wonderfully. I have also seen the same business get busy and let their online presence get stale and old. Consumers have to see change and be engaged online with newness. Unless you are doing SEM, your digital ads have to be updated often. Second, having some source of a 24/7 dashboard is a must. Google analytics are very good, but in my experience I find many don't set up their backend analytics well. If you rely on weekly or monthly reports you're wasting your money, so find a business professional to guide you. Real time interaction with consumers is a must in the digital environment. Third, a well rounded marketing campaign should be looking at impressions. I know some on these forums will say CTR (Click Through Rates) are way more important, but impressions should be looked at in the entirety. If you have some TV, radio, organic and paid social your goal should be impressions (Eye Balls). Standard CTR's range from 0.1 to .5 for display advertising (don't be fooled - accidental clicks count) and SEM & Social are a bit higher. It takes consumers multiple impressions before clicking, emailing or calling so work on your brand and top of mind. 

Full disclaimer: Yes, I sell over 100 digital products and am always looking for new business clients, but this not a one size fits all business. If it's not me, find someone who truly understands this business. You don't need to spend a lot of hard earned money to make a positive impact on your bottom line. 

Tim

"You Need To Be Known Before You Are Needed"

It's important to understand your target consumer. A successful business owner can paint a picture of their CURRENT client - as well as their PROSPCTIVE client - using AT LEAST 3-4 descriptive demographics. If you are unable to pinpoint "who" you want to reach, the "how" you reach is never effective. 

Be very careful when hiring a digital marketing company. Why because a lot of them will rip you off and you don’t even know it. One of my current clients paid a digital marketing company over $5000 to create a Facebook page and do some daily posts for a few months. My client had no idea that only 2-5 percent of his followers will actually see the posts. I hear stories like this all the time where are local businesses get swindled because of their lack of knowledge of digital marketing.

My solution would be if you’re going to hire a digital marketing company have them help you get started for an upfront investment and have the marketing company create a series of video classes to help you keep doing your Facebook or Instagram ads on your own. 
If they need additional consultation or support the digital marketing company can coach them along the way for a fee. 

What I’m telling you goes against the grain because digital marketing companies will tell you, you can’t do it on your own but if you are a local mom and pop shop you sure can do your own FB Advertising and if you don’t want to learn how to do it you can use one of your own staff  members to learn how so more of your ROI Stays in your pocket. To me it’s a win-win. 

You need to know your customers. They are looking for answers that you can provide. Once you know what the need hou can serve them. Online marketing is not transactional, it is a dialogue.

We work with our clients help them understand what their clients need and then build a communication paths to them. The paths include a engaging website, informative social posts, videos and making sure the client's information is correct throughout the internet

They need to find someone to trust in an active relationship. Branding and Marketing are very intimate things. Those inexperienced in digital marketing always benefit from a Branding program, made by, or with, a potential Branding and Marketing company. Talk strategy before you commit!

I am dedicated to providing the utmost in personal service to my small business clients. Rather than plugging my small business clients into a standard algorithm, I take the time to thoroughly get to understand the business, it's challenges and goals. I strive to provide a highly customized solution. I am extremely hands on. I love what I do and enjoy managing and optimizing campaigns over time to prove to be an asset to my clients. Their growth contributes to my own, and my own satisfaction as well as theirs. I find that even previous to the pandemic, use of paid search campaigns is highly cost-efficient and effective for small businesses wishing to increase volume. While my experience is vast, this is one laser focused vehicle that with other support can prove to be tremendously successful. I have clients that are more than happy to be a testament to my partnership in this arena.