Having a budget for marketing, and specifically, digital ads is incredibly important in today’s market. Digital ads expand your reach, bring in new clients, help establish authority, and so much more.
However, when a business is looking to cut costs, the first place they mistakenly look is at their ad budget. We have seen the power of a highly customized and effectively managed ad strategy, and you don’t want to miss out on the benefits that this can bring.
If you decide to reduce your ad budget, here are three of the things that can happen.
Your Brand Visibility Decreases
One of the biggest challenges faced by every law firm, real estate business, or any other professional service is getting in front of new potential clients. Growing your database is integral to growing your business, so putting yourself where fresh eyes can see you is paramount. Digital ads are one of the most cost-effective ways to do this.
Digital ads allow you to target specific sectors of the population to ensure those people see your advertisement. For example, social ads allow you to set parameters around the physical location, relationship status, education status, profession, and interests of your ad’s viewers. Without a budget for these ads, you lose out on hundreds or even thousands of new potential clients entering your funnel.
You Fall Behind Your Competitors
If you decide to reduce your ad budget, you will be saving money. It’s true. However, your competitors likely won’t be reducing theirs. This means that the gap you leave in the online ad space will be quickly filled by your competitors. Their ads will be in front of your potential clients.
Staying competitive in your market is crucial if you want to generate high-quality leads. Digital ads keep you front of mind for potential clients. Without spending on ads, you miss out on brand exposure.
Your Goals Become Less Achievable
When you create a marketing plan for the year, you likely set some goals you want to achieve. You may want to triple the traffic to your website, increase your database by a certain percentage, or simply increase online sales. No matter what your goal is, online ads are a lucrative stepping stone to achieving it.
Additionally, online ads allow for intricate data monitoring and managing. You get instant feedback on whether an ad was effective or not, and what you can do next time. Whether you’re paying for social ads or Google ads, the ability to track their efficacy is invaluable to your marketing strategy.
Need Help Managing Your Online Ads?
No business owner wants to spend hours each week creating, managing and tracking their online ads. You have a firm or brokerage to run, and that’s where your focus needs to be.
Let our team of digital ad experts take care of your ad strategy. We’ll ensure the best ROI for your budget and that it leads to growth in your business. Contact us today to learn more.
Most businesses have a slower period of the year when fewer new clients are entering their databases and fewer sales are being made. If you’re in real estate, the spring and summer months may be busier with open houses and new clients wanting to buy or sell. The winter could be slower, but that doesn’t mean you should slow down.
Here, we’ll explore three different ways to make the most of your slow season so that your business continues to grow no matter what quarter you’re in.
Review the Previous Quarter
What worked well last quarter that you want to continue? What was a total flop? Now that you have some extra time, evaluate the effectiveness of your previous marketing strategies. Include your team in these discussions and brainstorm new strategies.
The busy season doesn’t give you much time to sit down and analyze your processes. Perhaps your team needs more detailed SOPs or updated processes altogether. Maybe your physical office is in deep need of organization.
Consider hiring a digital marketing agency to run your online ads. They can analyze what worked well in previous quarters and optimize your strategy to work even better in the next.
Quarterly reviews are useful no matter what industry you’re in. Plan to review your numbers from the previous quarter and your projected numbers for the next.
Prepare for Your Busy Season
Just because fewer people are walking through your doors it doesn’t mean you can take your foot off the pedal. The work you do now will significantly impact the success of your busy quarter. For many businesses, quarter four is their busy period and there are lots of things you can do to prepare for it.
Start by setting new goals for the next quarter and breaking them down into tangible steps. What kind of marketing do you need to start now to see a return next quarter? If you want to increase brand awareness, what kinds of online ads should you be creating? Consistency in marketing is key, so the effort you put in now and continue to put in will pay off later.
The slow season is also an excellent time to build out your team. You have the time to find the right candidates for your positions, vet them thoroughly, and provide in-depth training.
Update Branding
Have you been meaning to revamp your website? Are you curious about making it SEO-friendly? Do you want your branding to extend to your promotional products and social pages?
Creating the right branding for your business is extremely important and requires sufficient time to get it right. Now is the time to schedule team photoshoots, update your marketing videos, and consult branding experts.
Let’s Make Next Quarter Your Best One Yet
Here at SocialEyes Communications, we know how to ensure your digital marketing is always bringing a high ROI no matter what season you’re in. Contact us today to learn more.
To compete in your industry, whether it’s law, real estate, or professional services, you need an online presence. Moreover, you need to actively participate in the online spaces where your clients spend time, effectively advertise your services, and make the most of all the amazing opportunities the internet provides for growing your business.
However, most of these opportunities aren’t free.
That’s why it’s crucial that businesses budget for digital and social media marketing. Here’s everything you need to know about creating your budget.
What Should You Budget For?
Budgets for digital marketing strategies can vary based on what they include. Contrary to what you might think, a marketing strategy consists of more than just throwing money into Facebook ads and hoping you garner some leads. Every aspect of your marketing strategy should be intentional, well thought out, and budgeted for.
Here are some of the costs that might need to be included in your budget:
Website hosting platform
Social media content creation, management, and ads
Google ads
Email campaign software
Branded video content
Staff training for maintaining an online presence
An expert digital marketing agency
You may be asking, “should I really pay an agency to market for me when I could do it myself for free?” Although you might save money by not hiring a team of experts, you’re actually costing yourself much more in the long run. Not only will you need to spend ample time doing market research and understanding different marketing tools and tactics, but you’ll be taking time and energy away from actually running your business and focusing on your clients.
We highly recommend you budget for a professional digital marketing team to save you time and money in the long term.
Decide How Much Your Budget Is
The BDC published an article with general guidelines for helping you decide how much to budget for digital marketing. If you have a B2B business, they recommend spending 2-5% of your revenue on marketing. If you have a B2C business, they recommend spending 5-10% of your revenue.
That article also shared results from a 2019 study that found that small Canadian businesses spent, on average, $30,000 on marketing per year. Companies with 20-49 employees spent, on average, $60,000 per year.
Choose Your Marketing Goals
The amount you allocate to your marketing budget should be driven by your marketing goals. What do you want to accomplish through your marketing? Here are some common marketing goals:
Find X more high-quality leads
Increase website traffic by 20%
Increase brand awareness
Increase customer retention
Increase revenue
An expert marketing agency can help you decide which goals are most important and how to achieve them in the most cost-effective way.
Are You Ready to Invest in a Customized Digital Marketing Strategy?
SocialEyes Communications handles everything from market research and content creation to marketing plan strategizing and execution. We’ll take care of your online marketing so you can focus on your business.
Your business or firm may have a website and social media pages, but another aspect of digital marketing you don’t want to skip out on is email marketing. This lucrative tactic can skyrocket your client retention rate, garner new clients, and ensure no opportunity to upsell is missed.
There are two common types of email marketing, newsletter campaigns and email automation campaigns, and here we will explore both.
What Are Newsletter Campaigns?
Newsletters are individual emails that you can schedule to go out to your email list every week, month, or other specific time frames. They might include news about the business or industry, topics that the client cares about, tips or guides, announcements, and reminders.
For example, a tax filing company might send out a monthly newsletter with tips for their business owner clientele to manage their taxes throughout the year.
The goal of a newsletter campaign is to build rapport with your following. They aren’t intended for direct selling or aggressive promoting. Newsletters allow your recipients to see the human side of your brand, learn about what you do, and be reminded of how you can help them.
What Are Email Automation Campaigns?
Email automation campaigns are emails that are sent out when triggered by a customer’s behaviour on your website. These are usually existing clients or customers whose email addresses are already in your email marketing software.
An example would be when a customer adds items from your online store to their cart and then closes the window without purchasing. This action could trigger an automated email that tells the customer that they left without purchasing what was in their cart, serving to remind them to come back and complete the transaction.
Another example would be an automated email that goes out to a recent client providing them with a discount code for their next purchase.
Email automation campaigns are an effective way to re-market to previous customers. Since these automations come from email marketing software, you can track how many emails are sent based on different triggers which give you more information about your customers and how they like to shop.
Which Email Marketing Tactic is Right for My Business?
Both newsletters and email automation campaigns are effective methods of digital marketing. However, they serve different purposes. If you are looking to support the sales cycle, improve customer retention, and increase sales, then an email automation campaign is an excellent choice. If you want to increase customer loyalty, strengthen your connection with customers, and increase brand awareness, a monthly newsletter would be a better option.
To maximize the ROI you can see from email marketing, you might consider using both campaign strategies in your marketing plan to reap the benefits of each.
Interested in Using Email Marketing to Grow Your Business?
We can help! Whether you need an email newsletter campaign or an automated email campaign, SocialEyes Communications has the expertise and experience to ensure your emails get opened and acted on. Contact us today to learn more.
