There is one final quarter left in 2021 and it’s an important one. This is your last opportunity to hit your goals for the year and end 2021 on a high note. Digital marketing is extremely important for hitting your goals and having a plan for your marketing budget is equally as important.
Here, we’ll show you how to create a digital marketing budget that allows you to achieve your Q4 goals and start the new year from a place of prosperity.
Step 1: What Worked in the Past?
Have you been setting quarterly goals for your business before now? If so, analyze what these goals were and if they were achieved. Consider how much you spent on digital marketing in previous quarters.
You might notice a significant ROI from social media marketing or from updating your branding. Perhaps you invested a big portion of your budget into email marketing, but those campaigns didn’t yield the results you wanted.
Examine what has worked and not worked for your business in the past.
Step 2: Identify Your Goals
Digital marketing can take your business to new heights. It can help you expand your reach, refine your brand, increase your authority in your industry, and attract your target client to your services.
So, for Q4 of 2021, what are your goals?
Here are some examples we’ve seen businesses set in the final quarter:
Increase visitors to your website’s contact page by 33%
Expand your online presence to a new social platform you haven’t tackled yet
Double your click-thru-rate
Maximize client retention through an effective email marketing campaign
Step 3: Set Your Budget
Now that you know what goals you want to achieve in Q4, it’s time to assess how much hitting them will cost you.
According to the BDC, B2B businesses should spend between 2-5% of their revenue on marketing efforts. For B2C businesses, that number jumps to 5-10%.
On average, small businesses that have less than $2 million in annual sales spend nearly $34,000 on digital marketing. Per quarter, that’s $8,500.
If you’ve never created a budget for online marketing before, use the guidelines above from the BDC to decide how much you want to allocate to these efforts quarterly.
Step 5: Create a Digital Marketing Plan
You have your Q4 goals for digital marketing and you know how much you want to spend. Where do you invest that funding to achieve those goals?
Some businesses choose to do digital marketing in-house. This typically requires hiring a full-time employee who specializes in digital marketing. Some business owners attempt to master this field themselves, only to find they no longer have the time to work on other aspects of their businesses.
The most cost-effective and goal-effective option is to hire an experienced digital marketing agency that understands your industry and your business.
We’ll Take Care of Your Digital Marketing So You Can Run Your Business
Here at SocialEyes Communications, we have years of experience helping service-based businesses and professionals grow their companies, increase sales, build reputations, and improve industry authority.
With our help, you will hit your Q4 goals, stay on budget, and experience a substantial ROI. Contact us today to learn more.
Social media is constantly evolving with new features and tools that make marketing your business more effective and efficient. We are committed to staying apprised of all social platform updates to ensure our clients get the most ROI from the time spent on them. Here, we’re sharing some platform updates that may affect your digital marketing efforts.
No More Swipe Ups on Instagram
Prior to recent updates, the Swipe Up function allowed users to access your website through an Instagram Story that used the Swipe Up tool. Users would swipe upwards on the screen during a Story and be taken directly to your website or online store.
Instead of swiping up, users can simply tap the sticker on your Story which opens your store or site. You can customize how you want the sticker to look on your Story by size, font, colour, and placement.
Turn Instagram Stories into Reels
Instagram is competing with TikTok to capture user attention through short videos edited in-app. One way of doing so is through a feature they are currently testing internally called Montages.
Essentially, users can splice together clips from their Stories to form a reel, or montage, of the clips and add music.
This feature will be especially useful for business owners who want to create a montage of their product demos, a behind the scenes montage, or a day-in-the-life montage.
Facebook Introduces Reels
Facebook is also trying to compete with the video-sharing features of other platforms by launching Reels. It is currently only offered to US-based users but will eventually be available globally.
Like on Instagram, Facebook Reels will allow users to create short videos with annotations and music that can be shared.
Facebook Prevents Ads Targeting Teens by Interest
Facebook has recently ruled that businesses cannot target teen users by interest when creating ads. Businesses can only target by interest to users 18 years and older.
This rule will also be applied to Instagram which could affect businesses that cater to a younger demographic on both platforms.
Twitter Is Catching Up
Where is Twitter in the world of video marketing and useability? It seemed like Twitter was falling behind the curve until they announced plans for upcoming changes.
Videos posted on Twitter are notoriously low quality, an issue that has been reported for years. That is one change in the works- less pixelated videos to encourage more video posting and sharing.
Another issue users have had with the Platform is disappearing tweets. The algorithm refreshes the main page, causing some users to lose the tweet they were reading. Over the next couple of months, both of these issues will be resolved.
How Will Your Business’s Marketing Plan Adapt to These Changes?
To get the most out of your marketing budget, you need to be aware of all platform updates and how they could affect you.
We are experts at staying on top of all social media platform changes and ensuring our clients’ marketing plans update alongside them.
If you want help with this, our team is here. Reach out to us today to find out more.
Two factors that determine the success and growth of your business are sales and marketing. While these two departments have some overlap, they are different. As a digital marketing company, we see time and time again the confusion around this topic, so keep reading for a full breakdown of sales and marketing, and how to excel at both.
What’s the Difference Between Sales and Marketing?
Essentially, marketing is about creating opportunities for your business while sales is about finalizing the transaction. This difference is something that we find is often blurred when clients first come to us.
Marketing is about getting exposure, creating awareness, and garnering attention for your service or product. It’s an external process that is required to make sales.
Sales is the completion of that cycle which ends in a transaction. It’s typically an internal process.
Here’s an example. A potential client sees your Facebook ads online and decides to call you for a free consultation. This is marketing at work. The call itself and the client’s decision to work with you come down to sales. The two elements need to connect and there needs to be a smooth transition with shared information between them. They each require separate strategy plans, software programs, and expertise.
How to Excel at Marketing
Digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all way to grow your business. It is multi-faceted and requires advanced expertise to be successful. Here at SocialEyes, we take care of every facet of your marketing plan from creation to execution to monitoring:
We know that you probably don’t have time to master all the elements that make marketing effective, so we take care of them for you!
How to Excel at Sales
Once your marketing plan is in the works and you’ve started attracting leads, it’s up to you to navigate the sales process. We recommend using a reputable sales software program. For example, Salesforce’s Sales Cloud.
Programs like this allow you to track the contact you’ve had with each lead. You can track when they contacted you, if you’ve reached out to them, and where they are in your sales funnel. In addition to lead management, you can also collect your sales data and generate real-time sales forecasts.
The most important thing to remember that marketing does not close sales, you do. It is up to you to contact and nurture communication with the leads your marketing strategy brings in.
How We Can Uplevel Your Marketing Efforts
SocialEyes Communications is a digital marketing company that can help your business reach new audiences, build brand awareness, and attract your target customers. While we are experts in marketing, we do not handle sales.
If you’re interested in creating a custom marketing plan or taking your current marketing plan to the next level, contact us today.
Thanks to the global pandemic, lawyers who never operated online before were forced to pivot to accommodate social distancing restrictions. We saw firms that once relied on billboards, ranking directories and bus stops start to utilize the power of digital marketing for advertising and networking purposes.
For your firm to continue growing and serving your clients, digital marketing is not a nice to have any more, it has become a must have. Aside from the opportunity to elevate awareness and reach new audiences, it is more important now than ever before to exist where your target market is spending their time, and where your competitors are as well.
Here, we are going to explore why it’s time to go digital, the benefits, and how to get started.
It’s Quick and Simple
There’s a common misconception that social media marketing will take up all your time and force you to spend less time on your actual business. This is false. In fact, digital marketing can be simple, easy, and take up very little of your time.
Thanks to social scheduling platforms, you can create all content in one sitting and schedule it to go live throughout the following weeks or even months. Want it to be even easier? Our team can take care of everything from content creation to presence monitoring while you focus on serving your clients.
It’s an Opportunity for Business Development
No matter what field your firm specializes in, your clientele spends time online. They might prefer one platform over another, but you can be certain that they use social media in some capacity. To stay relevant and keep your finger on the pulse, you need to show up where your clients and prospects do.
Through effective market research and ad targeting, you can get your firm in front of your target audience and demographic. Not only that, but social media helps you retain your client base by nurturing your relationships, keeping you top of their mind, and giving you another outlet to provide them with value.
It’s Like a Billboard or Print Feature – Only Better
For decades, lawyers and firms used billboards or printed ads to advertise their services. You would, and still do, see lawyers’ faces on the sides of buses, at bus stops, and in giant billboards overlooking the street.
The problem is that no one knows how effective traditional marketing methods like these truly are. There is no counter on the billboard showing how many people saw the sign and then called your firm.
With digital marketing, you have those analytics to rely on and so much more.
With one social ad, you can track who sees it, what they do when they see it, and what action they take after clicking it. This allows you to improve future ads because you have proof of what works and what doesn’t. The ROI for your marketing budget is so much larger than it is from a billboard!
Ready to Take the Plunge?
If you’re hesitant about using digital marketing for your firm, we understand. It’s a whole new world full of potential. Our team specialize in helping lawyers and firms establish an online presence and use digital marketing to attract and retain clients. When you work with us, we take care of the marketing so you can focus on your practice. Contact us today to learn more or get started.
Apple has slowly begun to roll out its new iOS 14 update on their devices, and it is being met with apprehension from marketers and business owners. While this update is exciting for consumers, it is placing a disadvantage on Facebook advertisers.
Here, we’ll break down what you need to know about the update and how to pivot your Facebook marketing plan around it.
What is the iOS 14 Update?
The iOS 14 update’s most controversial feature is its data sharing policy. Apple wants users to have more control over their privacy and who gets access to their data. Before this update, Apple users could turn off their data sharing by going into their phone’s settings and switching it off.
With this update, whenever a user downloads an app from the Apple Store (like Facebook) they are shown a notification card which states, “Facebook would like your permission to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. Your data will be used to deliver personalized ads to you.” The user must then choose “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not to Track.”
The problem? When most users are confronted with this card asking them to opt-in or out, it is suspected that most will opt-out.
How It Will Affect You
When users don’t allow Facebook to track their behaviour on other sites and apps, it is unable to collect information about them. The hyper-personalized ads you can create through Facebook will no longer be as personalized since Facebook won’t have access to the data.
Your reporting from Facebook Ads will become inaccurate because the iOS users who chose not to be tracked will not have their information collected or used in these reports.
Ads on Facebook that are used to connect users to an e-commerce website will be unable to report on the actions that the user took after clicking the ad. This significantly decreases the advertiser’s ability to understand which ads are more effective than others.
How to Plan Your Marketing Around This Update
Until the full rollout of this update is complete, we will not know its complete effects. Until then, here are some things you can do to plan your marketing around it.
Target Androids Only
Since a portion of iOS users will opt-out of data sharing, any information collected from iOS users will be incomplete. This update does not affect Android users.
Prioritize Your Pixels
If you use Facebook pixels to monitor your ads, this update requires you to place no more than eight on any domain. You must choose the eight pixel events and custom conversions that are most important to you.
Use Internal Tracking
Use your website builder’s internal tracking system to monitor ads placed on your website instead of relying on Facebook.
Leave Your Facebook Marketing to the Experts
SocialEyes Communications stays up to date with all changes to platforms that affect our clients’ marketing plans. When you’re ready to grow your online presence, increase conversions, and get more customers or clients, we’re here to help. Contact us today to get started.
It seems like there’s a new platform on the marketing landscape every day, making it hard to know which ones are worth your time and marketing dollars. One of the newest and most intriguing social platforms is Clubhouse, where users can listen to or participate in live audio conversations with people from celebrities to experts.
How it Works
When you create an account and sign in, you will enter a “hallway” full of different rooms. The rooms you see are based on who you follow on Clubhouse and which rooms are trending at the time.
There is a search feature where you can enter people and topics that interest you. You can also start your own room.
The Benefits of Using Clubhouse for Business
Clubhouse is a unique opportunity for business owners and marketers to build a digital reputation and grow their followings. There are strategies you can implement (like joining rooms with smaller groups so that your voice stands out) that make your time investment go farther.
When you take the stage, this is a chance to provide value. You might be answering a question or offering advice or insight. The more value you add to the conversation, the more attendees will click your name and decide to follow you.
Your Clubhouse bio is where you can dive into who you are and what you do.
By hosting a room, you attract new followers and potentially new customers. One way to use Clubhouse for marketing is by sharing the stage with another expert in your industry, ideally one with a larger following than you.
In your rooms, think of it as a live panel discussion. You might want to take questions or comments from the audience, offer a break period, and even thank visitors for coming with a gift (ex. A promotional code to use in your store).
Is Clubhouse Replacing Podcasting?
No. While Clubhouse and podcasts are both audio mediums, they offer very different opportunities for the listener.
Listeners choose podcasts when they want to learn something new or be entertained hands-free. There may be advertisements and calls to action, and they can be an excellent opportunity to share your knowledge and provide listeners with value.
Clubhouse hosts live interactive discussions between members and panelists. Your profile has a follower count and bio section, making it more akin to social media platforms than podcasting.
Should You Be Using Clubhouse?
Clubhouse could be an interesting option if your target audience is interested in diving deeper (spending more than 30 seconds watching a video) into a topic that you can provide insight on. If you have the time to commit to joining rooms and hosting rooms, it could be a worthwhile investment.
It is a great platform for thought leadership, learning more and delving into themes/topics.
Need Help With Your Online Presence?
Clubhouse is just one of the many social media platforms that can help you garner a digital presence. We specialize in using these platforms to boost your reputation and grow your business.
If you’re interested in learning how we can help transform your online presence, reach out to us today.
