It seems that every day I see some sort of social media ad with a digital marketing gimmick that is a sure sign of failure. These get rich quick SEO promises or “Beat the system” type promises must work to some extent or they would go away. As business owners, we are always drawn to a chance for immediate success, but in our logical minds, we know that growing our business takes time and effort. We all know if you could easily get SEO success within 24 hours, something is probably wrong. The world of digital marketing parallels the offline world and is a hybrid of hard work, relationships, expertise and knowledge of your business. With local businesses especially, Google is getting better and better at recognizing signs of a business through reviews, links, mentions, and citations. You can’t avoid having an online presence anymore, but you can control and manage it so it works for you and not against you.
One of the complicated parts of any digital marketing experts job is to find the perfect blend for their clients. Of course, every company has a different budget level, and you need to decide where, who, and when to target your market. This takes differentiation and understanding of the client goals, strengths, and weaknesses. I have been preaching for years against generic cookie cutter plans that I see being sold every day, and they are just becoming less and less effective as search gets more complicated and nuanced. Below are some things to consider when putting together a digital marketing plan in New Jersey or anywhere.
Digital Marketing Timeframe
How much time do you have to see traffic coming in? Some clients come to me in need of traffic right away, whereas others are thinking ahead and want to build strength over time for the long haul. Often, it is a mixture of both. Paid search or display advertising in Google or social media can bring you immediate traffic to test how effective campaigns may be, but they also come with their drawbacks, as you are constantly bidding up your keywords against competitors and basically renting traffic, whereas a longer-term SEO plan gets you organic placement that you aren’t paying for by click, and once you rank organically, the traffic doesn’t just disappear if you have done it right. Many clients come in with the understanding that they want to build strength while paying for traffic and we work on the best balance of that budget to gain them quality online exposure.
Digital Marketing Budget
As mentioned above, the budget also plays a big part of the equation. Of course, everything is easier with an unlimited budget but nobody has an unlimited budget. This is where expertise comes in to be able to pivot and work the budget the best way for the client to move forward. With smaller budgets, we tend to want to be much more specifically targeted by geographic or even keyword targets and try to help the client help themselves as much as possible with our guidance. We work with clients to help them understand what they can do for themselves or are happy to do it all for you so that you can focus on your core business. I love what I do and my clients love what they do, so it is great for them to do their thing while I do mine and we all succeed.
Digital Marketing Target
Considering time and budget above, we need to decide who the target market is. Clients tend to have an idea of who their key market is and we can target them well through paid ads and search campaigns, and of course, through the keywords, they are searching for. Defining your target audience has actually become much easier over the years if you know what you are doing, and luckily we do. From retargeting visitors that have already stopped on your site to targeting visitors that have interests in subject areas and activities related to your business, we can target by interest, age, activity, etc. Clients are often shocked at how finely tuned paid campaigns can be and even organic search can help get exposure to certain searches within the sale funnel.
Knowing the Digital Marketing Rules
Being an A+ BBB business and just having a passion for what I do, I have been successfully navigating the world of digital marketing for over 12 years. The rules are always changing and the options are always growing, but it is important that you work with someone you know is paying attention. I attend the top search conference in the world every June and stay up to date on the latest and most important shifts to the Google algorithm as well as paid advertising offerings to best serve my clients. I take pride in being the best at what I do with my clients’ interests at heart. A home inspector targeting their local town or county will have a different plan than a consulting company targeting the entire state and I know what is most important to work on and improve in each of these cases. Though the basics of search have been the same for years, the details change every day and I stay on top to make sure you don’t waste time or money chasing some headline that actually has no bearing on your market. We worry about what is going to help or hurt you and not just giving you generic SEO tests to fail, etc. like I see so many companies do.
Turning Your Offline Relationships Digital
I have been creating relationships online for over a decade, and with that, I can help clients find relationships that improve their online presence. We find ways to make sure you get credit online for your offline relationships and use my relationships to expand your presence. From local charitable organizations to national media like the USA Today or Huffington Post, I have gotten clients exposure all over the internet, which in turn gives them credibility in the SEO world and in reference for anyone visiting their site.
If you need help with your digital marketing plan so you can concentrate on your own business, I am the answer to help you succeed in NJ. Let’s talk it through and come up with a plan. Just give me a call.
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