by DG | Mar 23, 2020 | Digital Marketing, Online Marketing
Updated April 4, 2022
There has been a growing trend in the world of business to focus on core competencies and outsource the rest of the day-to-day functions. By focusing on what the company does best many management teams have been able to realize significant cost savings and enhance the profitability of their firms.
Many companies have already discovered the value of outsourcing their manufacturing to lower cost producers, but there is money to be saved in outsourcing other services as well. For instance outsourcing marketing services can yield significant cost savings while providing better results for the company and more excitement on the part of consumers.
Small Companies Benefit from Marketing Outsourcing
Whether they are well-established companies or new startup companies, small businesses can benefit greatly by outsourcing their marketing services to qualified professionals. Many small companies will not have the funds necessary to hire and staff an entire department of creative designers and ad writers, and outsourcing those marketing services can put the small firm on an equal footing with companies many times its size.
From a marketing perspective it can be hard to tell the size of a company – good marketing looks good no matter what the size of the firm associated with the ads.
One mistake many entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything themselves. While the desire for control over the quality of the message is certainly understandable, trying to do everything on your own can backfire badly.
Unless you happen to be a marketing guru as well as an entrepreneur it may be better – and more cost effective to turn the marketing reins over to those with years of experience creating and running successful ad campaigns. By maintaining control over the finished product but outsourcing the process, entrepreneurs and business owners can have the best of both worlds.
Outsourcing marketing services also makes a great deal of sense for small companies that are undergoing periods of rapid growth. It is difficult enough to scale up vital functions like administrative duties and finding suitable office space, and ramping up the marketing department can be even more of a challenge.
By focusing on managing the growth of the company and outsourcing where they can business owners can make the transition from tiny startup to thriving small business that much easier.
Large Companies Benefit from Marketing Outsourcing
Of course it is not just small companies that can benefit from the power of marketing outsourcing. Such outsourcing is also the perfect solution for companies who are trying to do more with fewer resources. Companies who need to downsize without losing their brand identity or sacrificing their marketing prowess can look to marketing outsourcing firms to fill in the gaps and make a smooth transition.
Marketing firms can serve as either a supplement to a smaller and leaner marketing department or as a replacement for that department. This allows companies to be more flexible as they trim costs and find the right business structure in the new economy.
Large companies who are ramping up the size of their firms instead of cutting back can also benefit from outsourcing their marketing services. Rapid growth is both a blessing and a challenge for many companies, and it is important for companies to learn to manage their growth intelligently.
By focusing on the core of the business and outsourcing services like marketing smart companies can keep their brands intact even as the company continues to grow and change.
Outsourced or Full-Time Staff, what’s better?
Digital Marketing is quite complex and it has been said that it changes 8 times faster than most other industries. It’s constantly evolving, so staying up on the latest best practices is no joke and could lead to disappointing results if you’re not using the latest tactics.
Companies that provide marketing services survive by reputation and delivering successful results. For this reason alone it really makes a lot of sense for companies to go with outsourced marketing because most marketing companies will go a long way to make sure they deliver a successful campaign. A great result will keep you coming back and they can count on you to enhance their reputation and not diminish it.
A company can actually have more control of cost when outsourcing. A large full-time marketing staff can very expensive if you plan to have them do everything in-house. It is also a long-term commitment which of course it makes total sense for some businesses. However, for many companies, it makes more sense to outsource where they can set a specific budget to get projects done.
Have Teams of Experts Working on your Marketing Campaign.
When you outsource your marketing services to a good company there will likely be several highly-skilled people working on your project. A single campaign usually involves a long list of different elements that could all benefit from the input of an expert in that area.
For instance a campaign to promote your new product or service may need a list of experts such as: Marketing Strategist, Copywriter, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Video Director, Video Editor, Actors or Spokesperson, Facebook Ad specialist, Google Ads Specialist, Social Media Strategist, Social Media Campaign Manager and a Project manager who will deliver the reports to you every month.
This is an example of the various tasks that may be involved, it could certainly be a lot more or maybe less but you get the idea. You need a lot of people who know what they are doing. If you are a large enterprise it probably makes sense to have all these people on a full-time salary but for many companies it is more practical to develop a strong relationship with a good, reliable marketing company.
It can be a difficult decision but when you take some time to weigh the pros and cons, the answer should be quite clear and you can move forward with your decision.
We can help and we are proud to say we have been voted one of the Top Custom Website Design Companies in the designrush agency listings.
Contact us to day to get started.
by DG | Aug 25, 2020 | Social Media, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing
In recent years, we have seen great advancements in data connectivity and a rise in mobile users. Due to this, social media has risen up as a new platform for marketing. While the conventional platforms have not yet become obsolete and still play an important role for some businesses, social media not only provides you with an opportunity to target a wider set of audience but also enable you to interact with them at a more personal level.
So, before you start your social media marketing campaign, it is very important for you to have a well-thought-out strategy ready to be executed. This will not only help you to identify the hurdles in social media marketing but you will also be able to use the right tactics to tackle these hurdles and reach your goal in the time.
Keep A Business Objective in Mind:
Social media has its own perks and by using it effectively, you can achieve many things. It has made a lot of things easy such as performing customer service, engaging with customers, increasing web traffic, expanding the audience, getting valuable feedbacks and much more.
But to achieve all these you need to have a goal in mind that you can work towards. Now to achieve your objective, you need a strategy and you need to very careful while making it. Don’t let social media make your objective, instead make your own business objectives and let the social media drive those them.
Optimize Your Content
You probably have read many blogs in which they mention that your content must be high quality, original, relevant and appealing to your audience. But how does one create a content like that? If you want to position your brand at a very high position in your industry, then you should take a look into what the successful brand are already doing.
Follow 60/30/10 Rule
This rule means that you should create and post 60 percent of the content that is relevant to your product. Share 30 percent of content that is relevant to the local community or a non-competitive local business and share 10 percent of the content regarding sales and promotions of your services. This will help to create high quality content and still maintain the consistency.
Your Content Must Be Shareable
Better than original, high quality and relevant, you must put focus on content that is shareable. If you are confused what is content is most shareable, take a look at your competitor’s activity and note what content gets the most likes, comments and shares. Now go back to your project and start creating posts and curating content that has similar elements but better. Sharable content can include…
- How to Posts
- Positive Content
- Trending Topics
- Social Causes
Be Present
This is the easiest way to talk directly to your customers and you can do that without spending any money. Be sure to like, comment, share and answer content relevant to your niche as well as on monitoring and engaging. It can be challenging to optimize the time you’ll spend on this activity so keep in this in mind.
Good news is that you don’t need to monitor all the social media channels all the time. A good way to start deciding where to be present is to look where your competitors are. For instance, if they are posting more on Instagram then maybe you should start paying attention to that platform too.
Share compelling visuals whenever you can
People now days, specially millennials are always in a rush, so you get only a few second to grab their attention. You need make those few seconds count, else they’ll move on to some other post or website. So, always try to include quality visual components in your posts because if your content seems to be below average no one will stop scrolling and see what you have to offer. Posts including image produce 650% more engagement that text-only post and is more like to get shared 40 times more. Again good quantity visuals are important as they tend to increase the people’s willingness to read it by 80%.
Prepare to Spend Money on Social Media Marketing
“There is no free lunch”. Yes, this also applies here. Fact is that organic growth is dying. Platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter have updated their apps to prize more to paid content and less to non-paid content. This means it’s harder to get space in your customer’s timeline. Now, what would be the point of spending so much time and effort in producing content, if nobody is going to see it.
However, you must understand that you should prepare before you start to pay, otherwise you’ll be just wasting money. Now the question arises that how much should you spend? Well, this all depends on the nature of business and target customers.
When we are talking about Facebook in particular, there are a few approaches. If you are promoting something specifically like a Product Sale or Signing up for a mailing list you should run an ad campaign because there is a lot that you can control. There is much to know about Facebook Advertising strategies which is beyond the scope of this post. In fact we have a Free eBook called “How To Win On Social Media” on this topic. See the signup to the right of this article.
USEFUL TIP – Sometimes you just want to get people to read your blog post. In this case use “Boost” and set it for $1/per day for 7 days. This is very low cost exposure but “what’s the value?” you ask? If you have Facebook Pixel installed on your site you can use Google retargeting ads so those visitors to your blog post will see your ads on other sites. They will become more familiar with your brand and you’ll increase the likelihood of them buying from you.
DOWNLOAD Our Free Social Post Planner (In Google Sheets, click FILE > make copy). It has a daily, monthly and archive view as well as a brainstorming tab.
Get Your Content Shared
Do you best to encourage people to share your content. There are also some great services like quuupromote.co that will spread your blog posts to get shared by influencers for a small fee and this works great. There are similar services but this is one of our favourite and very affordable.
Grow Your Following
- Post frequently – 4x per day if possible
- Optimize your posting time
- Use visual content – Photos – & Videos
- Use hashtags strategically
- Engage with replies
- Create an inviting profile
- Find followers within your network
A special note about Instagram…
How to quickly grow your Instagram Following.
When you post something on Facebook, how many people engage with your post? 5? 10? 20? Instagram is very different. With zero followers you can get a lot of likes.
How you say?
The magic of Hashtags!!!
With Instagram you can post up to 30 hashtags per post! That’s a huge number. Now you just have to be strategic about selecting the right ones.
With a new account you should put up about 12 posts.
You want to find relevant hashtags with 50k-300k images per hashtag. After you get over 10k followers, you can use more popular hashtags, but at the early stage don’t go after hashtags with more than 300k images because you’ll get lost in the feed and get zero engagement.
Your goal is to get featured within the 9 top posts under each hashtag.
Moving forward, you should post 3-4 times per day.
Instagram doesn’t work for every kind of business. It’s a very visual platform. If your business is not very visual, like accounting or insurance then Instagram is probably not worth the time. Think about whether you could come up with 3 or 4 good images per day to help make your decision about trying Instagram. Accounting and insurance came to mind as not being visual. However, I have not looked into that and there may be companies in those categories having success.
Repeat what worked
Don’t get disheartened if something didn’t work just try something else. Don’t give up on the idea of using social media as your marketing tool. And if your social media efforts were successful, just stick to what you have been doing. It is as simple as that. Just if one thing didn’t work for you doesn’t mean that nothing will work. Try again, just stick to the basics, redefine your audience and reconsider about the amount of investment.
Social media is great tool for small business owners as it is unique and it can take a company’s fame to new heights, broaden its reach and can create a wide range of customers. But all this is going to work only if you are determined to do it.
If you need help with your Social Media Strategy, our design agency offers a full range of Social Media and other digital marketing services. Just click here to book a Free Consultation.
by DG | Jan 3, 2019 | Content Marketing, Business, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media
When you’re creating an online business, you hear, over and over, that you need to be a master of content marketing to build your online brand. But how do you create the content marketing strategy that works? How do you turn your business into a lean, mean, content creation machine?
Define Your Purpose
So you’ve decided to start a website/blog. What are you going to talk about? Are you going to relay and interpret industry news? Talk about your products? Talk about the customers who are satisfied with your services?
Educate your customers on how your products can make a difference in their lives? All of these topic areas can make great content blogs, and the best ones combine many of these elements to blend into a multidimensional whole.
To make sure that your business isn’t just recreating the content of your competition, it’s worth surveying the other blogs in your niche that exist. Find out what space others are occupying so that you can make a space for yourself.
Do Your Research
Beyond finding out what your competition is doing, also do research on keywords, popular searches, and common questions in your industry. After all, if your blog is going to become a destination, you need to create a roadmap for your audience.
Answering their questions, catching their interest, and advertising yourself through social media and search engine results is the first step toward making yourself visible to them.
Make a list of topic keywords that can be headlines as well as phrases that you can use periodically throughout your content posts to attract attention from search engines. Use the brainstorming tab in our Free Content Marketing Planner.
If you need help coming up with ideas for your posts, checkout Neil Patel’s great post called How to Come Up with 93 Blog Ideas in 10 Minutes.
Create an Editorial Calendar
One of the most frustrating things to see as a consumer of content is that businesses and bloggers often fail to pace themselves with blog creation. They post several topics all at once in the first few days, and then forget to post for days and weeks on end.
This doesn’t work for multiple reasons. First, to keep your readers coming back, you need to be continuously creating new and useful content. Regular refreshment tells your site visitors that your website is up to date, which helps the page to climb the rankings. Second, your customers need reminders to come back and find your fresh content.
The proliferation of social media has pushed the now into our minds; we are less concerned with what happened yesterday, and what to know what’s going on right now. You need fresh links to draw in fresh audiences to share on fresh timelines. To get that, you need to create regular content.
Before you start blogging, decide how often you want to post – once a week is a bare minimum, but more than once a day is usually overkill – and make sure you have a month worth of topics ready to go.
Keep yourself several days ahead with blogs scheduled to post to your site and share themselves to social media at appropriate times. By automating everything, you maximize exposure.
When you’re tired and not sure what to say, have a stable of ideas to go back to; it helps you keep your content flowing.
For in depth knowledge about blogging, Ryan Robinsons website is one of the best resources you will find.
DOWNLOAD Our Free Content Marketing Planner (In Google Sheets, click FILE > make copy). It has a daily, monthly and archive view as well as a brainstorming tab.
Getting Exposure for Your Content using Social Media
Naturally you you want to make sure people see all this great content you have put all this effort into creating it. There are many ways to promote your content. We won’t cover the topic of promotion in depth here but we will talk about social media. It’s a big one.
After each piece of content you create, you should immediately share it on all your chosen Social Media platforms. Most companies use at least Facebook, Twitter and Google My Business.
Others like Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are chosen depending on the industry you are in as some are more visual than others. For example, Fashion and Beauty type businesses will definitely want to be on Instagram and Pinterest while an accounting firm probably won’t.
If you really want to benefit from Social Media you need to post a lot. Like several times a day. You may be thinking, how are we ever going to produce enough content?
This is where content curation comes in. You don’t need to be the author of everything you share on Social Media. In fact it’s a good idea to share other people’s content as long as it’s relevant and useful to your audience.
Social Sharing
When it comes to social sharing you need to get the balance right, A common strategy is the 5:3:2 rule.
So for every ten posts:
5 should be content from other sources that are relevant to your audience, (curated content). Keep in mind what your reader would be interested in and it will keep them more engaged. There’s a ton of these types of posts that can curated and shared. Sign up with a service like Feedly, choose relevant topics and you will see then in you account every day. Then simply choose the ones you want to share by copying the URL and pasting into the scheduling app of your chosen sharing app (see below) .
3 should be original content such as blog posts or videos, that would be interesting to your audience. It can also be about Product promotions, Product information etc.
2 could be about your staff so your audience gets to know your company which helps build a relationship and builds trust. These post could also be Customer stories or case study in nature.
Also at any time you could announce special offers, trade show events or any other special announcements.
Schedule your social posts with an app.
Your social posts could be planned in a Google Sheet like the one above but in reality we find it more practical to use a web application like Buffer, Later, or Hootsuite. Lately we have been liking Later. These apps save a few steps in the workflow and it’s much easier for everyone to contribute. These all have a free tier entry level.
Accept Feedback from Your Clients
When you create a blog, make sure you have a way for your clients and customers to reach out to you with questions. They might be simple – how do I use this product to accomplish this task – or more complex – what position does your company take on this situation? Some of the best articles are those where a company responds to customer questions and concerns. They show that you’re listening and you respond to your audience, which does more to further your brand than almost anything else can.
This is easy to implement if you have a website built with WordPress. If you need help with WordPress, this is and area of expertise for us. In fact we are recognized as a top WordPress Website Design Company on DesignRush.
When you create content, you’re furthering your company’s brand, building your sales funnel, and developing tools that increase your company’s position and discoverability. Treat your content marketing just like any other aspect of your business; proceed with a plan, create regular deadlines that you can meet, and take it seriously. By doing these things, you’ll make sure that your content drives your business forward and creates a responsible relationship with your customers.
by DG | Oct 30, 2018 | Digital Marketing, Business, Online Marketing, SEO
Being online is critical for getting local business. Most people think the internet is just a way to target worldwide customers, but it can also be used effectively for local business.
So how do you generate area specific customers from using the net? There are a few methods that work. Here are three of the best:
#1) Google local
Local.google.com is essentially an “area specific” search engine. When somebody uses it, they just type in the business you are looking for, such as “general contractors.” Then the map will pinpoint the general contractors in their area.
You don’t even need a website to appear here. As long as Google knows about your business, you will appear on the map. Google will also list your address and phone number.
How many people use Google local?
More than fifty million people do so every month. Therefore, it’s easy to see why this would be a good place to target.
The smaller search engines like Bing and Yahoo have their own version as well. It would be a good idea to get listed with them as well. However, Google is the most important, because the vast majority of people use it for local searches.
#2) SEO
Despite the fact that Google local is so popular, tons of people continue using Google.com for their local searches. For this reason, you will want to do an SEO campaign as well, targeting only area specific keywords. For instance, if you are a carpenter living in Toronto, you would probably want to rank #1 for “Toronto carpenters”.
How do you get to the #1 spot?
You will need links pointing to you website. The more links you have, the better. Not all links are created equal.
There are basically two kinds of links: one way and reciprocal. Reciprocal links are where you agree with somebody else to link to their site, as long as they link to yours. This used to be very effective, but that is no longer the case.
Why are one way links the best?
This is because Google knows if another website links to yours without getting anything in return, your site must be quality.
Where should you get one way links?
Guest posts, directory, forum and blog links are among the best out there. For many terms, focusing exclusively on these sites will get you ranked. Reaching out to other relevant website and asking for a backlink is timing consuming but well worth it when you succeed at it.
#3) PPC advertising
Pay per click campaigns allow you to geo-target you campaigns. This allows you to specify which locations you want to show up for.
For instance, if you target the geo-target the keyword “home renovations” to only Richmond Hill, you will only appear when people in Richmond Hill search for that term. If somebody from Windsor types in the same keyword, you won’t appear in their search results. In other words, even though it doesn’t have the word “Windsor” in the keyword, you will still only appear when local people search for it.
The bottom line is, if you aren’t using the internet to generate local sales, you could be losing a lot of money. Hopefully these three tips will help you get started.
If you need help with this, contact us and we’ll setup a time to discuss it.
by DG | Aug 9, 2020 | Content Marketing, Business, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Web Design
Every online business should develop lead generation strategies to move prospects into their sales funnel. While some visitors will be willing to make an immediate purchase, the vast majority will need to warm up to a product or service. Part of the reason for the success of big brands is the fact they have invested in growing their recognition and trust. When people visit a site from a recognized brand, they are already primed to purchase. Most small businesses do not have this brand recognition, but using the following strategies on a consistent basis will be enough to move a high percentage of visitors into your sales funnel.
Analyze the Competition
Many different tools let you find out the strategies your competitors use. From individual advertisements to landing pages, you can study the sales funnels of successful businesses. Look at the top performing sites and find ways you can tweak them to get some quick improvements. Useful Tools: SEMrush
Study Popular Content
It is also possible to look at the results of any blog and social media content. You can see how many likes, shares, and reposts a piece of material received, enabling you to craft videos and articles you can be confident will find an audience. Useful Tools: buzzsumo
Try something new – View this article as a Google Web Story:
Use Social Media Efficiently
Social media is essential for generating leads, but it is reliant on your ability to develop a system. Influencer marketing is currently working well, allowing you to tap into existing audiences. It is also vital that you adapt social content to suit individual sites, thinking about the reasons viewers are using the particular social network. Useful Tools: musefind • Intellifluence
Targeted Ads
Paid advertising can send you leads quickly, but they may convert at a low rate. Instead, focus on researching your audience first, understanding the demographics and interests of your ideal buyers. You can then target your ads to the perfect audience and stand a higher chance of being profitable. Useful Tools: Google ads, Facebook Ads
Develop a Podcast
Podcasts are still reaching large audiences, with listeners eager to find content in their favorite niches. A podcast might take time to grow, but you can build a following of targeted and motivated people. Many of your listeners will also promote you to friends, helping to increase your leads organically. Useful Tools: How to start a podcast
Build Relationships
Trying to build an online business alone is difficult. When you can develop tactical partnerships, though, it is possible for all parties to grow. Most industries have various sub-niches that you may not directly target. However, audiences will have overlapping interests, so a small number of businesses could promote each other without losing their audience. Useful Tools: Join Facebook Groups
Focus on Video Marketing
Integrating video into your content planning is essential. Sites like YouTube and Facebook have vast numbers of users willing to watch video content. Creating short videos allows you to offer value to your viewers, before asking them to subscribe or go to a particular page to enter your sales funnel. Useful Tools: 10 Top Tools for Creating Short Videos That ROCK
Create a Contest
Contests work well on social media and blogs. Asking someone to give you their email address requires trust, but the barriers get lowered when there is an enticing prize available. While you can use tools to create contests easily, it is important that the award is relevant if you want to reduce freebie seekers. While there are many ways to launch a contest, we think Facebook is the best place to run a contest. Useful Tools: How to Create a Facebook Contest that Actually Works
Find Industry Forums and Groups
While strategies like paid advertising can bring vast numbers of visitors, there are alternative methods that will provide smaller numbers of targeted leads. Industry forums, Facebook groups, and Q&A sites can all bring consistent leads that will convert at a high rate. Useful Tools: Google Search “Your Topic” + forums and in Face book search “Your Topic” + groups,
Optimize Your Squeeze Pages
Squeeze pages are highly effective ways of securing leads as they limit the numbers of options on a page. Testing different elements on your squeeze pages will lead to varying results, but you should eventually develop an optimized property. Testing headlines, text and video combinations, call-to-action buttons, and incentives can all play a part in the optimization process. Useful Tools: How to Create a Squeeze Page That Converts at 21.7% (Case Study)
Understanding Your Potential Customers
While it is possible to make an immediate impact with some visitors, most prospects need time before they will make a purchase. Relying on quick sales won’t help to build an enduring business, with the cost to find a customer typically being high.
These methods are all based on building your company’s authority and building trust with new prospective customers.
Even when using paid ads, start with getting engagement and provide useful information. Then retarget with sales oriented ads to people who have engaged with that content and create lookalike audiences of those people. This will increase you conversion rate.
By implementing these lead generation strategies into your business, you should have no trouble developing a consistent flow of new customers.
We hope you find these DIY tips for lead generation strategies useful. If you are having difficulty finding the time to execute these methods we can help with any of these strategies. Just contact us for a free consultation.
OCEANONE is voted one of the top Web Design Companies in the designrush agency listings.
