6 Ways to Use Your Marketing Budget Effectively for Your Business
Here at Oozle Media we see a variety of businesses and all of the unique marketing problems that come with them. However, you’d be surprised how similar business owners’ issues are across the board when it comes to one thing: budget. Whether you work in post-secondary education, dentistry, home services, or another industry, you’ve got one question on your mind:
How Can I Use My Marketing Budget Most Effectively?
That’s right, you’re not alone! In fact, i7 Marketing shared a blog earlier this year about the top things that business owners worry about, and budget is number one.
It can be hard to figure out where you should be investing your business’s marketing dollars. It can be especially confusing when agencies and freelancers are throwing out words like “PPC”, “SEO”, and “Social Media” in an attempt to woo you into buying the product they offer. Almost all marketing is useful under the right circumstances, the question is: What parts of marketing should you invest in first to get the greatest outcome? Where is your budget going to be most effective? Here are some tips to help you prioritize.
Make Need-Based Decisions
To determine which marketing investment will be most effective for you, you’ll need to identify the biggest problem your business faces. Is it the number of leads you’re getting or is it the quality of the leads that’s the problem? Is your marketing producing consistent success over time or is seasonality causing cash-flow problems? Once you identify your biggest roadblock you can figure out what type of marketing you need first.
Your Problem: Low Rankings, Low Lead Quality, or Low Site Conversion Rates
The reality is no matter where you put your money if your website isn’t in good shape you’re limiting your marketing success. Your website is home base. All the links in your online marketing point users back to your website, and if your website isn’t optimized to convert you’re not going to get the number or quality of leads that you could be getting. In addition to the story, your website tells visitors, the quality of your website also affects your success in SEO, PPC, and social media in a variety of ways.
Solution: A New Website & CRO
The best solution: a better website! To build the best possible website, you should first invest in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to help you understand what website visitors are looking for. This information can help you create a new website that users can navigate with ease and convert when they’re ready. This is done by applying website best practices to experiment with content edits, button changes, color swaps, images, and other parts of the website to produce the best experience for your potential customers.
Progress in web design and development moves quickly, so your website will need a refresh every once in a while. Be prepared to make updates on a regular basis. Trust us, it’s for your own good. Being the last to update your site to the latest and greatest tech is like showing up to a party this weekend and saying stuff like “cool story, bro” and “a’ight ‘den”. It’s 2018, it’s time to let those go.
Your Problem: Low Lead Flow
Struggling to increase lead flow month over month? Sick of what feels like a constant up and down when it comes to sales? Looking to increase leads quickly and aim for more consistency in lead count each month?
Solution: PPC
You can think of PPC as a faucet for leads, once you launch a campaign that’s properly optimized it feels like a stream of leads was turned on. A well-built PPC campaign can make all the difference in your lead flow. This is true for someone who is currently running PPC but isn’t seeing the results they are looking for (an indicator that the campaign is not well set up) or for someone who has never had PPC before.
PPC ads are paid advertisements that you pay Google (or other search engines) for each month. They show up at the top of the search engine results page when you search for a keyword related to your business. Your PPC team, like the one at Oozle Media, manages the account, strategizes bids, and even writes convincing copy to get users to click and convert.
Your Problem: Not Generating Business Organically
If you find yourself relying heavily on paid efforts or you’re struggling to get leads because you’re not using paid outlets, you’re probably struggling with organic lead generation.
Solution: SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) uses compelling content, technical website practices, and brand authority to help your site rank for searches associated with your business. The nitty gritty is that SEO helps you stay relevant and stay in front of the eyes of the people who are looking for what your business provides. SEO is a long-term investment. While PPC can spike your leads and make them more consistent over time as soon as you stop paying Google, the leads go away. SEO builds like a mountain slope. It takes time to reach the top, but once you get there the reward is hefty and maintains more steadily through seasonal changes in lead flow and Google algorithm updates. Once you do reach the top, you’ll still want to keep investing in SEO because you never know when a competitor or a Google update will change the landscape.
Your Problem: Lack of Brand Consistency
Does your marketing feel like it has Multiple Personalities Disorder? Are you having a hard time nailing your branding and voice across your site, social media, and in the sales process? That’s a sign you need someone to help you create branding guidelines.
Solution: Graphic Design, Social Media Marketing, & Content Creation
Whether you need to fine-tune your branding or re-brand altogether, it takes a dedicated team and time. If you’re not telling a consistent story to your audience to help them understand why they should convert your efforts could be severely stunted.
Your Problem: Lack of Awareness
Everything seems to be running smoothly. You’re ranking well organically, your PPC ads are converting, and leads are coming in steadily. Now what? Do you stop investing in your marketing and just keep things as usual?
Solution: Social and Display Ads
The next thing you can do is make more people aware of your business. Or, if you need to, change peoples’ minds about your brand or product. This is what a paid social media campaign (social media ads or paid engagement) or programmatic display (ads with hyper-targeted audiences) campaign does. These types of campaigns help you find a very niche demographic and give you an opportunity to introduce yourself or define your purpose. Here you can make someone aware of the solutions you are providing to their problems, share interesting information, start a conversation, or help educate your audience before they make a purchase with you.
Your Problem: Low Sales Conversions
You’ve got tons of leads! Great news! Unfortunately, it seems like they aren’t converting once you get in touch with them.
Solution: Call Tracking
You’re driving leads, they’re converting on your website well, and as soon as they enter your sales funnel, they don’t buy. Why? It might not be a problem with your marketing at all! It could be that you need assistance in house. Your salesperson, admissions coordinator, or customer service rep may not be telling the same story your marketing is. This causes a loss of consistency and branding, and it makes things feel disingenuous for your customers.
Call tracking allows you to monitor and record the phone calls coming into your business so you can provide better training for the people interacting directly with your customer. It provides additional benefit by tracking what day of the week and what time of day people typically call, and it can even tell you how long the calls are and whether the result in a conversion.
So What is The Most Effective Way to Use Your Budget?
You might’ve been looking for a clear-cut answer, but in the marketing world, you’re not gonna get one in this situation. The answer to the question, “How can I use my budget most effectively?” varies by business and the roadblocks they face.
Not sure what your business’s roadblock is? Oozle Media can help. Our guiding principle is only do what is in the clients best interest and part of what we do includes marketing consulting, to help you determine what is the best use of your hard earned money.
Already know the in details of the issues your business faces? Contact us. We offer all of the services outlined above!
Shae Henrie
Jul 25 2018
