You finally got The Big Idea. You’re really going to make it happen. Now, how will you let the world know? Everything is online these days (at least to some degree), so within your marketing plan, you’ll need to account for digital marketing, either with paid ads or organic posts. Thankfully, your digital efforts don’t need to break the bank. Online advertising can truly be a cost-effective arm of your overall marketing strategy.
It’s Free – Take It!
There are plenty of free avenues to market your product or service online. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube accounts are free and provide targeted arenas for you to build followers and engage customers. Cross-posting among these channels allows you to find new eyes. Be an active follower of like-minded businesses and adapt hashtags and keywords like theirs for your own posts to build a community of potential buyers who all respond to a common language.
Organic posts on these platforms come at no cost and no limits, which is fantastic, but implementing a paid post strategy allows you to get data on what’s really moving the needle. Ready to spend a few dollars? Here are some tips as you build your plan:
Quality over quantity. The bottom line is engagement and sales. Advertisers have long looked at demographics to target a particular audience. That’s why you’ll see one set of commercials on Nickelodeon and another set on MSNBC. Targeting your digital marketing audience is much the same. If your advertising budget is tight, there’s real value in targeting your desired demographic and concentrating your dollars where you’ll get the most bang for your buck. It’s not just about how much you spend; it’s about where you spend. Online advertising allows you to select your audience by location, age, income level and other parameters, thereby finding the exact audience you want.
Listen to the market. Pay attention to what’s happening online. New trends are always popping up. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to jump on every bandwagon, but consider an appropriate tie–in to current events. Here’s an example: A dentist noticed a trend on TikTok of young people filing their teeth to achieve an even line. This is a dangerous and horrible idea, so he made a quick video to run on all his social channels and distribute to local media citing the dangers of this trend and advising professional dental care. Under normal circumstances, his routine marketing plan would have never predicted needing to advise against taking a file to your teeth, but responding to the market promptly allowed him to stay relevant and highly visible within the lifecycle of the viral video. A limited-dollar boost on Facebook or Instagram put his post in front of a targeted local audience, highlighting his expertise and professionalism so that he stood out within a competitive dental market.
The pandemic in 2020 forced every business to adjust to global events and re-evaluate marketing strategies and messaging. The overall tone of social messages needed to reflect the times as companies worked to stay afloat or keep up with surging demands. Regardless, online marketing exploded with activity as the internet took center stage for outreach, working and events. Companies who responded appropriately to local and national events engendered long-lasting support from an audience who was more focused on online content than ever before.
Start small. Grow where results take you. At Mad Hat Maven, we often advise our clients just launching their digital marketing campaigns to start with a small budget, especially if they don’t have proven results of what works. A pay-per-click (PPC) campaign run with A/B testing will help you fine tune your language and message. Then when it comes time to spend more, you’ll have data-driven confidence that your money is being spent where it can make a difference.
Test, analyze, adapt. As mentioned above, start by testing the waters. If your ads that contain photography are outperforming ads with graphic imagery, you’ll know to include photography on your subsequent ads. Maybe your Google ad with “affordable” in the headline consistently outperforms the version with “cheap,” which should inform your writing team’s word choice in the future. Online platforms for digital marketing all provide you with statistics on your campaigns; it’s up to you to evaluate the data and adapt your message or platform selection as you grow your marketing.
Digital marketing isn’t rocket science, but the data behind how and why you enact your plan will make all the difference. You don’t have to break the bank to market online, but it does take some creative savvy to get the biggest bang for your buck. The team of creative professionals at Mad Hat Maven can work with your team and your budget to get you the quality clicks, leads and sales you’ve been looking for. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
