Digital marketing is still an unknown concept to many business owners. They don’t understand why they have to pay in order to get any attention. After all, the Internet is a free space, right? Sure you had to pay someone to create your website, but once it’s launched then the customers will just come flocking in. And social media? Heck, that’s just an entertainment site to talk with friends! Why pay to reach out to someone? It’s easy to launch an online business nowadays, right?
Yeah, right.
Just because your online marketing isn’t a tangible thing like a newspaper ad or pen with your business’ name on it doesn’t mean it’s free. Like everything else in life, it comes at a price. And like you did when you created your business plan, you’re going to have to create a marketing budget.
Do you think that your website will just get customers by being on the internet? Then you must have incredible SEO already on it! To be truthful, your brand new website is probably not even on Google yet. You’re going to have to get it indexed, make sure your content is optimized, and start adding content. And once that’s all done, you may only see a couple of people visiting it in a month’s span. It takes time to get seen on Google before your site has had ample time to get ranked on Google with lots of SEO and hard work, so you’re going to have to spend money on PPC campaigns to really get it started if you want to push people to your website and learn about what you have to offer. Most likely, many of your other competitors are already doing these things. Do some research.
As for social media? Yes, it is free to create a page on Facebook or an account on Twitter. But you better be posting on a daily basis. And following people. And being very active. Even with all this, expect a reach of only two or three, if you’re lucky. Once again, you’re going to have to spend quite a few dollars, boosting posts and creating ads, to make sure you’re seen by the right people. Just like running an ad in the newspaper, it will not get seen by anyone unless you pay for it.
Many clients who are new to the digital marketing game come to us for help in getting their business online after trying themselves. When they immediately don’t get the results they’re expecting, it’s a shock to the system. One piece of information that we give clients before signing a contract is that they have to be absolutely sure they’re ready to commit to a marketing plan. And those plans need to include ad spend. It’s like the old saying goes — in order to make money, you’re going to have to spend it. If everybody could throw a website up, post a few links to a social platform, and have their business just start bringing in massive amounts of customers and clients, then the whole world would be successful. That is just not reality. Neither is expecting a marketing company to make your business a success overnight. Having a great team, working really hard, being patient and never giving up is really where the true success comes in.
So if you’re ready, then so are we. Contact ENX2 Marketing today if you need help with your website, search engine optimization, content writing, Google Adwords, and PPC management or anything else that your company needs to help you shine online. We are here to help.