Digital marketing is generally regarded as a must for small businesses, yet success is never a given; indeed, you could spend a fortune and get very little in return and with that in mind, here are a few classic mistakes to avoid when looking for digital marketing services.
- Insufficient budget – At the end of the day, you only get what you pay for and if a so-called digital marketing agency claims to be able to work magic for next to nothing, take that with a pinch of salt. Dodgy agencies offer ultra-low prices to attract customers and more often than not, they fail to deliver. You should contact a few agencies and compare services and prices, then you are in a position to make an informed decision. Smart entrepreneurs set aside a monthly budget for digital marketing, as they understand the importance of online marketing.
- Failing to research the agency – Every SEO agency brags about their abilities, that’s the way business works; we recommend researching any agency that you intend to use for your business. If you know how to use Google’s advanced features, you can quickly find out about the agency and if you are not impressed with your findings, choose another agency. King Kong is one of the best agencies and they have the track record to prove it. They have offices in New York, San Francisco and LA, as well as the UK and Australia and their success is due to a non-nonsense approach that delivers desired results; an award-winning agency that doesn’t compromise and is always striving to reach more businesses.
- Choosing the wrong services – Digital marketing agencies have many services and while they might make some recommendations, not all clients follow their advice and subsequently, the results are mediocre at best and lousy at worst. When you approach an agency, they put together a marketing plan that, in their opinion, offers the best results and sometimes the client disagrees and they choose other services. Pay per click advertising, for example, isn’t right for every business, neither is social media marketing; don’t be afraid to ask questions when discussing online marketing with an agency and they would be happy to give you their opinion.
- Stop the campaign too early – It takes time for digital marketing strategies to bring about results and a common mistake is for a client to stop the program before it has a chance to produce results. Of course, no one wants to throw good money after bad, but in many cases, not enough time has passed to see the full benefits and stopping the campaign would be a mistake. It takes at least 90 days to put a website on page 1 of Google’s search results, as changes must be registered in the search engine database, which happens every few days. Let’s face it, you are in this for the long haul and sustained online marketing will pay dividends. If you connect with an award-winning US agency, you can enjoy ongoing campaigns that achieve your goals and expands your organization.
- Thinking you can manage without digital marketing – This is a costly mistake that some small business owners make; word of mouth isn’t going to do it! You need a structured digital marketing plan that includes numerous strategies and slowly but surely, your message will reach the right people and orders will come flowing in. If you have an annual digital marketing budget, so much the better; when you take a look at the ROI, you will be happy to add more campaigns to your schedule, which is the smart way to grow your business profile.
Digital marketing is a performance-based sector and an agency’s abilities are reflected in the client list, which should contain many global brands. This is the first thing to look for when you land on their website; if they have won awards, this is another indicator of top performance, these awards are not handed out without impressive statistics. Upon first contact, the agency would check you out to determine your online footprint, which is the first step to writing a digital marketing plan; they can analyse your web traffic to find out where users are coming from and using state-of-the-art software, it is possible to track in real time and make changes to tweak results.
We hope that the information in this article helps you to make the right choices when it comes to digital marketing; do your research on your chosen agency and make a list of questions to ask, which should help you choose an agency that has all the solutions.