Helpful Tips for the Digital Marketing Client
We love designing websites and working with clients post-launch is definitely the cherry on top of that beautiful sundae. Taking what we did with the site and being able to expand on it through a multi-channel marketing campaign is our bread and butter. One of our biggest missions is to always be open with you and we thought sharing some of the things we wish folks knew before thinking about working with us on a digital marketing campaign could only help.
Overnight Success is Not Realistic
While planning your digital marketing campaign, we’ll talk a lot about realistic goals and results. A big part of that is understanding the time it takes to see changes. So much of building a campaign depends on several factors, including how much competition your keywords have. If we’re talking ad campaigns, the budget, duration, quality of links, audience, and more factor into your success. There’s no hard or fast rule about how long ads and changes to a campaign take to start making a dent, but we like to tell clients to expect the first quarter to be about testing, the second quarter to be about patience, the third about bigger tweaks, and the fourth to be about results. If your business is more seasonal (think gardening, construction, etc.), this will vary a bit more. In short, while the occasional blog post may bump you up a ranking or two, that’s not likely to happen and the goal of a digital marketing campaign is to build a steady and solid foundation for success.
We Watch for Red Flags
Just as you, the business owner looking for digital marketing should be scanning for red flags, we do as well. For example, if we’re speaking to a potential client about their budget and they say that money is no object, we won’t be moving forward. Why? Because that’s not realistic. We’ve been around long enough to know they absolutely have a budget (as everyone should) and more than likely, it’s not going to be enough to make much happen. We aren’t in the business of wasting people’s time and money, so that means that when we decide not to move forward, we’re protecting ourselves and those potential clients.
We Need Your Help
When we say we want to become part of your team, we mean it. We can do loads of research and really get to know your business and industry, but no one knows your specific business better than you do. We need you to work with us on setting clear, realistic goals and communicate with us regularly.
Digital Marketing Takes Planning
You’ll hear the term “digital marketing strategy” often when we talk about your overall digital marketing plan. This is because it really is a strategy. Even before we get started, we’re completing competitor analysis, creating user personas, performing keyword research, evaluating past and current marketing efforts, and more. A lot goes into every stage of creating a campaign strategy and we don’t use the term “strategy” loosely.
Staying Flexible & Setting Boundaries
One more note about planning, when talking about social media content: we’re flexible, but when you email us a random post you want us to make “right away” without a heads up, please don’t assume we’ll be able to do it that second. We plan social media content calendars ahead of time, making sure we hit on important updates, upcoming events, and more. The occasional, “Oops, we forgot to tell you about this and it’s happening tomorrow” email happens (we’re all only human), but if they become a normal occurrence, it doesn’t help us and certainly doesn’t help you. We want to know about things ahead of time so we can properly pump you up online!
Strategizing Never Ends
Once a digital marketing campaign gets rolling, the same things mentioned above take place regularly. Marketing is all about testing, trying new things, having the patience to wait for results, then testing more. It takes planning, organization, and (you guessed it) clear communication. This might sound daunting, but it’s the reason we love it.
Digital Marketing is Always Changing
An important thing to remember about the digital marketing field is that it never stays still. There are things we did last year that aren’t applicable today and some plans we have today won’t be helpful next year. It’s the nature of technology. Take Google, for instance. They undergo thousands of changes to their algorithms each year. While most of them are fairly minor, the significant core updates still happen and often come with changes that require adjustments for digital marketers. We also experience changes in social media algorithms that result in us needing to pivot, too. This all means we never get too comfortable.
We Want You to Succeed
The best relationships with digital marketing clients are totally transparent and all about sharing ideas. You’re why we do what we do. We really do become part of your team, so of course, we want to see the team win. It’s that simple.
Let’s Talk Marketing
If you’d like to hear more about what we have to offer in a digital marketing partnership, let us know! Email us at erin@greenivycreative.com or mike@greenivycreative.com to get the ball rolling and find more ways to reach out right here.