We often have clients come to us with a very specific goal in mind. They may ask us to create a website that “looks better” or a pay-per-click campaign, or perhaps a presence on social media.
And although we accommodate their request (and more importantly, consult with them about the goals, metrics and outcomes of their marketing ideas) we always mention one thing:
Online marketing is a process that takes time.
As I mentioned in a previous post “You Need a Team to Build Your Website,” our company provides a team that creates your website. Even with a team, it takes time to understand you company fully, conduct research into you audience and the market, see what your competitors are doing, conduct keyword research, build a site plan, design the website, and populate it with content. Whew!
Now take that single component of online marketing, and expand it to what you really need to do for success. I think this infographic really sums up the challenge. (Note: it is a large graphic).
Yup. There’s a lot to do. And you need people (that’s the plural of person) to do it.
Of course, when we tell clients this, there is often an understandable reaction. One that says “Holy cow! I can’t afford this!” Stop. Yes you can. And that brings me full circle to the point. Not all of these online marketing efforts need to be done today. However, you need to start getting an online marketing presence now.
It’s a matter of taking your overall budget, looking at your line item for marketing expenditures (you do have a line item for marketing, right?), and planning it out. We can help you think it through as part of a marketing plan.
If you look at it as a form of maintenance or other continuous need for your business, you’ll find it is not that bad. And as time goes along, and your online presence begins to snowball into more sales and more profits, you may begin to start thinking big. Really big.