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Put Your Marketing Budget To Good Use
There are many ways to market your business and there are pros and cons to each kind, but, when it really comes down to it the main thing you want from your online marketing campaigns is a high ROI (return on investment). If you can maximize your RIO and implement it long term, by definition your campaign is successful. So, this brings the question – which digital marketing campaigns product the best ROI.
ROI by its nature is somewhat hard to define. Even with all the data in front of you it can be difficult to determine a precise measurement. This can be partly due to the fact that there are many forms of \”return\” that are imprecise, such as brand reputation and credibility, and the term itself is broad. But we will establish some initial points and then expand on the marketing campaigns that product the best results. If you don\’t care about the initial points and just want to jump straight ahead to the marketing campaigns feel free.
Time and money are both investments. To determine an accurate ROI, the time you spend is just as valuable as the money you return. If you run two campaigns on that delivers a 6% ROI and one that has a 4%, but the one that returns 6% takes five times as long, then it may no longer be your best option. When it comes to digital marketing the name of the game is \”work smart, not hard\”. Value your time and money, as both are equally important.
Long-term ROI is different that short-term ROI. One isn\’t necessarily better than the other, but it should be known that they are different. In the long run long-term ROI\’s will pay off far better than short-term, but you also sometimes need more immediate results, and knowing what factors and what campaigns produce those results is crucial to running a successful business.
Marketing strategies depend on execution. It may be common sence but in order to produce a high ROI you have to know what you are doing. Say you implement a marketing strategy that is known to consistently produce a high average ROI, but you have never run it before and have no idea what you are doing. Your results may be drastically different than what the data says you should be seeing. Don\’t be disheartened, learn from your mistakes, and realize the success of a campaign depends a lot on its execution.
Every business is different. Every single business in every single industry has unique factors that will affect how effective different marketing strategies will be. This can range from the branding to the location, and it is impossible to account for all these factors. They have to be dealt with on an individual basis by looking at the analytics of each campaign and the business as a whole.
With those points out of the way let\’s focus on some of the most popular marketing strategies and how they compare with each other.
Paid Advertising
In general most business will claim that paid advertising offers a good ROI, and it\’s true, it definitely does. However, there are a few thing to consider before starting a paid advertising campaign. First, the price per click on an ad can very greatly depending on what industry you are in. Fore example, Googles pay per click ads can run between just a few dollars to sometimes fifty dollars or more. Additionally, while you may be building some brand recognition, you aren\’t creating any equity with paid advertising. Just like a newspaper add or a billboard, you are essentially renting space. Once you stop paying for it, it\’s gone and it will no longer produce any revenue, this making it a short-term ROI. This doesn\’t make paid advertising bad, on the contrary a well executed pay per click marketing campaign can produce amazing short term results. You just need to know what you are getting before you commit, a great guide on launching paid advertising campaigns can be found here.
Content Marketing & SEO
Unlike paid advertising it is possible to get started with content marketing and SEO with no monetary investment. The catch is without money, you will have to invest time. In order to have a viable content marketing campaign it will take either significant time or money. When you first start out the results will be slow going, but the power of content marketing is it\’s ability to scale over time. Each bit of content you produce holds lasting value for you business. This can be sped along by paid facebook ads and other similar paid ways to boost your contents visibility. The key is to produce worthwhile material consistently.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is very closely tied to content marketing and sometimes can even be considered the same thing. The difference is content marketing is content you have produced, which can be promoted on social media platforms, social media marketing is where the social media platform advertises your business directly. This makes it distinctly different because it doesn\’t mean a large investment in time. The success is determined by how good of an advertisement it is, if it was tailored to the right demographic, and how much money you are willing to spend. Some companies spend thousands of dollars a month on social media marketing, but for many companies that simply isn\’t possible and they would be better suited to investing their money elsewhere and focusing their time investment in content marketing.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is quite possibly the highest ROI digital marketing strategy, with 67% of businesses listing it as their best asset. There are many benefits to it, the foremost being that it requires very little investment in both time and money to create a list and send out emails. There is also a long-term ROI factor in that the value of your email campaign will grow with the size of your list. They catch to email marketing is that it needs to be implemented properly, and the content of the email needs to be constructed well. A good reference on running a good email campaign can be found here. Furthermore, building up a large email list can be difficult and take a long time to create. Email marketing campaigns are definitely something every business should use; it takes very little time and money to run, just know that it is a long term investment so it may take a while to see any decent return.
Final Consensus
All of the campaigns listed are good in their own right and have the ability to produce an excellent return on investment. If you need conversions quick then you want a short-term ROI and pay per click advertising is probably the best way to go. It lets you target specific demographics and puts you at the top of the page of search results. If you are looking to build brand recognition and have some money to spend, then social media marketing is probably the best decision. It allows you to track and gather an amazing amount of data about your campaign as well as the people who engage with it, all while directly promoting your business. If you are looking for more long-term investments then email and content marketing are the two best choices, with content marketing probably being the best. In this current day and age, where ads are literally being shoved down peoples throats everywhere, people start getting tired of seeing them. Sometimes producing quality content is the best way to grab a customers attention and create a brand. Email marketing is better in that it will most likely be a faster return and will take significantly less time, but content marketing will be more effective in the long term. However, the key to successful marketing campaigns is to use all of these strategies. Find your budget and what you are looking for, and from there determine which combination is best for your business.
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