Misconceptions About Digital Marketing That a Small Business Owner Needs to Clear Up
The entire digital marketing landscape has changed over the last decade. There are so many tactics that were once commonplace that have been abandoned due to ineffectiveness. Google has done a decent job at reducing spam and the manipulation of its search engine algorithms. The problem for a small business owner is that a number of misconceptions on digital marketing come from marketing agencies. The truth is that it is perfectly possible to handle marketing in-house although it might not be the most cost-efficient option. Below are common misconceptions about digital marketing that small business owners need to clear up.
Not All Marketers Are Created Equal
The unfortunate truth is that not all marketers or agencies are created equal. There are those that will charge a premium price but fail to generate any real results. A boost in website traffic is almost meaningless if no additional leads or sales were generated. The importance of the relevance of traffic cannot be underestimated. Targeted traffic is sure to generate more leads or sales when compared to generic purchased traffic. Ask agencies or new hires about results they have generated instead of campaigns they have worked on. There might be a huge campaign that generated little in terms of results but was done for a reputable company. Results are all that matters in marketing as measuring ROI is becoming increasingly important.
Not All Businesses Require an All-Inclusive Digital Marketing Strategy
There are certain small businesses that just need a bit of digital marketing. A PPC campaign for a small business that is predominantly local might be a bit of overkill. Website management along with content production both on the company blog and offsite might be enough. Get a plan together from a few different agencies or marketing professionals. You might see a trend in services that are left off of your strategy. Asking for performance charts for each tactic you are unsure of can help weed out those tactics that cost money without delivering ROI.
One-Time Investments Are Not Enough
A common misconception among business owners is that digital marketing is a one-time investment. Digital marketing needs to be done weekly in order to maintain and improve search engine rankings. The ability to rank at the top of search engines for relevant keywords can drive large amounts of organic leads. Digital marketing for law firms is a great example as law is a competitive niche which requires daily work. Personal injury law firms are willing to pay a premium amount for marketing as each client acquired can lead to thousands of dollars for the firm.
High Quality Content is Required
Generic content is not enough in today’s world where consumers are pickier in terms of what they spend their time reading, listening to, or viewing. Generic content is more of a waste of money as people can easily detect when the content of an article will not live up to the interesting title. Clickbait is dead for the most part as people can easily see when the article is more for SEO purposes than reader engagement.
Taking down misconceptions in digital marketing is extremely important. Educated business owners are far easier to work with than those that have unrealistic expectations.
