Marketing is a common need for all small business, yet many do not understand what managed monthly marketing services can do for their business. Instead, many stick to non-paid forms of advertising to keep costs down, yet the results can be non-existent. Others rely strictly on word-of-mouth which can be effective for all business, but even that has limitations.
Does your company have an annual marketing budget? If so, does it cover current digital marketing areas like social media, search engine marketing, or content marketing? I would like to take some time to help explain what these services are and why they are important for a small business.
Why small business needs monthly marketing services?
If you build it, will they come? Probably not. The days of simply having a website are over and the fast paced, always connected, and content hungry days are here. Companies need to dedicate time and resources to keep pace in a digital world. Social media outlets are everywhere and new ones are continually becoming “norms” or “must-haves” for business. Each one requires time to post, review, and interact. Many are connected with reviews, making reputation management a chore on its own. People are a lot more likely to leave negative reviews from the safety of their keyboard or device. Reviews can greatly impact potential new customers. Small businesses should be taking that time to respond to all reviews, even the positive ones. To make the task a little more daunting, in order for replies to have any impact and possibly persuade negative ones to change their tune, replies need to be made within a day or two. This means you need to be connected at all times and monitoring all of the different social media outlets.
“Content is king” is a term you will often see when researching digital marketing, but why is it so important for a small business?
Think of content marketing as the gas that fuels your food truck for trips on the search engine highways to cities where all of the people are. Alright, I know this is a very cheesey analogy but hang in there for a minute. Using the wrong kind of gas will slow your travel and ultimately break your food truck which you have put a lot of money into. Same thing for your website. Cheap gas (cheap content marketing) will still cost you money and will probably not get you to all of the places you want to be. There will also be maintenance issues along the way. Then, there is the wrong type of gas (blackhat/spam content marketing) which will break down your food truck, require additional money for towing and service repairs, and halt your travel schedule all together with delays of when you can even start up again. When you look at it like that, you can see how using the right type of content marketing for your business is very important.
Content marketing can help get you in front of more people, and when the content is relevant to what you offer, it is much easier to convert them to customers. Ok, now to give quick examples of what businesses can do with content marketing to get more exposure for their business. The first place to start is with the main content on your website.
Your website pages need text that describes what you do with headings that include the phrase(s) you want to be found for, while making sure it first makes sense to human readers (grammar and spelling are important). Don’t pack it full of phrases just to have them. Also, my pet peeve, don’t just say “welcome” as the main heading of your homepage. It has zero value to search engines and makes it look like you put little to no effort into quickly explaining what you do or offer. People read in small chunks and scan headings before reading sections. If the heading does not engage them, they will not take the time to read the text that follows. Links within websites are also important. It is best to use key phrases as the actual link instead of buttons like “learn more”. I am guessing the term “learn more” is not one of the phrases that describes your company. If you were an HVAC company, instead of including a button below the introduction on the homepage that says “learn more”, you would use a key phrase like “air conditioning services” which links to a page all about your air conditioning services. Pages should focus on single subjects and not list everything on one page. Doing a content analysis on a regular basis is important, as it can help identify areas to change and sections that need to be expanded on more. Your website is the foundation of digital marketing efforts.
Blogging for business has some of the best return on investment when compared to other advertising. Each time you post, another page is added to the total page count of your website. Blogging gives businesses a chance to provide educational information on a particular subject, helping to establish them as industry experts. The educational posts require the most time but can have the best interaction in the long run. Short and creative posts can also have a big impact. Say you were a sign company who offers vehicle wraps and you already have a service page that talks about vehicle wraps, what else is there to talk about? Tons…Take a little bit of time to talk about a specific project where you provided vehicle wraps. Include the phrase vehicle wraps as well as the name and location of where the client was located like, “Custom Vehicle Wraps in Yorkville, IL for ABC Delivery Service.” I mentioned short. Write a paragraph or two which goes into a little detail about the design, the printing process, or how it was applied. Also, include a sentence on who the customer is and what they do. Always include locations. People prefer to shop local and by including the name of the location, it helps you get exposure for when people search for the same service in that area. Now, include a few pictures of the job, like a before shot, the application, and the final result. Be sure to include descriptive ALT tags for each image added. Now you have a targeted page for a service you provide in a specific area. Even if you only blog once a month, you will add 12 new pages of content to your website every year.
Use email marketing for keeping in touch with current customers. Yes, often times most of the focus is on gaining new business, and because of this many forget to use the lead generation list they already have. Email campaigns should be set up to maintain awareness with current customers and encourage opportunities for repeat or referral business. Mass emailing websites should be used to manage contacts, track interactions on campaigns, and measure results. One of our favorites is MailChimp. Just like any other form of marketing, consistency is key. Creating a plan and sticking to it can be a challenge for small business.
How much is your time worth? The above only scrapes the surface in what could be done with monthly marketing. The challenge for many small businesses is finding the time to do these tasks and making sure they are done correctly so that time and money is not being wasted. This poses the question: Is it costing you more money to do it yourself than it would actually cost to hire a company that specializes in it?
Setting a small business marketing budget?
Setting an annual marketing budget can be a challenge and there are many factors to take into consideration. A quick way to generate a rough figure is to base it on the annual revenue of the company. An average percentage ranges from 5% to 8% of gross revenue, assuming the sales margins are in the range of 10% to 12%. If we use these rates, below are quick examples of recommended marketing budgets for small business:
Gross Revenue = $300,000 x 0.05 = $15,000/year or $1,250/month
Gross Revenue = $500,000 x 0.06 = $30,000/year or $2,500/month
Gross Revenue = $750,000 x 0.07 = $52,500/year or $4,375/month
Gross Revenue = $1,000,000 x 0.10 = $100,000/year or $8,333/month
These are considered conservative numbers, as companies who are in aggressive growth stages will often spend up to 20% of their revenue on marketing. Companies that are just starting out will need to set a higher percentage than those who are more established. Measuring the success of any marketing campaign is critical. Budgets should be spent wisely and spread out to cover various types of advertising.
At Idea Marketing Group, we offer monthly marketing services and have helped hundreds of businesses grow with our digital marketing and web design services. Get in touch for a free consultation!