Many small business owners ask me this question: Does online marketing really work?
As an authority in the field, I can confirm online marketing is effective. It offers several advantages over traditional advertising techniques.
Online marketing really does work.
And here’s why…
The Power of Online Marketing
Online marketing has surpassed traditional advertising in terms of reach and effectiveness in capturing the attention of potential customers.
Online marketing tools are more effective than traditional marketing because they can spread awareness of products and services to a wider audience.
More individuals rely on computers and mobile devices to interact with content every day.
U.S. Millennials have emerged as the world’s most active group of consumers.
These adults have a strong connection to technology and engage with online media and marketing content on mobile devices more than any other generation before them.
That makes online marketing strategies more efficient and cost-effective for businesses looking to target specific demographics and interests.
Build Your Customer Base with Digital Content
One of the key components of successful online marketing is search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO involves optimizing website content and structure to improve its visibility on search engine results pages.
By using the right techniques, a business can rank higher on search engine results pages.
People looking for services related to a business are more likely to come across a business that’s been optimized for search.
In addition to SEO, social media marketing has become an integral part of an online marketing strategy.
Some of the most popular social media platforms used by marketers worldwide include Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
These platforms are great channels for reaching a larger audience to promote your products and services
Build brand awareness and customer engagement
The B2B Content Marketing Insights for 2023 prove online content can build a customer base.
An impressive 71% of surveyed participants stated that their organizations have acknowledged the increasing significance of content marketing.
According to the insights report, content marketing helps B2B marketers achieve three main goals:
- Create brand awareness
- Build credibility and trust
- Educate an audience
By analyzing customer data, you can craft better digital media content.
Personalized content improves online engagement and builds trust with website visitors.
From blogs to whitepapers and case studies, fresh content can always be created to fuel your online marketing.
And if you do run out of things to say, we can always go back and freshen up the older stuff.
Engaging Online Content
People are more likely to share visual media like infographics and videos at a high rate across social media platforms.
Use visual media to connect to your audience and create a lasting impact on your website visitors.
Short video clips, podcasts, and webinars can effectively capture attention and keep visitors engaged with your website.
By the numbers
These statistics from Search Engine Journal highlight the impact of adding visual elements to your online marketing strategy.
- Content can generate up to 94% more views if you add compelling visual elements and graphics, according to HubSpot.
- Emails with videos have a significantly higher click-through rate than those without video.
- Infographics can increase website traffic by 12%.
- Images and video fuel engagement and are up to 35% more likely to get reposted.
Embrace the power of visual media to expand your reach and connect with your audience.
My digital marketing services include web page development, blog post content, infographic design, and producing marketing videos for small businesses.
AI Writing Tools
My team creates high-quality blog content to provide value to readers.
Why?
To establish myself and my clients as thought leaders in their industries and drive qualified leads.
AI writing tools help enhance website content by completely covering the topic we’re writing about while allowing us to weave in real-life experiences and expertise.
We have experience using a variety of AI writing tools to optimize website text.
Our favorites include:
These tools also improve word choice, structure, and readability.
AI writing tools are not an all-in-one content solution though.
They’re just an aid that enables smaller teams like mine to accomplish some seriously awesome results.
Video Content
Research conducted by HubSpot reveals video content has emerged as the preferred form of media among consumers.
More people turn to YouTube for quick answers instead of traditional search engines.
Embracing the power of video can significantly enhance a company’s marketing efforts in today’s digital landscape.
Video content helps businesses answer commonly asked questions while showcasing their products or services online.
We use video to create a connection with customers and boost awareness of brands whenever we can.
Video marketing is memorable, can build relationships, and increase click-through conversions and sales.
One of the hacks my team uses is to embed videos on related web pages. This boosts engagement and drives higher search visibility. That means more sales!!!
Omnichannel Marketing
Small businesses can use multiple channels to connect with target audiences.
These online marketing channels provide flexibility and help marketers make quick adjustments without completely revamping their entire marketing campaigns.
My omnichannel marketing strategies work.
These strategies create connections with an intended audience and enhance the potential for successful online sales conversions.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO can help a website rank higher in search results.
Web pages with a proper structure, keywords, and useful content tend to rank well on search engines.
A higher search engine ranking can make it easier for people to discover your services. That’s a fact, and I’ve done it over and over for several years.
My team uses Semrush SEO tools to guide the creation of content that grabs the attention of website visitors.
More importantly, great content contributes to better search engine rankings, and ultimately, more sales.
Pay-per-click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising allows businesses to bid on keywords for visibility in search engine results.
PPC ads can reach the right audience at the right time and in the right location.
This is a great short term solution for businesses that want calls right now.
I don’t consider PPC to be a long term solution for a few reasons:
- Supply and demand: The more demand businesses like yours have for leads, the higher prices go. That means when there is less demand for a service, ad prices skyrocket overnight because companies are bidding for the same.
- Higher overall costs: I had a client pay over $20k for ads. They got 216 calls. At $92 per lead, they’re paying more than double compared to the leads that I helped them get organically.
- Long-term costs: They call it pay per click for a reason. If you stop paying for ads, then you stop getting calls. It’s as simple as that.
Location targeting positions ads based on selected geographic locations. You can create content for digital ads based on a user’s website activity or a specific keyword search. Need inspiration? Develop ad headlines and descriptions with AI writing templates.
Google AdWords can help you reach your target audience in the competitive marketplace. I use AdWords to create campaigns and ads based on specific keywords or topics. Behavior trends pulled from data insights can show user behavior trends and interactions with a campaign. I use this data to track conversions and improve ad campaigns to reach a local audience.
Social Media
Social media can drive traffic to your website and build awareness of the products and services you offer.
You can add brand hashtags and @mentions to connect to partner audiences included in your posts.
Social media ads also provide a great asset for generating business.
Facebook and LinkedIn Ads offer targeted ad placement tailored to particular user groups or interests.
You should always customize social media ads for your intended audience, track user engagement, and optimize campaigns based on results.
If there’s one thing that I can say about my experience with social media…… it’s that you have to be different if you want to attract followers and get any engagement.
Without new followers, clicks, comments, and reactions, your social media content is doomed. That means that you need to stand out with authenticity as a small business.
Posting the same lame content as all of your competitors is a one-way ticket to obscurity.
Tracking & Analytics
Here are a few of the tools I use to track the performance of my SEO campaigns.
Semrush
Semrush is a popular digital marketing analytics solution.
I use it to uncover valuable insights about my clients’ marketing.
The analytics and reporting features help me track keyword performance across organic search engine results pages (SERPs).
They also offer advanced competitor analysis tools.
And when I say advanced, I mean I can see exactly which competitors are the next target to get wiped out by my clients.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides valuable data insights on website visitor behavior.
This helps marketers like me understand what online marketing approach works best for my customers.
Metrics like referring links, bounce rate, and average session duration are used to help me improve online marketing campaigns.
With Google Analytics, you can also get an understanding of how visitors interact with your website.
For instance, I just had a debate with a contractor about whether having a menu on my landing page was hurting conversions.
Google Analytics ended the disagreement by showing only 2 out of 63 visitors went somewhere else on the site from the landing page.
Google Business Profile Performance
The analytics available directly from a Google Business Profile are invaluable and highly underrated.
Not only can you find out what your biggest search terms are, but you can also see exactly how many times people clicked the “Call” button from search results.
My observation has been that this is the number one indicator of a local SEO campaign’s success.
The Answer to "does online marketing really work?"
Online marketing helps companies reach customers through various marketing channels and platforms.
When done correctly, these strategies ultimately lead to more calls from qualified leads.
Online marketing includes SEO, social media campaigns, and paid digital advertisements that can help businesses reach new customers regularly.
Advanced targeting options in advertising campaigns coupled with tracking & analytics can help business owners measure the success of their campaign’s performance and adjust their marketing strategies based on data-driven insights.
As the field of digital marketing continues to evolve, there are a variety of opportunities available to business owners looking to improve their online presence.
So, does online marketing really work?
In my experience, the answer is a definitive yes (if it’s done correctly).
Contact me if you want to learn more about what makes online marketing important to businesses.
And whatever you do, don’t call it an expense.
