As digital marketing professionals, we face questions from clients, both little and big on a daily basis. But of all the questions we get asked, the below are the four most frequent.
Question 1: Why do I need a Facebook page?
Today, if your business doesn’t have social media, you might as well be obsolete. Facebook and other social media platforms are where consumers seek to learn about a brand, read reviews from customers about products or services, interact before/during/after buying a product or service and essentially decide whether or not they want to choose a company. The short answer is that a brand needs a Facebook page that is managed well, representative of the brand’s messaging and creative design theme and that can be managed by someone knowledgeable about not only social media but also the brand’s history, future, products/services, beliefs and customer service pathway. Nobody calls a friend to talk about reviews, they share their opinions publicly on Facebook.
Question 2: Do I need to do online advertising (Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc.)?
Advertising is a key part of marketing for many brands, but it all depends on what your brand is looking to sell and where. For some brands, those who have little to no competition, spending a ton of money on advertising when they already have a strong organic audience in place is pointless. Conversely, if they have no organic following or are brand new, advertising can help push their brand to the forefront of their target audience’s view. For companies with a lot of competition, advertising online is essential. A large portion of the budget should be allocated to online advertising in the most profitable outlets as this brand will be competing with many others for keyword rankings—aka who shows up first for Google search results and thus most likely gets the customer’s money.
Question 3: What should my budget for marketing be every month?
This is easy to answer for any client by simply asking the following questions.
- What are your goals with marketing?
- How much money can you afford to allocate to marketing at maximum?
- Who is your audience?
- What is the product or service you are selling?
Budgets will be dependent on what they are selling, where they are selling it (market), who they are selling to and their overall budget capabilities in general. As with anything, more money can mean more results, but with marketing, any company can get a great campaign on a limited budget if it’s developed smartly.
Question 4: How can I improve my ranking on Google?
This is the most common goal of clients, because until they understand how all the elements of marketing can help them boost profits, this seems like the most important goal! The truth? Not everyone can get on the first page, or even the second or third. Those with established pasts and loyal client bases already in existence have better chances. Improve those chances more with exceptionally large marketing budgets. In short, any client can improve their ranking, but you need to manage the expectation that they will eventually see themselves on the first page of search results, because chances are unless they have a big budget to help them get there, it’s not going to happen—at least not for generic or vague keywords.