Should I Hire a Full-Service Marketing Agency?

Managing several marketing relationships can get frustrating, fast. A lot of businesses will hire different companies to manage PPC advertising, SEO, video, social media, website development, and content creation. Meanwhile, others will turn to a full-service marketing agency.

Telling your value proposition, repeating your ROI demands, and communicating your brand over and over again is as exhaustive as it is inefficient. Meanwhile, hiring a full-service marketing agency AKA "one-stop-shop" can be daunting. Can they balance everything; can they lead the charge; do they have the expertise in each area? It’s hard to know what to look for in regards to what services should be provided, what you’d like them to handle, and how to integrate them into your current marketing team or plans.  Hiring an agency that employs professionals with comprehensive expertise across all marketing vehicles is critical to maximizing marketing ROI, time, and energy which business owners consistently invest in growth and marketing efforts. Getting this partnership right is one of the highest ROI growth decisions you will ever make and will ensure that your agency can successfully handle all of your marketing, advertising, branding, and other promotional needs as they arise. 

What should a scope look like for a full-service marketing agency?

Full-service marketing agencies have the ability to handle your marketing needs from top to bottom. As an agency learns about your company they can tailor services and packages specifically designed to meet your business goals, maximize your budget, and grow your brand. Many of the common services included with full-service agencies are:

Hiring a full-service marketing agency helps businesses build strategies that will drive maximum ROI on their marketing investment.

How do I vet a full-service marketing agency?

There are many reasons to hire a full-service marketing agency that you should consider when deciding how to market your business. Here are three things to consider when making the decision to hire a marketing agency. 

  1. Cost-Effectiveness: Hiring in-house can be very expensive when you take into account the overhead of salary, training, tools, and equipment that will be necessary. Agencies like VC Strategic offer developed professional strategies and experienced marketers to implement them. The right agency will analyze your business and tailor its services to fit your budget, needs, and goals.  
  2. Expertise: Many times a full-service marketing agency will have a team of employees who are not only experts at paid advertising, content writing, SEO, and graphic design, but they will also have years of experience working inside and outside your particular niche. Allowing them to draw on that knowledge to help build specific strategies to help you achieve your business goals. 
  3. Cohesiveness: Hiring multiple agencies for different aspects of your business has been a strategy employed heavily in the past. Hiring specific firms to tackle specific tasks. The obvious downside to this is that it can end up fracturing your message and leaving your campaign inconsistent. Not to mention the communication lag that accompanies outsourcing to multiple agencies. When you hire a full-service marketing agency, you can be assured that not only will your message stay consistent, but you won’t have the frustrating experience of trying to organize and communicate separate pieces of your strategy across multiple companies. Remember the game “telephone” as a kid? It’s like that - but much more expensive.

How do I Know What Agency is Best For Me? 

The first, and most important, step to finding a suitable full-service marketing agency for your business is to acknowledge your goals and objectives. Picking a full-service marketing team is a crucial decision in the future of your company. A few things to consider when you are making a decision about hiring an agency:

This Is Why Your Company's SEO Matters

This is why SEO matters to your business's success. Now, it's time to face the stone-cold facts. 

OK, before we go any further, look at those four statistics again. Those four facts alone should be enough to make anyone (or any business) give a long hard look at how well optimized their SEO is on their site. 

Still not sure? Let's play this out. 

Let's say 100 different people search keywords that directly relate to your business's products or services. We will say 15% of those people do in fact click on a well-crafted Google Ad. That leaves us with 85 potential customers, and according to studies 34% of those are clicking on position 1, that's 29 people (28.9 really, but we are rounding up) and 42% are clicking on positions 2 through 5, that's another 36 people. That only leaves 20 of the original 85 left for positions 6-10 and beyond. 

Showing up in the SERP results and showing up high is critical. 

For those of you who are visual here is a nifty table created by Sixtrix to help out: 

OK, back to the facts. 

That last fact listed is why so many businesses don't give the proper time and attention to their SEO. Ranking a page and ranking it well is hard work. But with the right plan, techniques, and execution it is possible. 

Understanding where your low hanging fruits lie, what type of content needs to be produced, what keyword opportunities exist, and what to do after you hit "publish" is crucial to improving your organic rankings and hereinafter your traffic, sales, and revenue.  

This is exactly what VC Strategic can provide you. A tried and true method for improving your sites organic viability. There are no shortcuts or magic wands to wave, just fundamental techniques and perseverance. 

Increasing your organic relevance is a time-consuming but worthwhile task, and not having the proper time or knowledge base to perform the necessary steps is a real challenge for many businesses. If improving your organic SEO is something you are considering, click here to book a free consultation today and we will create a custom SEO roadmap to help you and your business achieve your goals.

9 Keys to Marketing Success

The right marketing strategy can make or break your business. Marketing is all about finding your ideal customer and presenting your business to them in the right light. You want your potential customer to know why they need you and how you can make their lives easier. Finding the keys to marketing success will lead you to profitability.

Take Our Business Advice

Key 1: Speed

The first key to success seems obvious: a fast and responsive website. Having a website allows you to not only market your business but also establishes credibility. When potential customers search for your brand, they should see your website. When they visit this website, they expect it to load in under two seconds. Having issues with bounce rates and speed can deter customers from your business and cause you to lose out on major opportunities.

Key 2: Website Optimization

Speed is only the first hurdle that your website has to overcome, but speed isn’t the only contributing factor to bounce rates. For optimum results, you should make sure that your site is optimized for conversions. Try asking yourself the following questions:

Key 3: Data Tracking

In day to day life, we use KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure ourselves. If you are a fitness buff, it can be as simple as tracking your caloric intake! KPIs are monumental for your business success and should be implemented in every facet of your company. From your financials to your website heat map, all of your business action items should produce data and give you actionable insights. Using these benchmarks can highlight where you are improving and where your business needs improvement. As important as data is, your tracking systems should be installed correctly. You wouldn’t believe how many business owners pay thousands for tracking software only to not know how to use it! 

Key 4: Reviews

What others say about you and your business can either inhibit or expand profitability. Word of mouth is important and this includes your online reputation. For example, 60% of customers will refer friends to a brand that provided a positive experience. What happens if this online reputation is mostly negative? Studies have shown that up to 80% of consumers will think twice about doing business with a brand that has negative online reviews. By curating five-star reviews, both from your excellence in service and with the right marketing tactics, you can improve your search rankings and online reputation. 

Key five: Content 

SEO is a tricky beast to understand and is entirely based on your website content. The right content strategy will improve your search rankings and decrease your customer acquisition cost, which makes finding the right strategy imperative. With a background of intensive keyword research you can create a content strategy for relevant and lucrative searches and widen your customer base. Your ideal content strategy should be relevant, current, and to the point. 

Key 6: PPC

Organic rankings and search results can only take your business so far. To increase your exposure to future customers, you need to create a PPC strategy that meets your business goals. By creating a productive and profitable PPC strategy, you will increase your revenue stream while heightening your brand awareness. 

Key 7: Social Media

A newer secret to marketing strategies, social media marketing is an important step in a cohesive and inclusive business plan. With more than three billion people on social media, this is an opportunity to reach future customers. This strategy can deter customers from choosing your brand, or it can create a long and meaningful customer relationship. This tricky balancing act requires testing and constant effort, but it could be a hack to profitability. 

Key 8 (Almost there!): Video Content

With the growing rate of shortening attention spans, the impact of video is vital to business success. Including video on your website, as well as social media sites, can massively impact conversion rates. Almost 50% of customers look for videos on a product or service before even going to make a purchase decision. Not only do videos affect conversion rates, but can also improve your search rankings. A website with a video is 53 more likely to reach the front page of Google search results. Professional and relevant video content is key in your comprehensive marketing strategy. 

Key 9: Strategize 

The final key, the last door to enter before profitability, is the most important of them all. For business profitability and success, you need to have a strategy that grows your company. Stagnant is a dirty word in business and you want to avoid it at all costs. This strategy and mindset for growth will create action items out of your goals. Infusing growth strategies in all arms of your business allows you to measure and track your success. 

We Do Bidness

Looking to achieve profitability through your marketing strategy? Let us help your business skyrocket. Stop wasting time on marketing strategies (or firms) that just don’t work, take advantage of our years of marketing success, and give us a call. 

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!

3 Non-Media Biased COVID Data Facts That Will Shock You

Living in a world ruled by a pandemic is not easy. We are all adapting to changes in our environment, our lifestyles, and our businesses. Some are panicking while others are buried in the sand, mix in media bias, and it can be hard to figure out what to believe! Feeling the same way, we dug to find the best non-media biased COVID data out there. Keep reading to find out more— and, trust us, some of these will shock you. 

Home Prices Are Skyrocketing

In August, the pandemic’s hights, we saw a surprising rise in home sales and cost. The median price of an existing home in the United States rose to $310,600 in August* and is up 11.4% compared to a year ago (2019). Also, in August, home sales are up 10.5% from just a year ago. COVID-19 is impacting lifestyles, but it is definitely not hurting the home market.

Pro forma statements have to be based upon reliable and realistic information in order to create an accurate picture of your financial standing. As your company grows, these pro forma statements should be updated monthly and annually. Pro forma statements should be designed to grow with your business; as you change, so do they!

GDP Dropped It Like It’s Hot

This year (2020), the effects of the pandemic on sales were palpable. In the last few weeks of the first quarter, we saw a five percent decline in the annual gross domestic product (GDP). Forward to the second quarter, and we saw the largest drop for any quarter since the Great Depression: 31.7%. This was the most intense economic contraction that some have seen in their lifetime. The bright side of this is that this macro-level data can help you make your business’s strategic decisions.

Economic Hot Potato

We are beginning to see hints of financial upturns in the third quarter, but we are still years away from a full economic recoup. This economic surge could be attributed to the growing pains of a new pandemic “normal.” In the third quarter, we saw many businesses returning from a total shutdown, adjusting to socially distant production and construction, live events being on hold, and maintaining a business at half-occupancy. We also saw many businesses not return to the economy at all.

Plummeting Interest Rates

One silver lining to the new pandemic panic is that you are getting a break! Interest rates are expected to stay low for years. The Federal Reserve’s latest economic forecast suggests that low interest rates are here to stay through 2023. This could mean that this is your sign to refinance your debt or strategize your business financing.

More Non-Biased Media COVID Data?

Here are the most helpful charts we’ve seen on non-media biased COVID data.

Key Takeaways: 

Download Your FREE Pro Forma Template Here

How Pro Forma Reports Can Create Your Business Runway

A large part of being a business owner is trying to see the future. You should be looking at the financial health of your business and your projected profits, or as VC Strategic calls it, your “Business Runway.” One of the best ways to objectively dissect your financial health for a business plan or forecast is to use pro forma reports to create a statement. This is a financial report for your business that is based on future projections of profits. These statements look just like regular statements but are based on potential trends that your business will face. Pro forma statements can highlight errors or holes in financial planning or help you present to investors. 

What Are Pro Forma Financial Statements?

Pro forma statements are financial projections that are presented in traditional accounting formats (income statements, balance sheets, etc.). These are based on forecasts, the anticipation of an influx of capital, or an increase in resources, to assist in financial planning. These statements are used for financial planning purposes, external reporting to interested parties (such as owners, investors, or potential creditors), investment analysis, or to decide financial management.

Pro forma statements have to be based upon reliable and realistic information in order to create an accurate picture of your financial standing. As your company grows, these pro forma statements should be updated monthly and annually. Pro forma statements should be designed to grow with your business; as you change, so do they!

What Can Pro Forma Reports Be Used For?

The most common use for pro forma statements is to help with financial planning, but these statements can also help convince creditors or investors to provide financing for new and experienced companies.

How to Create a Pro Forma

Pro forma statements seem simple, but creating one from scratch can be a headache. Download our FREE personalized pro forma statement for your business below!

Download Your FREE Pro Forma Template Here

How to Create a Successful Business

To create a successful business, you need many components, not just a great business plan. Recessions, poor management decisions, insufficient marketing, high interest rates, or poor inventory management can lead a business to close its doors for good, even if the business plan is perfect.

If you find your business struggling, you’re not alone. Around 1 in 12 businesses close permanently every year due to a variety of reasons. It’s essential to recognize when your business is struggling and take steps to mitigate it as early as possible. If you neglect to address the problems as soon as they are identified, your company will quickly find itself down a hole it can’t recover from. 

Successful Entrepreneurs

Before we take a look at what can cause a company to fail, let’s talk about how to prevent that by being a successful entrepreneur. To create a successful business, you don’t just start new ventures every other day. To succeed, you need to have the right mindset towards business and have the determination and grit to achieve success—even when the odds are against you. If you have a strong drive to succeed and overcome obstacles, you’re off to a good start. 

The five critical factors of a successful entrepreneur are passion, perseverance, resilience, proactiveness, and the right attitude. Without these, your company will never even make it off the ground. Taking risks and trusting yourself is essential to ensuring your success. 

Capital Infusion

Sometimes the only thing your business needs to survive is a capital infusion. What can an injection of capital do for your business? Money from a capital infusion can be used to help your company grow, allowing you to move into markets and advance your business. It can also be used as a bailout, giving your company a chance to get back on stable footing. 

If you’re looking for an equity partner or capital infusion, VC Strategic might be just who you need. We don’t invest in businesses for equity or capital, but to ensure your business is a success. 

Partnerships and Ownership Mentality 

Ownership Mentality is an essential thing to find in a partner. If your partner has no ownership stake in the company but approaches everything they do as if they own the company, they will work even harder to ensure the company’s success. A partner with an ownership mentality is going to take your business to the next level because they aren’t only invested in getting their investment back, they want to make the business succeed. 

With our business experience, we can take your business to a level of growth, success, and increased margins that most people would never dream of imaging. When we begin to work with another company, we use the same strategies that have helped us grow. This same time-tested execution has taken our core business to 8 figures and doubled them again within 36 months. That is something we do for every company we invest in. 

If you’re looking for a capital partner, equity partner, or a partner with an ownership mentality, reach out today and find out what we can do for you.

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!

How Your Website Load Speed Affects Bounce Rates

Your website speaks volumes on your brand, it is an indicator of your product or service that consumers take seriously. As a brand, you want to make sure that your site is representing your products or services accurately and in the best light. There are many key metrics that show how you are performing on your website, but a slow website load speed can dramatically increase your bounce rate. 

A website bounce rate is a term used in website traffic analysis, it represents the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave. Ideally, as a business, you want a bounce rate of 26-40% and anything over 70% is cause for alarm. 

Why Is My Website Bounce Rate So High?

Customers go to your website to learn more about who you are and what you offer; if you have uninformative content, this could be contributing to an increased bounce rate. If your site content does not address the needs or concerns or a customer, they have no reason to stay. Customers are increasingly likely to leave a brand for a new one that serves their needs. The right content and copy on a website can convince a customer to stay on your site. 

It is human nature to make a judgment within a matter of seconds. If your site is disorganized, hard to read or understand, or just visually unappealing— visitors are likely to leave. User experience is key in website design and can appeal to customers to navigate through your site. 

A slow website or technical error is a common factor in high bounce rates. Customers do not want to hit a roadblock when trying to learn more about your product or service. If a plugin goes down or has a slow loading window, a customer will quickly leave your site. Anything taking longer than a few seconds to load is far too long.47% of customers expect a website to load in under two seconds! A single-second improvement in website load speed can astronomically increase site traffic and conversions. 

Secrets to Improving Your Website Load Speed and Bounce Rate

Is your bounce rate getting out of hand? Follow these simple steps to decrease your bounce rate and improve your site metrics. 

Create more landing pages

If you are getting a high bounce rate from your PPC strategy, chances are that you need to redesign or create more landing pages. Try creating landing pages that solve a particular customer pain point and increase site traffic. 

Match the need for speed

Since website load speed is such a large contributor to high bounce rates, it is important that you tackle increasing your site speed. The easiest way to speed up your site is to add a CDN (content delivery network). A CDN caches copies of your site on servers around the world, this allows your site to be delivered faster. Regardless of how fast your site is, it can never tackle the issue of distance and a CDN solves this issue. You can also optimize your website performance by optimizing images, reducing HTTP requests, and font performance optimization.

Get rid of interruptions

Popups can be a necessary evil, as some brands have seen up to a 46% increase in email signups by using a popup. However, irrelevant popups are seen as annoying and distracting to customers. This takes some testing and strategy, test different time windows or location popups for full optimization. 

Clearly guide customers

If the navigation of your site is unclear or disorganized, customers don’t know where to go and will commonly leave your site. You have to make sure that a new customer can easily navigate through your site and find the content they are looking for. You can use many heatmap plugins for your site to find where users are getting confused. 

Use your phone

In 2020, mobile devices generate around 51% of all website traffic. This means that making sure your mobile site is responsive and speedy is increasingly important. You should be testing the speed and user experience of your site on a multitude of mobile devices and editing your website accordingly. 

Aesthetics and content matter

The design of your website matters to customers, it should be visually appealing and direct. Customers do not spend time on sites that look like they were just thrown together, so it is vital that you spend time on the design of your site. This includes the copy that is on your site! Your copy should be easy to read and understand. You can use tools to test the readability of your content— and since the average adult reads at a 9th-grade level, we recommend that you do!

We said it before, and we will say it again: Content matters!

Having up to date and relevant content can dramatically increase site traffic and time spent on your site. Having current content also allows you to appear higher in Google search results.

Linked up

Backlinking and internal linking is a great SEO practice and is proven to increase your search rankings. What you likely didn’t know though, is that it can also help decrease your bounce rate. Internal links are commonly clicked on by your site users and can keep them on your site. During this process, don’t forget to check your links to make sure they are not broken. Broken links are a contributing factor to a high bounce rate, even though it is an easy fix!

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!

The Right Way to Get Business Reviews and How to Monitor Them

Word of mouth is the most popular way of expressing feedback. When someone is researching your brand, they will take to Google™ and reviews. This is the first impression leads will get of your brand, which makes it imperative that you position your brand to get business reviews in a positive light. 

What happens when you have an awful experience at a restaurant, or you order something online and it is not what you expected? You tell everyone! Your sister, father, friend, significant other all know about how much you detested your experience. The same is to be said if you had a positive experience with a product or service.

Why Brand Perception and Reviews Matter

A recent study shows that today’s buyers are more knowledgeable but less brand loyal than ever before. The customers of today are sharing their experiences more frequently, and potential customers are taking these reviews seriously. With the switch of brand loyalty, customers are quick to switch to a brand that meets their needs and expectations. 

The average customer will make a judgment on your brand based on what they read in a review, and what it says online about your brand can be a make or break decision. 90% of customers read reviews before a purchase decision.  A positive online reputation, based on positive reviews, can make a customer increasingly likely to choose your service and then recommend your brand. In fact, 60% of customers will refer friends to a brand that provided a positive experience. However, a negative experience means that you are not only losing out on these referrals but that they will tell other potential customers why they would not recommend you. Studies have shown that up to 80% of consumers will think twice about doing business with a brand that has negative online reviews.

How Can Negative Reviews Impact Your Online Presence

Google can be a tricky beast, especially when it comes to negative reviews. Negative reviews have a large impact on your business reputation and the search results on Google. If you have a large amount of these unfavorable reviews, Google will be less likely to show your business under search results. This is especially true if you do not have relevant and frequent content on your website. 

How to Get Reviews

The total number of reviews offsets negative ones and increased localized search rankings. If you have 25-100 reviews, it is unlikely that customers will read through them all. This is not to say one negative review will diminish your business, customers are looking for a generalized consensus when it comes to brands. To put it short: more reviews = higher search rankings, increased leads, increased sales, increased revenue. In this case, more is more! 

So, how do you increase your reviews? Try some of our tested tactics:

  1. Ask! The easiest way to increase your reviews is to ask. If you have a happy customer, ask them to write a review.
  2. Send a follow-up email. Send your customers a follow-up email after service and ask them to leave a review, make sure that your email is personal and professional for optimum results.
  3. Use a leave behind. A leave behind is a physical item that is left for the customer. This can be a business card, flyer, or even a piece of candy! Make sure that this item contains information about the order and asks for a review. 
  4. Add a link to Google reviews on your website. This is another simple way to increase your reviews. 
  5. Add CTA (call to actions) on your website. This can be a pop-up that asks how the customer is enjoying your product or service with a link to leave a review. 

Monitoring Google Reviews

Customers take negative reviews seriously but will be suspicious of only positive reviews. Consumers tend to think negative reviews have more credibility and will think them more persuasive than positive reviews. This is why it is vital to respond to reviews and address concerns, monitor your reviews, and present a helpful brand voice. 

To monitor your reviews, you can start by signing up for Google alerts. Google Alerts will monitor keywords (like your brand name or a product or service that you offer) and anytime those keywords are mentioned, you will get an email notification. There are many online services that will also monitor your online reviews and put them into an easily managed dashboard. 

Now, what happens when you cross a negative review? It is imperative that you respond to the review. Most businesses are so focused on generating reviews that they forget the importance of responding to them. The simple act of responding to a negative review shows a lot about your brand. 

What are the best practices of responding to reviews? 

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!

5 Tips on How to Set Up a Profitable PPC Strategy

In the era of digital marketing, pay-per-click advertising (PPC) has a proven record of increasing business and profits. A strong PPC strategy allows you to increase visibility on search engines and social media. It is reported that customers to your site are 50% more likely to make a purchase if they were pulled in with PPC. 

Experts are assisting businesses in doubling their customer base, but if you are looking to set up a profitable PPC strategy on your own— we can help! Keep reading for our five tips for PPC profitability.

Paid Search Spend: Define Your Goals and Budget

PPC strategy can have a range of goals: growing your business, increasing profit, boosting conversion rates. Which goal is right for you? Look at your quarterly goals for guidance. For new businesses, your best option is to grow your business. This can be a more expensive strategy but will help increase customer loyalty and boost the start of your business. Once you have this strategy, make sure that you are only participating in PPC actions that support this. It is vital that once you have this goal, it remains unchanged. Typical PPC strategy takes months to work, so don’t get discouraged if you are not seeing immediate results. 

The next step is to make sure that you set your budget. Unlike your goals, this should be malleable and easily adapted for changes in the marketing environment. Identify your breakeven point between when your spend efforts start producing a positive ROI. If your goal is to grow, this might be a goal KPI and not a baseline. 

PPC the Smart Way: Analyze Your Competitors

After you set your goals and budget, identify your main competitors. Once you have them, start diving deep into their paid search strategy. What are they doing that is making them successful? How aggressive do you need to be in your PPC strategy to compete with them? Use keyword planner inside Google Ads or another keyword system to identify your competitors’ organic and paid keywords. You can use these keywords to prioritize your own keywords. Ask yourself the following questions in your analysis:

Once you have a list of keywords from your competitor analysis, start brainstorming your own. There are many tools for this, but Google Analytics is a great free option. Create ad groups of these keywords with goals in mind. Group keywords based on relevance to your business and to each other. 

PPC Content: Write Helpful Ad Text

Now that you have your ad groups, the ad text for each will be different. The right copy can either inhibit or accelerate your ad; it can increase your click-through rates and reduce your customer acquisition cost. 

In your ad copy, you should use the target keyword at least once in both the headline and body of the ad. This will create relevancy for your ad. Within the copy of the ad, there should be a CTA (Call to Action). This can be as simple as a “give us a call today” line. The copy of your ad also includes your display URL. Customers commonly look to the URL to make sure that it follows the ad and looks user-friendly. A great baseline is to look at your competitor’s ad to see how they are strategizing. Try to make your ad more compelling and descriptive. After you have finalized this copy, make sure to run tests and change your ads as needed. 

PPC Endgame: Create an Effective Landing Page

Each ad should take your customer to a specific landing page. If your ad just takes the customer to your homepage, they will likely get frustrated when they do not see the content they were looking for and leave your page. The more aligned your ad and landing page are, the higher your conversions will be. 

This landing page should have clear messaging and the relevant keywords should be increasingly present. Studies have shown that including relevant copy on the landing page has increased conversions by 39%. Each landing page should include a CTA based on your goals, have a user-friendly design, and only contain the most essential copy. Your objective should be to make a sale, and not for the customer to bounce around your site. 

PPC Continued: Optimize, Strategize, Adapt!

Once you set up your PPC strategy, you cannot just let it run itself. A successful ad strategy should be constantly tested, tweaked, and adapted. Start this process by identifying keywords that are hurting your conversions and ROI. You can do this by using the Google Ads Search Term Report. Look for keywords that are high in impressions but have a low click-through rate. Go through this list and identify if they are in the correct ad group or if you should tag them as a negative keyword. Negative keywords ensure that your ad will not appear for that search term, and will increase your click-through rate. Also through this process, identify if there are broad search terms that are hurting your spending. Broad match allows your ads to appear on any variation of the search term. You might want to eliminate those at this point. 

Finally, refer to your goals and find out if your ROI is in line with those goals. If your goal is to decrease your cost per conversion, it will likely be time to optimize your spending. Try distributing your budget or reallocating your budget to higher performing ad groups. 

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!

How to Make a Social Media Strategy That Grows Your Business

There are now more than three billion users on social media across the world. We use social media in our day-to-day life and the average person spends up to three hours a day on social media! In this digital age, social media is just as important as your search results. Are you leveraging a social media strategy for your business? If not, you are missing out on multi-million dollar opportunities. 

WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA IMPORTANT TO YOUR BRAND?

Three billion people are using social media every day, and these people are using it to engage with brands. More social media users follow brands than celebrities on these platforms. On Instagram, more than 80% of people follow at least one brand. 

So how can social media help your brand? First, and possibly most importantly, your social media presence increases your brand awareness. Social media platforms are an easy way for brands to reach new potential customers. Users are not only connecting with brands they know, in fact, but 60% of Instagram users say that they discover new products on this platform alone. Having a social presence humanizes your brand by connecting with consumers. This shows your brand personality and creates a connection to your ideals and goals.  Being present on platforms also allows you to increase your website traffic. By sharing content from your site to social media, you can increase traffic and get attention from customers. This, in turn, generates leads and can boost your sales. 

GROW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

Realizing the importance of social media on your business is the first step towards success, but how can you leverage this and increase your presence? We have some key steps to leveraging and growing your social media presence:

  1. Understand Your Platform

Each social media platform has a different use, client base, and content delivery. Take a look at the platforms you want to leverage and create goals around this. On Facebook, videos get at 59% more engagement than other posts on average. Understanding engagement and metrics will help you leverage the appropriate posts per platform. 

  1. Humanize Your Brand

Don’t forget that your brand has a personality! Let your audiences see you and your brand as relatable. This means increasing your interaction and not just uploading content and disappearing. Respond to posts and connect with your audience. By doing this your customer base will feel more connected to your brand and increase the time they spend on your profile. 

  1. Know Your Audience

Understanding the needs and pain points of your audience can move mountains for your brand. This intimate interaction with your customers will help you know what they want to read more about. You can edit and adapt your content to this strategy, while also reaching new target audiences. 

  1. Let Them Know Where to Find You

If you know anything about SEO, you know backlinking is a prominent key to website success. Think of this as a similar strategy. On your website, include your social media icons. This makes it easier for customers to find you and will organically increase your social media following. In the reverse, on your socials, link to your website. You want to make sure that customers or followers know where to find you or learn more about your company and brand. 

  1. Content is Key

Make sure that your social media is serving a purpose. Look to your business goals for social media platforms to design what content is needed. This is an obvious blog strategy, developing relevant content from your brand, but it is also important to your social media strategy. Provide sharable and relevant content to your followers with the use of hashtags and content testing. Are you a brand that engages in humor? Create brand-specific memes or content that others will want to share! 

Schedule a meeting with one of our specialists to find out more!