Are you paying too much for advertising?

 

Advertising has never been more important. Even if your business is top of mind, potential customers may wonder if your services or hours have changed, or if you are even still in business. Those who in the past would have just driven to your office or storefront, are more likely to look online for answers to their questions.

But advertising is expensive, right? No! Advertising is an investment. That’s why we talk about return on investment, or ROI. If the return is higher than the cost, then you are making a profit on your investment.

If the four statements below apply to you, you are likely getting a very good return on your advertising investment. If they don’t, give us a call.

You spend at least 90% of your ad budget in online advertising – Unless you have a very niche target market, you should be spending all of your ad budget online. Digital Marketing will garner the highest return on investment, and you’ll also have much better indicators of that ROI than any other form of advertising. If you have a very narrow market, for example, a specific type of professional, like accountants or first responders, advertising at relevant trade shows or conferences might be worth the expense. However, even these niche markets usually have associations or trade magazines that offer online advertising.

Your website was written by a professional web copywriter – Poorly written websites are penalized by Google. Not only will your organic site ranking be lower, but you may also have to pay more for your search ads. Content, punctuation, grammar, page titles, and more, are all analyzed and used to determine the quality of your website. The higher the quality, the higher the ranking, and the cheaper the advertising.

Your online advertising is managed by a professional – While a management fee may first seem like an additional expense, it will pay off. Ad managers regularly monitor the effectiveness of your ads and make changes as needed to meet the ad’s goal. Because of the dynamic nature of internet content, ads that do well one day, may not perform as well the next. Monitoring and tweaking are necessary. A professional ad manager will also ensure that your ads are specific, in content and platform, to your target audience.

You are active on social media and are using tactics to grow your audience – When we say “you” we mean your business’s social media spokesperson or persona. Regular posts that are meaningful to your customer community and are likely to be shared to grow your followers are a great way to build and increase a loyal customer base. You also then have a ready audience for new product offerings, exclusive discounts, or upcoming sales events.