Blog

Throughout our website, you’ll see us refer to the “Digital Marketing Funnel”. Anyone who has taken a marketing class or read a good marketing book is familiar with funnels, and there’s nothing magical about ours.

What the funnel provides for us is a roadmap. It gives us a starting point, and a structure that we can come back to when we start to drift. All that glitters is not gold, and there is a lot of glitter out there in the marketing world. Everyone has new ideas on the latest and greatest thing that “every business” needs to be doing. Many of these ideas are exciting and innovative, but if they’re not incorporated with the end goals in mind they can lead us off track.

How much of your business revenue should be spent on digital marketing? This is a question we hear a lot, and the simple answer is that there’s no simple answer. The “magic number” you typically hear is 10%. The Small Business Administration recommends budgeting 7-8% of gross revenues to marketing, assuming revenue below $5 million and profit margins of 10-12%.

The reality is that it’s far more important to look at your own needs and goals to determine where you want to take your business.

How important are online customer reviews? Very important—more than 85% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 72% of consumers will make a purchase only after reading positive reviews. Since 91% of typical U.S. consumers regularly or occasionally read online reviews, a review process can help you receive more reviews and effectively manage your online reputation.

Sharing quality content across your social channels is the primary way to engage and connect with your audience. To create a content strategy that actually works, consistency is key. Streamline your content process with an editorial calendar, which gives you a place to organize ideas and schedule months of quality posts ahead of time (so you have more time to create content, instead of just managing it).

Yearly Strategy
Start with the big picture, deciding on a primary topic to focus on each month. The topic you choose will shape your social media posts for the month and give you a starting point as you create your content, from writing blog posts, staff profiles or client newsletters, to creating new videos for your website.