Why It Pays To Run Digital Campaigns
When you’re done searching “How can I promote my business online for free?”, and sifting through the endless “Free business advertising” results, you’ll notice that very little in life is free.
Why? Because these “solutions” either require:
- Copious amounts of time (arguably your most expensive resource); or
- Precise skills such as persuasive copywriting; graphic design and SEO expertise (which you’ll inevitably land up outsourcing, for a fee).
In most cases, both. All of this while competing with every other Thando, Dian, and Hannah trying to promote their businesses for free as well. Your labour to ROI ratio feels like it is 1000:1.
Not to discredit SEO, organic, and social media marketing. Far from it.
Organic Marketing has its [Indispensable] Place
Let’s think about your business in real life. Your company (or brand) reputation takes a long time to build. Until you can rely on reputation alone, you need some advertising to attract customers and a good salesman to close the deal.
In the digital realm, organic marketing builds your credibility. Paid advertising beckons leads. You need both to convert sales.
Organic and Paid Digital Marketing Are Interdependent
A proper digital marketing strategy will leverage organic marketing and digital advertising to each other’s benefit.
The two “feed” each other.
The better your organic ranking, the more you can save on digital marketing spend (we’ll come back to this). Advertising drives traffic to your website, which can help improve your ranking.
A prospect may discover your brand via content marketing, form a favourable impression, and thus be inclined to hit “buy” the next time they see your ad.
Similarly, a prospect could see your advert, but not necessarily engage at that moment. Although your ad won’t result in a direct sale, it can place your offering top of mind—and gain you a follower. Your organic efforts also make it easier for prospects who saw your ad but didn’t click to find you online later.
Digital Advertising Campaigns Pay for Themselves
On the proviso that you’re doing it right! Sound too good to be true? Here’s how.
- Everything in digital advertising is measurable, which means you’re working with real figures to forecast and measure return on investment. Yes, we did say forecast. You can calculate a realistic and viable advertising budget upfront.
- Digital advertising is inexpensive compared to all other forms of offline advertising. Therefore your cost per acquisition is decidedly lower too. Depending on what you’re selling, a single sale can cover the cost of one 3-month digital campaign.
- Highly targeted. No wastage. Every cent you spend is channeled into ensuring the right people see your ad at the right time.
- You can lower advertising spend by increasing your organic ranking. Told you we’d come back to this. Google claims to have a Chinese wall between organic and paid results; we can’t confirm or deny. The theory goes (after numerous positive test results) that the company still has an interest in serving users the most relevant search results. Ergo even money can’t persuade the search engine giant to push your ad above other better-suited advertisers. Work diligently on creating valuable, relevant content that corresponds with your advertising, and you may—allegedly—enjoy lower rates on your keyword bids.
- Digital advertising is fast. The faster you bring in paying customers, the sooner you see your ROI, grow word of mouth, create up-and-cross-sell opportunities, and strengthen your organic marketing. The list goes on.
The best news? You can start small
The final reason that it pays to run paid digital advertising campaigns is that you don’t need a second mortgage to start. It is a really effective method of affordable advertising that allows you to build up as you go.
So if you have a few Randelas waiting to be put to better use, why wait? Here’s how you can Increase online brand visibility where it matters most with the right mix of digital advertising campaigns.
If you’re raring to go, let’s chat about promoting your business through Google and Social Media.