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What Makes Digital Marketing Successful?

by admin

Digital marketing is meant to support the long term goals and outcomes your business is hoping to achieve.

10 min read

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.“
Peter Drucker

Ready to kick off a successful digital marketing campaign? On your mark, get set, go…

But be sure to pace yourself.

Effective digital marketing plays out like a marathon, not a sprint.

Ultimately, digital marketing is meant to support the long term goals and outcomes your business is hoping to achieve. And while it’s an increasingly challenging field, it can be incredibly stimulating and super rewarding.

Being located in Colorado Springs (aka The Olympic City), we like to compare strong digital marketing to a well-rounded, professional athlete.

Think about it: sports science has proven that elite athletes have significant advantages in mental performance when compared to more average athletes.

Reading and responding to game flow, predicting opponents, and responding rapidly under pressure are key areas where elite performers gain a critical edge in competitive play.

Professional athletes need to train their minds just like they train their bodies.

Succeeding in digital marketing is similar to getting mentally prepared to succeed in sports. Accomplishing our goals takes patience, desire, a purpose that drives your motivation, and a willingness to modify habits and thought patterns through constant practice.

Here, we’ll share a few tips to help you achieve sustainable results through an effective digital marketing campaign.

Defining your goals.

Start by defining a goal for all your digital marketing efforts.

Setting goals is paramount in activating an athlete’s motivation and determination to succeed. In turn, it leads to overcoming barriers such as fear of failure, anxiety, fatigue, etc.

To win the never-ending race of digital marketing, we need to galvanize all the people, strategies, and tactics to drive results.

Document your goals

Having a documented goal serves as an anchor that constantly reminds us where we’re headed—and gets us back on pace should we slow down or drift off course. Clear goals allow us to define and strive for milestones that help measure progress and assess success of efforts—which in turn drives the evolution of those efforts.

Make sure your goals are SMART—a best practice in any circumstance, but even more so when it comes to digital marketing.

Specific | Measurable | Achievable | Relevant | Time-Driven

When setting your goals, start with realistic and measurable objectives like the number of people you want to:

Attract- those who see and click your ads
Engage- those who click around on your site, fill out a landing page form, etc.
Convert- those who eventually make a the commitment to become you customer

Develop your digital marketing strategy.

With goals and objectives defined, it’s time to develop your digital marketing strategy.

If you frequent the gym, you’ve probably noticed two types of people:

Those wandering around, bouncing from one machine to the next seemingly without any rhythm to their workout or fitness plan in place
Those following a very strict routine who look extremely organized, efficient, and driven

It all comes down to strategy. If you don’t know what you’re doing, what you hope to accomplish, or why you’re even at the gym in the first place, you’re not going to maximize your workout.

But if you’re focused and goal-driven, you’ve probably synched your goals to a well-defined strategy. Treadmill-weights-ropes-pool-sauna. Get your steps in, build some mass, crush some cardio, and sweat out the last 200 calories to close out your routine. Now that’s a strategy.

Although for many, having a fitness goal of “losing 10lbs so I can be more healthy,” may not be enough. The same can be said for digital marketing—where building a strategy around the goal of “making more sales because I want to make more money” is bound to fail.

Set a specific, attainable goal, and give it context by considering every possible influencing factor, both seen and unforeseen. This will allow you to assess the entire situation and everything that can impact your goal. The basics of a digital marketing strategy most often include:

Setting a specific goal
Defining your audience
Crafting key messaging points
Determining efficient and effective ways to deliver your message to your audience

Documenting a strategy that’s based on your business goals over a period of time is what creates your digital marketing plan and sets the objectives for the efforts to follow.

Planning your efforts.

Be vigilant in planning your efforts.

As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once famously said,

“A goal without a plan is only a dream.”

Dreams are great, but to make digital marketing successful, it must be rooted in reality. And just like a game plan is a mandatory blueprint for success to outlast your competition on the playing field, meticulously planning your digital marketing strategy is the only way to win.

So when your goal is set and backed by a solid strategy, it’s time to develop a detailed plan that adds the specific actions needed to get from point A to point B. Your plan should include all the tactical initiatives to achieve specific marketing goals.

A few things to keep in mind when developing your plan:

The best digital channels and ad types to reach your audience
Ways to segment, target, and personalize your ads by persona
How you will coordinate your ads across channels and devices
Consistently optimizing and measuring the effectiveness of your ads

Whether your digital campaign goal and strategy is set for the short or long term, it will require time, attention, careful planning, and precise execution.

Have the courage to stick to your plan.

Digital marketing success doesn’t happen overnight. Commitment, resources, and patience are required if you want to grow and evolve. In fact, the average campaign should run for at least 90 days before you can even begin to get a feel for its true effectiveness.

Sure, you may need to make some adjustments at halftime based on your opponent and other unforeseen circumstances—all the great teams do—but remember that your original plan was specifically created to align with your overall marketing strategy.

With digital marketing, you should be nimble and proactive, but not over-reactionary.

In the end it all comes back to a strong initial strategy and firm understanding of the digital landscape:

Who are your prospects
Where are your customers?
What’s motivating them?

Never stop listening

It’s important to note here that as we preach sticking to the plan, you should never stop listening, observing, and researching throughout the process. The grounds of digital marketing are not always stable (they’ve been known to shift daily), and subtle changes in the environment will compel specific actions and adaptations to ensure optimal performance.

Thoughtfully allocate your resources.

For many organizations, resources can be hard to come by. Time, money, people, skill sets, and so on, can be scarce commodities for a lot of companies. With this realization, putting people in the best position to excel is the winning formula. From there, you just have to be realistic and open about what is and isn’t possible.

Some of the main aspects of a digital marketing campaign that require precious resources include:

Strategy and planning. Up until now, this article’s focus has been about the importance of developing a strategy and properly planning your digital campaign. So it should come as no surprise that dedicating the right resources to this phase is pivotal. Expect at least a week or two to put a strategy and plan in place, and that’s for those who already have some digital marketing know-how.

Budget. Your goal, your strategy, and your plan is going to inform your budget. As you’re allocating resources, the amount of money you’re willing to dedicate toward digital is obviously an important decision. Spend too little and you may not hit your target audience. Spend too much and the returns may not be worth the investment.

Research. Depending on the campaign needs and complexity, along with the depth of knowledge and understanding required, research can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. For some campaigns, a simple Google search may suffice while others might require the use of multiple data centers and insight platforms. From time to tools, research is an investment that requires significant resources in digital marketing.

Creative assets. In a recent event marketing campaign we ran, we worked with more than 270 creative assets! That may seem hard to believe, but here’s how we got there: for each message that needs to run on multiple platforms you should account for approximately 10 creative executions. Then add more variations, sizes, specs, and designs for retargeting to reach customers further down the funnel. If you’re distributing across multiple channels, you’ve got about 10 more specific creative executions. Factor in the length of the campaign and for longer runs you’ll need to freshen up and switch out all the creative so the audience doesn’t become desensitized to what you’re showing them. And we haven’t even touched on messaging and copy for the ads. Moral of the story: the creative part of any digital campaign takes an enormous amount of time and human resources.
Consistency. This may seem obvious, but regular oversight is a resource not to be overlooked when executing a digital marketing campaign. Also, consistency from the standpoint of avoiding starting and stopping your campaign. Digital marketing isn’t something to “set and forget” just as it isn’t a one-time thing. We already mentioned 90 days being the magic number to gauge success, and like any kind of marketing, it’s key to keep a constant drumbeat, stay in front of people, and nurture your audience. Every time you stop a campaign (even if you restart it later), you’re losing a foothold, wasting resources by having the restart from scratch.

Keep your finger on the pulse.

One of the many joys of digital marketing is that it’s pretty easy to determine how effective your strategies are in real time, and more importantly, where your budget is being maximized or wasted.

With routine monitoring of analytics software like Google Analytics, you gain the ability to fully track and understand whether your campaign is delivering on your strategy and hitting your KPIs. A willingness to regularly check the results of your campaign and objectively look at the data will be key to fueling your success.

Staying on top of your digital marketing efforts allows you to instantly pull reports, benchmark data, validate results, and even improve on-the-fly by making necessary adjustments to campaigns in progress.

Always look at the big picture.

We’re all guilty of overthinking, overstressing, and getting too caught up in the details.

Athletes do it all the time, to recall our original sports analogy.

But the difference between a winning approach and one that always seems to finish second is the ability to take a step back and see the big picture. To understand that you’re part of something bigger than a single race, or in our case, a single campaign.

Your end goal should always be more about driving your business forward, than getting too bogged down in all interactions and clicks you get (or don’t get). Always keep your eye on the prize and remember that good things come to those who wait.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

As an agency who helps many types of businesses with their digital marketing efforts, one of our biggest struggles is when clients wash their hands of the responsibility of their own marketing efforts.

It takes true partnership

The most successful campaigns we run are a true partnership in which both sides are committed to the end goal and ready to brainstorm, test, share insights, and analyze together…forming a true partnership.

This is not to say that we expect our partners to understand digital marketing to the granular levels that we work in, but more so be engaged and provide feedback, ask questions, and align expectations with the resources provided.

We invite you to check out some of our digital work, and contact us for a free digital marketing consultation when you’re ready to conquer the marathon and give your business leg

Benefits of Hiring and Working with a Marketing Agency

by admin

What’s the meaning of life?

Do aliens exist?

Zeppelin or The Who?

Sadly, we may never have a definitive answer to those age old questions. But what about the most profound dilemma of all…

Should you outsource your marketing or keep it in-house?

Whether you’re a 3-person startup, a blossoming business with dozens of employees, or a large and established organization, there are pros and cons to both options. Ultimately, it all comes down to your unique situation. Here, we’ll focus on some of the key benefits to hiring a marketing agency—and a few best practices for getting the most out of your partnership.

Marketing Agencies Are Cost Effective

Let’s start with obvious: hiring a full team of talented marketers is not only challenging and time consuming, but also mighty expensive. According to the recent 2020 Salary Guide: Creative and Marketing, their combined salaries alone will set you back more than $850,000/a year, and that’s before you open your big heart and offer benefits.

Chief Marketing Officer: $164,000
VP of Marketing: $145,000
Digital Strategist: $79,750
Marketing Manager: $78,000
Content Strategist: $73,500
Copywriter: $72,500
Web Designer: $69,250
Video Editor: $59,500
Social Media Manager: $59,500
Account Executive: $55,000

Maybe you’re just looking for help with digital and video. Perhaps content and copywriting is your current need. Or website development and social media could be a concentration right now. A marketing agency can provide specialized focus and expertise depending on your budget and business needs, and if it’s the full service treatment you seek, any good marketing agency will provide the services of all those specialists for far less annual cost.

Pro tip: Commitment = savings. Quality agencies prefer to avoid small, one-off projects. Partnering to share in long-term success often makes the most financial sense for all involved.

Marketing Agencies Can Scale…Fast

If you need to raise awareness, increase leads, drive sales, launch a campaign, or overhaul your website, starting from scratch internally is a herculean (and time-consuming) effort. Posting the job, pouring over resumes, several rounds of interviews, checking references. When you finally get the right person or people in place, then begins the on-boarding, training, and finding the right tools and equipment to help them succeed.

Even if you currently have a team in place, there’s always a constant battle of turnover and new talent acquisition, more training, more implementation…

When you hire a marketing agency, they come pre-equipped to hit the ground running. It’s all about fast and efficient innovation, and your ability to boost your efforts and scale increases exponentially. Outside experts and specialists from marketing agencies are ready for all phases of your mission-critical projects, so they can begin, progress, and reach full maturity in a fraction of the time.

Pro tip: Sharing is caring! If you have current messaging, brand guidelines, customer personas, past collateral, examples of marketing you like/don’t like, etc., it can greatly expedite the process and help your agency partner succeed even quicker.

Marketing Agencies Stay Ahead of the Trends

The marketing world never stops evolving. More than ever before, today’s digital age requires us to not only keep up—but stay ahead of all the tactics, techniques, and trends that seem to shift almost daily.

And with that fact comes a hard reality: very few in-house marketers can keep up. They’re so bogged down in day-to-day tasks—simply checking the box and moving onto the next assignment—that learning, growing, and adapting with the industry always seems to sit on the back burner.

Marketing agencies are different. It’s their job to fully understand the latest Google algorithm updates, overnight Facebook policy change, content marketing best practices, SEO nuances, and everything else moving the needle in the marketing world.

On top of all that, you can rest easy knowing your marketing will benefit from unprecedented access to the latest marketing tools and platforms. We’re talking premium-level softwares, services, and analytics reporting that would cost you a lot of time and money to implement and learn.

The expansive, cutting-edge suite of industry research, trend monitoring, and social media listening tools used by Twelve Legs Marketing would cost your in-house marketing team thousands of precious budget dollars each month, for example.

Pro tip: Trust in your agency’s process. Becoming a “client” may be a transition for you. If results don’t come overnight, know that your success is your agency’s success…you chose them for a reason.

Marketing Agencies Reduce Your Stress

CEOs and Marketing Directors who choose to keep everything in-house have to manage employee stress, squabbles, and the inevitable interoffice politics that can often derail progress. Professional development, performance reviews, and everything else that comes with managing a team is laborious.

Agencies on the other hand, are set up to manage themselves. The good ones employ a full team of experts who are fine-tuned to function as one cohesive unit, with a full suite of internal processes, procedures, and daily check-ins to ensure each client receives the care and attention they deserve.

Ultimately, this gives you the freedom to set your marketing efforts on auto-pilot with the knowledge that your goals are being met and objectives exceeded by a trusted team of skilled professionals.

Pro tip: Lay it all on the line. If there are tensions or challenges among your in-house teams, executives, and decision-makers, tell your agency. Keep it professional and on-the-level, but full transparency makes it easier to execute and deliver on a collective vision.

Is Hiring a Marketing Agency Worth It?

Are there benefits to keeping marketing in-house? Absolutely. Homegrown expertise, ease of communication, and 24/7/365 commitment to your brand vision and company values, to name a few.

But as we’ve shown, agencies certainly offer a lot of value.

Many businesses choose to use a combination. Maybe you have a talented writer on staff, but digital marketing is just too far out of your comfort zone.

Whatever your unique situation is, if and when you’re ready to explore the benefits and possibilities of working with a marketing agency, the Twelve Legs Marketing team would love to get to know you—reach out and say hello any time!

P.S. – It’s gotta be The Who, right?

Digital Marketing For Your Small Business

by admin

It can be difficult for start-ups and small businesses to cut through the clutter and establish themselves. To build momentum, sustain momentum, and develop a loyal following of customers and brand ambassadors takes a lot…

A lot of capacity and resources, a lot of time, and often a lot of money.

Unless you’re in some alternate reality where each day begins with a Rod Serling monologue, those are all of the things (time, budget, resources) you probably lack as a small business.

Digital Marketing Twilight Zone — There’s the signpost up ahead, your next stop…The Digital Zone!

Despite the understandable shortcomings, you still have to grow fast (and smart) if you want to succeed.
Good news. Rapid growth is possible! And not just growth that’s fast and smart—it can also be incredibly cost efficient. All it takes is a solid digital marketing strategy.

The Importance of Digital Marketing

Each day, the average person spends 5 hours online and Google alone logs more than 3.5 billion searches. What are they all doing?

Well, 82% of consumers conduct research online while 79% shop online, according to Forbes and Tech Crunch, respectively.

In An Internet Minute… Everything Can Change

The moral of this story is pretty simple:

In order to drive results for your business, you need to be there, front and center, when and where your target audience is gathering information and making purchasing decisions.

We’re in the middle of a digital revolution with technology and advanced marketing tactics constantly evolving.

None of this is lost on the small local business owner, but without the knowledge, time, or experience to keep up with it all, it can be overwhelming.

It’s said that by 2021, digital marketing spend in the U.S. will reach about $332 billion.

So, daunting as it may seem to implement digital marketing, it’s also absolutely necessary. It’s almost a given that your competition will have a strong online presence, making it all the more imperative that you do, too.

Digital Marketing For Local Success

You’re not the ubiquitous Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

You can’t be everything to everyone.

Even if you could, you certainly can’t cost-effectively reach them all. Small business, local business, niche business… your purview is more limited—and that’s okay.

In fact, it can be a huge advantage. If you start by really understanding your customer. Dig deep…conduct research…develop personas.

Identify customer pain points and moments of delight
Determine communication touch points to best complement your customers’ journey
Visualize your customer journey map

Targeted Digital Marketing

When you have a good grasp on your audience and what motivates them, it’s time to get smart about how you target and reach them with your message.

Many local businesses feel the need to come in hot, cast a massive net, and believe they’re painting a marketing masterpiece with broad random strokes.

In the end, they simply can’t outspend the competition on such a large scale. They lose.

When you stay focused and targeted, you win.

Geographic Targeting: Reach online users in a specific area.
Demographic Targeting: Reach online users of specific ages, genders, incomes, and professions.
Category Targeting: Reach online users with specific topic and informational interests.
Behavioral Targeting: Reach online users with behaviors showing interest in specific products and services.
Contextual Targeting: Reach online users interested in your products or services.
Job Title Targeting: Reach online users interested in a specific industry, field, or profession.
Search Retargeting: Reach online users who may not know who you are but are looking for your product/service.
Site Retargeting: Reach and stay top-of-mind with online users who already know who you are.

That’s a lot of pinpoint reach for your brand, but what exactly are your potential customers being “reached” with?

Hyper-targeted display ads, relevant search engine marketing (SEM) results, and sophisticated search engine optimization (SEO). All tailor-made to drive action.

From there, sky’s the limit. If you’re measuring, capturing, and tracking, you can seamlessly move them through their customer journey with thoughtful email campaigns, killer content, compelling videos, and so on.

Your Small Business Digital Marketing Strategy

This all sounds great, right? But we know what you’re thinking.

“Something like this could take my business to the next level, but it’s extremely complicated and surely more than I can afford to spend on marketing.”

Think again.

The best digital marketing agencies will work with you in lockstep to identify a digital marketing strategy that is best suited to your needs and the needs of your customers.

And the even better digital marketing agencies specialize in custom, budget-friendly, ROI-focused digital marketing campaigns for small and local businesses who would otherwise find such services inaccessible and too expensive.

Enter Twelve Legs Marketing.

It’s time to give your business legs with a robust digital marketing strategy. We can help.

Email Marketing For Lead Nurturing

by admin

nur·ture /nərCHər/ – the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.

Not all leads are created equal. In fact, about 75% of leads in any marketing funnel are not ready to buy.

leads-marketing funnel-sales-email nurturing

Let’s say someone comes to your site and downloads a free ebook. In order to get the content, they fill out your landing page form, providing you some basic info (name, email, maybe even a phone number and some insightful comments). Wisely, you’ve planned ahead and while the ebook itself is “free,” you’ve captured valuable information in return.

Now you have a lead.

“The Glengarry leads are for closers only…”

Better yet, you have a potential customer.

But as we’ve established, unless they’re in the minority, they’re not going to make a purchase.

They must be educated…informed…motivated. They must be nurtured.

Why Is Email Lead Nurturing Important?

Because while they may not be ready to invest in your product/service right now, they could be your ideal buyer in the future.

In fact, according to Hubspot, 74% of companies say that converting leads to customers is their top priority. Here are some other eye-popping statistics that underscore the importance of lead nurturing:

96% of visitors who come to your website aren’t ready to buy…yet (Marketo)
Gleanster reports that 15-20% of the “not yet ready to purchase” opportunities converted into sales with lead nurturing
Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts (DemandGen Report)
74% of top-performing companies use automated lead nurturing (Gleanster)
Nurtured leads produce an average 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads (Demand Gen Report, 2014)

Lead Nurturing Made Simple(r) in the Digital Age

CRM, email tracking, marketing automation, oh my!

Hard to believe there was a time when lead nurturing was a manual process.

With decades of digital marketing experience, we at Twelve Legs have access to robust drip marketing tools and techniques that can keep leads engaged and moving through your sales funnel. Set up the canvas, identify content and key messaging points to communicate throughout, then press play. And based on performance, it’s quite easy to make adjustments on the fly, digitally speaking.

It can all be done at a relatively low cost, too, when you eliminate much of the overhead.

Are Your CRM Data Insights Maximized?

In order to run an automated email nurture campaign, your leads will need to be collected and categorized in some sort of system or database.

According to Eloqua, Taleo Corporation saw many benefits to their database through lead nurturing:

Increased the number of opportunities entering the pipeline by 118%
Nearly eliminated “unrated” leads from their database
Improved conversion rates at every stage of the funnel
Saw an additional 30% of visitors convert to marketing qualified leads

If you have customer relationship management (CRM) software in place, excellent. Now it’s time to make sure your contacts are all polished up.

Successful marketers should always have a steady stream of leads entering their database. So it’s important to keep it as clean and accurate as possible.

Identify your high/low priority leads, and remove all the ones that are fruitless and illegitimate—because a solid lead nurturing campaign starts with an audit of your database and careful review of each new lead to determine:

Is the contact info is accurate?
Did they share key purchasing preferences/details?
Did they fill out more than one lead capture form?
Do they interact with your content regularly?

The more “yes” responses each prospect elicits, the hotter the lead. When you’ve completed your database audit and vetted your leads, it’s time to categorize!

Adding Leads to Email Nurture Campaigns

If you’re getting the most out of your CRM, you’re probably increasing online conversion rates.

Start by creating categories that put each lead group on its own unique nurture path.

email nurture-lead funnel-marketing campaigns

For example, if a lead didn’t provide many specifics, and commented that they’re “at least 12 months away from a potential purchase,” they may be tagged as “Long Cycle Leads” and placed into a more general nurture campaign. Their journey starts with awareness—it’s your job to stay top-of-mind with gentle reminders and relevant content that showcase the best aspects of your brand. This could go on for months. Make it hard for them to ignore you…not by browbeating, but with a compelling email once or twice a month. Simply keep them informed and be on their radar when they’re ready.

If a lead is expressing interest in your product/service through multiple capture forms and notes a few challenges they/their organization face, you might create a bucket for leads who share common pain points. The nurture campaign here can be a little more specific and aggressive, always highlighting the ways you can alleviate their “pain.”

You can get as granular as you’d like when it comes to categorizing leads, really.

For most marketers, a few nurture paths will suffice, based on the level of engagement demonstrated by different leads.

Using the form submission info you gather, and knowledge of how often they interact with your content (website, email newsletters, social media, resource downloads, etc.) can determine if the lead is “highly engaged,” “somewhat engaged,” “minimally engaged,” and so on. Each group can enter a different nurture campaign with targeted content, messaging, and calls-to-action.

Types of Lead Nurturing Emails

Each prospect’s situation will be different, and while your specific nurture campaign should account for that, the structure of your campaigns can be consistent. For automated drip campaigns, find a template that works for each type of email you’re sending at each stage, and tailor the content and message based on the group of leads you’re communicating with.

As an example, here’s a simple series of email types that could be set up to move a “somewhat engaged” lead to “very engaged/ready to convert” lead throughout a campaign spanning just a few weeks.

Awareness Email: At this stage, they want to be educated with resources, research data, and insight. Send them a Newsletter email that spotlights some relevant content and news about your product/service/brand. Right now your prospect is looking for answers.
Consideration Email: They’re starting to get more serious with more intensive research on whether or not your offerings could be a good fit. Send them a Multimedia email featuring a blog post, promotional video, and/or tangible resource.
Decision Email: They want to know exactly what it will take to buy from you, and why they should choose you over your competition. Send them an Offer email with a clear CTA to “buy now,” or “give us a try with this special offer,” or “set up a consultation.”

According to the Aberdeen Group, companies who effectively nurture their customer through the buying experience have:

54% greater return on marketing investment
5 times greater revenue from referrals
18 times faster sales cycles

Always Measure and Analyze Your Email Nurture Campaigns

What you don’t want to do with your nurture campaign is set it and forget it.

Carefully monitoring opens, clicks, and click through rates is important for each nurture campaign you deploy.

If you have the capacity, this will allow you to set up triggers for more nuanced follow-up emails and nurture paths depending on the actions each lead takes as a result of your communication.

Ultimately, your nurture campaign will inform whether you move on completely from a lead, optimize your campaign to further engage a lead, or contact a lead with your ironclad sales pitch!

An effective nurture campaign speaks to the needs and concerns of a prospective buyer while taking them on a journey. A journey that hopefully enlightens them with all the things that differentiate your product and ends with a closed sale, happy customer, and brand ambassador for years to come.

5 Most Important Decisions When Planning a Company Event

by admin

We recently hosted a small networking event here at the Twelve Legs offices in downtown Colorado Springs.

It was a true joint effort, not only among our team, but also our event partners—ANB Bank and local non-profit Pawsitive Kidnections.

In the end we had about 50 professionals turn out for a fun and productive evening. It was a pleasure to welcome our current clients, prospects, and friends to check out our (relatively) new office space while enjoying good food, good drink, and good company.

If you’re considering planning/hosting an event at/for you business, good for you! It can be a very rewarding experience, but it does take a fair amount of effort. We learned a few things from our recent event, and wanted to share some quick tips to keep in mind and questions to ask if you’re preparing for a company event of your own.

Determine which organizational employee is best suited to plan or act as the liaison to your selected event planner. Clearly communicate your intentions to this employee.
Decide the main purpose of your event and don’t try to combine too many objectives or dilute your intentions. Will it be a customer appreciation, prospecting, employee appreciation event, or something else altogether?
Decide on the size and budget for your event. Plan on a 20 to 30% attendance rate based on invites sent (with very few RSVPs).
How will you send the invitation? Hard invite, Facebook, email, or a combination of all methods? Will you send reminders?
Do you have enough employees available to meet and greet your guests to maximize your objective?

Every event will be a little different, and every company will have its own objectives. But if you answer the questions and check the boxes above, you’ll be on your way to a smooth and successful event that impresses your attendees and leaves you feeling accomplished.

How Radio Advertising Communicates Your Message

by admin

As an advertiser, you need to answer two fundamental questions about your advertising media investments:

Where is your money going?
Is it working?

Strategy is the key to accurately answer these questions, and ultimately ensure your marketing success.

Lucky for you, the variety of advertising platforms available these days enables you to plan a successful marketing strategy tailored to specific business goals. Businesses have many choices when it comes to advertising, and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

As the digital age continues to rapidly change the marketing landscape and create new possibilities for how and where we target consumers, radio advertising probably seems like it went out with the transistors.

Well, call Ripley’s…because believe it or not, radio advertising is still a marketing tool employed by many businesses.

But really, how effective is radio advertising right now?

With the rise in technology and successful companies like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music, you may be questioning how many people still listen to the good old fashioned terrestrial radio.

Turns out, plenty.

According to Brad Kelly, Managing Director of Nielsen Audio, “Each week, more Americans tune into AM/FM radio (93%) than watch television, or use smartphones, tablets, or computers.”

So we know that radio can reach large audiences with a decent dedicated budget. The costs you can expect to incur with radio advertising include:

Airtime obviously comes at a price, which increases or decreases based on the size and desirability of the listening audience.
Producing professionally sounding commercials costs money. Some radio stations will throw that in as part of their advertising package. That won’t work if you want the same advertisement running on several different stations at once, however.
Hiring voice talent for your radio ad would add additional cost for the production of your ad.
These fees might not cover the cost of any music royalties necessary, as well as the work from the talent and the cost of writing the ad.

The costs for radio advertising will depend both on the time of day and the type of show being sponsored. For example, an ad that runs in a prime-time slot on a very popular show will be much more expensive than one that runs in the middle of the day during music play. This cost is subjective, however. Popular radio shows will have more listeners, and you will have a wider pool of consumers. This in turn could make your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) lower. CPA is figured by taking the sales that resulted from an ad and dividing that figure by the actual cost of the ad.

Media, like any industry, is full of terminology. Nearly every medium has a different way of measuring its effectiveness. Broadcast uses gross rating points, newspapers use circulation, billboards use traffic counts and websites use impressions or clicks.

The more you know, the better your strategy will be.

Important Radio Advertising Metrics

Media Cost is the price you pay to present your advertisement. There are many different ways to price media including points, impressions, clicks, leads, actions, days, weeks, months, etc. However, it’s ultimately about the amount you pay to present your advertisement, which is Media Cost. Media Cost excludes the cost to create the advertisement and other management costs.
Media Market describes the set of people that could potentially be exposed to your advertisement. The media market is often described using Designated Market Areas or DMAs, which are trademarked by Nielsen. However, Media Market can be any market you define.
Population is the total number of people in your Media Market.
Rating is the percentage of the Media Market that will likely be exposed to your advertisement. Rating is an estimate based on past performance often sourced from surveys.
Average Persons is the number of people that, on average, will be exposed to each Spot. Average Persons is calculated by multiplying Population by Rating then dividing by 100.
A Spot is a single broadcast of an advertisement. Typically, an advertising placement includes multiple spots.
Reach is the number of people in the Media Market that will likely be exposed to one Spot. Reach can also be expressed as a percentage, which indicates the percentage of the Population that is exposed to at least one Spot.
Gross Rating Point (GRP) is a measure of the size of an advertising campaign by a specific medium or schedule. GRP is calculated by multiplying the number of Spots by Rating. It measures the balance of frequency and reach for broadcast and it is the best way to compare broadcast media.
Cost per Point (CPP) is a measure of cost efficiency which enables you to compare the cost of this advertisement to other advertisements. CPP is calculated as Media Cost divided by Gross Rating Points (GRPs)
CPM (Cost Per Mille in Latin, French, and Italian—mille means one thousand), also called Cost Per Thousand (CPM), is a standard measurement. CPM means the amount of money it will cost to show a thousand people the ad one time. This allows people to compare one medium to another. For example, you use the CPM to compare a newspaper with a circulation of 100,000, a radio station with 500,000 listeners and a website with 2 million visitors.* If you use only the actual cost of an ad to compare these three advertising options, you may end up paying more to reach each potential customer even if you buy the least-expensive ad.
Return on Investment (ROI) refers to the amount of money you generate after making an investment in something. To calculate ROI, the benefit (or return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment. The result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. A common goal for many advertisers is to increase the return on investment (ROI) from their advertising spend.

Market Analysis

Using a number of simple, objective parameters, you can confidently decide what media and communication channels are your best marketing choice.

Radio stations design their programming to attract certain listeners and then sell those listeners to advertisers in tiny increments. As with TV, advertisers look carefully at listener ratings to determine who and how many listeners their ad will reach on a given station. Because the radio market is fragmented you should be able to get detailed information on radio shows in your area.

Before investing in radio advertising, verify the station’s audience numbers. Look over their media kit to get a feel for not only the number of listeners, but also their characteristics and demographic data. Do their listeners align with the characteristics of your ideal customer?

Ask the station about its Nielsen numbers. As the definitive source for comprehensive audio metrics and insights, Nielsen measures listeners however they tune in.

Tips to Planning a Successful Radio Ad Campaign

Know your target audience
Request a high frequency of ads
Find the most affordable rates
And perhaps most importantly, quality professional production is essential

The Pros and Cons of Radio Advertising

Advantages

Radio is affordable, targeted, and pervasive.

A 30-second ad spot on the radio is far more affordable and easier to create than its television equivalents, and radio ads can be incredibly cost-effective in reaching local customers.

Since radio stations often target style with specific demographics like pop or talk radio, you can make sure your spot is heard by the right audience…within reason.

Radio ads can also be quick and easy to produce.

Disadvantages

Traditional radio is a one-way medium. Because of the way radio content is served, advertisers cannot make use of big data to target ads to individual demographics the same way they can with internet advertising.

One of the biggest downsides of radio is the mindset of the listener. It’s too easy to be distracted, have the radio on simply as “background noise,” or just flat out change the station when the commercials hit. Even if they hear and digest your ad, it’s most likely not something they’ll be able to act on instantaneously like they could with a digital ad.

Then there are the products and services that need more of a visual representation, and radio does them no favors.

In short, your marketing efforts can easily get glossed over when advertising on the radio.

Traditional Media or New Media?

In the sea of many advertising opportunities, it’s easy for marketers to feel overwhelmed.

Fact is, more and more people are turning to digital media for their news, entertainment, etc. And there’s a public perception that conventional radio is an outdated medium. The radio, especially in the eyes of the younger generation, seems more and more distant.

All that said, after researching and confirming your potential reach to your target audience, you may discover that radio can complement and boost your ad campaign by reaching consumers during the day, in the car and away from home, when they’re on the go and potentially closest to the point of purchase.

Which brings us full circle. Where is your money going?… And is it working?

If you have clear answers to these two fundamental questions, then you have the key to your marketing success.

If you need help, the Twelve Legs Marketing team has years of experience in both digital and traditional media, and we’re here to help!

The Scoop on Print Advertising

by admin

To the digital native, print is something that may have been effective in the town of Bedrock, but this is the 21st Century.

Who pays attention to print advertising anymore?

Our computers, smartphones, and devices spoon feed us targeted ads and content when and where we’re looking, so…

Are Print Ads Dead?

Ultimately it depends on your audience, your budget, and your perspective.

According to AllianceBusinessServices, 56% of customers feel print marketing is still the most trustworthy amongst other avenues of marketing. And 82% of internet users trust print advertising when making a purchasing decision (WebStrategies).

Print readership is still very high among the 65+ age group, and there are some universal pros that will always be associated with print: it’s tangible, credible, engaging, and can be a great branding tool.

All that said, revenue in the newspaper publishing industry decreased by about $4.5 billion between 2011 and 2018, and is projected to continue its downward spiral. Similarly, the future of magazines isn’t very glossy, according to the New York Times.

Marketing Rule of 7

Then there’s the ol’ Marketing Rule of 7. Basically, the more your ad is seen—the more touches your brand has on a potential customer—the more likely you are to move the needle and eventually convert the sale. Of course, that was developed back in the 1930s when movie studios decided seven was the ideal number of times a radio spot had to be heard to boost box office sales.

But Clark doesn’t give a damn, and neither do we…

Fast forward 80 years with all of today’s product noise and competition and the sweet spot number of ad touches is much higher than seven.

Now consider the time and financial investment it takes for your target consumer to see your print ad seven-plus times. Likely thousands of dollars over several months.

With digital marketing, it can be done for pennies on the dollar, and in a fraction of the time.

In the digital age, your ads are constantly seen by customers. Often at least seven times a day—crushing the “Rule of 7” in a mere 24 hours.

So, while print may not be dead just yet, each breath it takes becomes a little more shallow.

The Downsides of Print Advertising

Print Media Has Diminishing Readership: More and more people are ditching their subscriptions to print publications for the more seamless and convenient online electronic versions.
Print Media is Expensive: Newspaper and magazine ads can be costly, especially in widely circulated publications, or if you want a big full-color ad. The window in which your ad will be visible is also small, decreasing your ROI.
Print Media Limits Advanced Targeting: The granularity with which we can find and target online users (geographic, demographic, behavioral, category, contextual, job title, etc.) is truly staggering. Sure, you can be strategic about the publications you show print ads, but with nowhere near the precision of digital capabilities. And without the ability to click and interact with your print ad, you won’t capture any vital user data that can be used to retarget consumers online for maximum exposure and branding.
Print Media Takes Too Much Time. Most magazines are monthly, and many newspapers will run for only one day so there is a limited timeframe. Scheduling can be a nightmare and unreasonable lead times make your marketing efforts anything but nimble.
Print Media is Tricky to Measure. Peter F. Drucker once famously said, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Think about it, when was the last time you got an actionable report about your prints ads? Unless you have dedicated phone lines, vanity URLs, and dedicated promo codes, measuring the impact of print is a herculean task. Even with the right tools, you might not see the results you were hoping for, especially for the investment you have made on those color ⅛ page ads.

So What’ll It Be…Print or Digital?

There’s no doubt that print campaigns can pack a punch, elicit an emotional tug, and ultimately prove to be effective.

Plus, a nice multi-platform marketing mix that uses print and digital in complementary lockstep is a good solution for many businesses.

But the fact remains, companies looking to grow through a strategic marketing approach that’s timely, targeted, and cost-effective are turning away from traditional print advertising in favor of increased digital marketing.

There’s simply no match to the depth, breadth, and pinpoint refinement you can accomplish in the digital world. You can tell a much more compelling story with a bevy of personalized content, and you can do it all at the drop of a hat with a relatively small budget.

Sadly, sometimes there’s a catch. Most small businesses don’t have the in-house capacity to manage a digital marketing strategy. Inevitably, they outsource to an agency who has hundreds of digital clients, and they don’t get the care, attention, or results they deserve.

In a perfect world, they’ll get the conscientious attention to detail of an agency with a select client base consisting of mainly small and local businesses.

The world of Twelve Legs Marketing.

A Good Website is The Foundation of Your Business

by admin

The headline calls it the foundation. It could also be described as the cornerstone. Linchpin. Epicenter, heartbeat, lifeforce…

Whichever hyperbolic term you prefer, that’s how critical a website is to your business. A website can make or break your success. That’s not hyperbole—it’s a fact.

The average person spends 5 hours online every day…and Google alone logs more than 3.5 billion searches. What are they all doing? Well, 82% of consumers conduct research online while 79% shop online, according to Forbes and Tech Crunch, respectively.

The importance of a website extends to every aspect of your marketing strategy. As the backbone of your company (last one, we promise), every piece of content, every advertisement, every communication (digital or traditional) will compel customers to visit your website.

So when your target consumer is acting on an ad, researching, or shopping products or services in your market sector, chances are they’ll visit your website before ever setting foot in your store or speaking to a salesperson.

And you know what they say about first impressions.

A website is your frontline marketing and sales workhorse, 24/7/365—promoting your brand to interested users while educating, informing, and hopefully driving action.

What Are The Essential Elements Of A Good Website?

Easy Navigation: The best websites are all about function over flash. User experience (UX) is paramount. Visitors should be able to find what they need in just a couple of clicks, and while every website is unique, they don’t have to be over-complicated. For most businesses, Home> About Us> Services> Contact Us are the only sections necessary. With clear menus and calls-to-action throughout, of course.

Ice Heating & Cooling has easy website navigation

Ice Heating & Cooling
(powered by Twelve Legs Marketing)

Mobile-Friendly: 88% of consumers will start their product searches online, and 68% of them will be on their tablet or mobile device. Back to the importance of UX, if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, potential customers will be annoyed. It’s a detriment to your brand.

The Farm Custom Lots
(powered by Twelve Legs Marketing)

Clean and Alluring Design: Your site is the most important extension of your brand, so it should be attractive, enticing, and use only the colors, fonts, images, and logos that visually align with your business.

Example of a website page with a clean & clear design.

Q2B: Practical Quantum Computing
QC Ware: Enterprise Solutions for Quantum Computing
(powered by Twelve Legs Marketing)

Strong Copy and Compelling Content: Much like a good-looking design can visually communicate your brand, the voice and tone of your message is essential to helping you stand out. Weave in relevant, action-oriented keywords, influential content, and customer testimonials. When you greet your visitors with thoughtful copy, you humanize your brand and differentiate your company.
Speedy Load Times: We’re an impatient species, and it’s only gotten worse in the digital age. If your site doesn’t load within a few seconds, users may bounce. Professional web design will always keep UX and load times top of mind.
Clear CTAs, Easy Conversion: Whatever it is you want your visitor to do, it should be crystal clear the moment they hit your site. Fill out a contact form, download an asset, learn more, or straight-up “Buy Now,” it must be obvious and seamless for users to convert with a quick click.

Examples of a website that includes a clear call to action for the user.

James Lee IT: Recruiting Solutions
(powered by Twelve Legs Marketing)

Search Engine Optimization: You may have checked every box leading up to this bullet point with a website fine-tuned to drive sales—but just because you built it doesn’t mean they’ll come. Your site structure and content need to be optimized for search engines like Google. Professional website design includes SEO services that will illuminate your site and produce targeted, relevant clicks.

Does Your Business Have a Good Website?

If you have a website that’s firing on all cylinders, pulling in impressive analytics, and attracting and converting customers, that’s great! Chances are you’re optimized with most (if not all) of these essential elements.
But if your website could use a little freshening up, or (gasp!) you don’t even have a website to begin with, the skilled and experienced web development team at Twelve Legs Marketing is here to help.

Guide: How To Add a Manager to Your Google Analytics Account in 5 Easy Steps

by admin

Learn how to add a Manager to your Google Analytics account in 5 easy steps. Why would you want to add a manager to your Analytics account? Well, there could be many reasons from adding a colleague to allowing partners to help you track and read the available data.

Please note that this guide offer answers to basic questions. If you need help with advancing how your Google Analytics tracks actions on your website, feel free to reach out. We are always happy to help!

Add Google Analytics Manager in 5 Steps

1. Start by logging into your Google Analytics account. Once there, please navigate to the bottom left and select the gear icon.

2. Next, select “User Management”.

3. In the top right corner, select the “+” button, which will open a secondary menu.

4. From the available options, select “Add users”.

5. You need to add users who have Gmail accounts, either GSuite email accounts, which can be custom or addresses ending with “gmail.com”. Once the address is added, scroll down and review the options you have available. If you are adding a partner, you would most likely need to give them “Edit” access. If they should also be able to manage users, the very last option will have to be selected too.

Once all needed options are selected, don’t forget to click on “Add” in the top right corner. That will trigger an email to the new user, informing them that they now have access to your Google Analytics account.

The Digital Marketing Dictionary

by admin

A– B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z

A –

Algorithm is a set of rules followed when search engines display results or social media platforms show you information. Each platform has its own algorithm, meant to make the user experience better and serve relevant and interesting information.

Alt text is a short description, added to images on a website. These descriptions reside in the HTML part of the website and serve to inform search engines of what the image is about, but also inform users of the content of the image in case they cannot load the visual content.

Anchor text is a clickable word or phrase (hyperlink) within the copy of your web page. It is recommended that you anchor text is keyword rich and that it points to relevant content. For example, if you are discussing the Honda Power HS720AA snow blower, don’t just link to Honda’s homepage, rather point to that specific product page, describing the product.

B –

Backlinks are links pointing to your web pages, from an external website. The key to success with back links is having high quality links, from authoritative websites, relevant to the content on the page they are pointing to. It is not recommended to aim for high volumes of links, if they are not high quality, or to purchase backlinks.

Bounce rate is a percentage value, which represents how many people visit one page during their session. The higher the bounce rate, the more people who visit only one page at a time. That is not necessarily a bad thing, for example, digital campaign landing pages aim to deliver enough content before the user takes an action such as calling or filling out a form.

Black hat refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience. Because these tactics aim to challenge existing SEO algorithms, often they do not obey search engines guidelines and can lead to penalties.

C –

Click-through-rate (CTR) is the number of clicks that happen, divided by the number of total generated impressions.

Content is, collectively, everything that carries information on your website – text, images, videos. As Google put it a long time ago, “Content is King” and we should aim our website’s content to provide quality information to our users, rather than try and saturate it with keywords in order to rank better.

Conversion is an action you want visitors to take on your landing page.

Cost-per-click (CPC) means that when a searcher sees your ad, you only pay when they click and go to your website.

Cookies are short lines of code, which allow for information to be communicated between your website and analytics providers or advertising platforms. In advertising terms, cookies do not capture sensitive or personally-identifiable data.

Crawler also referred to as “bot” or “spider” is a piece of technology, which systematically browses the web or pages on a specific website with the goal of indexing available content. As SEO professionals, we use crawlers to get a full audit of all existing pages on a website and check-in with the overall health of the site.

Cross-device targeting is the practice of identifying a user over the multiple devices they use and display marketing messaging across all those devices.

CTV stands for connected TV. It refers to the device on which a user is watching video content.

D –

Deep linking is when you implement links within your content, pointing to internal pages on your website, not just the home page. For example, if I were talking about drone videos, I would point the anchor text to the respective page on our website, which goes in further depth on drone videography. Why would I not just send you to the homepage? Well, because the last thing I want is to give you the impression that if you follow the anchor text link you will find more information, to only leave you on a page, where you need to figure our where to go next.Disavow in SEO terms stands for asking Google not to take certain links into account when assessing your site.

Deterministic targeting is based on real, recorded actions such as purchases.

Directory in SEO terms are websites, which host lists of businesses, which usually fall under the same category. These websites are used for creating backlinks to your site.

Duplicate content is when the same or very similar copy is replicated on multiple pages. Google frowns upon duplicate content, so it is important to not copy paste content directly from other websites or pages on your site. Sometimes, having duplicate content is inevitable. In those cases, it is recommended to use canonical tags.

E –

External links are link you place on your website, which lead to external websites. One of the main purposes of the online space is to build a network of information, which is helpful to you, so an extra bonus for an external link would be if the source you take people to has high authority. Think of it as references in a book you are reading.

F –

Feed is a string of information, which is automatically shared with multiple sources. For example, a blog could benefit from automatically submitting new content to RSS directories and RSS engines, which in turn can signal to search engines to re-crawl your site

First-party data is data collected directly by you. This would include data you collect from your costumers in your CRM, as well as your website’s data.

Fresh content is key to any website. Being able to provide the most relevant information possible by updating your pages on a regular basis, allows you to serve your customers better. In addition, Google crawls websites on a regular basis and looks for the freshest and most informative content out there. If any search engine detects that your website has not been updated over the span of 10 years, your ranking will most probably start dropping.

Frequency is number of times (impressions) a unique user will see over a pre-determined time frame.

G –

Google is the most used search engine on the Internet. With over 3 billion searches daily, it rightfully deserved its own verb “google it”. It is important to have your website optimized for as many search engines, as possible, however, with Google being the leader in the search space, often times they call the shots, so we better optimize for Google first.

Google Ads is Google’s owned and operated advertising service, which allows businesses to pay to display ads in the form of short text messages (text ads), graphics (display ads) or videos (video ads via YouTube).

Gateway page is a page, designed to be the portal to your website for both search engines and users. These pages are highly optimized and positioned to show high in searches for well-defined keywords or keyword phrases.

H –

Hashed emails are multiple encryption standards that provide an effective way to combine data from different sources, while keeping user privacy encrypted.

Headings are exactly what you think they are – brief introductions/descriptions of the next section of information we are about to consume. Headings are used by search engines to get a better understanding of the content on a page, so it is recommended to include keywords.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a computer language, designed to allow website development.

.htaccess (hypertext access) file is a directory-level plain text configuration file for web servers, which, in simple terms, controls access to a certain directory in your server. The .htaccess files can be used to generate server-side redirects such as 301 and 302.

I –

IP Targeting is matching users based on their IP address – physical location. This approach can allow you to target as granularly as the outlines of a building.

Impressions measure the amount of times your ad was seen by a person/loaded on a page.

Inbound links are links coming from another site to your own website.

Internal links one page on your website with other pages from your website. The SEO benefits of having internal links include spreading “SEO juice” and making your website navigation easier.

J –

Javascript is a coding language, which adds a number of dynamic features when used with your HTML. There are exceptions when Javascript might not work properly for some users. Also, limiting the amount of Javascript on your site can help with site speed.

K –

Keywords are word or phrases (string of words), which users use in search engines to navigate their information needs. Keywords should absolutely be part of you website’s content, however, they should be used with care and variations.

Keyword density is the number or times your targeted keyword or key phrase appears in your copy, over the total number of words. It is measured as a percentage. Alas, there is not a perfect % for you to aim for. However, you could over-stuff a page and trigger penalty filters.

Keyword research is using available tools to research what volumes of searches selected keywords generate as well as study the intent behind different queries. Keyword research is vital for both SEO and PPC campaigns.

L –

Link building is the effort of creating incoming links to your website from external web properties. SEO benefits of investing time in link building, include increasing your website’s authority and rankings. These links should be developed in a natural way and, ideally, would come from other high-authority websites.

Landing Page is a page on a website, created specifically to support marketing or advertising campaigns. It is where a visitor “lands” when they have clicked on an online ad (text, visual or video). Landing pages are designed with a single focused objective – known as a Call-to-Action (CTA).

Long tail keywords is a phrase/combination of 3, 4 or more keywords, which are very specific to what you are selling. These phrases show high intent in purchasing, as they are commonly used after initial stages of research are completed. An example of a long tail keyword would be “red leather women cowboy boots”. In this example, the user tends to be looking exactly for what they are going to buy.

Lookalike targeting is used to achieve scale by analyzing the behaviors and patterns of desired, engaged audience’s behaviors and finding new, similar users across the web.

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) is an algorithmically determined relationship between key terms and meaning of content. Search engines crawl pages and by collecting the most common keywords and key phrases, they categorize the page and assign a meaning to it.

M –

Meta descriptions are short snippets of text, which describe the content on your page. These should be relevant and unique to each page, and include your target keywords.

Metrics are chosen pieces of data, which show how successful an effort is. Examples of metrics include, but are not limited to, clicks, conversions, cost-per-acquisition, conversion rate, etc.

N –

NAP stands for a business’ name, address and phone number. In the world of local SEO, the consistency of these three pieces of information, across the web can help a business rank better, but more importantly reduce the chance of potential customers not being able to connect with you. The abbreviation can also have W at the end (NAPW), which stands for website.

Native ads align content with the look and function of the webpage they are displayed on. In other words, they aim to look seamless to user, matching the overall content being consumed.

Niche is a topic discussed on your website, which has a defined focus. Being able to narrow down a niche will make keyword research easier.

Noindex is a marker that can be placed on the backend of a web page, which signals to search engines that the page should not be indexed. For example, if you are running a campaign and want to keep the contents of your landing page exclusive to only people who engage with your ads, you would mark the page as “noindex”, so search engines do not display it in regular searches.

Nofollow is a marker that can be placed on a link within a website, to signal to search engines that SEO “juice” should not be passed to the final destination (page) of the link.

Negative SEO are actions aiming to lower the rankings of a competitor’s website in searches. Most of the time, these activities are off-site, however, there have been instances where sites have been hacked and content altered.

O –

Offline attribution is data collected from offline activity, such as an in-person purchase, which is matched to consumed digital media.

Organic search results are displayed as a result of a user inputting a search term in a search engine. These results are unpaid and displayed in order of relevancy and ranking. Most traffic from search engines is generated from search results.

OTT stands for over the top and defines any app or website that streams video content over the internet, bypassing traditional distribution. Think of your HBO app, which you stream to your smart TV at home.

Outbound links are links on your website, pointing to external websites.

P –

Pacing is a term used when describing the timing of your ads, such as the times of year media will be purchased, or the number of impressions you will serve to each unique user over a given timeframe.

Page Rank is Google’s way of measuring the importance of a page. A number of variables are taken in account when calculating page rank.

Penalty is a form of punishment for a website, which is accessed as spamy or is not following the rules of white hat SEO.

Postback is also known as server-to-server tracking. As soon as a user clicks on an ad, a unique identification number is assigned for further tracking of behaviors. This method is often used for mobile apps.

PPC (Pay-per-Click) is a model of advertising where you are only charged when people click on your ads.

Probabilistic data is collected over anonymous data points (such as cookies) then compared to deterministic data points.

Programmatic media buying is technology or data-driven method of buying media (from display, to audio streaming, to linear TV), which allows for automatic bidding based on pre-defined parameters.

Q –

Quality of content is becoming more and more important when striving for high ranking. Having useful (quality) content and links on your site can trump the quantity of those.

R –

Redirect is the practice of taking an existing URL address and pointing it to different content. This approach is used when old content is removed from a website of when a website is moved to a new domain.

Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) in simple terms means retargeting ads to people who are searching on Google with text ads (instead of showing them banner ads).

Return on advertising spend (ROAS) is a marketing metric which calculates advertising as a cost, rather than an investment.

ROAS = revenue from ad campaign / cost of ad campaign

The rising costs of advertising and the availability of advanced attribution and offline measurement has begun moving the industry toward more business-focused metrics, such as ROI, and away from ROAS.

ROI stands for return on investment.

ROI = profits-costs x 100 / costs

It is a performance measure, used to evaluate the efficiency of your advertising or SEO investment. ROI is calculated by taking the total benefit or return from your digital efforts and dividing it by your total spend. ROI is measured as a percentage.

S –

SDK stands for software development kit.

Second-party data is data collected by a parter of yours, which you have direct access to. That is information on users/consumers someone external to you collects and hands over directly to you.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is the page displayed in a search engine as a result to a query you input in the search bar.

T –

Third-party data is information on users/consumers, collected my multiple providers, publishers and sources, which you can purchase. For example, data you use to segment audiences through Facebook or Google advertising is third-party data.

Social Media are websites used by people to socialize and share information. Healthy presence on social media is very important to SEO success.

W –

WordPress is an open-source website platform, which was originally developed for blogging. The platform simplifies web development through multiple free and paid available themes and is SEO friendly.

X –

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a simple and flexible text format, used to simplify the formatting of information through technologies such as RSS.

Y –

YouTube is the second biggest search engine. Owned and operated by Google, YouTube offers a lot of potential for brand exposure and user engagement. The platform offers video hosting and sharing capabilities, usage analytics and paid advertising positions.

Effective digital marketing plays out like a marathon, not a sprint.

Defining your goals.

Document your goals

Specific | Measurable | Achievable | Relevant | Time-Driven

Develop your digital marketing strategy.

Planning your efforts.

Have the courage to stick to your plan.

Never stop listening

Thoughtfully allocate your resources.

Keep your finger on the pulse.

Always look at the big picture.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

It takes true partnership

Marketing Agencies Are Cost Effective

Marketing Agencies Can Scale…Fast

Marketing Agencies Stay Ahead of the Trends

Marketing Agencies Reduce Your Stress

Is Hiring a Marketing Agency Worth It?

The Importance of Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing For Local Success

Targeted Digital Marketing

Your Small Business Digital Marketing Strategy

Why Is Email Lead Nurturing Important?

Lead Nurturing Made Simple(r) in the Digital Age

Are Your CRM Data Insights Maximized?

Adding Leads to Email Nurture Campaigns

Types of Lead Nurturing Emails

Always Measure and Analyze Your Email Nurture Campaigns

Important Radio Advertising Metrics

Market Analysis

Tips to Planning a Successful Radio Ad Campaign

The Pros and Cons of Radio Advertising

Advantages

Disadvantages

Traditional Media or New Media?

Are Print Ads Dead?

Marketing Rule of 7

The Downsides of Print Advertising

So What’ll It Be…Print or Digital?

What Are The Essential Elements Of A Good Website?

Does Your Business Have a Good Website?

Add Google Analytics Manager in 5 Steps

A– B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z

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Which Online Quote Request Option Is Best For YOU?