There’s a question I get asked all the time from both startups and established companies and it’s, “Where do you start in digital marketing?” With all the available channels and everyone saying you need to be on all of them, it’s confusing to know where and how to start.
Let me end that confusion.
There are two places you should start in digital marketing:
Let’s discuss both.
I recommend every business run a Google Search ads campaign. These are the search results that appear at the very top of Google.
This is usually the biggest ROI channel because people who search on Google are in action mode. They’re heavily shopping and close to being ready to buy. They’ve gone to Google to find and compare companies that offer the products/services they’re looking for.
It’s critical that your business shows up in the search results for people actively looking for your products and services. A Google search ad campaign guarantees that you will.
The key to Google is choosing very specific and defined keyword phrases to advertise on. Choose words that relate to the exact products and services you want to sell. Don’t be obscure.
For example, say you own a hiking gear rental company in the Smokey Mountains, and you want to get your products/service in front of hikers coming to your area. You should advertise on the keyword phrase, “hiking gear rental smokey mountains.” You don’t want to advertise on keyword phrases like, “best hikes in the smokey mountains.” That’s too obscure.
When you’re just getting started with Google search ads, let your keyword phrases run for about 90 days before you adjust them. And make sure you’re putting enough budget behind them so you’re being fairly competitive and showing up when people search for those phrases. Remember, you only get charged on Google Search ads when someone sees your ad and clicks on it to transfer to your site. Hence why this type of advertising is called Pay Per Click.
After about 90 days, go through your results and turn off any keyword phrases that are not producing leads. If a phrase is not generating phone calls, form submissions, or live chat sessions, then pause that keyword phrase and concentrate on the ones that are attracting visitors who are more likely to engage with your site.
In case you don’t already know, Facebook owns Instagram. So with one platform, you get two powerful channels. Between Facebook and Instagram, this is where consumers spend most of their time online.
It’s very easy to get their attention here.
Facebook is very different than Google. With Google, people go there and type in exactly what they want and Google delivers them results. On the other hand, with Facebook, we target based on people, not keywords.
With Facebook, you can target based on age, gender, relationship status, and even interests. This is very powerful. You’re able to target people based on if they’re single or married, if they have kids and how old those kids are, if they’re interested in fitness, luxury cars, travel, surfing, cigars, etc.
This makes Facebook and Instagram the spot for discovery, which is very important from a brand awareness aspect, especially if you’re new. This is the place to run educational, informative ads so your audience becomes more aware of who you are and what you do. Oftentimes, a great Facebook ad campaign will drive people to Google to then search for the business to learn more. This is something we are able to track for clients and it is extremely valuable information.
With Facebook ads, you are also able to easily scale your budget. You can start low with like $5/day and once you find an ad formula and audience that works for you, then start to increase your budget.
All these recommended channels – Google, Facebook, Instagram – require that you are consistently producing great content. You need quality photos, videos, copy, captions, etc. This can take a bit of an investment but it’s worth it, as it will make all your ad campaigns more successful.
