Why Aren’t You Using LinkedIn? Read On…

5Nov

LinkedIn: It is THE best social media platform to have B2B interactions. Not only are you able to share important content about your business, but you are able to garner connections that closely suit your target audience, making it one of the best channels for business owners.

Usually, many of us would be out attending networking events in order to further our reach within our industry. But the current reality is this: When is the next time you’re going to an in-person networking event? Everything is going virtual, and it’s time for you to consider how to feed this beast.

When the shutdowns began 7 months ago, many marketing strategies and sales outreach strategies were forced to a halt, which we all thought would be temporary.

Hate to burst your bubble here, but there’s no telling when things will be “normal” again, and every day that you let your team get away with this excuse, it is hurting your bottom line.

Instead, it’s time to bring your sales energy into the world of LinkedIn. And in this blog, we will give you some game-changing tips to help you navigate this social network.

Start by using the platform to increase brand awareness.

Like any other social media channel, LinkedIn allows you to share content with your connections. It is a great way to get your business out there to another side of your audience. For example, you might want to share more informational content such as blogs. This adds value and credibility for your sales prospects.

Also, don’t forget to send out posts regularly. When it comes to social media marketing, one of the best things you can do is schedule your content ahead of time to make things easier. However, there are exceptions.

If you were not aware, LinkedIn Stories are the newest addition to the platform. Similar to its Instagram sibling, it allows users to share a more “behind the scenes” look at their business. This can be a unique and effective way to build brand awareness even more on the platform if you do not always want to stick with posts that are scheduled ahead of time.

Make connections with your connections.

LinkedIn sales prospecting is all about creating a connection with the person on the other end. One of the things you’re supposed to do when on a sales call is finding a commonality. Just like when you’re marketing on any other platform, you want to aim for your target market.

While you might not be connecting with your LinkedIn leads over the phone, you can still do the same thing in your outreach messages. For instance, COVID-19 can be that commonality for your sales team. Just ask prospects how their business is doing during this time. That’ll get them talking.

Depending on the industry, it might’ve really hurt them, or business could be booming. By listening to them, you are better able to connect with them and offer further solutions within your sales pitch.

Also, make a note of this: When it comes to LinkedIn B2B marketing, try to connect with mutual connections. They are more likely to interact with you and become a potential customer if you are already connected with people they know in their industry.

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Your sales and marketing department cannot afford to NOT be using LinkedIn Sales Navigator – which we highly recommend. Because of the search filters integrated on the platform, you are able to connect with individuals who are extremely targeted to your industry, but in a more streamlined way. Leads are also recommended to you, which makes things much easier from a sales standpoint.

While LinkedIn Sales Navigator does come with a monthly fee – remember this: You are not paying for any of the other items above. Take it from me, the investment will pay off! It’s better to get extremely targeted leads than to waste time trying to find them without LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

It’s time to get started.

LinkedIn is not just a social media platform where you can connect with your peers. It is a place where you can make business happen. For the rest of this year and beyond, try your best to amp up your LinkedIn B2B marketing plan so that you can make this platform the ultimate sales engine for your business. There’s no better time to get started than now.

How to Attract More Visitors to Your Website

By Christopher Tompkins

28Apr

Marketing, SEO

Two of the things that I am constantly asked during prospective client calls is how to create more conversions on their company website, and how to retarget the visitors who are currently visiting their website. Both of these are definitely doable things…but what happens when you find out that you don’t have enough traffic to create a meaningful result? You work on increasing that traffic!

In this article, I am going to share some tips on how to drive more traffic to your website (and keep them engaged). But, what I first think we need to talk about is the actual traffic you’re getting to your website today.

Do you know how many daily and monthly visitors you have?

Do you know where your traffic is being generated from?

Do you know what pages people are visiting and the time they spend on each page?

Do you know your current bounce rate?

Finding and tracking the answers to these questions is the first thing that you need to do before you try to execute any inbound marketing strategy. Why? Without this first step, how are you going to know how to effect change and drive success, if you are not sure how your website is performing?

Google Analytics (a free website tracking tool) will have all of these details for you – so make sure that you have this installed into your website, and you are reviewing the data often. Creating an inbound marketing campaign without having any idea as to how much traffic your site is even getting is not putting your best foot forward.

After you take a look through your website data, it is now time to start building those inbound visitors. Here are some of the best ways to drive traffic and start building the power of your website today:

Consistently Blog: having a blog posted on your website and regularly linking to each article from outside your website is a powerful tool to drive meaningful traffic. If you’re stuck on what blog you should write next, think about the questions you hear from your clients (or potential clients) and work backward. Make your blog a resource for them to utilize!

Social Media Marketing: utilize your website content when developing your social media posts and try to get out links to your website in nearly every post (where it is meaningful). You can include links to your blogs, specific service or product pages, and share fun facts about your team or company while linking back to your website.

Email Marketing: create a regular email marketing strategy that is developed to drive traffic to your website and stay on top of these! A consistent approach will drive consistent traffic. One thing you may consider is purchasing an email list to send your blasts or offers to. These emails would link to your website, and provide you a way of gaining new eyes on your site.

Choose a Landing Page That Converts: don’t just send traffic to the main homepage of your website, send new visitors to specific pages that you feel will convert them into a lead. Figure out some enticing incentives that your target audience would enjoy. Hide these incentives behind forms to capture their information for outreach at a later date. Having lots of incentives on your website is one way to establish yourself as a thought leader and increase your credibility. Not to mention – these incentives are great things to advertise across your other marketing channels.

Online Advertising: paid advertising is a great way to drive traffic. You can try Google Pay-Per-Click, Geo-Targeting, Geo-Fencing, and even social media advertising to get new visitors that may have never heard about your business to visit you online.

Link Building: a little bit more on the lengthy end of things, getting your posts shared on popular blogs and websites as guest posts (with those all-important links back to your website) will help you gain more traffic with little to no cost.

These are just a few of the quick ideas that you can incorporate to drive traffic. But a few last pieces of advice. Keep in mind the following if you are driving people to your website:

Advice #1: Make sure that your website is free of errors. Make sure that there are no typos. Make sure that the links/buttons work on your website. If you’ve written the content for the site yourself, take the time to copy the paragraphs on your site and run them through a spell checker and grammar checker. If a potential customer is comparing your site to a competitor – and yours has typos, and theirs doesn’t – I hate to tell you they’re probably not going to work with you. The same thing goes for broken links: go page by page through your website to make sure that the links you’re including work! (And do this often, as platforms change, updates are made, links that work one day, may end up broken the next).

Advice #2: Make sure that your website is responsive on mobile devices. There is absolutely nothing worse than a site that’s not responsive on a mobile device – it’s 2020 you must ensure that this is happening on your site. Read your blog; try clicking on your links. Remind yourself that this is how the majority of people will be viewing your site. If it’s tricky to navigate you need to get with a web designer pronto.

Advice #3: Take an audit to see how long it takes for your website to load – if it’s too long, your visitors will bounce. As a society, people have less and less patience these days. If someone has found you through social media, or Google, and have clicked on a link to your website, statistics say that they’re not going to wait very long for your site to load.

Making a good first impression is definitely one of the most valuable pieces when it comes to conversion, so if you want to drive traffic to your online point of sale – make sure it is conversion ready!

Should you need any help reviewing your site, or if you realize you need an entire web design overall, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team of talented sales and marketing professionals at The Go! Agency.

The Ultimate Social Media Questionnaire

By Christopher Tompkins

13Jan

Social Media

Are you ready to market your brand on social media? Before you set up your first profile, you need to ask yourself some questions. Social media marketing is more than just spreading the word: it’s about connecting with your customers. You must carefully consider your approach We’ve gathered the top twenty questions you need to answer before your brand’s social media debut.

Part I. Your Brand
1. What is the tone of your brand?
2. What products or services are you trying to promote?
3. What products or services form the core of your brand?

Part II. Your Customers
4. Who are your ideal customers?
5. What problems do your ideal customers face?
6. How does your company help solve those problems?
7. Where are your customers geographically?

Part III. Your Social Media Presence
8. What are your ultimate goals for social media?
9. Which social media platforms work best for your company?
10. How can you incorporate compelling content into your brand’s message?
11. What are the most important keywords for your industry?
12. How does your online presence compare to that of your competitors?
13. How much time can you invest into social media?
14. How often should you post during the week? During the day?
15. Which scheduling software is right for you?

Part IV. Your Content
16. When is the best time to post your content?
17. What content do your customers find most appealing?
18. Who are your industry’s top social media and online influencers?
19. What types of original content can you create?
20. What visuals should you incorporate into your content?

Do you have all of the answers? If not, it’s time to get to work!

The Go! Agency team can help you answer these questions and get started with one of the most effective avenues of marketing available today! We are dedicated to spreading your message and have worked with clients from a wide variety of industries, customizing and optimizing hundreds of social media campaigns.

Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can help your business level up!

Your Marketing Checklist for January 2020

By Christopher Tompkins

23Dec

Marketing

There’s a lot going on at the start of a new year! When January rolls around, you’ll probably still be recovering from the holidays, which puts you in a bad position for kicking off your 2020 social media marketing. That’s why I’m here!

I’m sharing my marketing checklist that’s going to get your business off to a great start in January. If you want to improve your 2020 marketing and stay ahead of your competitors, check it out!

The Checklist:

1. Evaluate your 2019 marketing results to identify areas in need of improvement.
Look back at how your social media campaigns performed in 2019. Most likely, some of them were more successful than others. If you want to improve those results in 2020, look for trends. Maybe your blog content performed well, but users weren’t as engaged with your ads. This tells you what to improve in the new year!

2. See how you compare to your competitors.
Spying on your competition is a key skill for any marketer, but it’s especially important at the start of the year. What’s working for them? What areas are they missing that you can fill? Figuring this out early is going to be a key part of creating a 2020 digital marketing strategy.

3. Create S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals that align with overall business goals.
S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. This means they’re things that you can track and check on throughout the year. Otherwise, you’d just wait until next December to find that you hadn’t reached them! They should also tie into your larger business goals. If your business goal is to increase sales, then a marketing goal could be to increase traffic to your catalogue page by February.

4. Determine if your 2019 target audience is still accurate.
Did your business undergo some changes last year? If so, it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re still appealing to the right audience. Even if you just expanded your offerings, that could open you up to a new market that you should be targeting!

5. Consult with a social media expert to create a strategy for 2020.
You don’t want to take chances with next year’s marketing strategy, so talk to someone who knows what they’re doing. Once you’ve gathered all your information, talk to an industry professional who can give you real, actionable advice on how to achieve your marketing goals in 2020.

6. Create a content calendar to better plan out your strategy for the year.
After you have goals and your plan outlined, assign everything specific dates! Laying out a plan for the year is a great way to make sure that your strategy is cohesive. Each month should flow into the next. When you take the time to make a content calendar, it makes the rest of the year so much easier!

7. Double-check that you’re on the same social media platforms as your target audience.
Social media platforms come and go, and so do their audiences. Whether you didn’t check this last year or your audience could have migrated, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re still on the optimal sites. The last thing you want is to be marketing on Facebook when your audience decided they preferred Twitter!

8. Share your social media channels on your website.
This one is a no-brainer, but you wouldn’t believe how often I see people who don’t have their social media on their website! It’s not that hard, so just link to each of your channels on your “Contact” page. Otherwise, you’re making it too easy for people to ignore your social media presence!

Plan Ahead
If your social media strategy doesn’t get a great start, it’s going to be harder to see the results you want. So get moving! Use this checklist to make the most of January! By following the above steps, I’m sure you’ll be able to create a strategy that serves your business’ goals and sets you up for success in 2020.

Do you want some individualized help with your social media marketing? Just set up a free consultation with The Go! Agency!

How to Create Business New Year’s Resolutions

By Christopher Tompkins

16Dec

Business

A lot of people use the new year as an opportunity to get into some good habits — and that’s great! The only problem is that less than half of those resolutions actually happen. So while I’d like to say that you should set these kinds of resolutions for your business, the truth is that you should only bother if you can actually commit to them.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m going to show you some of the best new year’s resolutions for your business, then I’ll explain what you can do to stick to them. Keep reading if you’re dedicated to improving your business in 2020!

Resolutions:

1. Revamp Your Marketing Strategy
Like anything else, marketing strategies have an expiration date. Don’t carry the same marketing strategy into 2020! Use January to craft a well-thought-out strategy, then implement it throughout the year!

2. Stay Active on Social Media
The number one mistake I see businesses make is not engaging with their social media audience. No amount of strategy or planning will be worth much if you’re not talking with your audience on a regular basis.

3. Delegate Work
At some point, you have to accept that you can’t be responsible for everything. Take a step back! If you have your hands full, assign tasks to people who are qualified to handle them. Why stress yourself out when you could just have an expert handle the task?

Sticking to Your Resolutions
Once you’ve set a goal, you need to make sure it lasts longer than the first couple weeks of January. The only way you’re going to keep up with your goal is if you have steps in place to make it happen!

Regular Check-Ins
Don’t let things get away from you! It’s easy to lose track of your goals when you’re not thinking of them, so the solution is to have set intervals where you check on your progress.

Let’s say my new year’s resolution for my business was to post twice as often on social media. If I’m checking that goal every week, I’m much more likely to stick to it because it’s always on my mind. Without that schedule, I could forget about that goal until mid April, when I’ll be discouraged by my months of slacking.

With the weekly check-ins, even if I do slip up on a day, I can take note of it and get back on track before it becomes a major issue! The lesson here is that, whatever your goal is, establish these checkpoints to make sure you’re where you need to be.

Have a Reason
This goal is for your business, but what is it doing, specifically? Why is this your goal? When you’ve got an answer, keeping it in the front of your mind will make it so much easier to stay focused once the new year excitement has died down.

For example, maybe my goal is to drive more traffic to my company’s website. If I’m focusing on that, it’s going to be easy for me to become uninterested. After all, tracking numbers every month to find ways to boost website traffic isn’t the most fun thing in the world. But if I contextualize it differently in my head, I can make myself more motivated.

Maybe the reason I set my goal is to increase sales, which would mean better margins in 2020. So then, instead of focusing on my goal of increased web traffic, I might focus on my goal of more profit for my business. I don’t know about you, but as a business owner, profit is a pretty good motivator for me!

In short, remember the reason that you chose your goal. Reminding yourself to make your business better is going to be infinitely easier than convincing yourself to do the same repetitive task over and over!

Work Toward Your Goal
Whatever you decide is the right step for your business, your goal is only worthwhile if you can accomplish it. Don’t be like the majority and set a new year’s resolution that you have no intention of following. Make it count! Let the start of the new year be a turning point for your business, and I’m sure you’ll find even more success in 2020!

Do you want some individualized help with your social media marketing? Just set up a free consultation with The Go! Agency!

The Top 5 Holiday Content Marketing Tips You Need To Know

By Christopher Tompkins

120919 The Top Holiday Content Marketing Tips You Need To Know

9Dec

Content Creation

Content marketers and designers love the holiday season. Unlike the lazy days of summer, there is more than enough inspiration to go around for email marketing, social media, blogging, and any other form of content marketing you can think of.

There’s just one catch – there are just so many great ideas out there, there’s not enough time to do them all. Fortunately, we have you covered and we’re exploring the best ideas right here.

Updated festive visuals
Add a Santa hat to your profile pic, a menorah to your cover image, flashing lights to your Snapchat Story. Above all, make sure your holiday-themed contenthas imagery.
Flash sale
Have you looked at the calendar lately? It’s a bit too late to do a “12 days of deals” type deal. However, it’s still fair game for quick “limited time” social-media-exclusive sales. These do surprisingly well, especially as many of us procrastinate. Make sure the sale is worth people opening up their wallets for them because a lot of “wish lists” are complete.
Season’s greetings
Email marketing is a fantastic avenue to send out holiday wishes to your loyal customer base. As always with E-blasts, it is important to send out content that isn’t 100% pushy promotions. A holiday greeting email will do just the trick to make your readers smile and make sure they’re thinking about you when the time to make a purchase comes around.
Pics from the team
Whether you post (not embarrassing) pictures from your Christmas party or your team reaching out to the community for a volunteer event, this idea adds a healthy dose of humanity to any marketing campaign. This type of content, above all else, should be promo-free.
Content your audience will share
Cut out some of the promo posts in your content calendar and make room for some wholesome holiday fun. Take the time to write and design content that your audience members will want to share with their friends and family. Festive videos, recipes, craft and party tips are just a few ideas that can generate engagement.

Maybe the holiday season snuck up on you this year, or you’ve been grasping at straws for what to publish. Either way, the above ideas will help you finish your holiday season content marketing on a high note so you can focus on the new year!

Editor’s Note: This blog has been updated and republished to reflect current information. The article was cleaned up, recommendations were reassessed, and references refreshed.

Giving Back as a Local Business

By Christopher Tompkins

2Dec

Business

It’s great to see companies like Amazon give away $100 million in a period of five years, but that just isn’t possible for smaller, local businesses. And that’s fine! You can still give back to your customers, employees, and community without ten figures in annual profit. You may even have an advantage, since it’s easier for you to interact with people face-to-face!

Let me show you how you can make December your business’ month of giving back without breaking the bank!

Giving Back to Customers
No customers means no business, so you’d better demonstrate your appreciation! If money is tight right now, you’re better off skipping huge deals or rewards programs. Instead, go with something that’s completely free but remarkably effective: customer promotions!

Sharing your customers’ stories on social media tells everyone that you value them as individuals. This doesn’t mean you need to write a biography on everyone who walks through your door, but strike up a conversation with the shoppers who pop in every week. Maybe one of them has an event that they’d like you to promote, or someone would just appreciate a public recognition of their support. Find their story and tell it! The people being highlighted will appreciate the personal attention, and your followers will appreciate being more than sales to your business.

Giving Back to Your Community
Generalized advice like “Donate to charity!” isn’t worth much when you’re trying to connect with your community. These are the people who pass your store every day, so it’s in your best interest to get them on your side. What does your community need? Whether there’s been a natural disaster, a healthcare crisis, poverty, or anything else, you need to find the point of need and meet them there.

Get in touch with community leaders to see how you can help. A brief conversation with a local elected official will help you rub elbows with local government and give you a font of information about the goings-on in your community. Once you know the problem, donate time or resources to a local charity that’s already helping in that area. This way, your contribution is going where it’s need most. People in your community will appreciate that!

Giving Back to Employees
Everyone wants motivated employees. But what are you doing to make their jobs more than a means to a paycheck? Cards are great for businesses that can’t afford lavish gifts, but only if you take the time to do them right. Writing “Thanks for all the hard work!” isn’t going to make your employees feel valued. In fact, it’s probably going to annoy them more than not giving them a card at all, because you’re pointing out how little you care about them and their work.

Instead, remember each employee’s accomplishments from the past year. When did they show moments of real skill? Find these successes and tell your employees how much you appreciate the work they did. On the surface it’s the same as a regular card, but “nice work” feels very different from “We really appreciate how you handled X situation.” But don’t stop there; rave about them! Show them that you’re their biggest fan! It’s easy for employees to get caught up in monotony, so take this as an opportunity to remind them of their highlights from 2018.

Think Through Your Plans
The surefire way to ruin any attempt at giving back is to act too quickly. As a local business, you probably don’t have the luxury of being able to throw money at people and causes to solve your problems. You need to make up for your lack of funds with a plan, and the above tips are a great place to start.

Do you want some individualized help with your social media marketing? Just set up a free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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How to Make the Best Holiday Unboxing Video

By Christopher Tompkins

28Oct

Content Creation, Video

Gifts don’t just go under the tree anymore! Unboxing videos have taken the world by storm, with over one-third of millennials watching. Something about seeing a product opened for the very first time gets customers excited, and it makes it easier for them to imagine purchasing from you!

Once you’ve decided that an unboxing video is right for your organization, you’ll have two options for executing it: in-house or through a brand ambassador. Whichever you choose, you’re going to find some common pitfalls that you’ll want to avoid. That’s why I’m going to look at common pitfalls for both means of production.

Producing In-House:
You’ve decided that you want complete creative control over this project and you’re confident that you can create a high-quality video. That’s a great start, but before you break out the ring lights, you might want to consider how much production needs to go into this.

Part of the appeal of an unboxing video is the intimate, relaxed feel, so the worst thing you could do is overproduce it with complicated editing and unnecessary effects. Instead, stick with the basics: clear, simple lighting and a good camera will go a long way. When writing your script, do it as though you’re talking to a friend about your product, not like you’re trying to sell audiences on features and benefits.

Ironically, the best thing for your video is probably to not put too much effort into it. If you’re spending a fortune on recording equipment or driving yourself crazy with editing the video, then take a step back. Little imperfections will only humanize your brand, and your audience is going to respond to that even more strongly during the holiday season.

As effective as unboxing videos are, they’re not commercials airing on primetime TV. Keep the tone casual, speak like a human, and don’t overthink it!

Working With a Brand Ambassador:
You prefer a hands-off approach and see the benefits of working with a creator who already has a loyal following. This is a popular avenue to take! It’s important to bear in mind, however, that you’re not going to be able to control exactly what the personality says. And while there’s something to be said for a natural response, some clear guidelines never hurt anyone.

Make it clear to your brand ambassador exactly what you want to be in the video. Are there any features they should mention? Holiday sales they can tell their audience about? While part of the beauty of a personality is that they have their own distinct voice, it’s important that this unboxing video is still working toward your brand’s goals.

For example, if you’re working with a brand ambassador to create an unboxing video of your headphones, the video has to stay in-line with your other content. You’re marketing them as “sleek” and “innovative,” so it’s safe to say you don’t want the personality to call them “cute” or “classic.”

Communicate your brand’s must-haves for the video, then let your brand ambassador handle the nitty-gritty! They’ve amassed fans because they know how to engage their audience, so with some clear guidelines, they should be set to contribute to your holiday marketing campaign!

Get Moving!
Unboxing videos are one of the hottest ways you can break up the content mix this holiday season, so don’t hesitate to get started now! Remember that opening presents is one of the best things about the season, and you have the opportunity to share that feeling with your audience. Use this information to guide you down whichever production path is right for you, and look forward to having an engaging final product!

Feel like your holiday marketing strategy could use some professional help? Schedule a free consultation with the Go! Agency to get some guidance!

Black Friday or Cyber Monday: Which Should You Choose?

By Christopher Tompkins

21Oct

Advertising, Marketing

In 2018, there was a staggering $13.9 billion on Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone! It’s tempting to dive in and say you’ll make marketing campaigns for each of them, but promoting your business for both of these high-traffic days is just going to set you up to fail. Every business owner knows that trying to do everything usually means you end up doing nothing (successfully, at least).

You’re going to have to commit to one of these sales, and that’s why we’re here today. I’m going to break down who should be marketing for each of these days. From there, you’ll be able to plan your marketing strategy and get a piece of the holiday sales pie!

Who Should Promote Black Friday?
What does Black Friday entail (other than crazed shoppers with huge carts and no remorse)? At its core, the only thing required for Black Friday is to slash your prices for a day. You’ll want to promote it, of course, but the process of preparing for Black Friday is going to be far easier than doing the same for Cyber Monday.

You see, in the best-case scenario, Cyber Monday will mean you need a solidified shipping plan, which can be difficult if you’re solely a brick and mortar store. Add in the hassle of shipping everything and tracking orders all over the country, it’s a headache that can be debilitating unless you have the staff to support it. For this reason, Black Friday has always been the go-to for small-to-mid-sized local businesses.

A sale, of course, is no good for your business if your customers don’t know about it. Black Friday is also ideal for local businesses because you have a much smaller audience to inform. Where Cyber Monday would require you to broadcast your message to a national (or international) audience, local stores only need to connect with people in the immediate area. This is going to be a godsend if your marketing budget isn’t the biggest, because holiday ads aren’t cheap.

The short version? Unless you’ve got a large team and the capital to handle a national ad campaign, dive headfirst into Black Friday and don’t look back!

Who Should Promote Cyber Monday?
While Black Friday is easier to handle, Cyber Monday offers substantial incentives to companies with the resources to pursue it. For one thing, you’re not going to be limited to the X-thousand people in your city. While Black Friday has stayed fairly consistent from year to year, Cyber Monday sales saw a huge increase last year, and are expected to see another bump this November.

If you’re a larger, national business, particularly if you’re used to a lot of online sales throughout the year, Cyber Monday shouldn’t be as jarring for you. You’ll likely already have solidified shipping processes in place, and your social media following should be large and engaged enough to help maximize your ROI for holiday ad spend.

The final sign that Cyber Monday is right for your business? You’re ready to start preparing now. The national competition for ad space means that the right time to finalize your marketing plan was yesterday. A local business only has to compete with its neighbors, but you’ve got to tackle the world! Remember that great risk often means great reward, though, and don’t shy away from Cyber Monday if you can reasonably hold your own in the upcoming marketing battle.

Go Forth and Sell, Sell, Sell!
These are two of the biggest sales days of the year, so pick your target and take the shot. Decide if you want a localized Black Friday campaign or are going to get the word out about your upcoming Cyber Monday sale, then get going! Thanksgiving will be done and gone before you know it, and your business has a lot of work to do before then!

Think your Black Friday or Cyber Monday strategy could use some expert input? Set up your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

How to Get More for Less With Your Holiday Ad Spend

By Christopher Tompkins

14Oct

Advertising, Marketing

Without fail, social media ad spend skyrockets during the holiday season. So, why do marketers throw their hats into that ring every year?

Because people are buying.

Sadly, knowing that people are spending money doesn’t magically increase your advertising budget.

That’s why I’m here! I’m going to show you how to stretch your holiday ad spend dollar whether you’re a nationally-known business or a local store.

Timing Is Everything for Online Advertising

When you’re marketing on the day of a holiday, your cost-per-click (CPC) goes up dramatically. Why? Because everyone is bidding for the same virtual ad space.

While on any given Tuesday it might be just you and a (comparatively) small handful of other businesses, online advertising on Black Friday is going to pit you against retailers like Walmart and Target. By the time you finally win a bid, you’ll likely spend more on ads than you’ll ever see in ROI.

So, what do you do?

For National Brands:

If your organization is big enough, you may actually stand a chance at competing with larger companies for ad space on a major holiday. Still, it’s worth considering whether or not this is the best move for you. Take into account how many of your clicks regularly turn into leads, then how many of those leads turn into conversions.

From there, you can work out how much money each of those ad clicks is going to earn in your customer’s lifetime. When running these calculations, remember that holiday shoppers are less likely to become lifelong customers.

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Once you’ve got your number for how much profit each click will generate for you, based on past experience, find a margin that works for you. How much can you pay for clicks and still get an exciting ROI? Find that number, and don’t bid a penny over it. It’s unfortunate if you can’t get holiday ad space, but it’ll be worse to lose money on those same ads because of increased holiday ad spend.

For Local Businesses:

Don’t even think about throwing your hat into that ring. The amount of traffic your local business is going to get is almost certainly not going to cover how much you’ll end up sending on clicks. Unless you’re the one local business in the world with an ad budget to rival a worldwide retailer, don’t waste your time bidding on ad space that you can’t afford to support. You might look at holiday content marketing or other strategies, instead.

For Both:

If you find that it just isn’t feasible for you to run ads on a holiday, that’s completely fine! You can still get your share of holiday revenue. Just pick a day around the holiday to target.

You probably don’t want to skip Cyber Monday just to do the day before, where the bidding landscape will be almost identical. But what about the day after? In many ways, the day following a holiday is an overlooked hotbed of potential sales.

Immediately after a major retail holiday is exactly when all the bargain hunters come out. This is where you can shine! The ad spend market won’t be nearly as saturated with bids, and there will still be plenty of online shoppers for you to draw in.

Place your lower bids, and watch as you get prime ad space for a fraction of what it would’ve cost you 24 hours earlier.

Spend Wisely

You’re working with a limited ad budget in a competitive market, so choose your investments carefully! Take this information and make a name for your brand without spending every last penny on holiday ad space.

Does your holiday marketing plan still need some work? Set up your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Editor’s Note: This blog has been updated and republished to reflect current information. The article was cleaned up, recommendations were reassessed, and references refreshed.

Tag : social media marketing

Timing Is Everything for Online Advertising

For National Brands:

For Local Businesses:

For Both:

Spend Wisely