This is really the wrong question to ask. You weren’t expecting me to say that, were you? With the numerous digital marketing services in order for a small business to survive and thrive, it’s not always easy to know what to invest in first. When you first think about the budget, it may seem like a lot of money. However, the right agency and marketing plan will really pay off. It’s not just about the price tag, it’s about the value your investment returns for your small business.
With the rise of social media marketing, more and more small businesses are looking to get on board with campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels. However, a lot of these channels cost money to advertise on. The question then becomes: How much does a digital marketing campaign (and team to execute these campaigns efficiently) cost?
Digital Marketing For Solopreneurs & Small Businesses Starting Out
Digital marketing can be a difficult space for a small business to navigate because the cost to get started is expensive. Small businesses have to budget for web development costs, content creation costs, and social media costs on top of their normal overhead costs. Hiring one employee or a contractor to do all of these functions can be a bit of a hit or miss situation. It is best to hire a diverse group of experts or an agency that has contracted or hired “the cream of the crop” and avoid the cons that come along with a “jack of all trades” type of marketing hire.
Pros of hiring solopreneurs:
- You get access to someone who is competent in multiple different areas of marketing, sales, or web design.
- In a crunch, you can rely on this person to fill the gaps that exist on your teams
- Usually, you get a much broader perspective and this may be helpful
Cons of hiring solopreneurs:
- Imposter syndrome may cause a lack of confidence in specific areas and your results may show
- “Jack of all trades, master of none” may cause your business to need extra assistance later
- Overworking or burnt-out teams may begin to surface
What’s more is that without hiring an agency that is both cost-effective and results-oriented, you’ll end up right back where you started in a short amount of time
Social Media Marketing: Building Your Following
When you’re just starting out, social media marketing can be pivotal to your success. Whether it’s posting every day across the social channels your prospects visit the most or just a few times a week, this can really alter the trajectory of your business if done right. How much does this cost? Again, what is the value you’re getting out of the team member or the effort you’re putting into the marketing activities?
What does social media cost? Social media can run into the thousands per month for a team member who is trained and understands the value of building an audience and engagement (and gets you results).
Book a meeting with one of our marketing experts to see how we can automate your marketing funnel and expand and engage your audience on your social media channels.
Online Advertising (PPC, Landing Page Design, & Marketing Automation)
Online advertising can be a huge pill to swallow for a small business owner unfamiliar with how to navigate popular advertising platforms such as Google or Facebook ads. Even when the owner or solopreneur is able to get a handle on basic ad creation and ad copy, there is a whole new set of pitfalls and potholes to look out for: Terms of Service and Account bans/ad rejections.
Many of the terms of service and ad restrictions can be summed up into a few key categories but before we go into what can get your account banned, we will discuss ad level issues that can cause Google to disapprove your ad:
Six Reasons Google Ads Aren’t Approved
- Poor spelling or grammar.
- capitalization errors, such as using all caps on words that are not acronyms.
- Repeating words.
- Incorrect use of punctuation.
- Generic call to action such as “click here”
- Spacing problems like not using spaces or using too many spaces
Reasons, why your Google Ads account may end up being suspended, include: overdue payments, malware on your website or app, and unauthorized access to your Ads account.
Many marketing agencies or even solopreneurs or Google Ads experts aren’t aware of the ever-evolving guidelines that Google Ads uses to define what an approved ad may be. This can lead to lost advertising budgets and (more importantly) the possibility to lose your organization’s ability to advertise on one of the largest networks in the world.
Visit our Services Page to learn how we can get your Google Ads or Facebook Ads converting again.
Conversion Optimization & KPI’s
When it comes to any marketing activity or advertising campaign, what is important when you are dealing with a team or agency is that they need to be capable of developing strategy (and iterating) based on the metrics or KPIs that fit with the activity they are performing for your small business. Conversion optimization is a process by which an expert or someone who is trained in which optimization strategies or techniques may lead to improvements in conversion rate (the achievement of any type of goal relating to marketing or sales within an organization).
Conversion optimization is the process of analyzing both your own website copy, imagery, trust signals, and button colors or user flows (as well as those of your competitors) to help you reach your conversion goals. I’ve listed a few key performance indicators below that relate to marketing activities or strategies you may run into as a small business owner:
Pay Per Click (PPC) KPIs
- Click Thru Rate – The percentage of users who clicked through on a specific link within your email
- Cost Per Click – the cost your business paid per each click on your advertisement
- Cost Per Mille – cost per 1000 vows of your display ad
- Return on Ad Spend – the profit your campaign has or your entire ad set has compared to your initial investment
Website KPI’s
- Visitors – how many users visited a page or your website
- Time on Site – the amount of time (usually in seconds) that a user spends on a page or the average a group of users spends on your website within a given period of time
- Bounce Rate – the percentage of users who visit a page only to leave and not visit another page on your website.
- Conversion Rate – this can be the percent of users who complete an actual goal you have pre-defined such as purchasing a product on your website or signing up for your email list or even downloading a free pdf from your Resources page.
Does your business invest in continuing professional education or certification for your marketing team members? This, again, can add to the complexity and cost of finding the right team member (at the right time). Costs for setting up digital marketing campaigns even for the most basic service-oriented business can be in the two to five thousand dollar range (to get it done right). Even after the initial ad setup, landing page creation (that has to be conversion-focused), and marketing automation process begins and can cost a fair amount if a/b testing is involved.
Want to get started tracking key performance indicators? Contact Us for a free consultation.
Automating Your Marketing Funnel
Automation (specifically relating to marketing automation) can be quite costly to be done correctly and get you the results you’re looking for. When it comes to marketing, you have to be on top of your workload. Automating your marketing funnel is a great way to focus on your most profitable tasks while freeing up your time to focus on other things. Marketing automation involves automating a series of emails, repetitive marketing tasks, or messages sent by a company to a set of leads at different points in the customer journey.
Automating your marketing funnel could mean:
- Building email sequences that auto-send after a specific action is performed by a user
- Survey or feedback emails
- On-site chatbots and customer engagement automation
- Dynamic content such as HTML or location-specific page generation for specific users
- Automated product launches and product information emails
Marketing automation expedites the lead-to-customer journey and creates a personalized customer experience, saving a company time and money. This is usually accomplished by hiring a platform-specific (such as HubSpot or Mailchimp) automation expert. This can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Visit our website to learn more about automating your marketing and sales funnels.
Problem Solver’s Consultants Uses SharpSpring To Help You Automate Your Funnel
Problem Solver’s Consultants can help you automate your marketing, sales, and CRM funnels. Sharp Spring equips your organization (among its many, many capabilities) to:
- Generate leads
- Increase sales & revenue
- Optimize marketing & sales funnels
Problem Solver’s Consultants saves you thousands of dollars per month by equipping you with significantly cheaper, “hands-off”, access where we will fully automate some of the most powerful (and scalable) revenue-generating portions of your business so you can keep on building your brand.
Web Design Services: Enhancing Your Website’s Form & Function
Hiring a web designer or team as a solopreneur can be challenging or downright cost-prohibitive. The time and iterations involved in website design can truly slow down the progress a solopreneur is trying to make and overwhelm in a short amount of time. Large website design firms may place costs for designing an entirely new website at a range from $1,500 to $10K for a fully functional powerhouse website. Hiring a boutique firm like Problem Solver’s Consultants can save your organizations thousands.
Email Marketing: Nurturing Your Subscribers
Email marketing has been shown to be one of the highest ROI marketing activities available next to inbound PPC and SEO-oriented content writing. Studies show that you need at least seven touchpoints to inform and persuade a customer to purchase your product or service. Typical industry open rates are 1-3% and ROI on all email campaigns is usually $36 received for every $1 a small business invests so email marketing definitely should be top of mind for you to get started with.
Email Marketing Automation Can Save Your Team Time & Generate Thousands Per Month
Email marketing automation organizes and sends out messages tailored to specific audiences at specific times that are triggered by specific actions, website visits, or an event that helps nurture your user’s relationship with you and they assist in lowering the time between the information and the purchase stages of the buyer’s journey.
Email Marketing KPIs
- Click Thru Rate – The percentage of users who clicked through on a specific link within your email
- Mailing List Growth – percentage or number of users who’ve joined your mailing list
- Open Rate – the % of users who’ve opened your email or email campaign
- Undeliverable Rate – what percent of your emails are undeliverable to your subscribers
- Unsubscribe Rate – the percentage of your users that unsubscribe from your list
Large Scale Agencies Looking To Corner The Market
Large-scale agencies have hundreds if not thousands of accounts looking to maintain or scale their presence in the market. Having a large-scale agency take over your marketing automation and other critical marketing functions can leave you feeling like just a number. The costs can run up to nearly 15% of your gross each year. You may lack customer service or follow through as each account rep may be handling anywhere between 15 to 20 accounts themselves (possibly more).
If you are a large-scale agency, you may think about diversifying and getting a “fresh pair of eyes” that isn’t biased. It’s important to sometimes get opinions from a team that hasn’t necessarily “drank the kool-aid” of your product or services and can give you honest, cost-effective critiques of your website and marketing funnel.
The Problem Solver’s Consultants Difference:
Problem Solver’s Consultants is so much more than just a group of marketing experts. We treat each client like family and take the time to understand and truly interact with our clients to understand their brand voice, goals, and their vision for the company’s future.
We firmly believe in delivering innovative content to promote your brand. We tell your story in a way that provides results. We focus on your customer and delivering a message they want to hear when they want to hear it, where they are! We work to be as cost-effective and efficient as possible and that is what sets us apart.
Hiring Problem Solver’s Consultants will help you:
- Focus on running your business
- Work with experts
- Stay competitive in your industry online
- Understand and get measurable results
- Cut down on overall costs
Book a Meeting with us to learn how we can get you started with increasing your ROI and ROAS.
Price Matters: Problem Solver’s Consultants Provides Value Not Just a Painful Bill
Our core offering has two core options. Both are full service done for your options. Our tagline is “get an entire marketing team for less than the cost of an intern!” All options are a 12-month retainer-based contract.
Your options include:
1. Social media posts (written and media), weekly social media account management & engagement, 2 blogs, website maintenance or landing page creation, online ads (PPC & social media) creation and maintenance, and email marketing for $1,597/mo
2. Same as above plus also includes a SharpSpring account ($499-899/mo value) and marketing automations for $1,997/mo.
Hire us to help you start your marketing campaigns immediately, so you don’t have to navigate a learning curve or hire your own team. We know that you will see measurable results.
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