Holiday Email Marketing Tune Up

Did you know that email marketing still yields best results? As a matter of fact according to recent email stats, when it comes to making a purchase as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail and more.

Whether you're looking to introduce email as part of your holiday marketing, or want to improve your existing efforts, you've come to the right place. Below are tips, tactics and ways in which every small business can improve it's holiday email marketing:

Mobile, Mobile, Mobile

Getting sick of this word yet? You should be, because it has been mentioned a number of times on this blog (and about a million times all over the web). Mobile device usage has skyrocketed and it looks like that trend is going to continue in the foreseeable future:

An average total of 56% emails are opened on mobile devices.
- Source

Yes, more than half of emails are opened outside of desktops and laptops. The first thing you should do is ensure that all of your email templates, layouts and designs are optimized for various screen resolutions and sizes.

Imagine putting together an amazing offer and message only to have it be discarded due to mobile incompatibility.

Helpful Tool:

Want to see  how your page/layout will appear in different resolutions? Use "responsive" testing tools such as this one: http://responsivetest.net

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Subject Lines That Convert

How many times have you heard that "buzz words" such as: sale, free or limited time offer are now considered as spam and shouldn't be used in subject lines anymore? Not so much.

According to ecommerce email research, keywords such as FREE Delivery and SALE resulted in both higher open and click-thru rates (some even up to 50% higher)! 

Not sure what kind of keywords to use in subject lines? Here are some examples to help guide you in the right direction:

Time Sensitivity (getting people to take action by a certain date):

• Last Call
• Hurry
• Act Now
• Offer Ends [INSERT DATE HERE]
• Limited Time

Anticipation (targeting early adapters to create buzz):

• NEW Arrivals
• Sneak Preview
• Be the First To..
• Exclusive Deal for Customers

Offers (discounts, promotions, etc.)

• Flash SALE
• Latest Deals
• Up to [INSERT NUMBER]% Off
• FREE Delivery
• Clearance

The above are just some examples to get your creative juices flowing. Best way to find what works for your audience is to do some testing and see how they respond to different types of subject lines. Remember there is no "one-suits all" solution.

Helpful Tip:

Did you know that strategically including symbols and emoticons in your subject line can significantly impact open rates? When appropriate use the right emoticons (gift icon for birthday offers) to encourage a call-to action.

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Personalization

The bread and butter of most successful email programs; personalization goes beyond just including a name of the recipient. Looking into buying behaviour of your individual customers, sending at the right time, having the right message (context) is crucial in making sure you reach the right person with the right offer.

As a matter of fact, 75% of consumers like it when brands personalize emails with customized messaging and offers. - Source

I was recently browsing an online clothing store where I abandoned my shopping cart because I couldn't reach the free delivery minimum. This is the email I got about 15 minutes later:

Why was this impressive?

1. They addressed the email by name (I was logged into my account when I was browsing)
2. Included the picture of the actual item to remind me (and hopefully persuade) to complete the purchase
3. There is a big call-to action button in black that allows for an easy transition back to complete the purchase

Obviously this may pose a challenge to certain small businesses on a budget. But analyzing shopping trends and the behaviour of your audience your website using free tools such as Google Analytics (and basic reporting from your email marketing provider) can help you uncover insights that lead to better messaging and offers. 

Helpful Tip:

Stuck on personalization ideas? Here are 12 great examples from HubSpot that will help your emails become personal. 

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Following Through

What makes a great golf swing or basketball jump shot? The follow through.

This is often times the most overlooked aspect of email (and all other) messaging. Over promising and under delivering. Let me explain:

If you plan on using one of the promotional keywords, let's say "clearance pricing" in your subject line, you have to make sure that the offers inside the email message and your website match that messaging. So having "clearance pricing" doesn't mean you give 10% off a purchase. That doesn't even cover the cost of taxes in Ontario! If you plan to have clearance pricing promotions, those offers better be bigger discounts than what your customers have seen before. Otherwise your subject lines just become click-bait.

Nothing worse than creating a dissonance between what a company says it will do and what it will actually do. It can create more harm than good (especially long-term).

Helpful Tip:

Don't have enough room for discount promotions? Limited time offers? Nothing to fret about. It might be better to capitalize on other aspects of your messaging than to offer something your business cannot follow up on. As an example you can focus on an emotional subject lines (particularly around holiday season) to capture your recipients attention. Here are great examples you can use as a starting point.

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Unknown Thursday, December 01, 2016  

8 Eye-Opening Canadian Small Business Stats

To celebrate small business month/week/day in Canada here are two of my favourite things in one post: small business and fascinating statistics! No fluff, no sugar coating, just straight to the point. All of these stats have been gathered from Government of Canada's Key Small Business Statistic report:

Of the 1.17 million employer businesses in Canada, small business accounts for 97.7% of the total at 1.14 million (with 1.8% medium-sized and 0.3% large rounding out the total)

Small businesses employ over 8.2 million individuals in Canada, or 70.5% of the total private labour force

Small businesses were responsible for 87.7% of net employment change from 2005-2015 (1.2 million jobs!)

Over 80% of start-ups used personal financing to finance their businesses

More than half of small employer businesses are concentrated in two provinces (Ontario & Quebec)

Small businesses contributed an average of 30% of the GDP of their province

The highest percentage of SMB owners is in the 50-64 age group

15.7% of SMBs were majority owned by women and 19.7% were equally owned by women and men

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Unknown Wednesday, October 12, 2016  

Annoying Digital Marketing Tactics We'd Like to See Disappear

I don't think it is a huge surprise for anyone (other than those doing the spamming) that ad blockers have become the norm when browsing the web. There are plenty of irritating digital marketing tactics which led to people using not only pop up blockers, but to discontinue their consumption of content from specific publishers.

What type of tactics may have led to this?  I thin the 5 below are a big reason why we've seen this shift in online behaviour. Hopefully we will see their use drop in favour of more customer-centric tactics:

Pop-ups

Popups may seem as old as the internet, but I am not talking just about overly promotional popups here. According to recent conversion rate statistics, having a popup come up after a certain action was taken on a page (say, scrolling half-way down a blog post) increases the likely hood of a completed action. Generally 2% more conversion than other types of ads.

However, popups have the complete opposite ability as well. They can turn your users off entirely (like me) and interrupt the content consumption process. While I understand that "free" content also comes with the user having to see ads, or provide contact information, there are much better ways to guide me towards an action than to entirely cover your content piece with a popup.

Here is a great policy/mentality from Copybloggers on what popups could do and why they don't use them:

There is no questions popups "work" - but to what end? We're not willing to risk the relationship with our audience for a spike in opt ins.

Precisely my thinking - while getting more people to sign up for your email, or download an ebook might be good short-term, constantly bombarding your audience with popups can have a detrimental long-term effect on your readers.

Take an example example below from Neil Patel's website (online marketing expert):

I use to read some of the blog posts to see how to improve conversion rates, get visitors, etc. There was some good information there (some, everything was taken with a grain of salt). I sometimes shared an article or two with my audience. However, with such invasive ads I got really frustrated. I could not get through the article without having to close down multiple popups...and even when I closed an entire-page popup another smaller popup would come up. Just to the side of the page now:

I get distracted from the actual post. I get frustrated. I leave. As a matter of fact I stopped reading any of the blog posts on that platform, and I have not shared a single thing since. I have slowly begun to eliminate other blogs that use popups from my reading lists as well.

Plus, it looks like Google is going to penalize websites for pop-ups starting in 2017 - so it might be better not to implement this option in the first place!

But, if they have such great conversion rates why should they be dropped? Are there alternatives?

You can incorporate other means of getting people to take an action. A sign up for on the left/right-hand side bars of your blog, permanent bars at the top or bottom of your pages as users scroll, etc. These are non-invasive and allow readers to sign up on their own terms without interrupting their reading or viewing process. Just like this example below from Smart Bug Media (blog I referenced above for the improved conversion rate statistic of popups):

Clickbait Titles

This is one is fairly self explanatory. How many times have you opened up your Facebook feed to see something along the lines of "Dog Gets Rescued from Shelter, You Won't Believe What Happens Next" - only for that next to be a 30 second video of a dog just running around in a backyard, much like any other dog would. Below is an example I came across recently (and have since unfollowed the page entirely):

While clicks usually result in ad revenue for these types of websites, clickbait titles such as this one should be avoided at all costs. It comes from a football club fan page I amwas following. As a matter of fact, similar to Google penalizing pop-up pages, Facebook (potentially other networks as well) will start penalizing clickbaity articles in the near future. Meaning that there will be new algorithms which push any clickbait titles to the bottom of results - making it hard to get attention (which is the actual purpose of clickbait titles). Ironic, isn't it?

Over-promised & Under-delivered Content

Insert one of: Ultimate, Epic, Awesome, Complete, Only

followed by Guide to Something...

Ultimate guides should be exactly that: ultimate. Once a viewer reads/watches/listens they should be able to do something they weren't before able to. Whether it be build a website, a wooden shed or simply power-wash their deck.

Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of "Ultimate" guides which aren't all that ultimate (have you gotten sick of that word yet?). Far too many content publishers slap on these words to get people to download content which ends up being most common sense, or just plain basic knowledge that could be found anywhere.

Let's keep content expectations realistic, not everything has to be "Awesome" or "By Far the Only Thing You Need" - as a matter of fact quick/short guides can be helpful as well. Don't over promise and under deliver! Create content that is of value to your audience.

Opportunistic Trend Chasing

We've all been told that we should be monitoring trending hashtags and topics so that we may join the conversation to potentially increase our reach, right? Absolutely.

However, not every trending topics or hashtag should be used just for the sake of increased reach or performance. The most notable example is DiGionro Pizza's "#WhyIStayed" blunder where the brand's Twitter profile used a hashtag intended to open up a conversation about domestic violence, to promote a pizza:

Following this update, plenty of Twitter users back-lashed. DiGiorno had to backtrack and apologize for not paying more attention to the topic at hand. If you're unsure of the trend at the time, DO NOT USE IT for promotional purposes. As a matter of fact, even if you do know the topic try to steer away from using it as a promotional channel. Instead focus on how your brand can contribute to the conversation. Relevant content? Support? Etc.

Overly Promotional Updates

Come one, come all! Buy this amazing thing for this amazing price!! 

Any of this sound familiar? Yeah, sure does - let's leave it in the past. It doesn't belong online. There are much better ways to get people to buy and none of them have anything to do with multiple exclamation points (not that there is anything wrong with them, but one is usually enough to get the point across). Here is an example I recently came across in one of the marketing subs on reddit: 

What was the first thing that came to your mind from that title? Spam. It's exactly what it is - communicate your content or offers in a more customer-centric way. Think about what it can do for them (other than save or make money). Can it make them smarter? More efficient? Does it make them feel a certain way? Contribute, don't promote.

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Unknown Saturday, October 01, 2016  

How to Get Started With Digital Marketing

Sometimes I get caught up talking about all the technical aspects of search engine rankings and website design that I forget to cover the basics: how to get started with digital marketing. Early adapters are already well on their way and can digest the somewhat-technical information shared about the topic. However, business owners or marketers who have yet to take the online plunge probably have limited knowledge (not a bad thing at all, not all of us can be experts in everything).

Having recently met with a client who has high law/financial technical knowledge, he reminded me that sometimes we forget to talk in terms that anyone can understand. We immediately resort to technical jargon, industry specific abbreviations and concepts because we spend countless hours in our industries and professions. It is important to keep certain information understandable by anyone - not because they are not capable of understanding, but because they are most likely specialized in other professions and haven't been involved in what services you may offer (just like I myself would not be able to give you sound legal advice).

Hopefully this post will provide a high-level overview of the digital world and how it can be used to help your small business carve out a niche of its own.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing in short is the ability to make yourself visible to the right audience at the right time. Keep in mind that I used to word visible: because what everyone is trying to do is grab someone's attention. Every time you want to run a paid ad, come up on the first page of Google or have people interact with your social media post you are trying to captured a little bit of that attention. Hopefully it leads to an action being taken - but before that can happen you need to present. As you can see by the breakdown  below, the least amount of time is spent shopping online. The other 95% is what digital marketing is meant for: being active within the right community and interacting with users on their own terms:

Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-people-spend-their-time-online-infographic

The other part of digital marketing is context. Getting attention is good, getting attention at the right time is awesome. Imagine you are running a sponsored ad to sell a high-end camera to photographers but the target you are trying to reach is new & upcoming photographers. Perhaps it would be more effective to promote a blog post or ebook on how new photographers can get their business off the ground instead of trying to sell the camera immediately. Much easier said than done of course!

The different areas of digital marketing

Keep in mind that each of these areas can have an in-depth post of their own with detail specifics. This is just a brief overview - feel free to browse the blog for more information on each.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Marketing (SEM)

Usually the most confusing or hard to understand concepts for many small businesses. Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) refers to the "organic" or non-paid efforts that aim to get your web page(s) to the top of Google (or other major search engines) pages. These are the search results you see underneath the ads. Keep in mind that SEO professionals don't rank your entire website for key terms but individual pages.

Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) on the other hand refers to paid efforts that get your communications on search engines. These would be paid ads or display banners that you come across in search engines. To get this positioning you have to usually pay per click (charged every time someone clicks on the ad) or pay per impression (paid based on the amount of times the ad is seen). Positioning of your ad compared to competitors is dependent on bid amount (how much you're willing to pay for a click or impression) and the quality of the ad (if the search terms match, landing page relevancy, etc.).

Email Marketing

One of the earliest forms of digital communication, email is still regarded as the most effective tool to drive results with digital efforts. And that should not be a surprise to anyone - people can customize the amount of emails they receive and marketers can customize the messaging on a personal level. 

According to emailisnotdead.com article, 61% of consumers like to receive weekly promotional emails and 28% want them even more frequently.

By following recently introduced CASL regulations, small businesses can communicate on a personal level with the customer. As you can see by the statistic above - majority of people prefer to receive email. When you have a customer who is willingly receiving communications it increases the possibility of an action being taken.

Social Media

Probably the most recognized marketing tactic - social media has grown into a huge tool for small businesses. With the introduction of sponsored ads, analytics tools and company pages majority of today's popular social media networks are developing their networks with companies in mind. Not just users.

There are two things to keep in mind with social media as it relates to business purposes:

1. Your business does not need to have a presence on every single social media network. Do some research, evaluate your resources and target the networks that make most sense.
2. Don't just post promotions or sales. It's called a social network for a reason. Post helpful, useful or interactive content that users will find engaging. Also, don't just post all the time - put in the effort to interact and respond to comments to show that you are truly an active member of the online community.

Content Marketing

The hottest topic of late has to be content marketing. It has been used as a buzzword far too often that majority, if not all, small business owners have heard of it. Content marketing plays a big role in the other areas as well: it can be shared using email or social media, it plays a big role in search engine rankings as it is more likely to get shared than corporate web pages, etc.

Hardest part about content marketing is making it relevant. You want to create a blog post, ebook, video - whatever that piece of content may be - that is going to engage users in a way that evokes an action. That action can be for them to share it with their own network/community, to fill out a form, download a report, etc.

The best content usually evokes emotion in users, making them feel a deeper connection with your brand: bring out a happy feeling, helping resolve a task faster, solving a difficult problem, connecting them closer with others, etc.

Analytics

The main difference between traditional and digital marketing efforts is the ability to track and evaluate campaigns. Big data is big business now; there numerous companies dedicated to providing analytics solutions that can track anything from your paid advertisement clicks to website interactions.

The most common tools that small businesses use are the ones that are free: Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, etc. Majority of online networks come with some sort of reporting ability. Be sure to set goals before you start and associate those goals with tangible performance indicators (or stats). This will help you measure how well something is work (or not). That way you can be ready to tweak your efforts to make sure you are getting the most out of your marketing.

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This is just a brief list of online marketing areas that are most common - there are plenty of other ways to engage an audience online. We've put together a list of emerging concepts for 2016 & beyond that you can take a look at here.

Where to Begin

This depends on where your small business currently stands with its online presence.

On Your Own

If you've got the time and a can-do attitude; there are plenty of resources, tools and solutions to help you automate digital marketing and do it all on your own. Keep in mind that certain things might be easier than others: sharing a Facebook post on a company page is much easier than researching a good key term to rank every single page of your website. As is editing all the different elements of those pages requires technical knowledge.

Doing things yourself may be more cost effective but remember that efforts, when done incorrectly, can have a negative effect on your business. If you're unsure of how to do something always do research, find step-by-step guides or consult someone who can steer you in the right direction.

Hiring or Outsourcing

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things to learn you can always find someone (whether hiring or outsourcing) to do it on your behalf. Sometimes it might be better for business owners to focus on what their expertise are and let professionals handle the marketing side. After all, many business utilize outside accountants, graphic designers and other service providers. In the same way a digital marketing professional or company can be utilized to help build an online presence.

Not all freelancers or companies will be right for you. Digital marketing services can be pricey, and majority of small businesses don't have the budget to outsource ALL digital efforts. At the same time, be wary of any company or professional guaranteeing you instant success. Much like other functions, digital marketing takes time and on-going work in order to yield positive results.

Helpful Resources

Regardless of where you stand, below are some of the posts we've put together that can help make your efforts a little bit easier:

• Outsourcing vs. In-House digital marketing
• How to tell your small business story
• Should you hire an employee or a freelancer
• FREE online marketing tools for small businesses
• Differences between promoting & engaging

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Hope that was helpful! If I've missed something or you'd like to add more, the comment section is a good place to do so.

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Unknown Tuesday, July 05, 2016  

The Rise of Mobile in SEO Rankings

We get to toot our own horn (so to speak) about "predicting" that mobile search will have a huge impact on search engine optimization. If you take a quick peek at our SEO predictions for 2015, mobile dominance was one of the things that was highlighted. Although not a bold claim, it definitely now is one of the major factors of ranking influence for Google (and other search engines).

The rise in mobile however, is no accident. Here is how mobile grew to become a major ranking factor:

Rise of Mobile Devices & Functionality

Obvious right? Well, it is and it isn't. While most of us expected mobile devices to expand in features, not many of us predicted them to invade nearly every aspect of our lives:

• Directions/GPS (Google Maps)
• Dating (Tinder)
• Taxi service (Uber)
• Travel service (Airbnb)
• Restaurant reservations (OpenTable)
• Music (iTunes, Google Music)
• Shows/Movies (Netflix)
• Work (email, mobile office, etc.)
• Photography/Videography

These are just some of the apps or services offered directly via mobile or tablet apps. 

As a matter of fact Canadians have spent over 46% more time on their mobile devices in 2015 than they have in 2011 according to eMarketer.

And guess what users do when they're in an argument with a friend? Trying to find a local place to eat? Shop? They Google it. Whether it be voice search or actually searching Google/Maps, the searches were shifting to mobile.

Shift to Location-Based & Mobile Search

Mobile search seems to be the most common starting point for mobile research, particularly commerce oriented:

As mentioned above, due to the increased functionalities smartphone/tablet have been gaining traction in usage of not only the internet overall, but local searches and exploration.

According to Mediative research, about 53% of mobile searches have local intent. 

Actually, that intent usually results in searches leading to offline purchases according to Google's research below. Connecting the mobile (online) and offline channel together:

With such a quick ability to find information and locate nearby places, actions are being taken much faster as well.

Mediative indicates that 70% of mobile searches result in action being taken within an hour as opposed to a week for desktop.

This is shifting businesses to not only become mobile-friendly in their digital presence but also consider contextual approach to buyers. Be ready with BOTH, the right message and at the right time. Decisions are made almost immediately nowadays and being readily present on mobile devices is critical!

Introduction of Google Mobile Tools & Ranking Algorithm Updates

Having fully embraced this mobile shift, Google put the pedal to the metal and started rolling out new tools and search algorithms to accommodate the shifting trends in how users perform searches. Early-mid 2015, Google rolled out the mobile ranking algorithm which was dubbed "Mobilegeddon" because majority of sites that were not responsive or mobile-friendly were to take a ranking hit.

In addition to rolling out these search updates, Google wanted webmasters to remain competitive in search by offering guidelines and tools to keep  up with the changing times. They have a free mobile-friendly test tool that anyone can use to evaluate the mobile friendliness of their webpage (and to see which areas are in need of improvement).

Most recently, for any users of Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) there is now a tool directly available in the console to see if Google's search recognizes your webpages as mobile friendly.

What Do Website Owners Need to Do?

If your website is not responsive by now, it should be your #1 priority. Not only will your rankings take a hit but any mobile users having difficulty on your website are more than likely to abandon their efforts and check out a competitor. Invest in your mobile users and become part of the shift!

Ideally anything that you do will be mobile-first oriented from here on. Also, keep in mind that wearable technology and the Internet of Things (or IoT) are the next "big thing". Keeping these developments in mind, it will be interesting to see if and how search results are influenced by smartwatches (and other wearable tech).

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Unknown Wednesday, June 01, 2016  

Does Your Small Business Need a Blog?

As a small business owner or marketer you've probably heard the term "content is king" many times by now. And one of the best ways to create and share all sorts of visual, textual, and animated content where visitors can be engaged is via blogging. As a matter of fact many industry-leading marketing brands constantly highlight why blogging is important for business.

But with the huge surge in corporate blogging and content generation, does your small business really need a blog? Is it going to make a big difference? The answer is still overwhelmingly YES.

Here is why:

It Is Cost Effective

Creating a blog is fairly cost effective. Using blogging platforms such as the premium service from Wordpress would cost you $99 USD (there is a free version as well) on a yearly basis and that service basically allows for an integration of multitude of features:

• custom domain name
• combined blog and website in one place
• various plug-ins to help optimize for SEO, writing and editing
• easy to use interface
• responsive template designs so you don't have to start from scratch

With that being said, to produce engaging content you will still need to include visuals, videos and other features which may require time or financial investment. Luckily we put together a list of free online marketing tools to help keep things on budget!

Doing the actual writing or content creation itself will take some of your time, but once you get into the groove it becomes much smoother (and much more fun). Biggest investments will be learning and time.

Long-Term Lead Generation Tool

Blogging is not just a means of connecting to your audience on a more personal level, it is a fantastic lead generation tool. While timeliness (context is just as important as content) is a key component of capturing leads, according to HubSpot research 70% of traffic to their blogs each month come from posts that were published in the previous months and about 90% of the leads generated on their blog came from blog posts published in previous months.

If you put in a thorough effort to do proper research, create engaging visuals and reach your audience in the right way, previously published blog posts can be a fantastic lead generation tool.

Creates Storytelling & Networking Opportunities

If by now you are not aware of storytelling, take a look at our recent post covering the improtance of creating a brand personality. Basically, storytelling does not fall under marketing or ads, it is simply a way to evoke imagination within your audience. They should not be focused on your brand, they should be focused on your reader. Done right blog can be a huge storytelling venue where the reader engages with your content on a deeper level beyond just becoming a customer.

Such storytelling capabilities and/or useful blog posts can usually lead to networking opportunities. Readers can engage you directly in the comment section, become brand ambassadors (sharing your content on the regular) or even connect for potential guest blogging possibilities. A great example of this would be this exact blog post. I have made a reference to the HubSpot blog and stats numerous times because I regularly consume their content that I frequently share. They publish useful information all the time!

Increases PR Outreach Possibilities

Some posts can spread like wildfire. Unexpected company announcements, emotion provoking videos or very helpful, in-depth guides quickly spread all over social media. Similarly to the networking point above, imagine one of your blog posts getting shared by an industry thought leader or a major news outlet?

While this is the ideal scenario it is much harder to achieve. Content within the blog post usually has to be very informative, ground breaking or engage the intended audience in a way that no one has yet done. No easy task, but not impossible either.

Contributes to SEO Efforts

Blogs are a fantastic way to improve your Google rankings. Why? Well, your corporate website (you know the one with the about us, history, products, etc.) probably does not have many pages. On top of that they probably aren't updated too often. This is where a blog comes in handy: you can research topics that are of interest to your audience (who would of thought there would be something more interesting than reading an "about us" page?) and create a visual, interactive story that they will WANT to engage with and most likely share.

What do you think is more likely to get shared? Your website home-page or a kick-ass blog they read on their phone while waiting for dinner? If you take a look at your own personal social media feeds they are more likely to be filled with videos and blog posts than corporate web pages.

Create buyer personas, research content and get creative! Blogs allow for more indexed pages and a broader search ranking. Imagine how many different terms you can focus on with blogs compared to just your website.

Uncovers Audience Insights

Not only does each blog post have some sort of call to action feature, but a blog usually consists of multiple topics and themes. Tracking, measuring and analyzing user behaviour and content consumption of your visitors can help shed light on future content focus. Perhaps your audience members prefer long articles full of how-to steps as opposed to listicles (listed points, such as 10 Ways to Do Such and Such).

Using this data to drive better content will help increase engagement, performance and even lead generation. Set clear goals you want to achieve with your blog and evaluate as you keep publishing content.

If you're on the fence about starting a small business blog, do it! Blogs are still a very useful tool to connect with your audience. 

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Unknown Monday, May 02, 2016  

Outsourcing vs. In-House Digital Marketing

Small businesses often face a tough choice: try to do all of their digital marketing in house or find a suitable external resource to outsource work to. While digital marketing service providers have exploded over the last few years, it can be hard to find a company or a freelancer that is the right fit for your brand. Not just financially, but understanding of customers, industry knowledge, services/product familiarity, etc.

On the other hand, doing things in-house seems to be more cost effective, but if you do not have the right technical or marketing knowledge, you risk of doing more harm than good in the long-run. Plus time used on building your brand is time that would have been allocated elsewhere.

So, how do you know which route is best?

Like many areas of running a small business, it depends. I have previously put together an infographic covering the differences of hiring an employee vs. a freelancer. Further to that infographic; below are key factors you should consider before making a decision.

Cost 

Most often the first concern of any small business owner: how much will it cost me?

Outsource Option

Depending on the amount of work required, costs can vary. Generally digital marketing consultants and freelancers charge anywhere from $50-$200/hour depending on experience levels, technicality, etc. Projects can also be agreed upon for a one-time fee, or a regular monthly fee. These two options vary greatly depending on how demanding the work is.

Example: if you're looking to build a responsive website with common contact forms, email sign ups, graphics and such the cost may range from $2,000-$6,000. Price will go up with the amount of copy-writing and design necessary to finalize the website. However, a more complex website that includes a CMS (content management system), e-commerce functionalities or databases can cost anywhere from $6,000-$25,000 depending on the features.

In-house Option

Fortunately for the do-it-yourself small businesses, there are numerous website builder services that can help create entire websites from scratch. Popular service providers like Wix offer free (basic feature) website builders and premium services ranging from $12-$25/month (US dollars) on an annual subscription, or $23-$40 US dollars on a monthly plan. While they provide pre-set templates that can be customized, there are hidden costs with these services: your employees time spent on customizing the template, ongoing maintenance, creating updates, imagery and copy creation, training materials/courses, etc.

For someone who may not be familiar with web or graphic design these tasks can be quite time consuming and take away focus from other functions. Unless your small business has a designated web and/or marketing role, it may be beneficial to outsource work. The above example covers only web design, similar cost comparisons can be made for social media management, graphic design, etc.

Skills & Experience

Scheduling social media posts is easy, we do it on our personal profiles. But utilizing social media as a branding or lead generating tool takes someone with a trained skill set in social media marketing.

Looking at the cost numbers mentioned above, most small businesses would opt to do in-house work as the initial numbers favour the do it yourself approach. While this may be true for certain things, other may better left be outsourced. Why?

Certain aspects of digital marketing require proper training or knowledge in order to yield results. One such marketing function, which is constantly evolving, is search engine optimization. SEO requires ongoing training and knowledge in order to properly climb the ranking ladder AND not to get penalized by major search engines. Google regularly penalizes websites which purposely use unfavourable tactics to raise their rankings.

Services such as SEO, graphic design, any complex coding which are usually crucial elements of marketing efforts, should not be left up to chance. Having an already trained employee in these efforts is hard to find, usually employees narrow their focus to their strengths: visual designers, coders, etc.

As an example: if you're looking to initiate an email marketing program but do not have an in-house colleague who is familiar with CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) or best practices, it could result in tarnished relationships with customers and potential legal troubles. You do not want to leave your company's brand perception in the hands of inexperience because it could be detrimental in the long run. If costs seem high initially, nothing could be more costly than a dwindling customer base and lack of business!

Timeliness & Knowledge

This is where, in my opinion, the in-house approach may have an advantage over outsourcing. No one is familiar with the products and services as the people who are working with them each day. Certain industries don't require specialized knowledge but if your small business provides software solutions or high-tech products, a freelancer or external agency may have to take the time to get familiar with you and your industry before being able to produce content on your behalf.

Secondly, depending on the type of freelancer, consultant or company you're working with - timeliness may not be their strong suit. Freelancers often work with multiple clients and have simultaneous projects happening which can sometimes lead to prolonged of response times and small projects not receiving the attention they need.

If you have ideas or projects that require time-sensitive work, you should do some research before working with an external organization or individual. Try to get in touch with current or past clients, talk to them about deadlines, etc.

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While there are more factors to consider, I find these to be the most common and crucial ones. If you've come across something yourself feel free to share in the comment section!

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Unknown Wednesday, March 16, 2016