When it comes to marketing your business, you want to be sure you’re getting the best value for your money with a reputable Tampa Digital Marketing Agency. No business wants to waste its budget on a marketing campaign that won’t work. Often, they turn to digital marketing packages to help them utilize their marketing budget well.
It might surprise you but simply relying on digital marketing packages can be a mistake. In fact, in certain situations, digital marketing packages can be one of the biggest ways to waste your marketing budget, even though it’s easy to fall into the temptation of seemingly low prices or great options.
So, how exactly are digital marketing packages a waste of your money? Read below to find out.
How Digital Marketing Packages Can Waste Your Money
1. When The Agency Lacks Specific Knowledge of Your Industry
Is your business in a rather unique industry? Are there specific things necessary to running your business? It’s likely that the marketing agency is lacking in the knowledge or expertise you need. If the agency hasn’t ever worked in your industry before, that’s even worse.
Every agency needs time to gain experience no matter how many business owners they’ve helped. While the agency may have extensive knowledge in a similar industry, that’s not the same as having knowledge in your specific industry. The low prices or seemingly great deals on a marketing package can overshadow this, however, so you’re less likely to notice.
2. If There’s No Overarching Strategy
Every marketing campaign needs a strategy. It doesn’t matter how experienced your digital advertising team is, there needs to be a well-thought-out plan before you launch your campaign. Without one, your campaign is doomed before it even starts.
If an agency does not provide a strategy or only gives you bits and pieces of information, this is a red flag. You’ll end up spending money on a campaign that won’t be nearly as successful as if you’d laid out a clear, long-lasting plan before getting started.
3. If Your Campaign is Not Professionally or Properly Done
This seems fairly obvious. If your campaign is run by amateurs, then you’re going to get an amateur return on it. However, some businesses are wrongly intrigued by the great package prices and completely overlook the lack of experience.
When it comes to any marketing campaign, it needs to be professionally done. After all, this is your business’s first impression on most potential customers. You need to stay consistent and professional across all your marketing platforms or you may end up losing customers or not being taken seriously.
With a marketing package, you need to be confident that your campaign will be run professionally in all forms. Some marketing firms may be running several campaigns at once as other businesses purchase the same marketing package as you. When this happens, your business won’t be getting the professional attention it needs.
4. If Digital Marketing is Not Suitable For Your Product
If your product or service is for a group of people who don’t typically use Facebook, then don’t advertise on Facebook. Your package may not allow for this flexibility though, so instead of spending that money on a platform that will reach your audience, you waste it on one that isn’t helpful.
A good example of this is a business owner creating online advertising that targets the elderly. Very few seniors are tech-savvy enough to see your campaign on social media. Rather than wasting money on a marketing package such as that, focus your attention on areas where they will see you.
Before you choose a marketing package, ask yourself if it’s worth it. Ask the company where your business will be advertised and if you can change the platforms to better suit your target audience. If not, that’s a sign that you’re about to waste your marketing budget.
5. If You Don’t Know Your Audience
Do you have an idea of who your audience is? What about your competition’s audience? In order to have an efficient campaign, you need to be intricately aware of both your target audience.
If you don’t already know your target audience, then you should take the time to figure it out before starting an online marketing campaign.
With a clear understanding of your audience, you’ll know exactly where to focus your time and energy. Your money is directed in a clear path and your resources are used properly rather than spread out wherever the agency you hire deems fit.
6. If You’re Expecting Results Overnight
Is the agency promising you overnight results? Don’t trust them. Any agency worth their salt will ensure your campaign receives constant and regular views instead of an absurd amount of views in one night. Don’t let an online marketing package tempt you with its promise of overnight results.
When you create a campaign strategy, you’ll have to set realistic goals and deadlines. Since every business and every campaign is different, there’s no way to promise the same timeline for everyone.
With a focus on overnight results, you can be sure that your resources will be used poorly and your campaign will fail to be effective very quickly.
Although it isn’t always true, many campaigns that see large results overnight will lose traction just as quickly. Instead of risking a premature end of your campaign, spend your budget wisely and go with the steady and sustainable option.
Should You Even Use Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is an effective way to reach your audience in the online world. There are many advantages digital marketing provides that traditional marketing can’t, but you should still be careful when starting an online campaign.
As we’ve mentioned above, you don’t want to sign up for any digital marketing package without understanding how digital marketing fits into your overarching business strategy. If you’re wondering if you should even use digital marketing, here are some of the benefits you should be aware of.
1. Reach Customers More Effectively
Digital marketing is able to reach your target audience or ideal customers very effectively. When you create online ads, you can create a specific target audience so that your campaign only reaches those that are interested in your business or product.
2. Get Real-Time Results
Digital marketing provides accurate, real-time results throughout your campaign. While results don’t happen overnight, you will see changes take place as your targeted customers turn into leads and sales. You can even watch where new leads come from: social media, online ads, or other digital marketing tools.
3. Cost-Effective
Compared to traditional marketing methods, digital marketing is much more cost-effective. The marketing channels are cheaper and more targeted so you won’t spend your budget advertising to people who aren’t interested.
Traditional TV and radio ads often cost thousands of dollars for a few fleeting minutes. You can’t be sure of their effectiveness and whether your target audience saw or heard your ad since there is no accurate way to track the results.
With digital marketing and online ads, you have a lot of data at your fingertips. You’ll be able to see the number of views, clicks, conversions, and more. This way, you can reach so much more of your target audience and you’ll be able to constantly refine your campaigns with the data you have for even better success and cost-effectiveness.
4. Be More Personalized
With digital marketing tools, you can take a more personalized approach when reaching out to your client base. Once again, because you have so much more data and technology on hand, you can create and deliver personalized content to each individual.
Some examples of personalized marketing include targeted emails where a business owner sends out specific email newsletters or messages to different segments of his customer base, depending on where they are at in their buyer’s journey.
Another example is product recommendations, where a business owner can tailor certain product suggestions to different customers, based on what they are likely to buy given their purchase history.
Stronger relationships are built between your business and your customers, giving rise to better customer satisfaction. You’ll also find that your business will enjoy better brand loyalty over time, leading to increased sales and revenue.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a fantastic way to reach new customers and increase brand awareness. However, you need to be careful when looking for an agency. Don’t fall for promises and great package deals as that could just lead you down the unfortunate path of wasting your budget and putting you off trying digital marketing as a whole.
To work with a digital marketing agency that’s honest and that you can trust, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We only take on businesses that we are confident of helping and we don’t believe in ineffective one-size-fits-all marketing packages that only seek to entice businesses with seemingly good prices.
Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.