Digital Marketing and ROI for SMBs
Highlights of my Tweetchat session with René Digital Hub
I just concluded a session with the René Digital Hub team on Twitter and I thought of sharing the highlights. The team and audience asked various questions about how small and medium-sized businesses can get the best out of their digital marketing efforts.
You can follow the conversations and some others on Twitter with this hashtag: #BigTalkWithRene
How can business owners and startups tie Digital marketing and online engagement to ROI?
It starts with knowing what to achieve and measuring the impact of your marketing efforts. Most startups make the mistake of doing marketing without measurement. When marketing is not measured, it is near useless. At the end of the day, you will probably notice a spike in sales but won’t be able to figure out where it is coming from. For startups and small businesses, every dollar count. Every dollar must be measured.
Are there any hard fast “rules” for Digital Marketing you think brands should follow?
Nope. There are no hard-fast rules. Digital Marketing is pretty dynamic and every brand has a different shot at it. I would say, don’t stick with any rule. Keep testing till you discover what works for you. In the end, you will end up creating the rules that work for your own domain.
In your experience, do you think certain industries get better outcomes than others with Digital marketing?
Of course. I have worked with different industries including hospitality, retail, travel, fashion, not for profit and some others. Like I said earlier, digital marketing is pretty dynamic and different per industry. It typically works better when your transaction is totally online. It’s easy to buy say a phone worth $500 online than buy a car worth $500,000 online. It becomes more difficult when customers have to start a transaction online and complete it offline.
Is digital marketing as a practice evolving? How has it evolved?
Yes, it is evolving at an amazing rate. We started with the regular ad banners in 1994. As technology advances, we have come to understand how data can work to better marketing efforts. Then, we got to the era of programmatic advertising which makes ad-buying seamless. We have also gone to understand our customers more by targeting based on interests, affinity as well as intent. We have come a long way and I still see more coming with the advent of AI and ML.
What are some key tips to a perfect DM strategy?
Know your customers. Every strategy should revolve round the customer. They own the buck. Understand what they need and deliver excellently on that. Also, never stop testing. Understand that whatever works can be done better. Measure everything. Measurement should not be overlooked. Take advantage of the various free measuring and analytics tools like Google Analytics. Also, most advertising tools have their dashboards. Never take data & insights for granted. They should lead your next steps every single time.
Questions from the Audience
How do you stay updated on the latest trends in DM? Which are the DM resources (blogs) you visit frequently?
Staying up to date is very important for digital marketers and you really can’t be everywhere. I read product announcements of the specific ad tools I use as well as use Google Alerts to track down happenings. I also use my social media trends very well. Twitter Trends is gold. You can’t be everywhere but you can choose where you want to be. Make every moment count.
Are likes/impressions not deceptive ways to measure ROI particularly when it’s not bringing sales. What are your thoughts on this?
Again, digital marketing is very dynamic. What works for one brand will likely not work for another. A brand built on social media like “emmaohmagod” or “tywse_116” will never see likes as deceptive. That is conversion for them. And if they are getting more followers and likes for every dollar spent, business is in good shape. For a new brand focused on TOMA, impressions is very important as a metric. They want people to see them everywhere. But likes will do little or no good to a brand like Rolls Royce. I’ll say different strokes for different folks. Understand what you want to achieve in the end and measure with that.
What are some new trends businesses should watch for in Digital Marketing?
I will put my bet on Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
