Results for: business website

Image source

 

In today’s competitive economy, businesses are in search of affordable digital marketing services from digital marketing company that do not compromise on quality. Even big companies are finding it confusing to figure out how much to pay. But it’s common knowledge that you can only get services according to how much you are willing to spend.

Before we begin

If you do not implement the right tools, no marketing in the world will help you succeed. For example, you must have a validated lead and sales generation system in place alongside landing pages or email sequences that convert. And even then, great marketing cannot make up for a bad sales team.

What does digital marketing encompass?

Digital marketing refers to services that increase a brand or company’s visibility. Most are straightforward, including inbound marketing solutions, paid media advertising, analytics, brand monitoring, etc. However, they must contain SWEPS, the five basic principles of digital marketing for online success.

1.SEO

One of the most important services of digital marketing, it optimizes your website for search engines. 75% of internet users do not scroll past the first page. A higher SERP ranking equates to a greater number of visitors to your site, resulting in more conversions or sales. Basic SEO services can start at around $500 a month, especially if software or app is utilized to manage or review the site. Anything above this amount should include creating and distributing blog/vlog content as well as engaging with community pages and posts.

The cost of content depends on whether it contains blogs, videos, website copy, or long-form posts. The frequency of creation (whether it’s a one-time piece or weekly blog posts), level of skill required, and the target audience will affect the price. On any level, video content requires more experience, expertise, and technical equipment than written content. Expect a higher cost of video content creation. If your business demands these services, it’s a great marketing strategy.

Local SEO services cost between $1,000 to $5,000 per month, while those attempting to rank nationally may need to invest $8,000 to $20,000 per month.

2. Web Development

Web development involves a lot of technicalities so, this may be a little tricky to price. A basic design consisting of 4 to 8 pages can range anywhere between $1,000 to $5,000. This may not be suitable for businesses that deal with e-commerce, online banking, or have large product inventory, as typically required by financial institutions or insurance businesses. They could cost from $8,000 upwards, depending if a web development manager is hired.

Building landing pages and lead magnets are also essential aspects of website building. Depending on the level of complexity, prices vary between $500 and $50,000.

3. Email Marketing

People check email multiple times a day, so this type of marketing is a practical, easy and cheap way to reach a wider audience. 49 % of companies are implementing some sort of email automation, such as allowing them to send emails to customers automatically when a purchase or a new registration is made. A basic package consisting of email marketing management, automation, and segmentation starts from $500.

4. Pay Per Click

Nearly 65% of customers click on ads. So PPC, also known as search engine ads, is the quickest way to reach a target audience. However, it is an expensive option, costing a minimum of $1000 a month. Before going for a PPC campaign, make sure to research good keywords, using the wrong ones will result in a waste of money.

5. Social Media Management

Most consumers use some form of social media, whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Linkedin, etc. Therefore, it’s vital to have a social media presence. Every digital marketing service should include some social media management. After all, it’s a cheap and effective way to increase engagement and sales. No wonder 90 % of businesses are using social media for marketing purposes.

The cost depends on the number of social media platforms that need to be managed, the level of customization, and the frequency of posting. Expect $500 for a few weekly posts on 2 or 3 platforms. The cost will go higher as the number of platforms and services performed on each platform increases. Keep in mind that advertising through any platform will incur extra charges.

What to look for in a digital marketing agency

You’ve identified what services you need. But before you decide on which agency you will collaborate with, look for one that has a good marketing strategy. Remember to hire an agency with proficient knowledge of SWEPS. The agency itself should have an established web presence.

A company that is experienced has a reputation of success and employs a well-trained team will charge more than a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork who is just getting started. Freelancers can charge rates between $20-$50 an hour, but at this rate, you will most likely be working with someone who is new to the field and wants to develop a reputation. And even though these individuals often label themselves as experts, only newbies can afford to work this cheap. So if you are looking for real talent or an agency with experienced staff, be prepared to pay a little extra. Always remember to look at certifications, customer reviews, and testimonials.

How much should I pay?

You need to study the rate and basic structure that a marketing agency is offering. Since there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, the plan should be customized to meet your needs – and budget. The problem is that most businesses start off by fixing a budget.  For this reason, some are caught between a struggle of compromising either price or quality.

Instead of focusing on how much you want to pay, invest time in evaluating your current digital marketing activities. Begin by determining what results you are aiming for and decide how much you can spend on that area. The cost will depend on what services you need for your business. And depending on how intensive your approach is, you will be billed accordingly. Keep in mind that digital marketing services are typically charged in the following ways:

• Hourly rates- between $90 to $210
• Project-specific prices- around $4,500 to $7,000 per project
• Monthly retainers- an affordable option for businesses with extensive digital marketing, ranging from $3000 to $10,000 per month.

But these are only estimates. Top digital marketing or social management agencies know what works for one customer may not be feasible for another. Marketing plans must be customized to fit requirements and budget guidelines. Compare the rates of several before choosing one.

Agencies begin by evaluating your current activities and suggest a realistic strategy that will help achieve your goals. Be open to ideas and recommendations on how to fuel better conversion rates as well as open your company’s web presence- even if it means extra projects or services. Many also offer discounts on a bundle of services or base packages, starting as low as $1000 a month.

Why is digital marketing important?

When it comes to taking steps to make your company successful, we all know how important marketing is. And there are no shortcuts in the digital world. Select a marketing agency that has top-notch employees such as strategists, marketing specialists, and technical experts. They must have the passion and creativity to launch innovative ideas and campaigns. Even at your best, there is always room for improvement. With the correct strategies and tools, you can encourage user engagement to drive business growth.

You probably can’t count the number of times you’ve seen forms of consumer marketing slathered practically everywhere.

From something as mainstream as television and print to our individual feeds in social media, and even as you do research on Google, consumer marketing is more memorable. It’s also the type of marketing that’s easily associated with pop culture and all things the general public deems fun.

B2B and SaaS marketing, on the other hand, is not so simple…

By no means am I insinuating that consumer marketing is easy? It’s not, but it’s very traditional. And therefore, it’s more recognizable and more celebrated.

Let’s be perfectly honest. Selling and marketing software to your target audience is not thrilling… Do it wrong, and the ridicule descends even further into being unremarkable.

Because of this, it’s a little more challenging to come up with creative and effective marketing strategies to leverage software awareness. But it’s not as daunting when you know how to generate SaaS gains with the best ABM practices.

How does ABM tie in with SaaS?

Marketing software and making it interesting enough to sell is a quest in itself. SaaS tools exist, but they have no physical form. So how do you go about marketing something that doesn’t exist on the physical plane? Selling intangible objects place a restriction on what marketers can and can’t do.

In addition, SaaS tools constantly change. New features and updates are constantly released. And for this reason, it can be difficult for marketers to pin down the fundamental messaging before the other versions are released.

So where does account-based marketing (ABM) factor into SaaS’ shortcomings?

ABM is steadily rising as a core platform among B2B marketers. Instead of aiming for an ideal customer persona, ABM is a targeted approach that personalizes communication with a high-profile target. For instance, instead of targeting grocery stores, the SaaS marketing campaign would just target Walmart.

And at its very core, ABM is very similar to other marketing campaigns. However, the difference lies in the content and the messaging that aims for the opportunities unlocked by the target business.

• Even back in 2014, 85% of marketers who measured their ROI said ABM techniques outperformed other marketing investments. 50% say the difference was significant (ITSMA survey).
• ABM generated 200% more revenue for their marketing efforts (FlipMyFunnel).
• 83% of companies profess that the main benefit of ABM is the increase in engagement with target accounts (DemandBase).
• ABM gives 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rates (MarketingProfs).
• 43% of business who use ABM for 3 or more years report a significant impact it had on their entire funnel (EWeek).

Simply speaking, SaaS marketing is a complex quest, and ABM is the solution that’s looking you right in the face.

Learning how to generate SaaS gains with the best ABM practices will help you reach the goal you’re striving for.

Steps to Generating SaaS Gains

Selling and producing software may be your company’s passion, but for a lot of companies, it’s their source of livelihood too.

The entire process of combining the best ABM practices and SaaS marketing entails prospect research to a whole other level. This helps you understand your audience better, and eventually, persuade them to gradually appreciate and love your software.

Step 1: Do your target research

Similar to marketing to consumers, your plans begin with identifying your targets. And that means doing research — and ample amounts of it. It’s your time to compile a list of accounts to pinpoint and target.

Quick research into your own database might uncover that you already have a list of employees from your target companies. Maybe you’ve been even sending them automated emails about your latest blog posts, or emailing them occasionally.

So, where do you find your target accounts?

The easy thing to do is to leave no stone unturned. You have to try every possible action to find the right people you’re looking for.

• Researching existing data: You can find the data in your marketing automation, CRM, or ERP systems.
• Call programs: Having your sales representatives call into the account to build out contacts.
• Purchased contact data: You can buy laser-focused lists from reputable data providers; like LeadGenius, ZoomInfo, etc.
• Manual research: Scraping and compiling contacts from search engine provided sources like LinkedIn, event websites, media websites, forums, or other social media channels.

And while you’re at it, don’t neglect to identify key decision maker information, either.

Any person who’s done sales is more than well-acquainted with key decision makers. Simply speaking, these are the people who will either say yes or not. These are also people who will influence that yes or no decision.

And as you identify and collect your list of accounts to target, take the time to identify what kind of buyer they are. Because as much as we wish for only one type, so our lives would be significantly easier, that’s not the reality.

At the very least, there are generally 5 types of key decision makers you need to be aware of (if you aren’t already).

• Initiator: Somebody who decides to start the buying process; and has most likely been placed in charge of solving a business challenge.
• Sales influencer: The person who takes the initiative in convincing others that they need the product.
• Decider: The one in charge of making the final decision whether to purchase or not.
• Buyer: Typically, these people are C-level, and they are the ones in charge of writing you the check.
• The User: The person who would be using your product. And it doesn’t entirely matter if they had a say in the product buying process or not.

Step 2: Segment the accounts and understand them

Upon completing your gigantic list of accounts to target, it is every B2B expert’s advice to break them down.

Perhaps your list of two hundred companies can be narrowed down even further by size, location, budget, industry etc. What you need to have in the end, are groups that you can easily communicate similar messages to. One message may not be the same for another particular group. And that’s why audience segmentation is important.

And once your audience segmentation is complete and nailed down, it’s time to understand them and get to know them. At this stage, here is where your buyer personas will still come in handy.

Learn about each company on your target list and the key decision makers you’ll be trying to persuade. Do what you must to get to know them sufficiently. You can try:

• Finding out who is involved in the SaaS buying process
• Doing online research (official websites, and social media accounts)
• Asking the people in your company who are in charge of sales
• Schedule interviews with current customers (if they’re available)
• Read customer feedback from citation sites

Understanding each segment is crucial to the kinds of marketing campaigns and programs you’ll have to implement to succeed at reaching them.

Step 3: Customize your marketing plan

While you work on tailoring your marketing plans, experts in learning how to generate SaaS gains with the best ABM practices advise starting with the buyer’s journey.

Identify what the key decision maker needs at each stage of their purchase journey. It’s all in the name of moving smoothly to the decision stage.

Remember that B2B sales cycles are longer, and require more nurturing tactics than most consumer-targeted efforts for them to be effective. And to succeed, make use of the marketing world’s best practices; B2B or otherwise.

Content Marketing

Content marketing, over the years, has developed to be an invaluable strategy for B2B SaaS marketers. To increase brand awareness while simultaneously reaching new audiences, content marketing is a staple of the marketing process.

But with 93% of B2B companies making use of content marketing, you are in for a bit of competition. Almost every SaaS company is in a bid to produce top-notch quality.

So when it comes to content marketing, the need to produce relevant content is necessary to become a thought-leader and to gain notoriety while building trust among target companies.

Social Media

Something worth mentioning is that when it comes to B2B SaaS marketing, the name of the game is building awareness. Even if a specific product doesn’t boast a broad audience yet, it would do companies well to build a strong social presence and a complementing content strategy that would appeal to the target accounts.

But in the case of cultivating a great presence on social media, SaaS businesses must make use of visual platforms like Twitter and Instagram. The practice isn’t to share blogs and point the way to a company landing page. The goal is to show off company culture and show the target audience the faces behind the SaaS business. And that, honestly speaking, is more exciting than constantly blabbering about software tools to no end.

Offering Free Trials and Samples

Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t delight in free stuff? (Even the rich won’t say no.)

Earlier in the introduction, we commented on how marketing something without an actual physical presence can pose several challenges. Again, unlike the typical consumer-targeted product or service, target accounts can’t physically pick up software tools. They can’t feel it with their hands, and they can’t touch it to know what it feels. They can’t even smell it or taste it.

Touching something, trying it out, feeling it, and seeing how well it works for you is an important part of the buying process. In fact, it’s the reason why physical stores never go out of a style — despite how digitized the world is.

Sadly, B2B SaaS marketers have no way of replicating the luxury of the sense of touch. But it is possible to emulate that feeling by offering free trials and samples. Letting someone use the product for free at a period of time or by limiting certain offers to free use is helpful.

Welcoming and Encouraging Honest Customer Reviews

Time and time again, experts emphasize that everybody trusts peer recommendations better than actual sales pitches. In addition, today’s generation of consumers — B2B or otherwise — demand honesty and authenticity from product and service providers.

Dreading the inevitable and occasional negative review can’t be helped. But customer reviews are incredibly valuable.

First and foremost, they’re absolutely free. And moreover, you might find that clients are more inclined to give their opinion on a software — especially if they have used it extensively, or even tried out the free trial. Second, your client’s insights and feedback give other potential clients realistic expectations. And the best benefit of all is that encouraging customer reviews is your way of demonstrating social proof.

The Takeaway

There are three steps to implement the best ABM practice for generating significant SaaS gains.

• Doing your target research
• Segmenting accounts and understanding each of them
• Customizing the right marketing plan to launch

Making use of these best practices is crucial for acquiring considerable gains in all of your SaaS efforts.

About the author

Al Gomez is an SEO Consultant. Al has over 12 years’ client digital marketing experience and has proven track records of successful projects and expertise in various marketing channels. He is passionate about solving online marketing problems like generating leads and increasing sales. He is also the Consultant for a digital marketing agency, Dlinkers offering services like SEO, PPC, Email marketing, & Web Development.

https://pixabay.com/photos/seo-sem-marketing-optimization-web-758264/

You sit on your desktop looking for the best online deals on fashion merchandise. What do you usually do? You merely Google the results and look for the ones that suit you. More often than not, you click on the ones at the top. Do you ever wonder what makes those sites appear at the top? Is it their popularity?

However, the main reason why they appear at the top is their optimization in accordance with the search engine. Search engine optimization has been a defining moment for the change in online advertising and digital marketing industry. Most websites prefer to optimize their content for it to appear at the top of the search results in Google. It has specific strategies which help your site grow in terms of stature.

 

A Brief on the Working of SEO

How does SEO make it possible for your website to appear at the top? Well, it’s not such a complicated process. Every site stands for its content, as it should. The content is the main structure which makes your website strong. In the working of SEO too, it’s the content which plays a significant role. For it to work, you would have to be well-versed with keywords and searches of your content.

What happens is, we target a few specific words from our content and use it as keywords. The experts set keywords according to the searches on Google. For example, if we see a few words which have a vast range in the search history, we can set them as our keywords. It sets up the content is such a way that Google tracks your content up whenever people use those words to search the internet.

It is mainly this strategy which works in Search Engine Optimization. Not only the text content but it also works with various other forms of content available in the web world. Going deep down the context would help us know more about how SEO event works. However, companies usually hire SEO experts such as SEO Company Los Angeles to help them out with the optimization of your content.

 

Working over Videos

Videos are by far the best means of boosting your web content. When you have well-framed video clippings which go well along with your website and its content, it is bound to boost your content for search engine optimization. You don’t need proof to believe how vital videos can be in capturing people’s attention. Once you go away with grabbing the attention, half of your work is over.

Statistically too, videos have seen a rise in their use over the years. Recent developments in the industry have placed videos way above other kinds of content in the market. As you scroll through videos, you get to see various types of content which unknowingly grabs your attention towards a specific product. It is this skill which you require if you wish to excel in this field.

 

Benefits of Incorporating SEO

Websites all over the world look to incorporate SEO into their systems. There have to be substantial reasons behind this. Optimizing your content is more important than you might think. Let’s see the benefits of SEO below:

1. Low Cost and Maintenance

SEO is unlike advertisement where you pay for your products’ advertising. It is something which comes with skill and information. You hire SEO experts to optimize your content, and you are good to go. You don’t need any extra payment over the online sources to boost your content. Some people go for illegal sources and spend money, but the effort ultimately goes in vain, as they fail to focus on their content.

One should know that spending extra money is not going to get them anywhere. It’s their effort and quality which can do so.

2. Increase in Traffic

Optimizing your content means a definite increase in web traffic. Statistically, most websites opting for SEO have witnessed a considerable increase in traffic. It’s obvious when your content appears on the top of the search results that you are bound to see an increase in web traffic. The growth would not be there overnight, but it would be steady enough to keep you guessing. You have to keep patience for the result.

3. Enhancement in Credibility and Stature

For a brand, its credibility stands on top of its priority list as it should. As a webmaster, it is obvious for you to look for a way out which helps you enhance your credibility. You can use social media platforms, your nearby sources, and other means to propagate your brand credibility, which are good ways of promoting your brand. However, SEO lets you have a look at the bigger picture.

Using SEO, when your content appears on the top of search results, your potential customers are bound to think about your brand as a high-end one. This impression of your brand on your potential customers demands a strategy. SEO helps you have that.

 

4. Return of Investment

Your expectations for your investments rise higher with the amount that you consider for investing in a project. With SEO, you land in an entirely appropriate place where you get more than your expectations. The effects on SEO on your web traffic are most of the times higher than what you usually expect for a certain amount of expenditure. So, the return of investment that you get in SEO is one of the best.

5. You are ahead of your competitors

If a concept becomes popular, its demand is bound to increase. With an increase in demand, the competition also increases. Considering a lot of people are already starting to look for SEO experts to expand their business online, you should not waste any time in getting started. It would make you stand with your competitors who are already in this field and give you an edge over those who aren’t.

Business is a race where you need to strive to get better every day. Don’t simply do it because everyone is busy doing it but, do it because it’s the way to go.

Everything we do is goal-oriented, and the goal is to bring as many customers as we can, whilst keeping them happy. If your brand doesn’t speak for itself, don’t expect many new customers and prepare to say goodbye to your current ones. Branding (and rebranding) requires balancing many elements which all together represent your company in a simple and appealing way. It’s all about customers, and yet the way to get customers is to establish a recognizable, eye-catching, unique brand. Here are some ideas on how you can get more customers by properly communicating your brand.

Engagement marketing

Experiential (engagement) marketing is a marketing strategy that allows consumers to actually see and feel what your product can do. This is a great way to help your clients realize the benefits of your product, and generally, what they will get by sticking to your company. Representing your brand through such strategy is a great idea because you’re both “selling” the product and representing your ideology.

Break the chains

Let your creativity kick in. Traditional ways are called “traditional” for a good reason, as they used to work and they represent something common and already seen. That’s why today we have something called “modern”. Mixing your creativity with some modern techniques/advice you’ve seen or heard will allow you to fight the invisible constraints and express yourself in a new and memorable way.

Online and offline stores should look the same

Developing and designing a website takes a lot of time and effort. Building a store and designing the interior and exterior also take a lot of time. Since you’re already going to invest so much in these two, why not take a step further and make them as if they were two parts of the same whole? A visitor that checks out your website, finds something he likes and decides to come to the store itself and check out the product in person, will surely be amazed when he sees that the store’s layout is almost the same as the website’s layout.

Real-world view

It’s very satisfying and educational at the same time, watching a person use some product, in real-time. Thanks to the modern era we’re living in and to all the technology and trends, we’re able to watch stuff like that, which is an amazing way of showcasing your business. Many websites provide live streaming, and of course we’re all witnesses of great ideas that Instagram and other social media have come up with. According to this master in advertising, today companies need marketing solutions that can flow like a liquid into whatever the new inventions have brought to us.

Stay fresh

Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, these days everything has to be stylish. Not only that it has become sort of a trend that more and more people tend to follow and worship, but even the statistics prove that fashionable design and advertisements tend to catch more eyes than regular “boring” ones. If you’re having a photo shoot to promote certain product that a user can interact with, make sure that the user looks like he’s getting ready for a gala evening. Also, if the product has anything to do with technology, make sure to point out the devices to create a “natural-looking” environment. Don’t forget about colors – everything should be harmonized!

Let your store speak for itself!

From the moment a client walks into your store or takes a look at your brand, they should immediately know what they are looking at and they should feel that vibe instantly. If you have to walk someone through your story than you’ve failed showing that story throughout your brand and store.

From what you’ve read so far, you should already have an idea of what are the things you can do in order to keep your current customers happy and to attract new buyers. As soon as they see your brand, visit your website or walk in one of your stores, they should form a positive opinion about your products and decide on purchasing them.

 

 

Author bio: Jennifer Hahn Masterson is a senior business strategist, holding an MA degree in business communication. She is always doing her best to help her clients find their place in the ever so competitive business arena. You can check her out on LinkedIn and Twitter.