Insights

As digital marketers, we are tasked by people who look up to us as professionals to solve the problems they have - and to use digital to do it.

We have a wealth of tools at our disposal and where the saying used to be "50% of marketing works, we just don't know which 50% it is", in my opinion taking this approach in today's environment simply isn't good enough. We have the ability to track both online and offline campaigns, and while paid tools go in-depth like never before, the free tools available still give incredible insight if we know how to use and understand them - which by the way, as professionals is at the core of our entire existence.

Call Me Maybe

Following being on a video call recently with another marketing agency tasked with managing paid advertising campaigns for one of my clients, a spend in the thousands over several months has not led to a single sale and the Cost per Acquisition for email leads is almost 5 times more than what I (and the client) would consider to be acceptable.

When asked why this was and what was being done about it, the best that could be offered was a mix of "maybe", "perhaps" and a host of suggestions based clearly on assumptions. Digging deeper, screen recordings, stats and analytics are all integrated and available but have not been examined, and split testing isn't happening because "that would cost more".

WTAF...

Truth, Beauty And A Picture Of Who

Unfortunately, over the last 20 years in this industry I have seen this time and time again.

Digital marketing is largely misunderstood by those not active or interested in the "how" and success is very much retrospective. This makes it a breeding ground for agencies and freelancers alike who lack integrity and see an opportunity to make a small fortune knowing that at the end of the campaign a "sorry looks like it didn't work" will either make the client leave or hand over more money in the hope that something might change.

The truth of what's going on in the digital presence of any business lies in the data. Using this data enables us to understand what is working, what is not and to build a picture of who is most likely to convert to something of value to the client - be it sales, leads or even authority.

When we focus on these real conversions and not just the vanity metrics associated with increasing traffic or leads, something beautiful happens and we end up being a part of not only leading the horse to water, but in making it 'drink' as well.

For Agencies/Freelancers...

If you are an agency or freelancer, how often do you come across this kind of thing? Does it grind your gears as much as it does mine? ?

Here are my 3 top tips to help you stay on the right track:

1. Communicate. Keep in touch with your clients, share the good and the bad at least once a month but more frequent is even better. No one expects perfection, but they do expect that you know what was not right, why it wasn't right and what you're going to do to fix it.
2. Educate. Most of the time client's wont be interested in the details, but you should be teaching them what 'good' looks like. The more they understand, the more accountable to them you will be - but this is a good thing!
3. Learn. Your job never ends. You never know everything (and if you think I'm wrong, read point 3 again ?). Digital changes so fast and in so many ways, this is why you can do what you do and clients can't (because they are focusing on what they do). Learning takes time, but empowers you to achieve better results than your competitors and builds your authority in the industry.

For Business Owners...

For those of you in business who have engaged someone to manage your digital presence, how are your results looking? Are you seeing tangible value or do you sit in monthly meetings and listen to "maybe", receive confusing reports or even worse, have no reports/meetings at all?

Here are my 3 top tips to keep your digital agency on track:

1. Understand not just the what, but the why. Don't just look at traffic or even bounce rate as a measure of success. Ask your agency to explain which numbers are the most important for measuring the success of your goals.
2. Learn what 'good' looks like. What happens to the key numbers when things are starting to go south and what happens to indicate things are moving in the right direction?
3. Don't be happy just stopping at the edge of the lake. Getting traffic to your website is one thing, getting relevant traffic who then actually engage and convert is all part of what you should be paying for. Your agency might not be responsible for how your website looks and works but they are the ones with the data who can see why things are not working and can give advice backed with real data.

How is your digital presence looking? Perhaps it's time to have a chat?