The only constant in life is change, and that couldn’t be more true in the world of digital marketing. Time passes almost too quickly for business owners attempting to keep up with digital trends; when once small business owners scheduled content a month or two ahead of time, nowadays we’re glued to screens, trying to gather and respond to feedback or get a jump start on the latest digital marketing craze. Today’s customers require more than a catchy ad campaign and flashy logo – they want simplicity, speed, transparency, responsiveness, and a sense of connectedness.
With so much emphasis on digital connectivity and transparency, small business owners need to prioritize their digital presence. But when marketing budgets are limited and time is even less plentiful, which digital marketing needs should business owners fiscally prioritize first?
The short answer? What’s most important to your customer is most important to you.
Your business’s digital marketing strategy needs to reflect your awareness and dedication to the ever-changing landscape created by the customers you want to attract the most. It also requires full admittance of the fact that the digital world isn’t going away anytime soon and if anything, will require more time, attention, and money in the years to come. A diverse, strategic marketing budget can be your key to unlocking the perfect balance between digital marketing spend and revenue-boosting sales.
Digital Marketing Budgets Keep You Competitive
2020 saw a $900 billion increase in global online spending compared to the previous two years. US marketing executives took notice of the nearly trillion-dollar increase and moved to score themselves a piece of that pie by substantially increasing and diversifying their marketing budget. Over half of estimated US 2021 advertising dollars (57%, or about $163 billion) were allocated to digital marketing, with search engine optimization (SEO) and search ads taking first place in the priority line at nearly $99 billion of the total digital marketing budget. Online sales and digital marketing spending are skyrocketing and experts predict they will continue to climb at rapid rates over the next few years.
While these may be big numbers to digest, you don’t need billion-dollar marketing budgets to stay ahead of your competition. We share this information with you to demonstrate the importance of investing time and money into a digital strategy that makes sense for your audiences. Prioritize your digital marketing to stay competitive and invest in the components of your digital strategy that make the most sense for your business and customers.
Marketing Budget Priorities: Website Development
Your website is the first thing customers see when they attempt to buy or gather more information about your business. Don’t let complicated navigation, 404 page errors, and complex checkout procedures keep your customers from coming back. Dedicate a portion of your marketing budget to website development.
Possible web development marketing budget costs include:
- Launching a new or updated version of your business website
- Adding interactive features like maps, downloadable content, and sign-up buttons
- Regular website audits to ensure all links, photos, content, and pages are functioning
- Security checks to ensure back-end code and structure is stable and supported
- Landing page updates to keep up with sales, trends, and new products or services
Marketing Budget Priorities: SEO
Have you Googled your business lately? You should! With search engine optimization taking the top spot on most marketing budget priority lists, it’s clear SEO is a major component of your digital marketing spend. The first result on Google gets over 31% of all clicks and is 10x more likely to earn a click compared to the 10th search result. Less than 1% of users click on second-page Google search results, which means if your business website is buried within search results, you are virtually invisible to target audiences. SEO is the best way to invest in online visibility and organic traffic – it pays to beef up this part of your marketing budget!
Possible SEO marketing budget costs include:
- SEO audits to see how well your website aligns to search engine criteria
- Keyword and key phrase research
- Meta and photo descriptions
- Page speed
- Competitor analysis
Marketing Budget Priorities: Social Media
In terms of meeting customers where they’re at, there’s no better place to invest than social media. Close to 4 billion people use social media worldwide and the numbers continue to climb. Social media is a great way to connect to loyal and new customers and over 90% of businesses gained a new client from their social media marketing efforts. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok continue to lead as the most successful social media platforms, with over 2.8 billion potential customers on Facebook, 1 billion on Instagram, and 1 billion on TikTok. Engage with your clients and show off your unique business characteristics by setting aside a decent portion of your digital marketing budget for social media.
Possible social media marketing budget costs include:
- Social media advertising strategies and platform ad investments
- Social media audits to check the pulse and effectiveness of your current strategy
- Profile updates to keep your content fresh and enticing
- Scheduling & Design app subscriptions to keep content consistent
- Social media management by professional social media strategists
Marketing Budget Priorities: Content
Websites, SEO strategies, and social media profiles all hinge on one very important piece of your digital marketing strategy – content. You can’t have a website, be picked up by Google, or maintain a social media profile without words, videos, and photos. Content allows you to tailor efforts to your specific target market while introducing your business’s values and personality to users worldwide. Your competitors love to invest in content; they’ve found content marketing so effective, they increase their content-specific digital marketing budget by nearly 25% year over year. Keep up and make the most of those marketing dollars!
Possible content marketing budget costs include:
- Blogs and website articles designed to maximize your SEO
- Videography and photography
- Website copy, including product descriptions, “about me” pages, and FAQs
- E-newsletters and subscription-based publications
- Lead and re-engagement campaigns
The quickest way to become obsolete in today’s digital environment is to ignore the growing importance of having a well-funded marketing budget. The data proves it – your competitors maintain clear, well-developed digital marketing budgets and increase them by the quarter. Stand out and ensure your business is the first thing customers see when they search for services and products like yours with a strong, well-funded digital marketing budget. Ready to spend those dollars wisely? Connect with GreenCup Digital to partner with our dedicated team of digital marketing experts. Together we can make the most of your digital marketing budget and ensure your marketing priorities provide the best return on your investment.
