Is it time to break up with your Online Marketing Agency?  

How’s your online marketing agency doing?  Chances are you’re not happy with your online marketing agency and you’re considering either moving on to a new partner or giving up all together.

Before you give up on generating leads and invest all your advertising dollars in Yellow Pages, take a breath and consider the below.

Five Reasons Why Online Advertising is Driving Some Marketers Crazy!

1.   “It’s too easy to spend too much money too quickly.”  You were told online marketing would be a learning experience and adjustments would be made as your campaigns progressed.  Many businesses discover the learning curve for online advertising is steep and expensive.  Running campaigns is like turning on a hose and it’s your advertising budget that is quickly running down the drain! 
2.   “I only get a couple leads per month and they’re bad!” This isn’t what you signed up for!  When you engaged with your online marketing agency you were told pay-per-click ads would drive revenues and generate leads for your business.  In reality, you’re investing too much time and money for minimal return on your advertising investment.
3.   “Who’s really clicking on my ads?”  You know people are clicking on your ads, but are they the right people?  You may be paying for the wrong people or even competitors to click on your ads.
4.   “Between set-up fees, management fees and the cost-per-click, the expenses are killing me.”  Your investment of marketing dollars not only pays for clicks, your online marketing agency requires set-up and administration costs.
5.   “I don’t know what I’m paying the online marketing agency for.”  You might like your online marketing agency, but do you have a realistic strategy for client acquisition and key performance indicators to manage your strategy?

Time for a Meeting with your Online Marketing Agency

If you have concerns about your return on investment in digital marketing, it’s only fair to schedule a meeting with your online marketing agency.  After sharing your concerns with the managers of your campaigns, formulate a course for correction and how success will be measured and reported.

Additional Online Marketing Considerations

Your Answer may be Found in the Buyers Journey

It’s always smart to take the time to review the buyers journey, internal processes and marketing assets. Even if your online advertising is exceptional, without well designed processes and excellent marketing assets, you’re setting yourself up for failure. 

Take a holistic approach to online marketing.

Look at the entire process of creating brand awareness, generating demand, nurturing leads through your sales funnel and satisfying clients.  By looking at the overall process and in turn focusing on optimizing each step, you’ll get better leads who become happier clients.  Consider the below:

1. 1. Who are your clients (personas)?
   2. What are the stages of your buyers journey?
   3. Considering the stage your buyer is in, is it the right content at the right time?
   4. Do you have a content plan to support your advertising and search engine optimization?
   5. What does your marketing content library look like?  Do you have a back-fill of marketing materials?
   6. Are the right people doing the right work to support your online marketing?

You might have a lot of work ahead of you, or maybe just some tweaking to your current content and processes.  Stay tuned for future posts as we delve deeper into the specifics of taking a holistic approach to your online marketing.  Of course, if you have any questions reach out to us clicking here or sign-up for notifications of relevant news from Operation Reputation.