Planning your Digital Marketing Budget. A Guide for Irish Businesses
Table of Contents
- Is your digital marketing strategy working for you?
- Digital marketing strategies that work
- Plan your marketing budget for the next year
- Your website
- Video Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Social media marketing
- Paid digital advertising
- Conversion optimisation
- Digital marketing expertise in Ireland
Is your digital marketing strategy working for you?
Is your digital marketing strategy giving you the returns you want for your investment? Here at ePresence, we believe there’s always room for improvement and making changes to the way you market your business and communicate with your customers and clients can transform your outcomes to bring you greater success on every level. If you would like to make the most of your potential and make next year your best year yet, read on for our top recommendations and ideas to take your business forward.
As we approach the end of each year, it’s a great time to think about putting new goals in place to develop your digital marketing budget and strategies and make an impact on all the platforms you use. If you’ve always used email marketing but don’t see great returns, this may be a key area to develop in your strategy and cater for in your budget, and if social media is a platform you have yet to conquer, this is a great place to focus your efforts. Making the most of every marketing platform available to you will maximise your digital marketing budget and you will soon see positive returns.
Digital marketing strategies that work
Successful digital marketing strategies are all about maximising your presence online, driving up your SEO (search engine optimization) and connecting with your target audience across several platforms is the best way to remain competitive in your industry. We’ll explore the different strands of digital marketing and look at how you can increase your marketing efforts efficiently, creating a cost-effective digital advertising plan that is creative and comprehensive.
Firstly, let’s consider how your SEO looks at the moment. We know that 75% of traffic comes from the first three search engine results, so if you’re not ranking in the first three, you’re not being seen. We’ll review your keywords to find out how you are ranking and you’ll soon see a difference when your content is optimised for your industry. We can help you with SEO and PPC campaigns to make the most of your digital marketing budget and generate more leads.
The biggest mistake that is commonly made with SEO is when keywords are forced into places where they don’t organically fit. Whilst keywords are important, it is more important that your content reads authentically. Here at ePresence, we are experienced in seamlessly weaving in the optimum keywords so that your content reads authentically whilst still performing well for SEO.
Plan your marketing budget for the next year
We advise looking at your overall digital marketing budget critically, planning your marketing investments and working out how much budget can be allocated to digital marketing activities. Bear in mind that digital marketing is the most effective way to reach your audience and incorporates a wide range of options from social media advertising to the content on your website. Some digital marketing channels, such as Google ads and other pay-per-click advertising can cost more money but give you greater returns, and we want to ensure that you get the most for your investment and eliminate any unexpected digital marketing costs.
To optimise your digital marketing budget, we suggest looking at each of the following areas and analysing where your current performance works and what you can change for better results. Aligning your digital marketing strategy with your digital marketing goals means you are making the most of every cent. Your content marketing budget, for example, will be smaller than your budget for your PPC ads, but the return on investment will reflect this. Your business goals should be clear and should drive your digital marketing budget for the future.
Your website
Imagine a sleek, streamlined website that has professional written content, accessible video content and an easy-to-use sales funnel. Your website is where your customers meet you, gain their first impressions of your company and make a connection – or not – with your business. If your website is tired or inefficient, any work you do on advertising and campaigns will be ineffective since it will lead to a website that is not easy to use or attractive to your audience.
Consider elements such as the ease of navigation within your website, how quickly pages load, how optimised your content is for SEO and keep things streamlined and as attractive and accessible as possible for your customers. Most people access websites via their mobile phones these days, so a website that does not give a good mobile user experience will not be successful. A website review is an easy way to assess changes that might be optimal and we will be able to offer you a range of options to increase the efficiency of your website from simple content changes to a complete website redesign.
Re-designing and re-launching your website can be a big project but if you are not getting the results you want or are not optimised for mobile marketing, it will have a great impact on your online presence and we can take the stress out of the process for you. This will transform the way you do business and it may be the most important online marketing investment you make next year.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is a game changer in your digital marketing efforts and the outcomes we see when clients use video marketing in their ads are impressive, with double the click-through rate compared to static images. Using video marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, and we can help you create short, informative videos that build connections with your target audience and make the most of your digital marketing budget.
You can use promotional videos on your website, in your social media ads and your promotional emails, and although you will need to allocate a marketing budget for production costs, you will find that this is a worthwhile investment when you see the difference it makes to your outcomes.
Content Marketing
Your content marketing makes a huge difference to the way your business is perceived and we can ensure that you make the most of professional content to drive up traffic to your website. Your website landing pages, product categories information pages and blog should be professionally written, impressing your clients and demonstrating the quality of your company. You should aim to publish relevant, informative articles regularly to engage your audience and generate leads, and you can link these articles in your social media marketing and your promotional emails to ensure that you maximise traffic to your website.
Are you sending a promotional email once a month? If you’re not, you’re missing a golden opportunity to connect with your audience and drive traffic to your website. Email marketing is a great way to promote your company and is sure to be used by the leading names in your industry, from small businesses to multinationals. You can use your regular email marketing to increase customer retention by keeping in touch with loyal customers and linking to a social media campaign or your other digital channels. Email marketing does not require much of your digital marketing budget allocation, making it an extremely cost-effective tool in your strategy.
Social media marketing
How visible is your business on social media? Are you posting every day and building a following that is engaged and interactive? If you are not posting on multiple social media platforms every day, there is more you could do to make the most of social media marketing – a powerful digital marketing channel. To increase your visibility, it’s possible to outsource posting content or advertising on social media platforms so that you publish professional content online each day with zero effort.
If you are posting regularly, are your posts being seen? It’s important to know how effectively each part of your online marketing is working and knowing how to analyse your figures and make changes to boost them is key. Part of this process is identifying your target demographic and knowing how to optimise your posts to reach them, and this doesn’t have to be complicated. If you have a marketing team, they should be able to boost your audience on all social media platforms and grow your brand reach, but if you prefer to outsource this role, we can take the pressure out of the process and develop your social media presence.
You should also consider individualising your social media content specifically for each platform. For example, reels and video content perform well on Instagram and TikTok as opposed to longer text posts which often do better on Facebook. On LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter), you might be better off taking an entirely different approach, reaching out to your peers to engage them in conversations about issues within your industry to help reach a new, wider audience. It is also worth spending some time analysing when your posts receive the most engagement so you can schedule posts at an appropriate time to receive optimum engagement and results from your target audience. This might seem daunting but with our expertise and support, we can guide you through every stage of the process.
Paid digital advertising
Your PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns may form a significant part of your marketing spending but will give you great returns on your investment when done right. And they don’t have to be expensive, with low operational costs and an established strategy, the immediate ROI is often surprising. As a Google Partner, we have the expertise to hone your marketing strategy to create pay-per-click advertising that works. However you have used PPC advertising before, you’ll find that optimising this will make a significant difference to your outcomes.
Advertising on several social media channels is easy when you bring in outside expertise. At ePresence, we are a Google Partner and we use effective social media strategies to get you the clicks you need. With a combination of Google ads and advertising across TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, we can improve your SEO and increase leads to grow your following and make a bigger impact on your brand.
Conversion optimisation
Optimising conversions means increasing the number of click-throughs that result in a successful outcome for your business, whether this is a product purchase, a booking or an enquiry about your services. Strategies such as effective landing pages, improved website navigation and working with analytics to measure and refine results can make a huge difference to your conversion optimisation and form a key part of your marketing plan.
Optimising your landing pages and your website will encourage your visitors to take your desired action, and we can help you make the most of simple strategies such as time-limited offers and testimonials to boost your conversion optimisation further. Within your digital marketing budgets, you can use tools such as Google Analytics to find out what your current conversion optimisation looks like and make changes to increase productivity. You can manage this process yourself or we can handle the whole thing for you and you’ll soon see results.
Digital marketing expertise in Ireland
Do you need help with your digital marketing budget and strategy? If you’re not ranking well on search engines, we can help you optimise your marketing budget with a digital marketing budget package specific to your business goals. We will ensure that you are visible across all digital marketing channels and make the most of marketing technology to improve your brand reach. We are a Digital Marketing Agency in Cork with 15 years of expertise in digital marketing and we can help to transform your digital marketing activities to take your business further.
Call us at ePresence today and find out how you can partner with us to improve your digital marketing and budget planning for next year – together, we can make it your best year ever!
