10 Signs Your Business Needs Digital Marketing Help

According to HubSpot, only 29% of people want to talk to a salesperson to learn more about a product, while 62% will consult a search engine.

Search engines have become the go-to place for consumers to discover and learn about companies before doing business with them.

Google found that 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information and they search for things like store address, business hours, product availability and directions.

50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same.

And, let’s talk about social media.

72% of adult internet users are active on Facebook.

25% adult internet users use LinkedIn.

35% and 28% of adult users use Pinterest and Instagram respectively.

Even an emerging social network like Snapchat now has about 150 million daily active users.

There’s no doubt that your customers are on social media.

The question is, are you there?

IDC found that buyers who use social media have 84% larger budgets than those who don’t use social media.

Search engines and social media networks have become essential marketing channels. Your business should have a strong presence on both.

66% of small business owners say that finding new customers is a top concern for them.

Is that a top concern for you too?

If it is, you should know if your business’ digital marketing campaign is heading in the right direction or not.

Here are 10 signs your business needs marketing help.

1. You don’t understand Google Analytics and Google Search Console

One thing I’ve realised is that many small business owners don’t understand the difference between Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

Google Analytics is used to measure (and analyse) the traffic on your site.

Google search console is used to monitor the health of your website.

It’s easy to get lost inside the Google Analytics dashboard because it offers website owners a lot of different traffic and audience reports.

According to W3Techs, 54.4% of all websites use Google Analytics.

Moz has a beginner’s guide to setting up, understanding and mastering Google Analytics.

You can also watch this video from Google.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC3ONXJn9FQ

On the other hand is Google Search Console.

Google Search Console helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence on the Google search engine.

It reports technical errors found on your website.

It also allows you to track queries your website is ranking for, along with ranking positions for each keyword and their click-through rates.

The below video will teach you the basic things you need to know about Google Search Console.

Understanding and using data from Google Analytics and Google Search Console will help you make better marketing decisions that move your business forward.

A lack of knowledge of both tools means you need the help of a talented digital marketing consultant.

2. You feel overwhelmed by different marketing strategies

A survey conducted by LeadPages and Infusionsoft reveals that nearly 47% of small business owners handle their own marketing.

There’s nothing wrong with a small business owner managing his/her own marketing. But he/she must be ready to wear many hats in digital marketing.

You’ll need to manage your business social media accounts, respond to customer enquiries, monitor and measure your website analytics, publish a blog post, optimise your site for search engines, and a lot more.

Many small business owners are currently doing this.

However, digital marketers are blessed with a lot of marketing strategies and tools, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by them.

There are too many marketing channels out there.

Facebook, Yelp, Google My Business, SEO, AdWords, Facebook advertising, and more.

If you are finding it difficult to choose which one is best for your business, it’s a sign that you need marketing help.

3. Your website gets a lot of traffic, but receives a low number of sales

There are many reasons why a website could be receiving a huge number of daily visits and still have low sales.

It could be that your website is poorly designed to convert visitors.

It could be that you’re not currently employing smart pricing tactics that promote sales.

It could be that the checkout process of your website is daunting or slow.

It could be that your website isn’t ranking for keywords that are relevant to your business. Or, you’re just attracting the wrong traffic.

It could be that your sales page or home page gives little information about your product and business.

Or, your sales page lacks a unique value proposition that separates your business from the competition.

Or, you’re not emphasising the benefits of your products enough.

Or, the information provided on the page just isn’t good enough, and lots of prospects aren’t convinced by what they are seeing.

It could also be that your website looks unprofessional or untrustworthy.

For example, 17% of shoppers will abandon their carts due to concerns about payment security.

There are lots of reasons why visitors may not be buying your products when you receive a lot of visits.

Finding the culprit is a tedious task. And it takes time.

If you’re not willing to do it, it means you need someone who is qualified to do it.

4. Your website design is outdated

I almost hit this point above.

But, I didn’t because this is an issue most small businesses have. I believe it deserves to be treated separately.

Web designs get outdated very quickly these days.

I’ve had some small business owners who argued that their website designs aren’t outdated because they were made 2 or 3 years ago.

New technologies, tools, and solutions are introduced almost every year. Things change very fast on the web these days.

A website design you made in 2015, or just less than two years ago could be outdated.

Smart business owners are constantly changing their designs to satisfy web users’ changing tastes.

The most visited websites in the world like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter are constantly changing some things in their designs to give users a new and better experience.

Recently, LinkedIn made an overall design change.

It’s possible for a site that was designed 6 months ago to look a bit outdated when compared to competitors’ websites today.

I don’t mean you should start redesigning your website every 6 months to stay ahead of the competition.

The point here is that it’ll be more difficult to turn prospects into customers if you’re using an old design.

A good design breeds trust which helps visitors convert on your website.

5. You are not ranking for your brand name on Google

If you’re not dominating the first page of Google for your brand name, then you have a serious problem.

Competitors or some irrelevant companies are probably stealing business from you.

Even if they are not stealing your customers, they are still preventing them from buying your product or service.

When people search for your brand name in search engines and your business doesn’t appear first or take over the whole first page, it creates a little bit of distrust in customers.

People use search engines to learn more about businesses before doing business with them.

And if potential customers can’t find enough information about your company because it’s not even ranking for its name in search engines, competitors will win them from you.

For example, an estate planning firm, Elville and Associates is dominating the first page of Google for its brand name.

6. You believe you’re smarter than your customers

Don’t even think about it.

Today’s consumers are brilliant.

They have all the information they need at their fingertips.

They can learn everything about your company and its product or service through online reviews, search engines, and social media.

They can see what their friends are saying about your business and its competitors.

Even when they finally become customers, they’ll never stop comparing you with competitors. They’ll evaluate your product, promises and the experiences they had using your product.

The first-hand experience they have with your company can make or break it.

This interesting infographic from Smart Insights clarifies my point:

There’s no better feeling than the one you get when you make an important sale.

You need to ensure that you’re not just making the sale, but also actually delivering the promises.

If a lot of your customers are making complaints, it’s a sign that you need marketing help.

Perhaps, there’s a place in your sales copy where you are over-promising. You need to figure this out before it gets too late.

7. You don’t know the difference between inbound and outbound marketing

It’s hard to talk about marketing these days without mentioning digital.

In fact, any marketing consultant or marketing graduate who doesn’t know about digital marketing has a lot to learn.

Digital marketing is the new marketing.

According to a survey by Gartner, companies spent more on their websites, digital commerce and digital advertising than any other categories.

The interesting thing is that digital marketing offers better ROI than offline marketing.

The fact that big brands are increasing their digital marketing spends shows its increasing importance to their bottom line.

But as a small business owner, you shouldn’t just increase your digital marketing spend. You should understand digital marketing.

You should know that there are two types of digital marketing:

1. Inbound marketing
2. Outbound marketing

Knowing the difference between these two marketing types will help you understand your prospects much better.

Sometimes, it’s better reaching your prospects through inbound marketing than outbound marketing. Sometimes, you need both.

But how do you know when you don’t even know the difference between these two?

8. You don’t watch brand videos online

If you don’t enjoy watching brand videos online, it’ll be somehow difficult to realise the value they can bring to your small business.

The average web user spends 88% more time on a website with video, and ⅓ of all online activity is dedicated to watching videos.

The time people spend watching and engaging with video content online will only continue to increase in the years ahead.

Videos have the power to hold attention, evoke emotions in viewers, increase the perceived value of your product and help prospects understand it.

By watching videos, you’ll appreciate and recognise their value and power. This value is hard to see if you’re not a fan of online videos.

9. You hate tweaking

Internet marketers are like scientists.

Scientists are always looking for the next breakthrough discovery. Digital marketers are much like that too.

If you hate tweaking, then you shouldn’t be managing your internet marketing initiatives.

The tweaking aspect of digital marketing has given rise to a new profession called growth hacking.

Growth hackers do nothing but tweak.

They look for ways to increase sales.

For example, this could be recognising the 20% of customers that drive 80% of your revenue so you can focus more of your effort keeping them happy.

You need to regularly run experiments on your site to find where your small business is losing potential sales.

Digital marketers learn by actively tweaking.

If you’re not willing to do that, it’s highly recommended you get someone who can tweak a few things on your website once in a while.

10. You hate blogging

I believe that every business should blog.

Why?

It will drive more traffic to your website.

It puts your name and brand out there.

It helps you convert traffic into leads.

Consistent blogging will turn you into an authority in your niche.

Lots of people will know who you are, what you do and your business.

If you’re currently finding it difficult to sit down and write, you should consider hiring a talented writer to help you blog.

Just consider these stats:

• 61% of consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post that they read.
• 60% of consumers feel positive about a company after reading its blog.
• 70% of consumers learn about a company through its blog versus ads.

Getting someone to help you with your marketing doesn’t have to be hard.

That is what we do at Grow.

Contact us today to start growing your business.

Thanks for reading.