Geo-Targeting Blueprint: Discover How to Get More Leads, Sales, and Revenue with Location-Based Marketing

Whether you’re a small business looking to expand your reach or a large corporation looking to maximize your digital marketing ROI, geo-targeting can revolutionize the way you reach and engage with your target audience. 

The power of geo-targeting is that it lets you reach the right audience in the right place at exactly the right time.  

And with these tips and success strategies, your business can start using geo-targeting to generate more leads, sales, and revenue. 

Get ready to take your marketing game to the next level with our tips and best practices as we dive deep into the world of geo-targeting to explore how it works, why it matters, and how you can make it work for you!

Contents: 

1. What is Geo-Targeting?
   • How Does Geo-Targeting Work? 
   • Geo-Fencing vs. Geo-Targeting
2. Why Geo-Targeting Matters for Your Business 
3. Creative Ways to Use Geo-Targeting to Drive Leads, Sales and Revenue 
4. How to Use Geo-Targeting on Facebook, Google Ads & More
   • Facebook and Instagram 
   • Google Ads 
   • Twitter 
   • LinkedIn
5. Geo-Targeting Done Right: Proven Tips and Strategies for Success 
6. Maximize Your Marketing Results with the Power of Geo-Targeting

What is Geo-Targeting?

Have you ever wondered why the advertisements you see online or on your social media feed are specifically tailored to your location?  

That’s the magic of geo-targeting.  

Geo-targeting in digital marketing is the practice of delivering personalized content or advertising to people based on their geographical location, with the goal of maximizing your marketing messaging’s relevance and impact in specific locations.  

It works by using location data such as IP addresses, GPS coordinates, and other technologies to pinpoint a user’s location. The next section of this article will go over these geo-targeting methods in depth. 

With geo-targeting, you can tailor your offers, information, and advertisements to specific geographic areas such as cities, regions, or countries. If you want to get really specific, you can even target a single zip code or postal code. 

You can also use geo-targeting to exclude geographical locations that are unlikely to produce results or are not relevant to your campaign. In fact, excluding certain locations can be just as valuable as including others.  

Bottom line: geo-targeting helps you deliver more relevant and effective marketing campaigns across a wide range of digital marketing channels — including PPC advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing.

How Does Geo-Targeting Work?

Geo-targeting works by using location data to pinpoint a person’s geographical location, then delivering personalized content or advertising to them based on their location…or, if you exclude that location, blocking people there from seeing your content or advertising.

There are several ways to gather location data, including: 

• IP Address Targeting: Determining a person’s general geographic location based on their IP address. This is the most common geo-targeting method in PPC advertising. 
• GPS Targeting: Using GPS technology to track a person’s exact location through their smartphone or other GPS-enabled device. This method is usually used for in-app advertisements or location-based services. 
• Radius Targeting: Setting a geographic radius around a specific location, such as a store or business, and delivering targeted content or advertising to people within that radius. Great for hyper-local advertising, such as targeting conference attendees, university students, or employees at a specific business. 
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Targeting: Using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals to triangulate a person’s location based on their proximity to nearby hotspots or beacons. Many businesses take advantage of this method to deliver in-store advertising or to track foot traffic. 
• Location-Based Keyword Targeting: Targeting people who are searching for specific keywords related to a specific location, such as “pizza delivery near me.” These are a cornerstone of both Google Ads and SEO to reach users who are actively searching for local products and services. 
• Contextual Targeting:  Estimating a person’s location or interests based on contextual data collected from a website or app. It’s often used in programmatic advertising to deliver relevant ads based on individual users’ interests and proximity to said interests.

Once location data has been gathered, platforms like Google Ads and Facebook can use it to deliver personalized content or advertising to your prospective customers based on their geographic location.  

For example, your business could use geo-targeting to show different advertisements to users in different cities or regions, or to promote location-specific promotions or offers.  

The possibilities with geo-targeting are endless. If you want help getting started or taking your geo-targeted marketing to the next level, our experts are here to help!

Geo-Fencing vs. Geo-Targeting

Geo-fencing and geo-targeting are two related but distinct marketing techniques that use location data to target specific audiences. 

Geo-fencing is a type of location-based marketing based on setting up a virtual boundary around a specific geographic location. When someone enters or leaves this boundary or “fence”, it triggers an action such as delivering a targeted message or showing a specific advertisement on their device. 

Geo-targeting, on the other hand, refers to the practice of delivering personalized content or advertising to users based on their physical location. This can be done through IP address, GPS, or other location-determining technologies. Geo-targeting allows marketers to reach customers in specific geographic areas, such as cities, regions, or countries. 

In short, geo-fencing is a more specific form of location-based marketing that involves a small virtual “fence”, while geo-targeting is a broader approach that uses various kinds of location data to personalize content or advertising.

The Power of Location: Why Geo-Targeting Matters for Your Business

With geo-targeting, marketers can deliver more relevant and personalized content based on the physical location of their target audience.  

The use of geo-targeting in digital marketing is advantageous for a number of reasons, including the following:

• Increased Relevance: Geo-targeting allows you to deliver content or advertising that is specific to a prospective customer’s location, making it more relevant to their interests and needs. This leads to higher engagement and conversions, since prospects are more likely to respond positively to content that is relevant to them. 
• Better Targeting: By targeting prospective customers based on their physical location, you can ensure that your messages reach the right audience at the right time. For example, you can use geo-targeting to show different advertisements to users in different cities or regions, or to display location-specific promotions or offers. 
• Improved ROI: Geo-targeting can help you achieve better ROI by delivering higher click-through rates, conversions, and customer engagement, which ultimately drives better results and a better return on your digital marketing investment. 
• Hide Ads from Competitors: Say you want to keep your competitors from stealing your offers or marketing messages. You can use geo-targeting to hide ads from competitors by excluding specific geographic locations where the competitor operates or has a strong presence, or by adjusting the targeting criteria to only show the ad to users who are not within a certain radius of the competitor’s location. 
• Responsiveness: Geo-targeting allows you to run short-lived but highly relevant campaigns, such as offers specific to the people attending an industry conference or trade show. Or, if you’re a roofing contractor, you can display ads related to roof repair in a town that just experienced bad weather. Taking dynamic advertising to the next level!

No matter what size your business is or what you do, geo-targeting can revolutionize the way you share and engage with your content!

Creative Ways to Use Geo-Targeting to Drive Leads, Sales and Revenue

With geo-targeting, businesses like yours can reach the right audience, at the right time, with the right message, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.  

Here are just a few of the various ways that geo-targeting can be used to boost your digital marketing revenue, including targeting specific locations, matching local currencies, delivering real-time offers, and more!

1. Geo-target offers and information: Use geo-targeting to deliver location-specific information, promotions, and offers to current and prospective customers. This enables you to generate more business in a particular region without having to make the same offer to everyone, or market different offers for franchises in different locations. 
2. Match local currencies: With geo-targeting, your e-commerce website can display prices and other information in the customers’ local currency based on their location automatically. This happens so often nowadays that we barely notice it, but geo-targeting makes it possible! 
3. A/B test based on location: Geo-targeting allows you to deliver different versions of an ad and/or website to people based on their location, making it possible to test different designs and layouts and see what’s most effective in different regions. 
4. Steal customers from competitors: With geo-targeting, you can deliver targeted ads to people who are near a competitor’s store or office to entice their customers away. Say you’re browsing Instagram while stuck in a long line at Disney, and see an ad for Universal promising shorter wait times — that’s geo-targeting! 
5. Use lookback data to get granular: The ‘lookback window‘ is the period during which a person can see or click on an ad and it will be recorded as a conversion. Using look-back data and geo-targeting together, you can analyze where a user was at the time they converted and uncover location trends that help you deliver more relevant and engaging content.  
6. Market across channels: Using geo-targeting, you can deliver targeted ads and content to different platforms and devices based on the user’s location. A local restaurant, for instance, could use geo-targeting to promote walk-in specials to mobile device users nearby, and take-out specials to desktop users further away.

And that’s only the beginning. There are virtually no limits to the applications for geo-targeting. In that sense, it’s as valuable for the most local of local businesses as it is for huge multinationals! 

To learn how geo-targeting can work for you, get in touch with our experts for a quick consultation.

How to Use Geo-Targeting on Facebook, Google Ads & More

Knowing how to utilize geo-targeting on each platform will make a huge difference in maximizing your digital marketing efforts and ROI.  

Below, we’ll explore the various platforms that offer geo-targeting options, including Facebook, Google Ads, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Facebook and Instagram Location Targeting

Facebook and Instagram offer location targeting options for advertisers on the Meta Ads Manager platform, which allow you to reach people based on their current location, hometown, or recent location history. Advertisers can target users by country, state, city, postal code, or a specific address, and can also choose to target people who have recently been in a specific location.

To use Facebook or Instagram location targeting:

1. Select a campaign objective for your ad set in Ads Manager. 
2. Select your audience source in the Audience section. 
3. Click on Locations and follow the prompts to choose your locations based on:
   • Location status: target customers living in a location and/or recently in a location, or traveling in a location 
   • Enter a location: target customers in specific countries, states, provinces, cities, congressional districts (in the United States), or ZIP or postal codes 
   • Browse locations: choose from suggested countries or regions 
   • Location radius: target customers in a smaller, relevant area within a larger geographic area

Google Ads Location Targeting

Google Ads offers location targeting options, which allow you to show your ads to users in specific geographic locations. You can target by country, region, city, postal code, or a specific address, and can also target users based on their device’s location or by using a radius around a specific location.

To use Google Ads location targeting:

1. Go to the Settings tab in your campaign. 
2. Select Locations and specify the geographic locations you want to target based on: 
   • Countries: target customers in an entire country, or multiple countries 
   • Areas within a country: target customers in specific cities, regions, or ZIP/postal codes 
   • Radius around a location: target customers within a certain distance from your business

To exclude people in specific geographical locations from seeing your ads:

1. Go to the Settings tab in your campaign. 
2. Select Locations. 
3. There are two ways to select locations to exclude:
   • In the search box, type the area you want to exclude and click Exclude. 
   • Click Advanced search, and check the box next to Add locations in bulk. In the box, paste up to 1000 locations to exclude. Add locations from one country at a time.

Twitter Geo-targeting

Twitter allows you to target their ads based on the location of the user by countries, regions, metros, cities, or postal codes. You can also target users based on their device’s location.

To use Twitter geo-targeting:

1. Go to the Targeting section of your ad campaign. 
2. Scroll down to Demographics. 
3. Within the Locations section, input the locations you want to target.

Radius targeting (showing ads to customers within a certain distance of a specific address) is currently only available to ad accounts in the United States or Japan.

LinkedIn Geo-targeting

LinkedIn allows you to target users by country, state, city, postal code, or a specific address, and can also target users who have recently been in a specific location.  

To use LinkedIn geo-targeting:

1. Create a LinkedIn new audience in Campaign Manager. 
2. Customize your target audience’s location(s) following these steps:
   • Choose either a Recent or permanent location or Permanent location from the Locations dropdown. 
   • In the search field, type the location name you want to include in your targeting audience and select the desired locations. 
   • Add more locations by clicking the X at the end of the location search field to clear the field.  
   • Remove selected locations from your target audience by clicking the X next to the location name. 
   • Click Exclude and select the regions and/or countries you want to exclude from your campaign.

Geo-Targeting Done Right: Proven Tips and Strategies for Success

Geo-targeting is a powerful tool for digital marketers, but you have to deploy it strategically with purpose to maximize your results. 

Your geo-targeting efforts are more effective and drive better results when you incorporate the following key considerations and best practices.

1. Be precise in defining your location. To achieve the best results with geo-targeting, you need to reach people who want your product or service, are able to pay for it, and in the case of a local business, are close enough to travel. Additionally, areas that are too small will strictly limit your potential conversions, while areas that are too large will waste ad dollars on irrelevant audiences. You need to strike a balance between making sure your ad spend is being used effectively and reaching a large, relevant audience. 
2. Exclude irrelevant locations. As well as targeting specific locations, it’s also important to exclude locations that are unlikely to generate conversions. Your ad spend will be more effective and you’ll avoid wasting money on ineffective campaigns. 
3. Use tools like Google Trends to gain insight into your customers’ regional preferences. Identifying how their interests and habits differ on a regional basis will help you hone in on messaging and imagery that boosts your geo-targeting efforts. 
4. For search ad campaigns, include regional terms in your keyword lists even if you are geo-targeting. Your campaign will have a higher chance of success if you reach a more relevant audience. 
5. If possible, include your target location’s name in your ad. You can improve your campaign’s relevancy and impact by including the name of your target location in your ad, helping you connect with local customers and build brand awareness in the target area. 
6. Add location extensions and call extensions to local ads. Location extensions and call extensions can be incredibly valuable in local ads, since they provide your customers with important information like your address and phone number instantly. The easier people can reach you, the more likely they are to convert. 
7. Test, monitor, optimize, repeat! As with any campaign you launch, geo-targeting campaigns should be monitored to identify what’s working and what’s not so you can adjust to achieve better results.

You can explore and leverage so much more when it comes to geo-targeting, but the above are good tips for beginners.

Maximize Your Marketing Results with the Power of Geo-Targeting

By tailoring your marketing campaigns based on location, you can boost your ROI and improve your overall marketing performance.  

The geo-targeting methods, tips, and best practices  shared in this article will help you get the most out of your geo-targeting efforts, but there is always more you can optimize. When you’re ready to take your digital marketing to the next level, contact us today.

Holiday Marketing Campaigns: 7 Best Ideas to Boost Your Sales Over Christmas

There’s a million holiday marketing campaign ideas out there. But what actually works?

If you sell anything online, you probably know the struggles of marketing in the chaotic holiday season.

You’re swamped with work, half your team’s on vacation (or sick), and the sheer competition for consumer attention is absolutely off the charts.

But success doesn’t depend on a Christmas miracle. Or a fortune’s worth of ad spending.

Stats and experience show that you can do a lot to boost your holiday sales if you use the right kind of data, make proactive moves, and apply some basic (but powerful) marketing psychology.

In this article, we’ll give you 7 of our best holiday marketing campaign ideas ‒ plus 3 essential tips to make sure you rock them.

1. Leverage the Christmas Time Crunch
2. Win Hearts & Minds With a Holiday Video
3. Share the Love with Your Loyal Customers
4. Ring In the Season with Holiday SEO Blog Content
5. Conquer the Wish List with Price-Specific Landing Pages
6. Make Gift-Giving Easy with Gift Card Promotions
7. Embrace Holiday Themes Across Your Digital Presence

1. Leverage the Christmas Time Crunch

FOMO is your friend. 

As soon as November rolls around, people start stressing about holiday shopping. And it’s not just about gifts, but everything else you need for the perfect holiday: festive decorations, holiday meal prep, plane tickets to Grandma’s, and more.

Time is of the essence, and everyone knows the best stuff is in short supply.

So, you can make fear of missing out (FOMO) and scarcity powerful allies in your holiday marketing campaign.

Now, urgency isn’t something you can just throw around without thinking. The modern consumer is pretty wise to vague statements like “limited time offer” or “while supplies last.”

You need to translate that urgency into something concrete and effective, like:

1. Deadline for guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas. Consumers expect lightning-fast shipping these days, but they know things slow down over the holidays. Consider using it as a strength by putting pressure on people to make a purchase by a specific date. It has a very powerful effect.
2. Countdown timer until Christmas or another big milestone. Adding a countdown timer to your landing page can boost revenue by as much as 9%. Over the holidays, countdown timers are extra effective since everyone already has “X days until Christmas” in their minds.
3. Inventory warnings. “While supplies last” is vague, but it really works if you can give a specific number. This is a very effective strategy used by Amazon to move products in short supply.

It’s not just a holiday marketing trick. You’re giving your customers one last chance to purchase that perfect gift before it’s gone, and they’ll thank you for it. It’s just that a positive side effect of this is that conversions increase as well!

2. Win Hearts & Minds With a Holiday Marketing Video

A 30-second video says a million words.

As a rule, people are more likely to say ‘yes’ to requests from people they already know and like. 

We’re all less likely to turn down a request if it’s from a friend or neighbor.

The same goes for you and your loyal customers. People who know and like you are automatically more likely to take advantage of any future offer you make to them.

Since the holidays are such an emotional time of the year, this is the perfect time to cultivate positive brand recognition and relationships that ultimately lead to more revenue.

And there’s no better way to do that than with a holiday video.

One study showed that emotional, holiday-themed video ads are twice as likely to make people cry, 86% more likely to evoke happiness, and 117% more likely to inspire feelings of warmth. 

You don’t even have to make it long, expensive, or highly choreographed. Simply showing the faces behind your business and being relatable makes a big impact on people.

Basically, all you have to say is, “We’re so excited about the holidays, too, and we wish all of you who celebrate a Merry Christmas. Thank you for being part of our business.”

3. Share the Love with Your Loyal Customers

A little love goes a long way. 

Reciprocity is a powerful thing. It is natural to feel obligated to repay someone when you give them something. It’s why free samples remain one of the most effective marketing tactics of all time.  

And what better time to give something away than during the peak gift-giving season? 

The holidays are a great time to shower your loyal customers with discounts, freebies, and giveaway contests to make them feel extra special.  

Especially if you can tie in some urgency and a warm message of gratitude, too. 

Leading up to December 25, many brands offer holiday-themed “12 Days of Giveaways” or “12 Days of Discounts” which successfully combine the seasonal spirit with persuasive deadlines. 

Plus, you have plenty of options for spreading the word about these promotions: 

1. Email: You can reach your existing customers and followers through multi-touch email campaigns in the lead up to the holidays.
2. Social media: Great for reaching loyal followers and catching the attention of new ones. You just need to make sure you follow Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms’ guidelines if you’re hosting a holiday marketing giveaway, since they can be quite prickly about the rules.
3. Remarketing ads: Retargeting helps you re-engage bounced buyers to boost your holiday marketing ROI, and further build relationships with those who have already purchased.

It’s the holidays, after all, and there’s no better time of year to get something for free!

4. Ring In the Season with Holiday SEO Blog Content

Any businesses with a seasonal niche can benefit greatly from blogging.  

For example, if you sell Christmas-themed decorations or clothing, a well-optimized SEO blog post will see traffic spike around the winter holidays year after year after year. 

But what if your company doesn’t have a seasonal niche?  

Putting out holiday-themed blog content is still a great way to increase traffic, sales, and revenue for businesses with no holiday-specific products.  

Consider what kind of content people are looking for during the holidays and incorporate it into your holiday marketing ideas! For example:

• Gift ideas for specific customer segments/demographics: like 10 Winning Gift Ideas for Dad, or the Best Office Secret Santa Ideas Under $25.
• Holiday Buying Guides for specific product categories: like High-End Cookware Holiday Buying Guide, or the Holiday Gift Guide to Pens & Journals.
• Gift ideas that solve a specific problem: like the 10 Most Practical Busy Mom Gifts, or Impressive Gifts for a Father-In-Law You Just Met. 

Topics like these will attract people who are actually interested in what you sell, and they don’t require you to bend over backwards to fit the holiday theme. It’s just a matter of describing the products that you already have available, with a festive bow tied around it.

Start publishing this year, and by next December, you’ll have plenty of content on your site that will get your visitors excited for the holidays again. Next year, just update your holiday SEO blog content (and your holiday marketing campaign as a whole) with new products or trends. You’re good to go! 

5. Conquer the Wish List with Price-Specific Landing Pages

Speaking of gift guides…if you sell online, here’s another way to reach eager holiday shoppers: 

A landing page that highlights products within a specific budget range to appeal to gift shoppers. 

For example, a landing page featuring “Gift Ideas Under $50” or “Stocking Stuffers.” 

These pages make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for, which means more conversions for you. They’re especially a huge hit with last-minute shoppers or Secret Santa participants who don’t have much else to go on. 

But this holiday marketing campaign strategy doesn’t only benefit sales of your cheaper products ‒ because a lot of people value not underspending on certain people in their lives.  

People shopping for significant others or close friends or relatives might be drawn to a page featuring only more expensive items (even your most expensive items). 

All you need to do once you’ve created the pages is get the word out, which is easy to do by: 

• Email campaigns with ultra-specific and attractive subject lines are designed to catch the attention of shoppers in a certain price range in search of ideas 
• Organic social media posts that encourage your loyal fans and followers to share your posts with their networks for free 
• Social media ads, especially when combined with a sense of urgency…save big on your last-minute shopping with these awesome products for under $50! 

The price point is the decisive factor for many people when they are shopping online, and this tactic makes them feel like they are getting an exclusive deal just for them!

6. Make Gift-Giving Easy with Gift Card Promotions

For people who are struggling to find the perfect present, gift cards save the day. 

But just because you’ve got gift cards, that doesn’t mean shoppers know about them. It will be up to you to spread the word.  

Don’t let the holidays pass you by without promoting your gift cards to your target audience. Once the shipping deadline for the holidays has passed, shift your digital advertising efforts to digital or physical gift cards. 

Gift cards are also great to include in holiday giveaways and promotions. Providing a free gift card for those who make a minimum purchase, or to the first few purchasers, can be the tipping point that gets people to choose you over your competitors.

7. Embrace Holiday Marketing Themes Across Your Digital Presence

Picture yourself walking downtown on a mid-December afternoon, when the stores are all crowded and Christmas is in the air.  

You’re mulling over which of two stores to visit for a must-have gift item. One store is decked with garlands and wreaths, playing holiday music, and scented with gingerbread cookies; the other is sterile, dark, and overall a bit uninviting. 

Obviously, most people would go for store number one. The festive ambiance gets them in the mood to shop.  

And there is more to it than just warm feelings ‒ we associate holiday designs with holiday savings. You know there’s a deal to be had and you want to learn more. 

Why not apply this same idea to your digital presence?  

It’s easy, inexpensive, and effective to incorporate holiday-themed graphics, colors, and messages into your website, landing pages, emails, and social media accounts.  

It has the same positive impact of putting up Christmas decor, without the hassle of climbing ladders or untangling lights.

3 Tips For a Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign

You can make your holiday campaign as simple or as complex as you like. Regardless of the approach you choose, these tips will help you make your campaign a success! 

1. Review Previous Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Don’t let the Ghost of Christmas Campaigns Past come back to haunt you. 

Even if your previous campaigns aren’t as relevant now, you can still learn a few things from them. Past performance helps you better understand your audience and what works (and doesn’t work) for them. 

Don’t just focus on your performance stats, look at your customer data too. Have you seen a significant change in your customer base? Knowing your customers will help you create holiday messages that will hit home.

2. Get Ahead of the Holidays

Customers can hardly stand the wait; so please, reader, don’t be late! 

We’ve got bad news for all the procrastinators out there: most people plan to finish their Christmas shopping before December even starts. 

In fact, 58% of shoppers plan to be done their Christmas shopping in November. You’re losing out on tons of potential sales if your holiday marketing campaign isn’t in full swing before December. 

By planning ahead, this will allow you more time to focus on other aspects of your business like customer service and inventory when the season is actually in full swing.

3. Put Customer Service First

He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So do your customers. 

89% of people have switched to a competitor after experiencing a poor customer experience.  

And up to 95% will spread the word about that negative experience with other people. 

So no matter how awesome your holiday marketing campaign is, if you don’t back it up with rockstar customer service, you can’t call it a success.  

If your customers have any questions or problems, your customer service team needs to be ready to help. If you ship products, you need to make sure they’ll arrive on time.  

About your website. Is it able to handle the number of people shopping at once?  If there are any technical issues, do you have a team on the ground to deal with them?  

Given the mad rush this time of year, it’s not always easy for companies to handle customer’s complaints and requests with the efficiency and dedication they deserve. However, you cannot afford to ignore it. 

The answer may be outsourcing your holiday marketing campaign to a professional digital marketing agency.  

Outsourcing your holiday marketing campaign will give you more time to focus on customer service and get back control of your business while still reaping the benefits of being active online. 

Marketing Your Way to a Merry Christmas

Marketing is an important part of any business, especially around the holidays. It’s a chance to create a lasting impression and to remind your customers what your brand stands for.  

We can help you put together a great holiday marketing campaign that will get you in front of your potential buyers and support your sales goals. Get in touch with our digital marketing experts to learn more about our services here at TrafficSoda.

Who To Trust With Your PPC Management: In-House vs. Agency Marketing

In-house vs. agency marketing: which is the savviest approach to your PPC ad management?

If the circumstances are right, there is a solid business case for both in-house and agency marketing.

Choosing the right approach for your business will have a huge impact ‒ whether that means in-house, agency, or some strategic hybrid.  There are many factors to consider and making the wrong choice can be very costly.

Read on for a detailed breakdown of the real pros and cons of partnering with a marketing agency vs. in-house PPC management, starting with the one big mistake you can’t afford.

Here’s the Biggest Misconception: What Does In-House vs. Agency Marketing Really Cost?

To begin, there is a major misconception about in-house vs. agency marketing that many companies fall victim to:

The cost of keeping their PPC advertising in-house vs. agency marketing solutions.

Cost is often the deciding factor for companies on the question of when to hire a marketing agency for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

And many business owners believe that hiring a marketing agency to do your PPC is inherently more expensive than doing it in-house.

But in reality, for numerous reasons, doing PPC management in-house is often far more expensive than outsourcing it to a capable agency.

• Maintaining a successful PPC advertising campaign requires experience and skill. Adding just one intermediate PPC manager to your staff will cost roughly $86,000 in salary, insurance, and benefits alone.
• That means that having a small internal marketing department of three or four employees will easily run you upward of $200,000 per year. 
• Compare that to the cost of outsourcing your PPC management to an agency, which ranges from $20,000 to $200,000 per year depending on your needs ‒ and which gets you an experienced team managing and creating your PPC ads.

Plus, as with any employee, hiring an in-house PPC manager will cost more than just what you pay in salary, benefits, and insurance. There’s also: 

• Recruitment costs. To find the right candidate, you have to set aside a budget that covers the costs of ads, networking events, and recruitment staff.  
• Training and onboarding costs. Even the best new employees take time to adapt and reach full productivity.
• Equipment and software costs. An in-house marketing team will need software tools for analytics, ad creation, and more in order to do their jobs. 
• Management costs. Spending time and resources managing and maintaining that person’s employment, from payroll to ensuring they produce quality work.

PPC advertising is an integral part of your lead generation strategy. It should be managed with the same care and attention as any other key part of your business.

If you are not able to dedicate the resources to this area, then it is almost always better to outsource your PPC management to a professional agency instead. Full stop.

Beyond Costs: Doing PPC In-House vs. Agency Marketing

Let’s put costs aside for a moment and look at other factors to consider when deciding whether to hire an agency or manage your PPC campaigns in-house.

When it comes to in-house vs. agency marketing, the TrafficSoda team has experience on both sides of the coin: 

• We’re a digital marketing agency, and PPC management is something we handle for a number of clients across North America.
• However, there are times when we tell prospective clients that they would be better off handling their own PPC management, or outsourcing only a small part of it. 
• And as a company that does most of our own marketing in-house, we are fully aware of the advantages and challenges involved.

In the following sections, we will examine the differences between working with an agency and hiring your own PPC team to help you decide the best choice for your business.

3 Benefits of a Professional PPC Management Agency

Marketing agencies that provide PPC management services are invaluable partners for small and medium-size businesses that want to increase traffic, leads, and sales online – but don’t want to spend $200,000/year or more on an internal marketing department.

1. Agency Expertise Gives You More Value

The best agencies give you access to a level of skill and expertise at a cost that is otherwise out of reach for most small and medium-sized businesses.  

Many agencies give you access to team members specializing in many areas so you can take advantage of multiple marketing channels: Google Ads management, eCommerce PPC management, and more. 

The benefits of agency experience include: 

• Confidence in decision-making. Giving up some control can be scary, but a trusted digital marketing agency will give you the confidence that they have your best interest in mind with their ideas and execution. 
• Advanced technology. Most agencies have an expert knowledge of the technologies they work with. They know the best ways to employ these technologies to reach their desired goals. You will gain access to advanced tools and bespoke services to suit your needs and requirements.
• New opportunities. The creative potential when you work with an agency is virtually limitless since you get an entire team of specialists with a wide range of skill sets who can be quickly called on depending on the project needs.

Agencies are experts in their field, they know how to create the best PPC strategy for your business.

2. You Can Ramp Up Advertising FAST (and Scale Back Just as Quickly)

Scalability is one of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your PPC management to an agency. Whether you want to boost your advertising during busy seasons or get more business in slower times, an agency can help. 

In-house teams are limited in both resources and team members. Agencies have access to a larger number of team members with different skill sets that makes scaling seamless on your end.

Among the benefits of ramping up and scaling back quickly are:

• Outpace competitors. A quick response to changes in your market gives you an advantage over your competitors by targeting specific needs or segments of your audience.
• Get to market faster. Have a new business or product line? Hire an agency instead of building your own team until you have the time and resources to do so. 
• Always on point. If you ever need to stop your ads or change your messaging quickly, an agency can handle it. There is no need to mobilize your internal resources. Remember how many businesses had to shut down or switch to curbside service early in 2020? Our team at TrafficSoda immediately jumped into action to ensure our clients’ advertising complied.

3. Your Agency’s Success Is Measured By YOUR Outcomes

Reputable agencies go out of their way to make sure that they deliver the best results for you and, in return, get more business opportunities with future potential clients.  

You and your agency partners both know what’s on the line if they don’t deliver results. So, agencies work tirelessly to deliver.  

There are many benefits to you from this dynamic, including:

• Fuel your growth. A good agency knows that they must deliver results and work hard for your business. You can trust an agency partner to deliver what you need to grow, whether it’s traffic, leads, or sales.
• Know what you’re paying for. In order to prove their results, a professional PPC management agency will meticulously track the performance of your ads and provide you with detailed reports. You see exactly what you’re paying for, so you’re confident you’re making the right choice.
• Constant improvement. Agencies are constantly evolving to stay competitive in the industry. With clients demanding more and better results, agencies have to find ways to keep up with that. It’s hard to maintain that kind of momentum in an internal team. 

Marketing agencies are more than just a business that helps you with your marketing needs. They have the skillset to help you grow with your business with qualified resources, analytics and data, and insights.

3 Benefits of an In-House Marketing Team

For some businesses, building an in-house team to handle PPC advertising just makes sense. Internal PPC managers give you a greater level of control and a more focused approach.

1. Your In-House Team Knows Your Brand Inside and Out

You have a brand at the core of your marketing strategy, and your internal team knows it best. An in-house team is already immersed in and understands your company’s culture. 

Your in-house team will already have more immediate and intimate knowledge of your brand and company culture, while it will take time for an agency to understand you. A PPC campaign aimed solely at branding rather than lead or sales generation may be better handled by an in-house team. 

However, in the same way as your internal team takes time to get to know your brand, a good and professional PPC management agency will take time to get to know your brand as well. 

2. Your Marketers Are Just Down the Hall

Because you’re all under one roof, having an in-house marketing team will save you from ever playing phone-tag with your marketers. It will be easier for your marketing team to coordinate with you and with other departments, allowing for greater collaboration and communication. 

Since agencies aren’t next door, and you have to contact them by phone or email, it is essential that you find an agency that is responsive to your needs.

3. Your Team Works Only For You

Since digital marketing agencies have many clients, you might feel at times that you aren’t at the top of their priority list.

Your in-house marketing team focuses 100% on your business, not on other clients. 

That said, it’s a mistake to assume that just because your team has singular focus means they’ll definitely achieve the results you need. You can still benefit from an agency’s experience even if they work with multiple clients.

When to Use an Agency and In-House PPC Advertising

While PPC advertising can generate significant business revenue, it requires a substantial investment of money and time.  

Agencies, on the other hand, are more cost-effective, tend to produce better results, and offer the convenience of not having to manage PPC campaigns yourself.  

We have outlined a few common business cases for both to help you better understand how they can benefit your business.

When to Hire a Marketing Agency for PPC Management

PPC advertising is a complex process that involves many strategies and tools. 

You should hire an agency to do your PPC management if:

• You want a team with the most experienced people in the industry with specialized skills, and don’t want to build out a minimum $200,000/year PPC department. 
• You want to be able to scale quickly, pause or pivot when required, without having to muster resources in-house. 
• You value results and accountability. When your agency partner fails to deliver results, you won’t have a working relationship for long, so incentives are aligned and there’s a sense of urgency.

You can save time and money by having a PPC agency handle everything for you, and you will receive the quality of results only experienced and specialized teams can deliver.

When to Keep PPC Management In-House

In certain cases, it may be more efficient for the company to handle its PPC internally.

You may do better doing PPC advertising in-house if: 

• You need local expertise. In a unique market, you might not want your ad campaigns managed by a third party who doesn’t understand local market conditions. 

• You are a startup with venture funding. Startups that receive venture capital are usually expected to use that capital to expand their own internal teams, and you’ll have the means to acquire top talent. 
• You work in a very obscure market. Some markets require unique marketing channels that are impossible to scale linearly. PPC aimed at government contracts or seasonal cycles, for example, may be better handled by in-house experts.

Keep in mind that this may not be an all or nothing decision. You can also use a digital marketing agency and an in-house team together, bringing some aspects of PPC advertising in-house or outsourcing others.

Drive More Traffic and Revenue with PPC Advertising

While both in-house and agency marketing have their advantages, most companies are far better off with one or the other. When choosing which method is best for your company, take the time to carefully weigh your options. 

Our PPC advertising experts know how it’s done, and we have the track record to prove it. 

Start with a FREE consultation and see how we get you results.

When & How to Outsource Your Inbound Lead Generation in 2023

If you want to grow your business, you need leads. Period.

But finding qualified prospects and nurturing the relationship isn’t easy.

Inbound lead generation takes serious time and effort. Not every business has the resources to do it right ‒ or at all, in the case of some small businesses.

Wouldn’t it be great if someone else handled it all for you?

Outsourcing your inbound lead generation lets you build your lead pipeline quickly and efficiently.

In our experience, businesses with small in-house marketing departments tend to benefit the most from working with a lead generation agency ‒ but there are times when larger businesses with a full marketing team can benefit greatly from working with an agency as well.

In this blog, we will look at whether outsourcing lead generation is right for your business (including why it’s not always the best choice) and what you need to do in order to get the best results.

1. Outsourcing Your Inbound Lead Generation: What You Need to Know

There are two types of lead generation: inbound and outbound. Inbound lead generation is about getting prospective customers to contact you, while outbound is reaching out to potential leads yourself.

Here, we’re talking about inbound lead generation.

The goal of inbound lead generation is to find and nurture qualified leads so you can convert them into sales once they’re ready to buy.

We already mentioned how outsourcing your lead generation saves you time. Instead of burning all your time hunting for new prospects to pitch, you can hire a lead generation agency to bring qualified leads right to you ‒ so all you need to do is close the sale and start the work.

You instantly free up hours of time to devote to other tasks that will help your business grow.

But time savings aren’t the only reason to partner with a lead generation agency.

a) Get an Entire Expert Team for the Cost of 1-2 Employees

A basic lead generation campaign typically includes:

• Digital Advertising
  • Technical set-up
  • Copywriting
  • Targeting and research
• Landing Page
  • Webmaster
  • Web developer
  • Copywriting
• Email
  • Email marketing expert
  • Copywriting
  • Marketing asset
  • Technical integrations, as needed
  • Web team
    

Other things to consider are:

• Organic social media posts
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Public relations, like press releases
• Influencer marketing
  
  

It’s rare to find someone who is proficient in all those things in-house; which is one of the biggest reasons hiring a lead generation agency can be useful.

For the price of one or two employees, you get the skills and knowledge of a complete team of lead generation professionals.

And that’s not all…

b) Gain Valuable New Perspectives on Your Business and Market

Here’s what we’ve noticed working on hundreds of campaigns for companies across North America:

Many in-house marketers know their business a little too well.

The longer you spend working in-house, the harder it gets to think like a customer. And it’s really tough to write compelling copy and campaigns when you’re stuck inside of that box.

Outsourcing your lead generation to an agency lets you avoid this pitfall entirely.

Best of all…

c) Reduce Costs and Increase Profits

Hiring an agency to do lead generation for you can actually save you money in the long run.

When you outsource, you don’t have to spend time training and managing anyone or buying all the essential tools they’ll need to do the job right.

Outsourcing the work can help your budget go farther and be more cost effective, driving a higher return on investment without all the legwork.

Your internal sales team can even work alongside an agency for faster ramp-up and increased lead efficiency, putting your business growth goals in reach!

2. When Outsourcing Inbound Lead Generation is Worth the Investment

From our experience as a digital marketing agency focused on acquisition marketing, there are three factors that contribute to a successful lead generation outsourcing relationship:

1. You’ve developed your brand with an in-house marketing person/team.
2. You’ve set clear lead generation goals for the near future.
3. You know what a quality lead is to you, and you have a process for defining them.

Generally, outsourcing your lead generation to a digital marketing agency works well when your business has a small in-house marketing team, or even a single marketing person.

This team should have already established brand guidelines that can be used alongside more targeted lead generation campaigns. Generating leads while you’re still nailing down your brand is more challenging and less efficient.

A small, busy marketing team cannot handle lead generation on top of all their other duties (see the list above), and hiring and training someone in-house specifically for lead generation work is an expensive and time-consuming investment.

A lead generation agency fills that gap more cost-effectively.

Hiring an agency that specializes in lead generation is also the best option if your business is looking for a quick turnaround. What might take an in-house team months to implement can be handled by outsourced digital marketing professionals in just a few weeks.

That said, it’s important that you have SMART goals in mind for your lead generation before you hit the launch button. You shouldn’t be making it up as you go along, or drastically changing course in the thick of it. Effective lead generation starts with clearly defined objectives.

Finally, it’s important to make sure your process for qualifying leads is set in stone before hiring a lead generation agency. This process is crucial to setting up lead generation campaigns that will bring in qualified leads rather than low-quality ones.

3. When NOT to Outsource Your Inbound Lead Generation

In our experience, businesses with small in-house marketing departments tend to benefit the most from working with a lead generation agency.

Full-time marketing teams may not need support all the time or as consistently as smaller teams, but can often benefit greatly from partnering with an agency on an as-needed basis. If you need extra help with a lead generation campaign in-house, or need training, consultation, or feedback, a lead generation agency can be your best friend.

There are also cases when fully outsourcing lead generation might be a good idea for larger companies. If you’re launching a new product or expanding to a new market, for example, you benefit greatly from hiring a lead generation agency who has experience in that market.

Another situation where outsourcing your lead generation may not be the best option is if you just don’t have the budget for it yet. A good lead generation campaign can be expensive, and an ineffective campaign can cost you more than none at all.

If your business is still in its infancy, consider starting small with an email campaign, building your community through social media or ads linking to your website as a first step.

Should You Leave Your Inbound Lead Generation to the Experts?

Outsourcing lead generation can be a great investment for your business. It saves you time from training or hiring your own team, produces better results, and gives you more flexibility as your business scales and adapts to a changing marketplace.

You should hold off on hiring a lead generation agency if you’re still working on branding, goals, and a process for qualifying leads. And if you have the resources and time to invest a portion of your in-house digital marketing team to lead generation, you should!

To learn more about lead generation and talk to a digital marketing professional, contact our team here at TrafficSoda. We’ll help you find the perfect balance between outsourcing lead generation and in-house lead generation for your business.

Why Landing Pages Outperform Your Website for Ads

From Awareness to Action: How to Capture and Create Demand

There’s a universal truth that persists no matter how good your product or service is, or how much you spend on marketing: 

Sometimes, your perfect customer isn’t ready to buy right now.

• Some of your prospects just don’t know you yet.  
• Others know you, but aren’t sure they’re ready to trust you. 
• Still others are trying to choose between you and your competitor. 
• And some people aren’t even aware that they need what you offer at all. 

When someone doesn’t know you and doesn’t trust you, the likelihood of them clicking on your ad that says “Buy Now!” is very low (but not impossible).
On the other hand, someone who is ready to buy will respond better to an ad that says “Buy Now!” than a weaker offer like “Click Here to Learn More.”

Both of these kinds of potential customers can be a goldmine of traffic, leads, and sales if you have a strong understanding of customer problem awareness. 

Think of customer problem awareness as a “journey” customers take, starting from the point where they aren’t aware they have a problem to the point where they decide your product fits their needs. 

If you know where someone is on their problem awareness journey, you can deliver the right message at the right time to create and then capture their demand.  

Let’s talk about how and when to capture or create demand based on your customer’s level of problem awareness.

Understanding Demand Creation vs. Demand Capture

Without demand, there can be no sale. Yet demand alone doesn’t translate into sales.  

Customers have to know what you can do for them and trust that you’ll deliver.

You need both demand creation and demand capture as part of your marketing mix.

What is Demand Creation?

Demand creation, also called demand generation, is marketing that aims to stimulate demand for a certain product or service in the market.

Creating demand is the first step in the marketing funnel. It involves building awareness, positioning relevance, supporting validation, and more.

The most effective form of demand creation taps into your target audience’s existing interests to build trust with them, while positioning yourself (your product or service) as the answer to their wants and needs.

Once you’ve generated demand for your offer, you can move on to step two: converting that demand into a sale.

What is Demand Capture?

Demand capture is marketing that aims to take the demand for your product or service and convert it into real sales or leads.

Demand capture happens further down your marketing funnel than demand creation, focusing on the part of your audience that already knows they want what you offer. The only thing left to do is give them that final push to convert!

Leveraging 5 Levels of Customer Awareness to Create & Capture Demand

In general, the less knowledgeable a customer is, the lower their demand for your product or service. After all, how can they want something they don’t know exists; how can they yearn to fill a need they haven’t realized yet?

For any business, it is important to balance both demand creation and capture in order to grow. To figure out that balance, you need to know where your customers are right now and ask, “What does my prospect already know?” about their problem and your solution?

To answer those questions you need to understand where your target audience is on the customer problem awareness scale.

In his groundbreaking book Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene Schwartz emphasized the importance of customer problem awareness and identified five different levels. They are:

1. Unaware
   These people don’t even know they have a problem, let alone one you can solve for them! Of course, this doesn’t mean their lives are perfect ‒ they just don’t realize it can be better. You have to open their eyes. 
2. Problem Aware
   There’s a problem, and they know it, but they may not fully grasp it yet and definitely don’t know the solution(s). You can help them make that connection. 
3. Solution Aware
   Now, you’re getting somewhere. These people already know products or services like yours, so they’re open to learning about what makes yours better.  
4. Product Aware
   Finally, at this stage, people are familiar with your product or service. But they probably know your competitors’, too. Now, you need to persuade them to make the right choice. 
5. Most Aware
   This is where you want people to be: a loyal customer who’s fully aware of what you have to offer, and can be guided towards repeat or new purchases.
   

Where your target audience falls in this scale will dictate:

• What kind of information you need to give them; 
• How you should speak with them; and 
• What offer will produce the best results. 
  

Knowing your customer’s problem awareness level is crucial in determining which type of promotion will be most effective for different segments of your target audience.

When to Use Demand Capture vs. Demand Creation

For customers with less problem awareness, you want to entertain, educate, and inspire trust in your business through content like:

• Blog posts
• Social media updates 
• Graphics 
• Podcasts 
• Webinars 
  
  

You have to build trust with your prospects before they’ll be receptive to your offer, especially if your solution or business is brand new, unique, or has never been advertised to them before. Launching right into your products or services without making a connection makes people feel like you don’t care about them (so why should they care about you?). 

Demonstrate that you understand their problem and experience their pain through relevant, relatable copy and content.

Near the bottom of your funnel, where customers have greater problem awareness, you want to seal the deal and capture demand with higher-commitment content like:

• Product demos 
• Free trials 
• Free consultations 
• Product details and spec sheets
  

At this stage, you can ask customers for some contact information in return, which gives you a chance to start that sales conversation.

Bridging the Gap Between Demand Creation and Capture

Rather than dividing customer problem awareness into five neatly-separated shelves, think of it as a spectrum. Many people exist somewhere between two levels. You can’t focus all your attention on one level.  

If you concentrate solely on capturing demand, you leave out scores of potential customers who just haven’t been acquainted with you yet.  

On the other hand, if you raise awareness without taking steps to capture demand, you’re leaving money on the table.   

Plus, as more governments crack down on online data collection and privacy, it’s becoming harder to pinpoint the people in your audience that are actually ready to buy. This makes it more important than ever to layer in both demand creation and capture. 

Focusing too much on buyers who are at one point of your sales funnel will mean you miss out on buyers who are coming in at other points.   

The ideal marketing funnel is built around generating demand and then capturing it. These two elements are essential for generating more traffic, sales, and leads, especially as new privacy regulations make traditional lead generation more challenging.   

TrafficSoda can help you audit your existing marketing materials and develop a strategy to close those content gaps. If you’d like help getting started, reach out for your free strategy proposal now.

What Is Data-Driven Lead Generation?

A recent survey shows that up to 30% of a typical company’s revenue is generated through marketing.

Yet turning leads into sales remains one of the single most difficult parts of getting your business to grow.

Fact is, most leads who enter your marketing funnel – even many so-called qualified leads – do not end up buying your product or service.

This, right here, is a massive bottleneck for many companies trying to climb the leader.

And all too often, these struggling companies think this can all be fixed with a bigger marketing budget – without setting a useful strategy in place.

The #1 Mistake You’re Making In Marketing Right Now

Leads don’t pay the bills…conversions do.

But whether it’s hitting the “Buy” button, making the phone call, or lining up to check-out, most of your prospective customers just aren’t taking that final step.

You might feel so close to making the sale. Like something somewhere is missing, and all your customers need is one final “push” towards conversion.

This is where many, many companies make a big mistake.

Instead of taking a forensic look at their broken marketing funnel and analyzing where, exactly, their leads are dropping off…

These companies pull out their credit card and expand the campaign, as-is, to an even wider audience.

They fall prey to the all-too-common misconception that you should be marketing your service or product to as many people as you can.

However, this “scattershot” marketing approach won’t bear any fruit if 99% of the people coming across your product or service aren’t buying!

Sure – you’ll be reaching more potential customers overall. It stands to reason that your conversions should increase accordingly.

But that doesn’t actually solve the problem you had in the first place: that too small a portion of your leads were actually buying.

Your conversion rate is still low. You’re still spending too much money per lead.

Put simply, you’re not getting your money’s worth.

What You Should Do Instead: Quality Over Quantity

This is exactly where data driven lead generation is so important.

Rather than focusing on reaching more people, this methodology helps focusing on the right kind of people. Your target market.

Data-driven lead generation focuses on leveraging sales and marketing data to focus on the quality of leads over quantity. This is an extremely important concept.

Data-driven lead generation doesn’t necessarily focus on getting as many leads as possible. Rather, it integrates sales into the mix and focuses on pushing the leads to actually buy a product.

This approach can further amplify the success of any marketing strategy, and constant iterations can serve to work out that strategy’s pains and shortcomings.

Lead Generation & Data Analytics

In order to build the right models for your business that can provide you with the most usable data, it is crucial to gather accurate, relevant marketing and sales data.

This data can then help generate insights and prove or disprove your hypothesis of whether a specific strategy could work.

With data analytics, you can focus on understanding the different attributes of your target market and develop detailed insights – the kind that you can use to produce powerful marketing messages.

Furthermore, this can allow you to find connections between different attributes and data sets that aren’t possible through traditional biased thinking.

For this to happen, you need reliable data which can help drive your analysis.

Good Data Is Unbiased Data

Here’s the real beauty of data driven lead generation:

Data is always unbiased.

The pre-set notions and theories that are followed in “traditional” marketing (some of which are literally over a hundred years old!) are not always relevant in this ever-changing technological environment of ours.

It is important to get unbiased data to help drive analysis and to get results.

Having unbiased data will help you generate those high-quality leads that have a significant chance of turning into a sale.

In order to find reliable, unbiased data, you have to develop an understanding of who you’re targeting and identify the best acquisition channels to collect the most valid data. These can include techniques such as tracking anonymous users visiting your website, gathering feedback from your customers, monitoring trends of loyal customers or using social logins to access a prospect’s profile.

Often, your company’s history is its biggest asset. Using historic behaviour and historic data from older clients can help narrow down your target market and really allow you to focus on generating quality leads. In order to narrow your target market, you need DATA!

Here are some of the key metrics to focus on in your quest to building a data driven strategy:

• How much of your revenue comes from marketing channels such as email, social, PPC, and others?
• How many leads are you generating in a specific time period?
• How many customers actually buy a product or book a service from your website?
• To date, how much actual revenue has your marketing strategy generated (and how does this compare to what you forecasted?)
• How much money have you generated from each lead source?
• How many leads have become opportunities for each of your marketing channels?
  
  

Start Putting Data To Work For You Now

To be honest, this only really begins to scratch the surface of what data-driven lead generation strategy can do for your business…but it’s a solid place to start.

And the very best time to start is now.

With all the uncertainty in the world right now, no business can afford to take a “scattershot” approach to its marketing budget.

This is the time to stand out or stand back and get left behind.

Reach out to us when you’re ready to start turning more leads into paying customers.

What Are Realistic Goals for Your Lead Generation Campaign?

Let’s get right into it. The key word I want you to focus on from the title of this blog is realistic.

Of course you want your business to grow. That’s a given. And a strategic, focused lead generation campaign is the most consistent, reliable way to get new customers through the door.

But “skyrocket my business” isn’t exactly a specific, measurable goal. You need to dig deeper.

Goals give your company something to work towards, but reaching for something unrealistic will knock you off the path to success.

Once you’ve done the research and crunched the numbers, you’ll land on that perfectly balanced goal. From there, your lead generation will improve drastically.

This notion is a universal truth for all businesses. Having a clearly defined objective gives you the focus to achieve what you’re aiming for.

Why Are Realistic Goals Integral to Your Success?

First and foremost, studies show that – out of 3,000-plus marketers – there is a 376% likelier chance for success for those who set goals.

Giving yourself realistic benchmarks lets you plan and budget time and money around those expectations.

You won’t over-commit and experience a catastrophic outcome that sinks you financially. Plus, you invested a reasonable amount of time that hasn’t taken away from the rest of your business.

Whereas an unrealistic goal might act as a financial sinkhole that takes your focus off what brought you to the dance: providing quality services.

Metrics That Will Help You Set Realistic Goals

It’s tricky to improve upon what you can’t measure.

However, what you’re measuring should provide valuable insights that help you generate more leads.

What are some examples of meaningful metrics for lead generation?

• Marketing Qualified Leads: leads that have shown interest in your services but aren’t ready to make a purchase. These individuals have performed an action such as filling out a contact form or clicking on an ad.If you nurture an MQL, they’ll be likelier to convert into a customer or client.
• Conversions Through the Sales Funnel: tracks how leads travel the marketing funnel towards being a customer. If customers are moving down this path successfully, it’s an indication that your methods are working.
• Sales Qualified Leads (SQL): a metric that becomes meaningful deep into the buyer’s journey. A wealth of SQLs means that you’ve performed well in cultivating relationships with MQLs and keeping them interested in your services.

4 Critical Factors to Weigh In Setting Realistic Goals

1. Average Deal Size

• Smaller transactions make it more challenging to get a decent return on your investment.
• If your focus is on smaller deals, you’ll have to convert at a high volume.
• Your deal size dictates the preferred size of your prospect or lead database. If you have a more significantly sized deal size, you don’t need to work with as many leads.
  

2. Average Sales Cycle

• Knowing how long it takes to convert a lead into a buyer gives you a clearer picture of your potential return on investment (ROI). Plus, it helps you grasp the various steps in your pipeline.
• You must adjust accordingly to these timeframes for the most realistic projections of your ROI.
  

3. Complexity of Sale

• You need to consider how complicated your message is and how many people will be involved in crafting your goals.
• These factors often dictate the number of call attempts and the number of contacts per account for callers.
• Complex sales bring in more value per deal and often justify a lower response and conversion rates because of the money being brought in.
  

4. Quality of Data

• If you’re receiving quality data about leads, you’ll be spending your time trying to convert people who are more likely to purchase your products.

Defining and achieving your lead goals could mean exciting things for you and your company: higher profit margins, faster growth, and freedom to try new things. Reach out to us to learn how to start generating more leads online now.

How To Choose The Best PPC Advertising Channel For Your Service Business

Running a service-based business can be undoubtedly lucrative, especially when you’ve got the experience, tools and skills to build yourself a lifelong customer base.

But in today’s highly competitive landscape, you need to do everything possible to maintain your edge.

You know that marketing and advertising are essential to your continued growth and success, and these days, there’s no marketing without the internet. But also know you’re no expert in digital advertising ‒ not to mention you’re busy providing essential services to your clients!

To cut to the chase, you need to get the most bang for your advertising buck. And that means choosing the best PPC advertising channel for your service business from day one.

I, for one, hate seeing time and money go to waste. So I’ve put together some points to help you get off on the right foot and choose the right ad channel for your business.

Read on to learn:

1. Why You Must Spend Your Digital Ad Dollars (and Time) Wisely
2. 5 Time-Saving Steps to Take Before You Decide On a PPC Advertising Channel
3. 3 Digital Advertising Channels You Can Quickly Use to Get New Customers
   
   

1. Why You Must Spend Your Digital Ad Dollars (and Time) Wisely

Let’s start with the basics.

Even a well-written marketing message with a strong creative direction is wasted if it doesn’t reach the right audience. Focusing on the correct marketing channel is key.

That’s why you don’t overhear ads for HR software while your toddlers are watching Sesame Street clips on YouTube Kids; nor do you typically see display ads for Sesame Street while you’re browsing LinkedIn.

However, choosing the right advertising channel isn’t always so cut-and-dry.

Chances are your audience is a lot broader than something like, ‘kids age 2-4 who watch PBS’ or ‘tech-savvy HR professionals.’ Say you offer a service like plumbing or auto repair. Your customers don’t congregate on a particular channel at all – in fact, they’re practically everywhere!

On the other hand, your target audience could be also so specific that there’s simply no obvious, sure-fire avenue for reaching them. Say you’re trying to sell turnkey co-packing services for burgeoning hot sauce companies in the Northeast U.S. with between $200K and $750K annual revenue. Last I checked, there’s no such thing as Hotsaucebook where all the hot sauce aficionados congregate…and even if there were, they might not be the specific kind of aficionados you’re looking for!

Put simply, choosing the right online advertising channel can be tricky. There are dozens to choose from, and not all of them will bring in the client and customer leads your business needs to grow.

2. The 5 Time-Saving Steps to Take Before You Decide On a PPC Advertising Channel

To begin, here are a few of the basic steps you must take to be properly equipped to decide which digital advertising channel your business needs right now.

a. Familiarize Yourself with Forms of Online Marketing

You can’t advertise your business successfully without a basic understanding of the PPC landscape.

The only way to fully leverage the power of internet marketing by yourself is by taking the initiative to learn about it on an elementary level. When you lack this baseline comprehension, it’s far too easy to make costly mistakes (see: 5 Mistakes KILLING Your Google Ads Budget.)

If you haven’t got time to hit the books, do yourself a favour and find yourself a lead generation partner who’s already done the heavy lifting. You’ll save yourself dozens of hours of trial-and-error, not to mention potentially thousands of dollars in spending gone astray!

b. Thoroughly Weigh the Costs

Understanding the costs involved in digital marketing channels will allow you to shape a budget on what’s acceptable to spend. It’ll also help you temper your expectations on what kind of funds should be poured into each channel.

To illustrate, you could be earning $1,000,000 in revenue per week. If you’re spending $1,000,001 per week to generate those sales, you’re still in the hole $1.00! It’s Business 101, but easy to lose sight of when you’re still learning the ropes of a new advertising channel.

Here are a couple of considerations to ponder over:

• It’s possible to spend nothing on digital marketing and find some success, but the percentages aren’t high. You’d have to be online most of the time, not performing other vital functions for your company.
• Remember to weigh in time spent when you’re assessing costs. If you’re achieving modest results but spending all day milling through online marketing tasks, that’s not ideal.
• Outsourcing your marketing is the most time-efficient approach. But thorough due diligence will let you know what costs are fair, and if it will benefit your company.
  

c. Clearly Define Your Goals

For advertising to be profitable, and to decide the correct channels, you must know your objectives. Crafting an action plan is a must.

In an online marketing capacity, here are how goals align with strategies:

• If your goal is to build a reputable brand image, you will likely utilize a mix of social media marketing, display ads and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• Provide you want to come across as an industry expert, blogging, content marketing (e.g., writing free eBooks), and social media marketing are the most common approaches.
• Lastly, a lead generation strategy would necessitate online ads (PPC and social media), SEO, social media marketing, and content-based lead funnels.
  

d. Craft a Budget

At first, you might want to start with a smaller budget to get things started with your digital marketing. Understand that there’s a ceiling with how much success you’ll find with this approach.

Overspending is even worse, but that’s why you’ve performed the necessary cost research. You must coordinate those industry-standard prices with what’s affordable and makes sense for your current business model.

You’ll find that you’ll be able to steadily grow your marketing budget to reflect your company’s evolution.

e. Tune into Your Audience

Getting positive results with any marketing strategy or campaign necessitates a deep insight into your audience. Otherwise, you won’t know how to target your messaging.

Any knowledgeable lead generation partner will utilize industry and competitor research tools to help you round up essential data about your target market, such as:

• Where can they be found online (e.g., social media networks, blogs, or websites, etc.)?
• What content do they like?
• What online activities do they engage in?
  
  

3. Top 3 Digital Advertising Channels You Can Quickly Use to Get New Customers

Now that we’ve offered some criteria involved in choosing the right internet ad channel, it’s time to look at the channels you should be investigating.

When we launch a lead generation campaign for a new service client (HVAC, plumbing, contracting, etc.), we choose a combination of the following channels based on the client’s needs. Each of these channels offers a variety of audience targeting options, acceptable cost per lead, and (if executed well) a reliable return in the form of customer leads.

a. Google Search Advertising

Search ads are best utilized to leverage search-based intent. When customers need something ASAP, like a plumber for a burst pipe, they type something like, “Toronto plumbing” or wherever their hometown is. This is the most effective form of marketing for emergency-based services where a customer requires something immediately.

b. Display Advertising

When people see display ads online, they aren’t looking for something directly – they’re just browsing, going along with their usual web activities, and end up seeing a digital banner.

So, if your business is service-based and reliant on emergency calls, this might not be the best network for you.

But if the bulk of your revenue comes from renovations and rebuilds, this kind of brand awareness can really pay off. The use of display advertising is often more long-term strategy, and a way to ensure your business is top-of-mind for your target market.

Eventually, when they decide they want what you’re selling, your business will be who they contact—if you’ve executed correctly!

c. Social Media Advertising

Currently, 31% of people use social media as a primary research tool when they seek products. It’s playing more of a pivotal role than ever throughout the customer journey.

Ads on social media are more effective than other forms of marketing on the platform, including celebrity endorsements, updates on brands’ pages, and recommendations or comments.

Those who click on social media ads are 26% likelier to buy from the brands they see. However, these customers are more interested in signing up for a membership than purchasing a product or service.

Social media advertising is a wise avenue if you’re a plumber or electrician writing a blog and looking to grow an audience. This will help you establish yourself as an industry expert with a broader base.

Getting Started With Digital Advertising

Let’s be honest. Not all online marketing channels will profit your business.

Success depends on understanding the strengths and limitations of each channel.

At TrafficSoda, we specialize in determining the most efficient way to turn ad dollars into customer leads. We’ve worked with a broad range of service-based businesses including HVAC companies, builders, roofers, cybersecurity providers, data centers, car mechanics and dealerships to generate leads through targeted PPC ad campaigns.

We start by researching our clients thoroughly in what we call the discovery process. By understanding all aspects of your customer audience, market, competitors and sales process, we can help you choose the best PPC advertising channel for your business.

If you’re still not entirely sure which channel is right for you ‒ and you don’t have the time to invest in learning the ins and outs on your own ‒ feel free to drop us a line.