Time To Include Online Advertising In Your Marketing Plan?

Ten years ago, people began making big predictions about video and its potential to change the way we were marketing our products. Fast forward to today and video has become a staple—accessible and affordable, a tool that helps attract audiences, explain products, and communicate with both internal and external clients. 

Videos contribute to search engine optimization (SEO), helping you show up in search. And YouTube, owned by Google, is the world’s second most-used search engine. Just as Google online advertising (PPC) has become a huge business, so has YouTube’s. 

Developing a video advertising campaign on YouTube 

I’m working with a client to develop a series of ten-12 animated explainer videos. For each of these videos, I’m writing a script, and we’ll have our videographer develop these videos. We’re using both explainer videos and white-board videos. Because our subject matter can be complex, the video explainer concept is ideal for breaking down complicated thoughts into easily understand ideas in a few frames. 

Identify a strong call to action 

When people see our explainer videos on YouTube, we want them to click on the call to action button, then hit the coordinated landing page on our website. While we’d like a sale, this is not realistic. None of us buys on the first pass. We shop around, check prices, quality and reviews. Our team is realistic about this and we know that we’re building a relationship. Ours is a long-term effort. Conversion for us means signing up for our monthly newsletter. This is how we will measure ROI and the success of our campaign. 

We’ll also be using Google Analytics 

Our Google Analytics report will show what kind of traffic we’re getting from our YouTube channels. We should be seeing increased traffic to our site—even if users do not sign up for our newsletter. As with any purchase, we hope that those users come back again and make a purchase. That’s what the sales cycle is all about. 

Creating a landing page in Unbounce

I’m using an app called Unbounce that is very easy to use and has a variety of templates from which to choose. While the landing page needs to be specific to each video, we can use the same design and swap out the text and images for each video. 

A critical part of our campaign will be identifying keywords and keyword groups

For any PPC campaign, identifying keywords and keyword phrases is fundamental to the process. We must also identify our YouTube audience. With more than 30 million YouTube channels, we need to identify those channels where we think our ideal clients will most likely be hanging out. 

Continue to monitor and adjust

PPC advertising works. Google rakes in more than $100M/day. Many are using this channel successfully, but each campaign needs to be monitored and adjusted. A carefully matched ad and landing page will help your campaign succeed.

Are you considering online/PPC advertising for your business but need some help?

 Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and content marketing experts. 

COVID, Chaos and Your Marketing Plan

If you developed a marketing plan for 2020, there’s a good chance you’re revising it right now

One of my clients is a small Oakland construction company. They started out the year with some terrific new commercial projects in their pipeline. In March, COVID brought these projects to a screeching halt. While the company started back to work a week ago, some of those projects have stalled indefinitely. Now we’re refocusing, looking for smaller projects that we can turn around quickly to generate cash flow. Our target is homeowners converting spare rooms, garages and attics into home offices to meet the demands of the new virtual workforce. 

Another client is a complete sucker for ad salespeople

He’s a really busy guy, and getting on his calendar is a challenge. But somehow these ad folks not only get through to him, but they convince him that their exclusive deals, reaching thousands of households in his upscale demographic, are exactly how he should be spending his marketing dollars. These great deals are generally one-time offers and a complete waste of money. 

This is why you need a marketing plan: One-off spends are really bad ideas

Whether it’s a print ad, pay-per-click (PPC) or direct mail, you need to be in this for the long haul. It’s relationship-building. If you’re doing PPC advertising on Facebook, Google or YouTube, you need to monitor your ads and make adjustments. Think carefully about how you define conversion. You need to able to track the effectiveness of your advertising. If it’s successful, include it in next year’s marketing budget, if not, cut your losses and move on. And my client? We’ve successfully circumvented these one-off ad spends because they weren’t in the marketing plan! 

Smart business owners create detailed marketing plans, budgets and timelines every year so they know how much they’re spending, who’s responsible for executing each tactic. A plan will help identify your audience and the ROI of your marketing dollars. Even small businesses with limited budgets should be tracking their spend—and that includes pro-bono donations. A few hundred dollars here and there—these add up. Think instead about cause marketing—supporting one cause and becoming known for this. Team with another company to extend your resources. 

In its simplest form, a marketing plan is a blueprint for your communication activities

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines strategies, tactics, activities, costs and projected results over a period of time. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet or it can be detailed in a CRM system. It can include attachments. It’s the marketing actions you take to achieve the objectives that meet profit goals. It includes your website, newsletters, online marketing, new collateral development, branding, networking, etc. It’s a working document that changes as the economy and other external factors affect your business.

How is your business adapting to the COVID-altered economy? 

Let’s talk about a marketing plan and tactics that will help you identify and meet new objectives. Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and content marketing experts. Stay safe!