The number one question digital marketers get to hear is probably:

‘’Will I get a good ROI on my digital marketing efforts?’’

The truthful answer?

‘’No, not really. Not in isolation anyway.’’

So, how do you ensure you are not putting your own bottom on the line by trying to grow your bottom line?
Let’s answer this question with another question:

Does an explorer take on a new adventure without a roadmap, specific itinerary or the required gear?

Digging for digital treasure

1. From the bottom up: map out your route

Any digital marketing project or campaign should be viewed as a long-term commitment. For many, this means chartering unknown territory. A map for this road (often) less travelled should include specific, well-defined goals that are measurable and attainable within a specific time frame.

In the context of our industry, this map would be known as a digital strategy. The legend of this map will include the following legend keys, based on specific industry research:

• Business objectives and goals
• A target audience and competitor analysis
• An overview of your brand and product/service offering
• A website audit and/or recommendations
• Social media platform audit and/or recommendations
• A proposed content structure for your website copy and social media (such as blogs/podcasts/videos).

2. To avoid rock bottom: plan your itinerary

Now that you have a plan for where you are going and an outline of how to get there, the next item on your digital marketing adventure will be to focus on the itinerary: those specific scenic stops for each stipulated leg of the journey that will fit both within your budget and your available timeframes/deadlines.

Digitally speaking, this will include the bells and whistles for your digital campaigns.

• Your website: how many pages, what type of plug-ins and functionality, your online store (if you have one);
• Social media: who will manage your pages, how many platforms will you be active on, who will write your content, design your posts and schedule it, and how much will you be spending on paid advertising;
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): how will you go about ensuring that you are discoverable online?
• Budget: what can you afford per month for all these itinerary items, and will the investment justify the cost (i.e. your commitment is directly proportional to the potential ROI)

Just like stopping to take in a majestic waterfall or breath-taking view on your adventure will give you that extra bit of motivation for the next steep climb – so too does the benefits of stopping along the way to visit each of these important aspects of your digital strategy far outweigh the extra time, energy and monetary resources you have invested before just jumping in.

3. Shake your booty into gear: let’s get moving

Now that the planning aspect is behind you (no pun intended), the actual adventure can begin, and you can enjoy the trip because you know you’ve done the groundwork properly and you won’t get lost along the way (remember: you have a map and a plan).

Your WEBSITE will now be able to function as the foundation of your digital and social content strategy implementation (the rewarding leg of the journey, where you will start seeing the Return on all of your prior Investments).

Here’s a visual representation of this (by Acumen Studio), to give you an idea of just how important your website is as part of this adventure:

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4. Bottoms up!

Pathfinding is the discovery of the shortest route between two points.

One core promise is to deliver excellently working websites that represent our clients’ brands well.

This means you can expect uncompromised personal service, that will come to you at a fair rate, faster than you think and with less hassle than you care to handle.

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