Working with influencers, part 2

Expand your influence

The Internet has opened your brand and business to a global marketplace. But it’s also allowed companies worldwide to compete in your space.

With so many choices, consumers increasingly are making buying decisions based on the recommendations of others on the Internet. They tend to rely on those they perceive as experts relating to the products or services they are considering.

As we discussed last week on this blog, an influencer doesn’t need millions of followers to effectively lead people to buy your products or spend time with your brand.

The power of an influencer is based on the size and loyalty of the audience, frequency of audience interaction and subject matter relevance.

About 80% of consumers say authentic content influences whether or not they follow a brand. More than two-thirds of North American retailers use some form of influencer marketing.

About one-fourth of daily Facebook users and 29% of daily Twitter users said they have made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation.

One study found that 70% of surveyed teens said they “…feel like influencers understand them more than traditional celebrities.”

Marketers increasingly are using influencers to direct fans and customers to their sites. More than two-thirds of North American retailers use some form of influencer marketing, and about half of marketers in the United States and United Kingdom spend at least 10% of their marketing budget on influencer marketing. Almost two-thirds of responding marketers said they plan to increase their infleuncer marketing budgets this year.

Influencer marketing is a collaboration or partnership between a company or brand and an influential person to promote a product, service or campaign. The marketer loses some control over the message, allowing the influencers to use their own style and personality to craft the language of the message. In return, the influencers lend their credibility and popularity within their niche to the brand and marketing effort.

So how do you find the influencers that best fit your brand and your customers?

* Know your audience. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Develop a campaign and use influencers who appeal to your fans and followers.

* Relevance. Look for influencers who share content that’s relevant to your brand and industry. Their audience is more likely to be in line with your target audience.

* Reach. Partner with influencers who have a significant number of key followers in your industry.

* Trust. Partner with influencers who are trustworthy and who your fans and followers already trust.

* Be consistent. Find influencers whose look, feel, tone and values compliment those of your brand.

* Do your homework. Influencers receive many offers. When you first approach influencers, show you’ve already put in the time to learn who they are and what they do.

* Reach out private and personally. Use direct message or email, but don’t send a mass emails or generic messages.

If you’d like to learn more about how influencers can impact your social media media marketing effort, or if you’d like a free evaluation of your digital marketing strategy or performance, feel free to contact us here at AdEdge at (203) 682-4585 or email us at info@adedgemarketing.com.

How to boost organic Facebook reach

Extend Your Reach

You’ve worked to craft the perfect message with clear language and just the right tone to best communicate with your audience. You include a strong image and helpful links. Now you’re ready to send your message out into the world.

But how do you make sure your message is reaching as many people as possible?

Improving organic — or non-paid — reach is a constant challenge for digital marketers. The effort can be especially difficult on Facebook, where changing algorithms and an expanding number of competing messages can make it difficult for any individual message to stand out.

As a result, organic reach fell by 52% in 2016 and has continued to drop. The average organic reach dipped from 5.4% in 2015 to 1.2% in 2018. Another study of 43 million Facebook business pages found Facebook page engagements dropped by 50%.

Part of the reason for the decline is Facebook’s changing algorithms for determining who sees which messages. When announcing a change in January 2018, Facebook officials said the social media channel prioritizes content shared over Facebook Messenger, content that is liked or commented on, content that receives multiple replies, and “meaningful interactions” between users.

Following are 10 recommendations that can help increase your organic reach on Facebook.

Ask your followers to turn on notifications. Your followers won’t see all of your messages unless they adjust their settings. Show them how to set up their news feed to ensure they see all you have to say.

Include a call to action that encourages people to engage with your posts. The call to action could be a question designed to encourage comments or a request for readers to share experiences that relate to your topic. Another option is to share a group of useful links about a topic and ask your followers to share their own tips or experiences.

Create a community. You could make your Facebook page a hub for broader discussions. To help with this effort, try chats, blogs, Q&A’s and other points of interaction to encourage prospects to visit your Facebook page. The goal here is to create a page where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and reading content both from you and from your other fans.

Hold a contest. Caption contests, giveaways and other competitions can generate additional interest to your Facebook page and posts.

Direct people to your Facebook page from other channels. Adding a Facebook “like” button to your homepage, blog posts and other messages can help direct traffic to your Facebook page and posts.

Work with influencers. According to one study, 92% of consumers are more likely to trust a social media influencer than an ad or celebrity endorsement. You can use tools like BuzzSumo to find non-celebrity influencers in your industry. You also can look at who’s viewing and commenting on your posts and pages. Reach out to the people who have large numbers of followers and already are interested in your brand. Encourage them to share or comment or otherwise interact with your messages.

Be consistent. Produce reliable, quality content at a regular day and time. If your fans know when you are likely to post your next update, your biggest supporters likely will begin watching for your messages, coming to you if the information doesn’t show up on their news feed.

Vary your posts. This recommendation may seem like a contradiction to the previous suggestion, but it’s not. While you want to post at a consistent date and time, your messages shouldn’t all have the same look and feel. Mix images and video. Change up the kinds of messages you send. It is believed that Facebook prioritizes posts in new formats in the news feed.

Be visual. In one study, more than 60% of marketers reported that visual content is crucial for social media strategy. Facebook posts with images have 2.3 times more engagement than those without images.

Be emotional. Posts that draw emotional reactions tend to receive more attention and traffic. Positive emotions are most common in viral posts, but posts with negative emotions also can go viral, especially when they create a feeling of anticipation or surprise. The top five emotions mostly likely to produce viral content are curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment and uncertainty.

What does 5G mean for digital marketing?

The Consumer Electronics Show was held last week in Las Vegas, bringing together the world’s leading minds and products in the fields of technology and consumer electronics.Among the most anticipated technology upgrades is the expected move to 5G cellular technology. All of the major cell carriers are working on upgrading their networks, with the rollout expected to take place in several phases over the next two years.

5G promises much faster network speeds than 4G, faster message sends and the ability to connect far more devices to a network. The upgrade is expected to make just about everything we do on the Internet via smart phones work faster and better, but it also promises to open up many more opportunities for the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), which likely will connect to the Internet everything from your houselights to your garage door and even your toaster …if that kind of thing is important to you. It’s also expected to create many more marketing opportunities as more people and devices spend more time connected to the Internet, consuming more content.

The upgrade to 4G from 3G sparked an astounding increase in both mobile Internet use and digital advertising. 4G networks and the smartphones and other devices designed to fully utilize 4G gave consumers the power of supercomputers in the palm of their hands, allowing them to quickly and easily search the Internet for products and services, reviews, media and answers to nearly any question.
4G rolled out in 2010, but it was three years later that Snapchat and Uber debuted, applying and extending the faster network to previously unknown applications. 5G is likely to spark even wider changes.

Increased speed likely will lead to a greater consumption of Internet content, creating new opportunities for digital marketers.

IKEA and other retailers already are experimenting with augmented reality, enabling consumers to digitally view furniture in their homes or how clothes look on their bodies.

Existing technology is likely to get smarter. Smart speakers will do more, hear more, understand more and provide more and better answers. New technologies likely will be developed to take advantage of 5G’s increased bandwidth.

Like the roll-out of 4G, it likely will take several years before 5G is fully installed and several years more before devices take full advantage. But it’s important for digital marketers to pay attention to the changing landscape and begin making plans to take advantage of all that 5G will have to offer.

5G offers 3 distinct advantages over the current system:

Speed — With a top speed of 20 gigabits per second, 5G is 200 times faster than 4G’s top speed of about 1 gigabit per second.
Reduced Latency — 5G will allow devices to connect to each other and to the Internet much more quickly, allowing for an uninterrupted string of rich information, like video. With far less lag, devices will better support augmented reality, virtual reality, and other data-intensive applications.
Connectivity — A massive amount of data can be collected and transmitted quickly with 5G. This will allow for more data, live data, faster reporting and better capabilities for Artificial Intelligence.
Personalization — Faster connections will allow devices to transmit more data faster, allowing marketers to be much more specific about who they target, when and how they reach them.
Augmented Reality — The increased data limits likely will increase the capability of this growing technology. Cellphones already use AR with filters for Instagram and FaceTime.
Decreased use of ad-blockers — As load time becomes less of a concern, the use of ad-blockers is likely to decline. According to Hubspot, more than one-third of people who use ad-blockers today say they do it because of slow load times.
Better analytics — Faster and better data collection and transmission will enable digital marketing performance analytics to happen in real-time.
More Video — According to Vox, almost two-thirds of all videos viewed online are done so using home broadband. 5G will be able to download full length HD movies in seconds.

Sharing A Compelling Brand Story

Consumers are growing less patient for commercials and sales pitches. But they want to hear or read a story. Sharing a compelling brand story can be difficult if you’re looking to improve your brand image – maybe it’s time to start at the foundation and build up. It starts with where you and your customers spend the most time. We wrote about managing your professional brand on LinkedIn – you may want to start there.

They are interested in brands’ stories, but only if they are entertaining or compelling. If the story is strong enough, your viewers won’t care that it’s an ad.

The best stories are universal, enduring, compelling, and organized. If you create stories like this you’ll notice that they are relatable to everyone (within your target market), are easily passed from person to person, keep the reader’s attention, and have a clear and direct message.

Update How You’re Sharing Your Brand Story

The following are a dozen tips to help you tell a brand story that your customers may enjoy reading:

Who Wants To Know About Your Brand?

1. Know your audience. Tell a story that is compelling, by learning more about them. HubSpot released some helpful research when it comes to creating compelling brand content.

2. Focus on the customer. The customer must be the hero in the story, not your brand. Your brand is the guide that helps the hero accomplish the mission or goal. But the focus must be on your customer. User-generated stories are more trusted and more shared than brand-generated stories. Create a platform that encourages your customers to tell a story about their experience with your brand.

3. Use emotion. The ancient Greeks called this Ethos. Think of the stories told through advertising that have caught your attention and affected you. They probably evoked strong emotion, including humor, fear, loyalty or patriotism.

How Will They Hear Your Brand Story?

4. Make it entertaining. Give consumers a reason to come back for more.

5. Show, don’t tell. Develop characters and set the scene. Don’t tell the audience what to think or feel. Let them draw that conclusion on their own.

6. Keep it simple. Don’t pack too much information into a single story, advertisement or marketing piece.

7. Keep it succinct. You’re not writing a novel. Make it a quick in and a quick out.

8. Make it interactive. Generating a strong emotional response is interactive in and of itself. You also can ask for readers to share their own stories or experiences, take a poll, a quiz or give them something of value to download for free.

Share How Your Company Stands Out

9. Make a connection. Build a connection with your audience by finding out what matters to them, and then speak to this need.

10. Catch them quickly. The first sentence should catch the readers’ attention. Make it compelling.

11. Make it visually stunning. Did you know humans process images 60,000 times faster than text? That’s part of the reason why messages with strong visual elements catch our attention and are more likely to be read and shared. For a sleek new advertising design, take a look at our Guide For Improving Your Display Advertising.

12. Consider using video. According to recent research, companies actively using video have 41% more web traffic than those who don’t. Mini-ads are gaining popularity. The short, 6-10 second ads you see in YouTube (pre-roll ads) are a great example.

A Solid Brand Story For Strong Marketing

We want to hear how you are sharing a compelling brand story! Also, if you don’t know where to start, let’s talk. Undeniably, every company has a story to tell, but getting creating content for your brand is a whole other animal. Check our blog for ways to improve branding on your website, blog, social media platforms, digital ads or other digital marketing channels. Feel free to reach out to us at (203) 682-4585 or email us at info@adedgemarketing.com and ask for a free consultation.

The benefits of using interactive content

Find Your Voice

What’s your favorite way to receive information on the Internet?

For many people, it’s interactive content.

Consumers increasingly are becoming more sophisticated. It’s no longer enough just to create a message and share it with anyone you can. Consumers want to interact with and experience your message. They don’t want to read or hear your message. They want to share with you and your brand.
Give them content that will allow them to be social.

Surveys show that 85-90% of consumers want more visual and interactive content.
Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for socializing and meeting others with similar interests. Depending on what products or services you sell, being there to interact and “socialize” with prospective clients can help build your brand and nurture virtual, digital relationships with prospective clients.

Another likely reason consumers seek interaction with brands is because the digital marketing space has become so crowded. Over 70% of marketers are creating more content than they did just one year ago. Consumers are being bombarded with messages from all directions when they’re online. The messages most likely to get through the noise are those that are relevant, visual, interesting and interactive.

What is interactive content?

Interactive content is content that requests the participants’ active engagement. More than just reading or watching, interactive content requires active interaction, prompting viewers to respond or share or comment or post their own experiences.Interactive content is more engaging. Consumers want an experience, not a commercial.

Interactive content can boost traffic and sharing. Consumers like interactive content, and they share content they like.

Interactive content, including quizzes and polls, let users provide instant feedback and can boost brand loyalty.

Examples of interactive content include:

•Interactive info graphics — The brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than text.
•Polls and surveys
•Calculators
•Assessments and personality tests.
•360 degree video tours
•Contests
•Photo Galleries
•Brackets

Find Your Voice

Hey Siri, why should I optimize my website for voice search?

The growing use of smart speakers and voice assistance programs has led voice search to become one of the fastest-growing ways consumers interact with the Internet.

A 2019 study found that two in five respondents said voice-activated devices are essential to their lives. It is estimated that in 2020, about 50% of searches will be voice searches. One study found that 19% of respondents said that they use Siri at least once a day. Another study found that 55% of teens and 44% of adults said that they use some form of voice search every day.

As of late 2017, almost one-third of the 4.6 billion Google searches each day were voice searches.
That number is likely to grow. Smart speakers are expected to be a popular Christmas gift again this year, and a growing number of devices support voice search.

More than 60% of 25-64 year-olds said they expect to use voice devices more in the future. 71% of wearable device owners say they’re likely to perform more voice searches in the future.
So, Voice Search is growing.

Hey Google, what does all this mean for digital marketers?

It means that you need to optimize your site for voice search. Otherwise, you will risk missing customers and potential customers.

Alexa, how do I optimize my website for voice search?

People speak differently than they type. Voice search tends to use longer phrases or sentences and is more conversational. Voice searches are generally “long-tail” questions. It’s the difference between typing “Fairfield, CT, weather” and asking “What will the weather be like in Fairfield Connecticut, on Friday?” or “Will it rain today?”

To catch the attention of voice searches, focus your web content and your SEO keywords on longer phrases and sentences. Consider adding full sentences as targeted keywords and adding phrases in your headers to address typical questions related to your business or industry.

Use natural-sounding language. As people increasingly interact with your site through voice search, it’s important to write in a way that is clear and understandable, whether your words are read or heard.

Provide clear, concise answers to questions. Voice search is looking for answers and writing that may be longer or in-depth than what text searches are looking for. However, longer does not equal long-winded. You still want to avoid jargon and unnecessary wordiness. Keep the language conversational and to the point.

Make sure your website is fast, mobile-friendly and secure. Whether the search is voice or text, search engines and consumers prefer pages that load quickly and look sharp on any sized screen. Many of the best practices for text search are still important when working with voice search.

Make sure your Google My Business profile is filled out completely. The more information you provide, the better search engines can find you and direct potential customers to you. Make sure the information is accurate and updated regularly to improve the natural rank of your listing on Google Maps.

If you would like to discuss how to expand upon your current Paid Search or SEO effort to include voice search, or if you would like to have a general conversation about which digital marketing tactics work best for your industry, feel free to reach out to us at AdEdge at 203-682-4585, email us at info@adedgemarketing.com, or schedule a 15 minute call. From all of us at AdEdge, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Digital marketing trends for 2020

9 Hot Digital Marketing Trends for 2020

2019 has been a big year for digital marketing, and 2020 promises to be just as important.
Changing technology and consumer habits mean digital marketers must adapt their efforts, embracing new platforms and trying new strategies.

While it’s impossible to know all the new directions the digital world will take in 2020, several projections can be made with a high degree of confidence. Many of the trends that have gained popularity over the past few months are likely to continue to grow throughout the new year. Other forecasts are based on extensions of existing consumer behavior.

Following is a list of 9 likely digital marketing trends for 2020.

1. Mobile — For several years, consumers increasingly have been accessing the Internet on their phones, leading brands, marketers and search engines to adjust their strategies. This trend is not new to 2020, but it likely will continue to be a growing factor throughout the new year. Mobile phones and tablets are getting faster and more capable. Cell phone companies are working to roll out 5G technology, which will make the Internet much faster and accessible to all sorts of devices, including refrigerators and toasters (any old-timers out there remember the flying toasters?) The new technology promises many new marketing opportunities.

2. Stories — Storytelling is one of the oldest ways of sharing information. But it’s gaining new attention in our modern digital space, especially on various social media platforms. Snapchat initially focused on stories. Then Instagram, Facebook and now YouTube began allowing brands and individuals to detail their stories. Consider adding interaction to your social media stories. Add links, location tags and mentions for other brands. Use polls within your posts and on your website. Make the experience interactive and engaging.

3. Conversational marketing — Closely related to stories, conversational marketing involves engaging customers in real time, at the moment they have questions or want to discuss an issue. It means noting their needs and connecting them with solutions. According to the 2019 State of Conversational Marketing, 42% of people expect an immediate response (within 5 seconds) and 36% expect a response within 5 minutes.

4. Chatbots — improving algorithms and computer processing capabilities have allowed chatbots to be more accurate and useful. A chatbot uses artificial intelligence to allow a computer to answer questions asked by your viewers. They can be used along with FAQs and other parts of the webpage and can be programmed to answer common or simple questions. Although chatbots are useful for simple products or services, here at AdEdge, we have found live chat to perform better for more complex, higher ticket items …and better in general as long as there is a product/service expert available to field chat sessions.

5. Personalization — Consumers want personalized content products and emails. 63% of consumers say they are “highly annoyed” with generic advertising blasts. 80% say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. 90% say they find personalization appealing. Netflix and Amazon have mastered personalized content with tailed recommended products and movie titles. Chatbots can help by answering personalized questions. A basic way to personalize communication is to include your recipient names in newsletters and email blasts. Tailoring messages to your various stakeholders also can help. Don’t send existing customers or partners the same message or language you send to people who don’t yet have a relationship with you.

6. Interactive content — Consumers like interactive, engaging content. Look for ways in your social media and other interactions to provide opportunities for feedback. Quizzes and polls can allow your viewers to share their thoughts and interact with your brand while also allowing you to better understand your customers and potential customers.

7. Video — 70% of consumers say they have shared a brand’s video. 72% of businesses report video has improved their conversion rate. 52% of consumers say watching product videos makes them more confident in online decisions. Sites that include video are 50 times more likely to drive organic search results.

8. Voice search and smart speakers — The rise of smart speakers and interactive portals has created a new way for consumers to interact with search engines. About 55% of all American homes are expected to have a smart speaker by 2022. 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers say their devices are used as part of their daily routine.

9. Browser push notifications — Here’s an example of mobile technology changing desktop interactions. Apps for several years have reached consumers to push notifications, alerting them news and updates. Updated web browsers now offer that same opportunity to websites. Studies have shown that at least twice as many people sign up for web push notifications as newsletters. The average newsletter recipient waits 6.4 hours before opening the newsletter, but with a web push, the viewer sees the message immediately. These push notifications can be used to alert viewers to new newsletters, sales and any other message you want to communicate.

How does encryption help with SEO?

Safe and secure

Keeping your website secure protects visitors while improving your rank in the search engines.
A new report breaks almost every day about an online security breach that has leaked access to usernames, credit cards and all kinds of other private information. Encryption can help prevent this and it’s critical if you take credit cards or other forms of payment on your website.
Anything with a username, password, or form can benefit from encryption. Even without these things, encrypting your site can improve it’s rank in the search engines almost immediately.

What is encryption?

Encryption keeps information secure. Without it, all text can be accessed, even if it’s hidden or masked on your screen. Encryption involves adding an SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, which provides an extra layer of armor around your site, protecting you and your visitors from third-party snoopers, spammers, hackers and phishers.

What does encryption do?

The three layers of protection offered by a secure website are: 1) Protect user activity by keep browsing information private and data secure. 2) Thwart corruption or modification of files being transferred to or from the website. 3) Insulate against third-party attacks by confirming the (IP) identity of visitors.

Benefits for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

In addition to the protections offered by a secure website, encryption is also an SEO best practice.
Speed — Secure sites load more quickly than non-secure sites. A faster load time improves clickthrough rates from paid and organic searches. If your site takes too long to load, the back button is just a click away and impatient visitors are more likely to bail.

Trust — Visitors who trust your site are more likely to browse longer. With secure sites becoming the norm, some users are becoming aware of and sensitive to insecure sites.

Google wants it — Since July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Non-HTTPS sites are now labeled as “Not Secure”, in effect shaming websites that are not secure. Google has since factored security into their algorithm and websites that are not secure are likely to suffer a drop in natural/organic rank.

Google first announced their plan to reward secure sites and demote non-secure sites on its blog in 2014, saying it would start with a relatively small test. The blog stated, “Over time, we may decide to strengthen it, because we’d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.” A year later, Google officials said HTTPS sites would serve as a tiebreaker between two otherwise equal site rankings.

Google has since reported that more than 70% of sites are now secure. A recent survey showed that between 80% and 85% of users would abandon purchases from sites that are not encrypted, and 82% of the surveyed group said they won’t browse non-secure websites.

If you would like a free evaluation of your website security, SEO performance and it’s ability to attract, engage and convert visitors, please contact us at 203-682-4585, email info@adedgemarketing.com or schedule an appointment to speak with one of our experts.

How do I get my company at the top of Google?

Reach for the top

It’s good to be first.

That’s often true in marketing, and it’s especially true when it comes to your rank on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) in Google and other browsers, like Bing.

With search engines, if you’re not first — or at least within shouting distance of first — you’re likely to be buried under the noise of the countless other brands and voices competing for customers and attention on the Internet.

On average, the top results have a 36% click-through rate. That rate quickly falls to 12.5% for second results and 9.5% for third. Fewer than 3% of those searching for something on Google make it to the second page. Where does your website rank for keywords relating the products and services you sell?
You could have a great website that is well-designed and informative, letting all the world’s consumers know about your brand and The odds are business and all you have to offer. But if you show up halfway down the ninth page on Google, the odds of someone being patient enough to click through far enough to find you are exceedingly low.

If your website is to be helpful in bringing in new business or informing customers or potential customers about what you have to offer, you’re going to have to climb much higher on the results pages,
How hard it can be to climb the listings depends on many factors, including how many competitors you have and how strong their pages and reputations are.

There are two main ways to improve your real estate on search engine results pages: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Both fall under the category of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Paid advertisements show up at the top of the page, so PPC can give you a quick bump to the top, but only as long as you are paying for the privilege.

SEO is involves improving your rank in the “organic” or “natural” Google listings. Achieving rank here takes more work but it’s a great long-term investment because 1) You will capture 3-4 times more clicks than a top PPC ad and 2) those clicks cost nothing.

Good SEO requires planning, effort and patience. Like cultivating a garden, search engine optimization takes plenty of work and action.

Google, Bing and other search engines regularly change their algorithms that determine what drives position on the SERPs. There is a lot at play here and behind the scenes, good SEO is very involved.
Here are six basic tactics you can implement to help improve your organic rank in Google.
Quality — Search engines reward websites that have quality content. A regularly maintained, informative, accurate blog is one way to boost your quality score. But you don’t have to take our word for it. According to Google, “Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors.”

Keywords — Search engine results are tied to the words consumers type in search bars. Do some research. Find out what words your customers and potential customers are using when they look for businesses like yours. Find out what keywords your competitors are focusing on. Use those words throughout your website and social media efforts.

Mobile — People increasingly are searching the web on their phones. Search engines know that and reward mobile-friendly sites accordingly. Your site needs to be optimized for mobile browsers. Not only will the search engines reward you with higher rank, it will also help your customers navigate your site more easily. Did you know that over 70% of website traffic now happens over mobile devices?

Speed —People lose patience if websites don’t load quickly. This is especially important since — as we already have stated — people are doing most of their web search on their phones or tablets. With slower cell speeds, pages must load quickly to keep consumers’ attention. About 25% of the time, people give up on a site if it takes more than four seconds to load. One of the main drains on load time is the use of large images. You want your pictures to be big enough to look clear. But if they’re too large, it will drag down your load speeds, and many viewers will bounce off your page and off your site completely if your images don’t load quickly enough.

Security — Keep your site secure. Search engines reward secure sites. If your website begins with “https”, it’s secure. If it begins with “http”, it’s not.

Be social — Mention your site on your social media posts, and direct people to your page.
If you would like to learn more about how to improve your natural rank in Google, or if you would like a comprehensive and totally free digital marketing health checkup, we’re here to help. If you’d like a hard-core sales pitch, sorry, we don’t do that. But if you want some real advice and help with your digital marketing efforts, Contact Us, email us at info@adedgemarketing.com or give us a good old fashion phone call at (203) 682-4585.

Topic: How long does it take for digital marketing to work?

You’ve built a great digital marketing plan based on a well-thought-out strategy, realistic goals and good market research. You roll out the campaign and wait for the action to begin. But it doesn’t. Where are the results and what’s going on with performance, you ask? How long is this going to take?

The short answer: It depends.

An effective digital marketing campaign can sometimes deliver immediate results. But it doesn’t usually work that way. The most effective long-term campaigns start with brand-building, establishing brand recognition, trust and eventually, preference for your brand. Once this happens, the effort can shift to direct response where prospective customers and clients are driven to the website. If the website is built to engage and convert, results should follow.

But it can take months before the full effects of a comprehensive digital marketing campaign begin to convert. The speed with which results were occur and how well the campaign ultimately performs are affected by a number of factors. Some factors include your positioning within the marketplace, competition, how niche or mainstream your products and services are, how long your sales cycle is, your goals and your budget all play a role. This is why in all cases, the best digital marketing campaigns begin with careful thought and strategy. Think like a carpenter here and, “measure twice, cut once”. Good strategy will tell you which channels of digital marketing are most appropriate, which are likely to work best, how long it will take and how much it will cost.

How long does Search Engine Marketing (SEM) take?

Some industries that involve mainstream products or services, can utilize an inbound direct-response effort that includes a mix of paid search, search-based digital advertising and SEO. Here, an inbound, direct-response approach can generate results pretty quickly, depending on which tactics you use. Paid Search can begin working as quickly as …immediately. SEO takes longer. Watch out though. If your product or services does not offer a truly unique benefit or isn’t local in nature, you could find yourself competing with national brands. In the inbound world, that can put pressure on performance, and it can be expensive. SEO can be particularly challenging in industries where there is national competition fighting for organic/natural rank for top-performing keywords. These organizations often have teams of dedicated digital marketers, optimizing for top position in Google. If you’re a smaller or medium-sized business, don’t fight battles you can’t win. This is one example of why strategy (measuring twice) is so important in SEO. The keyword- and competitive-analysis you do before launch is critical and it can save you lots of disappointment down the road with SEO. At AdEdge, we advise our SMBs to focus on local and niche long-tail keywords for SEO in industries where there is heavy national competition. This strategy usually nets better long-term increase in traffic and ROI …even when if a company’s top keywords aren’t ranking on page one.

How long does it take for an SEO campaign to improve a website’s rank on Google?

Back to the question of how long it takes, an effective SEO campaign, often takes six months to a year or longer. For that reason, we often recommend running a paid search campaign that will have your sponsored ads ranking at the top of Google almost immediately. And there’s another benefit to doing this. By running paid search in advance of SEO, you can take the guesswork out of keyword research by identifying your real-world top performing keywords in your market. Using Google Analytics or other website analytics software, you can determine exactly how well each keyword is performing in your local market and then target those winning keywords for your SEO campaign. While you probably know what many of your top keywords are, this approach makes sure you won’t miss any top keywords, nor will use any keywords you thought were good but actually aren’t. Measure twice.

Enough talk about inbound and the benefits of a direct-response campaign where results are much quicker. As mentioned earlier, this approach works better for mainstream products or services but what if you have a new business. Or what if your company sells something that’s either new to market or requires a long sales cycle to sell? This is where a good brand-building campaign becomes a critical pre-cursor to direct response. Here, we are talking about outbound marketing. What some inbound purists call “interruption marketing” digital branding is actually very important for sales with a long cycle. Brand building is important in these cases because prospective clients are in a longer, more involved process in buying that starts with branding. A good brand-building campaign involves digital display (banner) advertising, YouTube pre-roll advertising and social media advertising are the top digital channels for brand building. Social media marketing, blogging, podcasts and good old, fashion PR are also effective.

How long does it take for a banner advertising campaign to work?

Building brand with outbound digital marketing establishes recognition (of your company’s name, logo, colors and “look” in general), it communicates the Unique Selling Proposition of the products or services you are selling (your Niche), it establishes trust and eventually, preference. Once branding has done it’s work to establish an early, virtual relationship with your prospective clients, a direct response campaign will do much better. So, how long does it take to build brand with digital marketing? A branding effort will generally take six months to one year and involve multiple campaigns that present various benefits to prospective clients.

Before embarking on any digital marketing effort, make sure your website is correctly branded, attractive, succinct, and designed to engage with prospective visitors. More on that in an upcoming blog.

Digital marketing isn’t a one-shot, click-it-and-quit-it effort. It requires ongoing performance evaluation and optimization to achieve full performance. While results often come quickly from certain channels, others take several months to optimize based both on the impact advertising has on target clients and the impact AdEdge has on campaign performance. Sometimes it takes a few months, sometimes up to a year. If you would like to learn more about which digital marketing techniques might work well in your case and what you can expect in terms of performance and timing, feel free to Contact Us for a free consultation, call 203-682-4585 or email info@adedgemarketing.com.