When it comes to digital marketing, many business owners are extremely skeptical. It can seem like a huge and risky investment. We try and keep both our more traditional content-driven inbound marketing separate from more digital channels such as Google Advertising. Why? because our marketing retainers consist of hours. It is relatively easy to break down traditional marketing into hours; social media time, eshot time, design time for adverts etc… Digital marketing is a little more complex. The cost of many digital marketing techniques such as Adwords, Google Shopping, remarketing etc. are paid directly to the supplier, such as Google. This means that costs are completely transparent and it is only the admin fees that are paid to the agency (in our case the time would come out of the retainer).

So why are people so skeptical about digital marketing? Firstly, initial outlay can appear a little steep, in addition, administration time could lead to an increase in retainer hours. Let’s be honest, nobody likes increasing their spends, but as the world becomes more digital, companies must adapt. Secondly it is likely their competition is already invested in digital marketing which means bidding can be competitive and without the correct localisation and tailored approaches potential costs can be extortionate - don’t worry, budgets are set so your spends will never spiral out of control, you just may not get the most out of your efforts.

Despite the initial risks with digital marketing, it is absolutely worth the investment. Though the initial outlay may seem a little high sometimes, it is actually more cost-effective than advertising through traditional means. You can accurately calculate the return on investment and see which techniques are working for you and which need to be adapted, you can physically assign credits to each stage of the conversion. Digital marketing allows you to interact with your audience, rather than talk at them and you with the specialised techniques you are much more likely to reach the audience who are actually interested in purchasing your products or services.
Both digital and traditional marketing attract your potential customers and build brand awareness. When used simultaneously they can work together to power extremely successful results for your business.

For any help with your digital marketing contact us at hello@22group.co.uk or call 0161 672 7822.