Digital marketers often consider metrics such as search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click when it comes to improving performance. Some common goals might include being in the top five or ten search results on Google, or earning that coveted blue “verified” check on Instagram. Then there are all those badges, endorsements, ratings, testimonials, and reviews that can collectively indicate your brand’s success (or failure) on social media.
By: Christina Ross
But there is one traditional advertising metric that can and should be applied to digital advertising: return on investment, or ROI. ROI allows clients to understand what they’re getting for their digital advertising investment in dollars and cents, rather than more subjective social media currencies. ROI is especially important now, with budget tightening as the economy slows down.
Founder of Sonnenberg Media Anna Sonnenberg says that most marketers consider an ROI of 5:1 acceptable, meaning you earned five times more than you spent on your marketing campaign. If you do between 6:1 and 10:1, consider that a good sign.
However, if your returns are lagging, there are many possible culprits. Despite paying to be seen constantly on Facebook et al, your marketing approach may not be as productive. Here are some tips to help you find what you need to change to make your marketing investment worthwhile:
Storytelling helps you connect with your target audience
There are many reasons why storytelling in marketing is important, the main one being this it allows the seller to develop a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the client. Because social media is so interactive, the most successful brands are those that can tell an engaging story, one that keeps their customers coming back on a regular basis. Using influencers can work great for big brands like Crocs, but having a good story to tell and telling it well is ultimately more important.
These days, you can’t afford to tell a boring story, or the same one over and over again. Your target audience loses interest very quickly, so your story needs to be dynamic and inclusive.
Re-evaluate your current marketing efforts to ensure they are current
Seconds Privileged intelligence, mobile e-commerce sales reached an all-time high of $359.32 billion in 2021, up 15.2% from 2020. By 2025, the research firm expects mobile e-commerce retail sales to double to $728.28 billion; By then, mobile will account for 44.2% of all US e-commerce retail sales. If you’re not marketing with mobile in mind, you’re already behind most of the competition.
It’s no mistake that mobile-native TikTok has taken over the world right now. One of the main reasons is that the human brain will process dynamic visual content much faster than static text or images. Videos will make your landing page look great and attract visitors right away.
When presented with the choice of video or reading text about the same information, 59% of the people prefers watching videos. Attention spans also increase to 2.7 minutes when video is available, and while that doesn’t seem like a long time, it’s almost an eternity considering that Gen Z. The average attention span is only 8 seconds; Millennials is slightly longer: 12 seconds.
Here’s a quick and easy to-do list for your mobile marketing materials:
Remove (or limit) additional navigation. Have a call to action. Facebook currently offers 29 calls to action buttons in your ad manager. These allow potential customers to donate, buy tickets, subscribe, message the advertiser directly, and add events to a calendar, among other things. Make sure your landing page has a strong title and uses subheadings, which will help with SEO and are also visual cues. Even when ROI is the goal, stay focused on your SEO. A high ranking in Google is critical to long-term success.
Implement changes and watch your ROI increase
Colton Bollinger, founder of Jumper Media, recently wrote businessman Magazine on increasing a client’s ROI to 3.5:1. While this is slightly below our 5:1 goal, it represented a 350% increase in their client’s total sales and a 450% decrease in their cost per click. In other words, by only focusing on ROI, Bollinger achieved incredibly positive returns in other areas for his client.
The advantage of digital commerce is that everything is connected. Improvements in one metric can positively affect others, and everything can scale very quickly; a great digital marketing idea can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The downside is that there are no barriers to entry, so competition is always fierce and getting fiercer. Brands that launch on every possible platform without any strategic planning or content development will lose out. Those who tell a powerful story, understand how to communicate it to an ever-changing audience and keep an eye on the bottom line will win.
Christina Ross is the founder, president and chief marketing officer of Silver Frog Marketinga television, radio and digital marketing agency based in Joliet, Illinois.
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