Non-digital in a Digital Program

This is the fourth piece on strategic planning of a digital marketing program for your small business. I’ve provided you with a strategy diagram and we’ve been talking about the different components of that program. So far, it’s been all social media. We turn our attention a little bit now.

How does traditional advertising fit into all of this? Do you buy the “usual” fare – newspaper, radio, broadcast television, cable television, or outdoor billboards? Do you buy cooperative or solo direct mail, FSI or any kind of indoor?

If you do run a regular ad campaign, you can definitely fold social media into it. At the very least let people know how to contact you through social media by tagging your ads with the logos and your user names. We’ll be getting into some of that in a not too far off post.

If you don’t have a regular advertising budget in place, consider doing something to kick-off your social media presence. Your advertising rep should be able to help with this. If not, contact us.

A quick word about co-ops – if you’re not part of one, do something about it. Even the smallest of service companies can find several of the same types of businesses, or better yet, businesses that share a symbiotic relationship to form an advertising co-op. In most media outlets, that will make a difference.

I knew a videographer that formed and operated a co-op with a baker, a florist, a jeweler, a DJ and a printer. It worked so well that a photographer, tuxedo shop and a hotel begged to get in. It was costing them less than half what it would have had they been buying what they bought on their own.

Believe it or not, Email marketing can be one of the most effective advertising mediums available to the SBO. Extremely affordable, email can have great reach and click through rates.

Email is an opt-in program which means you are sending messaging to an audience that has agreed to receive it. Depending on how you get that audience built will determine some of your KPIs in the short run. In the long run, there is nothing like it. Done correctly and coupled with your social media campaign, you can create a very large pool of people that want to here what you have to say. Just be careful not to bombard them with pleas to buy something. You’ll have the pool built, but you’ll have a hard time filling it with water.

There’s no party going on in YOUR back yard..