Know Enough to be Dangerous: Your Guide to Online Marketing in Houston
Know Enough to be Dangerous: Your Guide to Online Marketing in Houston Houston s economy is stronger than much of the country due in part to its thriving port and strong commerce. According to The Global Metro Monitor, Houston s economy is rated number one in the country. That is right, number ONE. The questions we have for you: Are you doing all you can to be a formidable business force in this thriving community? Businesses based in Houston have the cards stacked in their favor right now, but that is only a part of the formula for success, knowing Houston's online marketing trends, and having a strong foothold in online marketing so people actually know about your business is a large factor for success for any Houston business. Let s assume you have a solid business strategy, and a high quality website already set up but are people able to find you? Do they know you are there offering your services and products to solve their problems? Do they understand the benefits you provide and are you making contact with them regularly in a variety of ways? This guide will help you understand the basics of online marketing, some of the most popular assets available, and how it can help you grow your Houston business. Knowledge is power and the first step to successfully being found and flourishing online is to understand your options. Luckily, we re here to help! 2
Paid Search / Search Engine Marketing Paid Search is also referred to as Search Engine Marketing, or Keyword Advertising. Paid search uses keywords to connect an online consumer with your business. When someone is searching online through a search engine, such as Google or Bing, there are organic search results that come up (via search engine optimization or SEO) however at the very top and on the right hand side you ll find the paid search results. Paid Search Organic Search The benefit of using paid search to show up in a search engine result is that you can guarantee online users will see your link when they are searching for an answer or website. There are many strategies to think about when choosing which keywords to purchase. Some questions to think about include: Do you want to go after a competitor? Do you have a particular marketing campaign that should tie to this? What stage in the sales process do you want to reach consumers (early research or closer to purchasing decision)? All of these and more are the types of questions your digital marketing company should help you answer to come up with the best paid search strategy for your business. 3
Costs of Paid Search Only when the consumer clicks on your ad, or goes to your web page because of the paid search results, are you charged. So, you are basically paying for what you get. Average prices of a paid search campaigns vary greatly depending on the keywords used, how competitive those keywords are, the time of year, and the company used to facilitate your campaign. Over the past seven years, the cost of paid search has been increasing due to its popularity. However, the cost of paid search can vary somewhere between $.05 to $3.35 on average. And it is not unheard of for the cost to be as high as $150.00. Keep in mind though, that the cost is always tied to your keywords. Measuring the return on investment (ROI) for your paid search can be difficult because of so many different factors and keywords. However you should generally expect a clear return of your cost, and an increase of traffic of at least 8%. In our opinion, paid search is a bare minimum when it comes to building an online presence. There are more organic ways of building traffic to your website, however paid search increases traffic by targeting your audience specifically at different points of the sales process. When online users search terms related to your business, services, or products, you undoubtedly want your company to come up in the results and paid search marketing is one way to guarantee that. 4
Display Advertising Standard display advertising includes the many ads you see that banner over the top, side, or center of most websites. Standard display advertising can have a variety of visual and audio facets, and vary in size. Display ads can be very similar to traditional advertising. While online users are consuming other content such as watching videos or researching, they will also be able to view your advertising message. One great benefit of display advertising is the ability to segment audiences. For instance, in the example below on ESPN.com you can imagine that the two display ads by Braun Shavers on the homepage are targeted toward adult males. The audience demographics of this site are likely even more detailed than that, as most sites that sell display advertising tend to have this type of information for advertisers. Display Ad 5
Costs of Display Advertising Average prices of display advertising are based on cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Many factors can come into play about what the CPM is for a site or a campaign, but an industry standard tends to be around $2.35 CPM. Measuring the ROI on a CPM campaign can be very difficult, as with most advertising, because it s based on eyeballs (impressions) to your ad. Similar to TV or radio, you re paying for the opportunity to show your ad to a given number of people. Another important point to keep in mind when running a standard display advertising campaign is that just as important as the websites and audiences you choose to run on, you must also make sure your offer does its job. What landing page are those clicking being directed to? What action do you want them to take? Is this all very clear? And does the ad copy and images match up with the landing page they are directed to? Having users click on your ad is useless if they immediately leave because they re unhappy with the page they ended up on. There are also hard-to-measure benefits of display advertising, such as brand recognition and those who visit your site based on an ad on their own. Many online users have a banner ad clicking aversion and might find something interesting but unknowingly just search for that information on their own later on, not wanting to be distracted from what they re currently doing. 6
Retargeting Advertising Retargeting is the term used to describe the practice of changing the ads on a web page to suit the particular visitor of the page, based on the visitors past browsing history (via cookies). This strategy is used for many scenarios but one of the most popular would be targeting website visitors AFTER they leave your site in the hopes of reminding them about what they shopped for, and that they should come back and buy. If you ve ever done some heavy searching online in regards to one topic, say buying a new pair of shoes, then conveniently had ads with other like pairs of shoes popping up for weeks to come then you ve been retargeted. The practice of running retargeting ads was slightly controversial early on because of the tracking of a consumer after they leave your page. However, more and more people are becoming used to the idea of cookies and browsing history tracking especially since they have the ability to turn it off. Costs of Retargeting Advertising As you can imagine, retargeting can have a higher price tag than traditional display advertising because it is so specific and customized. Retargeting ads are typically sold based on cost per click (CPC) and prices are comparable to paid search costs, varying with the time of year, keywords, and target audience you seek. Because you are only paying for performance, ROI can be high on a retargeting campaign. 7
Social Media Advertising Social media advertising is the approach of utilizing social media sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter) to market your business. This can be done in a variety of ways depending on your needs and the social media site you re using. One method is to run actual banner ads as you ve likely seen many times on your own newsfeed on a social media site. (See example from Facebook in left column.) However, another and sometimes more effective option is through sponsored content. This type of advertising uses the power of others in a given network who already like your business page and promotes it to their friends and connections. This taps into the power of influence and makes your promotional content seem more credible. Oftentimes the goal with this type of ad is to get more likes or get your target audience to visit your business page for that site. So, it really depends on what your needs and goals are in order to decide if this is the best strategy for your business. Additionally there are other options to promote contests, landing pages, and much more through social media advertising which should all be evaluated equally. The primary benefits of advertising on a social media site, such as Facebook, is that the audiences can be very segmented down to their favorites types of restaurants or as simply as basic demographics. Lastly, by simply having a social media business page for your company and using it effectively to interact with and provide value to your current and potential customers can be one of the most effective uses of social media marketing that doesn t have to cost a penny more than the person managing the page. Banner Ad on FaceBook 8
Costs of Social Media Advertising Purchasing social media advertising can range dramatically depending on the campaign or the site you re using and typically the more targeted, the higher the price will be. Like almost other online advertising, you can use an agency or third party to help you place your ads and ensure the effectiveness of them and to track your efforts, or consider tackling the task on your own. Every social media site is different but let s look at the big guy on campus, Facebook Facebook ads can be purchased in one of two ways: by the number of impressions (CPM) or based on the clicks you receive. You choose the bid you want to make (similar to most digital display advertising) and that will depend on who you re competing with and how targeted your audience is for that campaign. While Facebook ads can be become very expensive depending on the size of your campaign, it doesn t have to be. It can sometimes provide a great boost to small businesses, especially since little additional art is typically needed when you are simply promoting your page. Conclusion The cost of online advertising can vary depending on your unique business needs, your timeline, your goals, and many other factors. However, choosing NOT to include any online marketing in your marketing plan can prove to be damaging, especially as more and more consumers flock to the Internet throughout all phases of the sales process. You don t want them to find your competitor first online and never even blink an eye at your brand. As mentioned previously, the first step to growing your Houston business this year with the addition or expansion of your online marketing presence is to educate yourself. So congratulations for taking that first step! We d like to help you take it one step further and answer any additional questions you might have about online marketing trends and assets for your business. We specialize in working with Houston-based businesses and helping them target this unique market through the use of many different advertising mediums. 9
Set up a free, 30-minute digital needs analysis call with one of our digital marketing experts to get all your questions answered and receive a custom marketing strategy plan to help you get found online! Staff@HoustonMarketingMatters.com 713.963.1220 10