We’ve built our own business and helped many other businesses grow using the internet, so we would never ask what the ROI of online marketing is because we’ve seen first hand the power of the internet. Even though we have been doing this since 2001 and have amassed many case studies, we still get a lot of customers who treat SEO and Social Media like traditional advertising. They want to see instant, measurable results which we totally understand, but if that’s all you’re interested in you should stop reading now.
SEO and Social Media are about investing in the lifetime of your business. Paid advertising is like a Chia Pet, whereas SEO and Social Media is more like farming, if you put in the work you’ll be able to live off it.
This is a new age where the relationship between businesses and customers are drastically changing. As Gary Vaynerchuck said during his Inc 500 keynote speech (watch it it’s good) “For the past 150 years it’s been push, push, push!” If you wanted to get customers you had to keep pushing your brand through TV, Print, Billboards, etc. If you still think that’s the climate we’re in, your business doesn’t regularly use social media or you keep asking what’s the ROI of SEO or Social Media then you’re a Flintstone.
The Flintstones Need to Evolve
Consumers now have a voice and not only can they use it to share their great experiences with your company but they can also use it to write about their bad experiences. If you’re aware of this and already use social media and SEO to build your brand’s identity and connect with these individuals then you’re a Jetson. You’re preparing your business for the future. I don’t have to tell you, the business you get from word of mouth is typically some of the best business you’ll get. That’s where the ROI of social media and SEO lie; it’s the ability to scale how much word of mouth business you get.
The Jetsons Use Analytics
How much of your budget goes to traditional advertising vs. online marketing? My guess is many of you will say the majority goes to traditional advertising techniques. Do you know how their traditional advertising firms collect their data? Most of them do it through periodic surveys they send to a small handful of customers. Now imagine if they where able to collect data from virtually all of their customers…think of how much more you could learn. Well, you can collect this detailed data! With online marketing, web based analytics programs allow you to collect an unprecedented amount of information on your prospects and customers. Analytics can tell you how many people from each city in the US visited your site this week, what pages they visited and how many of them filled out a form or even how many picked up the phone and called you.
The bottom line is the business climate is changing, and if you’re not paying attention you’ll go extinct. Don’t be a Flintstone. Be a Jetson, and think about growing your business into the future.
