Do you ever wish you could replace the serial browsers and window shoppers with paying customers? We hear you.

But those online window shoppers are just as important as end-of-funnel customers in your marketing strategy.

As global advertising spending continues to grow, full-funnel marketing becomes more accessible and vital for conversions.

A great platform to target every type of customer? LinkedIn.

With the help of HawkSEM Senior Lead Strategist Chloe Derse, we’ll share how to take advantage of full-funnel marketing on LinkedIn.

We’ll also suggest budgeting tips to help you keep costs under control while targeting every stage of the funnel.

You need a solid foundation to nurture top-of-the-funnel customers into bottom-ones. (Image: Adobe)

What is full-funnel marketing?

Full-funnel marketing involves building content and campaigns that target customers at every customer journey stage.

That includes:

• Top-of-the-funnel (Awareness): The customer isn’t familiar with your brand yet but might peep a lighthearted social media ad or recommended LinkedIn post that sparks their interest.
• Middle-of-the-funnel (Consideration): The customer considers your brand and product by visiting your LinkedIn profile to learn more about your company or scoping out competitors with similar products.
• Bottom-of-the-funnel (Decision/Purchase): The customer is familiar with your brand and trusts your authority enough to make a purchase, sign up for a demo, or take another similar conversion action.

I know what you’re thinking: Why bother investing in campaigns for top-of-funnel audiences? Isn’t it more effective to target conversion-ready buyers?

According to Derse, you need a solid foundation to nurture top-of-the-funnel customers into bottom-ones.

“Brand trust is critical, and this is something that can be built with the messaging at each stage of the funnel,” she explains.

And guess which marketing channel is ideal for brand trust?

The power of LinkedIn for full-funnel marketing

Full-funnel marketing is ideal for any biz, but it’s especially beneficial for SaaS and B2B marketing brands.

That’s because they have longer buyer’s journeys.

For instance, an account manager at a Fortune 500 company needs a lot of stakeholder buy-in before they can commit to a software subscription. Plus, industry tech experts within a company want to make absolutely sure your brand is reputable before investing.

LinkedIn is a great platform to achieve precisely that.

Gartner’s B2B Buying Journey report shows that audience sentiments around LinkedIn ads are less negative than other platforms, citing descriptors like “safety,” “least annoying,” and “less deceptive.”

Pair that with the fact that LinkedIn is the number-one social media channel for business decision-makers and B2B brands, and you’ve got a gold mine for full-funnel marketing.

Plus, the platform gives you the audience targeting specs to actually cater to each stage of the funnel.

“The main benefit of creating a full-funnel strategy on LinkedIn is that you can customize the ads that people are seeing based on previous actions they have taken, such as whether or not they have ever visited a brand’s website,” says Derse.

In this case, someone who has visited your brand website would be considered a middle-funnel audience. LinkedIn helps you identify these segments, thus making it easier to target them with custom messaging.

As for how to target each funnel effectively and craft tailor-made content? Keep reading.

How to conduct full-funnel marketing on LinkedIn

Ready to convert audiences at every stage of the sales funnel?

Here’s HawkSEM’s step-by-step guide for a full-funnel marketing strategy on LinkedIn.

1. Target audiences at each stage of the funnel

Step one: Set up bulletproof audience targeting.

What if you shared a marketing campaign that featured competitor comparisons and limited-time offers to people who have never heard of your brand?

That’s a recipe for wasted ad spend and a big no-no in full-funnel marketing. You risk mismatching content with the wrong audience, which diminishes your chances for higher conversion rates and engagement.

This is why it’s vital to tailor your LinkedIn audience by each stage of the funnel. Here are a few tips for getting started:

Go broad for top-of-the-funnel audiences

Say a potential customer has never heard of you. No matter how good your PR is, chances are this is your biggest audience pool on LinkedIn.

Naturally, top-of-the-funnel audiences will also be your largest target when you set up your specs on LinkedIn ads.

“This is where you are trying to create awareness,” says Derse. “The pool of potential people that could benefit from your product is the largest.”

For example, you might target a broad audience based on different job titles related to your niche. Broad audience targeting might cast a wide net, but with a little more tweaking in the consideration stage, you’re bound to catch a few fish.

Pro tip: Top-of-the-funnel content can be broad. You might feel tempted to narrow down your audience to seniority, specific employers, or location on top of job titles, but that can drive costs up. At this stage, job title targets are sufficient to drive brand awareness and get qualified leads to check out your brand.

Harness retargeting for middle-of-the-funnel audiences

Has an audience visited your website or clicked on your ad? Chances are, these were previously top-of-the-funnel audience members who moved to the middle funnel. You can adjust those criteria within LinkedIn’s targeting features.

Retargeting to this funnel also means changing the type of content you share with them since they’re already familiar with your brand, but more on that in a bit.

Pro tip: Mid-funnel audiences will require more of your budget to target on LinkedIn. Instead of targeting various behavioral criteria (e.g. multiple web page visits or ad clicks), focus on one at a time. Measure success with metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS) or website traffic before adding more targets.

Get granular with bottom-of-the-funnel audiences

If your middle-of-the-funnel audience clicked your ad or visited your home page, your bottom-of-the-funnel audience may have gone even deeper.

Perhaps they visited your “Contact Us” page or landing page and saw your lead generation form, but they weren’t convinced enough to complete it.

Derse says this audience may be smaller but still packs a punch in conversion potential:

“You can deliver a very tailored ad to them on LinkedIn that may help ease any lingering concerns they have before they submit the contact form,” Derse tells us.

Pro tip: Bottom-funnel audiences are the most expensive to target. Stick with one ad campaign at a time to keep costs low at this stage. And if you don’t see results? Switch up your targeting criteria before introducing another ad campaign.

Targeting? Check. Next, we’ll walk through how to create content that reaches audiences at the various stages of your LinkedIn sales funnel.

2. Create a content strategy for each stage of the funnel

Content and ad formats offer endless ideas for topics and visuals, but you need to tailor every choice to the funnel you’re targeting.

Make an introduction with top-of-funnel content (awareness)

Keep top-of-funnel content lighthearted and introductory since you’re making first acquaintances with your prospects.

Remember, your top-of-the-funnel content might be your audience’s first exposure to your brand.

This isn’t the time to engage them with deep dives into your product features or company culture. This audience also isn’t ready for pushy, persuasive ads that link to your sales demo either.

In this case, Derse says to ease your audience into your brand with introductory content to drive brand awareness:

“At the top of the funnel, people are just getting to know the brand,” says Derse. “So anything that informs them of what you do and why you do it well will start to build trust.”

The idea is to pique interest without overwhelming them with information. Grammarly does a good job introducing their product with this ad:

Other ideas for top-of-the-funnel content include:

• Blog posts: Publish informative topics that help solve their needs and pain points. How-to posts lend well to top-of-funnel content because the article contains relevant information that your target audiences type into Google Search.
• Infographics: Share insider statistics and findings. For example, you could share a list of industry trends if you’re in the retail or housing markets.
• Webinars: Create educational videos where you teach your audience helpful tips and provide valuable insights that help them solve a problem.
• Video ads: No matter where your audience spends time online, they’re going to see videos. Capture their attention with catchy, high-quality video ads that profess them through your funnel.

Dive deeper into your industry with middle-of-funnel content (consideration)

Now that your audience has had an introductory taste of your brand, you can tease their interest further with your industry knowledge via middle-of-funnel content.

One great way to do that: “Messaging that includes educational ebooks, guides, or other downloads will be most helpful,” says Derse.

McKinsey & Co. shares exclusive access to a helpful guide in this sponsored LinkedIn post:

Retargeting content for mid-funnel audiences

Retargeting content appeals to audiences who have already seen a few of your ads.

Here, you want to elevate the ad copy and visuals and add personalized elements to not only remind this audience that they’ve heard of your brand but also invite them to learn more about you.

“You can tailor the messaging to people that you know are familiar with the brand and have previously visited the brand’s website,” Derse shares.

LinkedIn offers targeting to capture audiences that have visited certain websites or seen your ad, but you can also use this strategy on other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook:

For example, consider an audience that’s already seen an ecommerce brand’s top-funnel ad about their focus on sustainable clothing on Instagram.

Retargeted content might look like a new carousel ad campaign with different products and sustainability highlights, with an invitation to those specific product pages.

After a bit more time in the middle funnel? Your audience is primed for more convincing content.

Seal the deal with bottom-of-the-funnel content (decision/purchase)

Ready to ramp up your horsepower? This is your moment to put your most persuasive foot forward with bottom-of-the-funnel content.

“Messaging that includes demos, competitor comparison charts, customer stories, case studies, and testimonials will be most helpful here for building trust,” Derse says.

You want to stand out from competitors because this audience is inches away from converting. An enticing testimonial or case study might just be the social proof you need to get your audience to choose you over your rivals.

For example, you can share your stand-out features compared to competitors or other plans like Shopify does:

We love this carousel ad because it gives Shopify multiple opportunities to speak to their audience’s pain points.

And if you want to double down on visibility? Don’t forget to sprinkle in some search engine optimization (SEO) to satisfy Google.

3. Make sure SEO puts you on Google’s radar

Imagine a potential customer who sees your ad on LinkedIn. Once intrigued, they follow up with a Google search of your company but find nada.

Your brand isn’t ranking at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Now what?

That’s precisely why SEO is vital in your marketing efforts, even on LinkedIn.

“Brands’ websites have to be discoverable in order for other channels like LinkedIn to be effective,” she says.

If not, your entire full-funnel marketing strategy on LinkedIn could fall flat. Here are a few ideas to get an SEO strategy going on a budget:

• Use free keyword research tools: Moz and Semrush are a couple of our favorite SEO platforms, but they also offer free tools within their software suite. Use them to get a headstart on keyword research and identify keywords to optimize your blog and web content.
• Research Google’s algorithm updates: You can access the latest updates to Google’s ranking factors with a close eye on the search engine giant’s news releases and industry mentions. Conduct your own research to avoid hefty consulting fees while in beginner business stages or when you’re simply on a budget.
• Start a realistic, consistent content calendar: You might not have the bandwidth for a daily blog post and social media story, but you can get into Google’s good books with consistency, even if you start small. Prioritize a weekly blog post to start ranking for your audience’s search queries.

Of course, an SEO content calendar with updated keyword research and algorithm awareness isn’t easy to maintain. HawkSEM’s industry-leading SEO services can lighten the load and optimize your strategy.

4. Complement LinkedIn with paid search and other social media platforms

Earlier we touched on the power of retargeting for middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel audiences. Why not increase those chances even more with reinforcement from other platforms?

Derse says additional marketing channels (especially paid search) are a great way to boost your full-funnel LinkedIn strategy:

“Paid search compliments LinkedIn well because you can pass along audience insights from LinkedIn that can be used for paid search targeting,” shares Derse.

You can also join forces with each platform’s keyword strategy, as search terms from paid search can also be incorporated into LinkedIn messaging.

But doesn’t all this get expensive? Our PPC strategists have managed enough campaigns to know how to stick to your budget while soaring your revenue.

Remember: You don’t need to focus solely on PPC campaigns to reinforce your LinkedIn strategy. No matter the stage in the customer journey, you have various platforms you can harness to reach your audience.

Instagram and Facebook are budget-friendly channels

LinkedIn Ads will cost you over $5 per click, but Facebook ads cost a fraction of the price at under $1 per click. Plus, you might have a wider audience on Instagram and Facebook than LinkedIn if any of this rings true for your brand:

• You’re an ecommerce seller
• You’re a clothing retailer
• You have a younger audience
• Your industry isn’t overly technical

On top of that? You can keep organic social media marketing in-house and budget-friendly with regular posts and stories about your products.

Organic posts are lighter on the budget since you aren’t paying the platform per click.

5. Keep an eye on your budget

LinkedIn is one of the more expensive PPC platforms out there. This makes it easy to blow through your marketing dollars with high costs per click (CPCs) and multiple funnel campaigns.

But there are ways to keep your costs low, even with a full-funnel strategy.

“One campaign for each stage of the funnel is typically all you need for a lower budget scenario,” says Derse.

While you could add more campaigns if you feel necessary, sticking to one per funnel stage helps you avoid your budget being spread too thin.

Derse also suggests that smaller, more customized audience sizes tend to be costlier in terms of CPC. So you might consider starting with a larger audience size to keep costs low on LinkedIn.

The takeaway

Full-funnel marketing captures the human element of marketing. After all, human beings aren’t automatic credit cards that buy on demand.

Your audience needs nurturing, and a full-funnel marketing strategy on LinkedIn is a great way to build the trust and engagement they demand before they buy from you.

But how do you stay on top of fluid audience research, algorithm updates, and endless content and ad formats for each funnel stage? That’s where support from a top-3% digital marketing agency comes in.

HawkSEM generates an average of 4.5X ROI for our clients. This comes from decades of experience producing high-quality paid search, LinkedIn campaigns, and content marketing strategies across every platform.

Plus, we’re backed by ConversionIQ, our seamless marketing tech that links ad, channel, and audience details directly with metrics and performance across every branch of your strategy.

Ready to reach your full ROI potential with full-funnel LinkedIn marketing?

We’ve got the juice to make it happen. Let’s create a LinkedIn strategy that brings you leads, conversions, and epic sales.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January 2024.

The post How to Build Full-Funnel Marketing on LinkedIn (+ Why You Should) appeared first on HawkSEM.

Every business owner wants to invest in marketing that pays off.

Duh.

But among the roster of services — pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), social media management (SMM), and more — it’s tough to know how much marketing agencies actually cost.

In this guide, we’ll provide a complete breakdown of marketing agency pricing models and the factors that dictate those costs.

Along the way, we’ll get expert insights from Sam Yadegar, who brings decades of experience as a co-founder and CEO of our leading marketing agency, HawkSEM.

 How much does a marketing agency cost?

On average, marketing agencies cost $3,500 per month, with a wide range depending on the scope of work, services, and experience.

Here’s a breakdown of average marketing agency pricing by niche:

PPC: $1,500-$10,000 per month
SEO: $1,000-$30,000 per month
Marketing strategy: $3,000-$10,000
Ecommerce: $2,000-$12,000 per month
SaaS: $5,000-$20,000 per month
CRO: $1,500-$10,000 per month
Social media marketing: $900-$20,000 per month
Influencer marketing: $100-$10,000 per post, or $5,000-$250,000 per month
Branding and graphic design: $150-$300 per hour, or $7,000-$150,000 per project
Content marketing: $2,000-$30,000 per month
Growth marketing: $3,000-$30,000 per month
Affiliate marketing: 5%-30% of affiliate revenue
Link building: $50-$1,500 per link
Email marketing: $300-$1,500 per month
Digital PR: $5,000-$100,000+ per month

You’ll likely need to invest anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 or more per month into a marketing agency to see a worthwhile return on investment (ROI). But you’ll want to get clear on your marketing goals first.

Want to boost organic conversions? Looking for quick, high-quality traffic? Ready to spark interest with your audience on social media?

These are all important factors that weigh into what kind of services to seek out, along with marketing agency pricing.

Marketing agency pricing models

What is a typical marketing agency fee? That depends on the pricing structure the agency uses, and will typically fall into five common categories:

1. Monthly retainer
2. Project-based
3. Package (tiered)
4. Hourly
5. Value-based

1. Monthly retainer pricing

Most agencies charge retainer fees for ongoing monthly marketing services.

A marketing agency’s monthly retainer is a minimum monthly amount per month that includes certain services.

This can cost anywhere from $1,500 per month for select services to $10,000 or so per month for full-suite digital marketing services covering multiple tactics, like:

• PPC advertising
• SEO
• Social media marketing
• Content marketing

Why such a wide price gap? Because marketing agencies usually offer retainers based on several services.

For example, a retainer that includes SMM, PPC, SEO, and an overall omnichannel strategy will cost more than one that covers a single service.

Not sure which channels you should focus on? Yadegar says it’s vital to keep your sights on the highest revenue impact while incorporating channels that feed your entire marketing funnel.

“It’s definitely a case-by-case situation,” says Yadegar. “We typically see about 20% of budgets going to digital marketing. Within that percentage, 30% goes to PPC, 30% goes to SEO, 20% goes to social, and 20% goes to CRO.”

The average cost of a monthly retainer is around $3,500, and usually, agencies have minimums that fall around $1,000 to $1,500.

Of course, you can easily invest $6,000 to over $10,000 per month, but this depends on various factors which we’ll cover in a bit.

But if you have your marketing strategy locked in? You might just need help with a few specific projects.

2. Project-based pricing

Let’s say you’re an established SaaS business that sells educational gaming software for kids. You plan to launch a new product line: professional development software for 20-somethings entering the workforce.

Now, you want to target a different age demographic on Instagram in large metropolitan cities like New York City, Chicago, and Boston.

You could recruit help for this project from a devoted Meta Ads agency.

The benefit of a project-based pricing model is that the marketing agency will only charge you for this specific project, which makes it easy to budget for and set clear key performance indicators (KPIs).

But if you have a steady stream of campaigns and projects moving forward, all you need to do is maintain them.

And if your marketing team is too swamped to keep up with all the tasks? Jump ahead to the next section for marketing agency pricing by service.

3. Package (tiered) pricing

Agencies often have multiple packages to choose from based on their specialty services.

For example, an SEO agency may offer packages including website optimization and SEO setup, or ongoing SEO services including technical SEO and content creation.

Package or tiered pricing lets you choose among pre-set packages to keep monthly expenses uniform.

4. Hourly agency fees

Charging by the hour is a less common pricing model because it isn’t as realistic for most businesses looking to maximize ROI.

Hourly pricing averages around $150 per hour, depending on the agency’s specialty.

In our experience, we’ve seen that charging for the number of hours required to strategize and execute cross-channel campaigns is often ineffective for sustainable growth.

It doesn’t take into account the scope of work required for each campaign.

Further, it significantly limits your reach potential, because it only accounts for hourly work for one specific marketing tactic, not the bigger picture.

5. Value-based pricing model

If you want to see optimal results and ROI, look at your marketing objectives. A value-based pricing model considers your ideal benchmarks, like increasing conversions and sales-qualified leads (SQLs).

The agency must conduct services and provide these results to get paid. In other words, they must provide value.

Before a marketing agency rolls out any campaigns, they must dive into your business, offerings, and goals. (Image: Adobe stock)

Marketing agency costs by service

To help you allocate a percentage of your revenue for marketing based on your specific goals, let’s look at the most common pricing averages by marketing type and niche:

• PPC pricing structure and range
• SEO agency pricing models
• Marketing strategy pricing
• Ecommerce pricing models
• SaaS marketing costs
• CRO agency costs
• Social media agency pricing
• Influencer marketing pricing
• Branding and graphic design pricing
• Content marketing pricing ranges
• Growth marketing pricing
• Affiliate marketing pricing models and range
• Link-building pricing models
• Email marketing pricing
• Digital PR average costs

PPC pricing structure and range

PPC pricing falls into three agency rate structures:

Flat fee: $1,500 to $10,000 fee per month, often with an additional one-time setup fee. Rates usually represent a percentage of your PPC budget; the higher the budget, the higher the PPC management fee.

Performance-based: Want to only pay for results? Then this PPC pricing model is an ideal choice. You pay for the leads they generate, but it’s essential to partner with a reputable digital marketing agency to ensure you see high-quality, conversion-primed leads.

Percentage of ad spend: This pricing model charges a percentage (typically 10-20%) of your ad spend. The agency charges a commission-based fee indicative of your monthly ad budget spend. The fee tends to decrease as your marketing budget increases; the more you spend, the lower the commission.

Range: $1,500-$10,000 per month

SEO agency pricing models

SEO pricing falls into three rate systems:

Monthly fee: $3,000 to $10,000 per month; ideal for ongoing SEO support, goal-setting, increasing organic web presence, and gaining visibility through optimized content marketing.

Local SEO: $1,500 to $1,000 per month; best suited for local businesses focusing on building a regional presence and higher visibility for local search terms.

Project-based: $5,000 to $30,000 flat rate; ideal for targeted SEO campaigns with clear deliverables, such as website audits and optimization, keyword research, content strategy, and content creation.

Attracting organic traffic is critical to building a sustainable web presence focused on building trust and brand awareness.

Range: $1,000-$30,000

Marketing strategy pricing

Before a marketing agency rolls out any campaigns, they must dive into your business, offerings, and goals.

Armed with this intel, they can strategize the best roadmap to success. This involves a deep-dive analysis of your audience, customer personas, and competitors.

Marketing strategy can be a one-time fee or an ongoing rate included in a monthly retainer as your agency tracks performance and makes adjustments along the way.

Range: $3,000-$10,000

Ecommerce pricing models

Effective ecommerce marketing requires compelling ads and content that speaks to their audience’s biggest pain points.

Ecommerce companies should plan to invest around 11% of monthly revenue into marketing.

However, pricing depends on which channels you prioritize: PPC, SEO, SMM, or a combination of all three. For example, if PPC is on your radar, then you’ll likely receive a quote for a lower monthly retainer plus the percentage of ad spend.

Range: $2,000-$12,000 per month

SaaS marketing costs

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is notoriously competitive, and brands need to pay to play if they want to rise above the competition.

SaaS marketing builds brand awareness and recognition to foster trust. You want to capture leads at every stage of the SaaS sales funnel, and that’ll cost you.

Range: $5,000-$20,000 per month

CRO agency costs

Seeing lots of traffic but zero conversions? Sounds like you might benefit from a conversation rate optimization (CRO) agency.

You’ll encounter fixed-fee pricing models here, or a full-time equivalent (FTE) rate, which is calculated by the anticipated hourly workload.

Range: $800-$10,000 per month

Social media agency pricing

Social media marketing encompasses several services, including social media management, content creation, paid social media, consulting, strategy, scheduling, and customer service engagement.

A brand will typically either hire an agency to fully manage all facets of social media marketing, or focus on content creation and engagement.

You might also recruit a social media marketing agency for support with a specific influencer, Meta Ads, or user-generated content (UGC) campaigns.

Range: $900-$20,000 per month

Influencer marketing pricing

Influencer marketing agencies connect your brand with aligned influencers to build brand awareness. They have a few pricing models, including flat rates, commissions, or flat rates plus commissions.

An influencer marketing agency’s pricing also varies depending on the size of each influencer’s audience.

Huge influencers with millions of followers will fetch upwards of $10,000 per post. Conversely, smaller micro-influencers are more accessible, costing around $100 per post.

Other factors that impact price include the specific type and number of marketing channels each influencer has.

Range: $100-$10,000 per post, or $5,000-$250,000 per month

Branding and graphic design pricing

Branding marketing agencies help you create an instantly identifiable brand with killer web design, branding assets, and design collateral while creating an enjoyable user experience.

Think of Pepsi’s notorious logo rebrand. Agencies generally charge per project or hourly for this service.

Hourly range: $150-$300 per hour
Per project: $7,000-$150,000 per project

Content marketing pricing ranges

Content marketing is a catch-all phrase describing the process of creating, and marketing content, and ranges between $2,000 to $30,000 per month paid via a monthly retainer.

You’ll want to invest in ROI-driving content, including video marketing campaigns, blogs to boost SEO and authority, and educational content.

Range: $2,000-$30,000 per month

Growth marketing pricing

Growth marketing agencies provide full-suite digital marketing services.

Agencies will factor out how many hours they’ll need to spend bringing your objectives to fruition and usually charge an hourly rate.

Since the range is so vast, it might be more strategic to focus on which aspects of your content marketing strategy are most important to your business objectives.

From there, you can work out a budget based on the average price ranges for those services, such as SEO and PPC.

Range: $3,000-$30,000 per month

Affiliate marketing pricing models and range

Affiliate marketing gives your brand a percentage of purchases made from affiliate partners.

These could be influencers, blogs, comparison websites, and any other individual or business that promotes your business for a commission.

So it only makes sense that an affiliate marketing agency will also charge a percentage based on the revenue generated.

Range: 5%-30% of affiliate revenue

Link-building pricing models

Link building involves reaching out to high-quality websites and publications and asking them to link to your website or content.

The process is extremely laborious and time-consuming. And that’s why link-building agencies charge a package rate fee for a certain number of links.

For instance, say you want 20 high-quality backlinks. They may charge anywhere from $50 to $1,500 per link, depending on the domain authority of the website providing the link.

Range: $50-$1,500 per link

Email marketing pricing

Email marketing fosters relationships with your customers. And it also yields sizable returns — how does a $36 return for every $1 spent sound?

How much you invest will depend on the scope of work. For example, if you want to send multiple emails a week, you’ll invest more than a campaign that sends out two monthly emails.

You’ll also want to factor in costs for specific campaigns and sequences, like promotional emails for upcoming sales or welcome sequences, to guide new customers through your sales funnel.

Range: $300-$1,500 per month

Digital PR average costs

Digital public relations agencies are marketing companies that exclusively manage your brand’s reputation and public perception.

And it costs a pretty penny. Pricing ultimately depends on the client’s needs, whether that be to establish hype through networking connections, or do damage control to rebuild compromised trust.

Each project is unique, but you’ll likely pay for specific deliverables.

Range: $5,000-$100,000+ per month

 Factors that contribute to marketing agency pricing

While there are thousands of marketing companies, each specializing in unique services, there are different pricing factors that weigh in across the board.

Digital marketing strategies

As you can see from the pricing models listed in this guide, costs vary widely. This means that the digital marketing strategies your agency uses will directly impact their fees.

An agency will help you isolate where to harness your efforts. Say you want to invest in lead generation on LinkedIn, but you’d also love to boost retention from existing customers.

Instead of spreading your budget thin by recruiting various professionals, an agency will formulate its digital marketing strategy based on these goals and also look for areas to make your investment go even further.

Experience

Demonstrated experience is an important factor that weighs into a marketing agency’s pricing strategy.

If you’re a SaaS brand, does the agency have relevant case studies showing sustainable growth and substantial ROI for other SaaS clients?

While you can certainly find affordable prices from freelancers and new agencies, they might lack the horsepower to tackle complex marketing efforts with cohesion and strategic thinking.

An established marketing agency will have in-house talent, tools, experience, software, and bandwidth to ensure your investment pays off with big gains.

Goals

Your marketing goals determine the strategies your online advertising agency uses to help you achieve those goals.

Ultimately, you want to reach your target audience, but you may also want to boost clicks from paid ads, increase sales, or see a specific amount of ROI for a large campaign.

“A good agency will present budgeting, including their own agency costs, and clearly show that the agency is self-financed based on the strategies they will execute,” says Yadegar.

“The marketing agency pricing should pay for itself and then some.”

Industry

Remember when we mentioned how competitive SaaS is? The same goes for finance and technology industries that command higher marketing spend to see results.

The more niche your industry, the easier it may be for you to stand out, which means you won’t have to market as aggressively.

Company size

While a large company boasting hundreds of specialists may charge higher rates than a smaller team, company size isn’t the sole indicator of a marketing agency’s pricing structure.

Yadegar elaborates:

“It’s less the size of the company, and more the goals the brand is trying to achieve,” says Yadegar. “Usually as goals get more aggressive and spend increases, marketing agency pricing should be a bit more accommodating by providing discounts at scale.”

 Costs included in digital marketing agency pricing

“Typically, full service [marketing] covers PPC, SEO, and social to generate the best return,” says Yadegar.

Beyond the actual marketing campaigns, the agency fee will encompass costs like:

Technology and software: Many marketing agencies use automation software and technology to strategize, data-mine, and monitor metrics.

For example, HawkSEM’s clients gain access to our tech dashboard, ConversionIQ, which distills pertinent campaign data into actionable insights and shows you campaign progress.

Employee salaries and costs: Agencies with employees have costs like salaries, benefits, and insurance. Even contracted specialists have fees, which all go into marketing agency pricing.

Office expenses: Overhead like utilities, office supplies, rent, and operational software all accompany an agency fee.

Service fees: These can include licensing, taxes, attorneys, and corporate fees.

While agencies have more fees than freelancers or in-house talent, they also have more capabilities, support, and expertise.

Why hire a marketing agency?

You can certainly keep your marketing in-house if you see success from your campaigns. But if you need to recruit strategists beyond the skillset or availability of your team, an agency can step in and pick up the slack.

The benefits? You gain access to a broad pool of experts who you don’t have to put on the payroll.

By partnering with a digital marketing agency like HawkSEM, you instantly tap into the combined expertise of skilled SEO and PPC professionals with decades of expertise in generating results for brands like Honda and Verizon.

This frees up time in your busy schedule to focus on your product, team, and business operations.

What to look for in a marketing agency

Use this guide as a framework for reasonable marketing agency costs, but take it a step further by researching:

• Niche alignment: Does the agency have proven success in marketing for your niche?
• Growth potential: Is the agency capable of isolating strategic paths to success? Do they conduct thorough market analysis?
• Testimonials and case studies: Look for agency ratings on Clutch.io, and scour their case studies to crunch the data on real campaigns and success metrics.
• Communication preferences: The agency should make communication and progress tracking organized and efficient.
• Smooth project management: Inquire about their process and ensure you have a communication style that works for you.

The takeaway

While marketing agency pricing runs the gamut, it’s essential to choose an agency that understands your needs and business goals.

You can easily pump thousands of dollars into marketing tactics that fall short of the results promised.

Instead, partner with a trusted agency that showcases impeccable results and industry know-how.

HawkSEM is a Google Premier Partner that harnesses data and strategy to unleash mega results for recognizable industry titans like Microsoft and Merill Lynch.

Ready to climb the ranks and ensure every dollar sowed is reaped more than 4X over? Get in touch today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in February 2024.

The post Marketing Agency Pricing: How Much They Charge + What to Spend appeared first on HawkSEM.

Launching a startup is like bungee jumping: thrilling and terrifying all at once.

But seeing your idea turn into a small business is pretty hard to beat.

In an industry full of digitally savvy owners and employees, startup businesses understand the important role digital marketing plays in their business’s success.

But if you took the leap, only to find the traditional marketing efforts left you hanging, don’t panic. Use these 8 steps to launch your digital marketing strategy (and startup) toward serious success.

You can find free tools to do everything from keyword search and content improvement to PPC campaign analysis and competition monitoring. (Image: Unsplash)

1. Start with keyword research

The buying journey begins with a keyword.

From search engine optimization (SEO) to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, keywords act as the blueprint for your strategy. The more relevant your keywords are, the better chances you’ll have at engaging the right audience.

Consider using tools like AnswerThePublic and Keywords Everywhere: Enter at least two words that describe your product, service, or offer.

These tools will suggest keywords you can target in your ad campaigns and website content.

Besides the basic keyword research practices , it’s also essential to keep the following in mind:

• Stage of the funnel – keywords need to differ for potential customers at different stages of the sales funnel
• Existing content – if two or more pages on your website are targeting the same keyword, they’re competing against each other on the search engine results page (SERP), which can hurt your rankings
• Branded keywords – this is especially geared toward PPC ads, however, be sure to include branded keywords in your marketing campaign (because your competition certainly will)

And, look. We all have a tendency to over-complicate things.

While keyword research tools are extremely useful, don’t forget that Google search itself is perhaps the most insightful (and free!) tool of all. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and enter a few Google searches.

Do your competitors show up? What are Google’s predictive text suggestions? Check out the “People also ask,” and “related searches” sections, too.

Once you’ve done some research and determined the best keywords to go after, you can build a more organized campaign in Google Ads, write smart ad copy, create a content calendar, optimize your website, and design eye-catching landing pages that motivate action.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to pay special attention to negative keywords — the search terms you don’t want to target in your PPC campaigns. Common examples include “Free,” and “Cheap.”

2. Conduct a full website audit

The top search result in Google’s organic listings has an average CTR of more than 27%. Needless to say, the quality of your website directly affects the success of your digital marketing plan.

Google works hard to make the searcher’s experience as helpful and effortless as possible.

To accomplish this, Google uses web crawlers that read and index the pages on your website and an algorithm with ranking factors that signify how helpful and relevant a website is to a searcher.

To ensure your website has a better chance of ranking, conduct a quick website audit. You can use a tool like Ahrefs to help you with this; just enter your website’s URL and run an audit.

Ahrefs will crawl your site and return an overall “health” score of your site. It will also show you areas where you can improve.

This includes fixing broken links, testing your site speed, reviewing the mobile-friendliness of your site, and making sure your pages are indexed properly.

Google rewards you for creating a high-quality website, and an engaging website will keep people on your website longer. This gives you more time to engage customers and encourage them to buy.

When it comes to everything from the design to the technical SEO, you want to ensure your website is in top form.

3. Explore free tools to drive paid and organic traffic to your site

Paid search marketing (also referred to as PPC) is one of the most effective methods around when it comes to digital marketing for startups.

And many of the tools used to assist your PPC campaign buildout and optimization (think: market research and competitor analysis) offer a free version or a free trial.

Even if free options don’t offer the same functionality, they are still useful and cost-effective tools for your preliminary strategy and ongoing PPC and organic optimization alike.

Here are some tools that help improve your digital presence:

• Google Ads Editor – to assist with your Google Ads campaign
• Google Market Finder – to find the best markets for your new business
• AnswerThePublic – to improve keyword search
• Google Analytics – to analyze website visitors
• Moz Local Listing – to check your local online presence
• Ahrefs Backlink Checker – to check your backlinking strategy (and see what competitors are up to)
• SERP Simulator – to see how your webpage will look on Google’s search result page
• Schema Generator – to create Schema markup

In addition to improving your digital presence, you’ll also want to properly track metrics to see where your conversions are coming from, so you can maximize your ad spend. For this, there’s ConversionIQ.

Our proprietary marketing platform connects all of your online advertising and marketing channels into one dashboard.

The result? A reporting system and optimization tool that gives us a clear picture of your marketing efforts — and where improvement opportunities exist.

Transparent analytics and reporting without hopping around from platform to platform.

4. Use audience research to guide your social media marketing decisions

More than 70% of American adults use social media.

Most startups choose Facebook as their debut in the social media world because it has the highest global reach rate. However, Facebook might not always be the best fit for you.

Instead, use audience research to identify which social platform the majority of your audience uses most.

Audience research tells you more than what search terms your customers are using — it tells you who your customers are, what sources of influence matter to them, and where they spend their time on social media.

“You need audience research to get your message where your ideal customer already is,” says Amanda Natividad, VP of marketing at SparkToro.

“An audience research strategy means you’re keeping a pulse on what your audience cares about and what they’re already talking about. Then it’s up to you to create the content that resonates with them.”

To conduct audience research, start by engaging in organic conversations with your audience to learn what they care about, what social accounts they follow, what problems they have, and where they spend time.

You can also use a tool like SparkToro to enter keywords and learn more about how your audience behaves online.

Compare and contrast the information you found in your SparkToro search with the conversations you had with customers to draw conclusions.

Once you find out who your target customers are and where they spend their time, you can focus your content creation efforts and social media posts on the platforms that make the most sense for your startup.

What’s more, your audience research will tell you what kind of content will engage them most.

Pro tip: Even if you don’t start posting on all social channels immediately, it’s a good idea to go ahead and claim your company’s name as your username across the major platforms, so you’ll be aligned and easy to locate once you expand your posting.

5. Build out & revamp your knowledge base

Nearly 90% of millennials will use a search engine before calling customer service.

That means startups should create a knowledge base to provide excellent resources right on their website.

Be it technical documentation, FAQs, or how-to guides, you can take full advantage of these materials to provide a top-notch customer experience online.

However, providing tutorials and answers to customer questions aren’t the only benefits of a robust knowledge base.

These resources also help dictate your company’s content marketing and search engine optimization strategy.

Creating quality content is time-consuming but crucial to help your startup stand out in a crowded sea of competitors.

And while creating new content for your website goes a long way, you don’t have to create all new content to boost your SEO efforts. It’s just as effective to optimize and repurpose existing content (score!).

The reason? The age of a particular URL is a Google ranking factor.

As such, you often have a higher chance of ranking for a particular keyword if you optimize and refresh an old post instead of creating a completely new post.

Some ways to refresh old posts include:

• Add keywords to your knowledge base materials, and post the full texts on your website
• Use the existing content in blogs and on social media to establish yourself as an industry expert
• Add links to this content on your website for internal linking purposes (when it makes sense)

When you create new knowledge base content, keep SEO best practices in mind

6. Build email lists

Like paid search and content marketing, email marketing is another component of a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.

Stats show there are more than 4 billion daily email users and that people engage with company emails.

The best news about email marketing? Startups can use an email service provider (ESP) that integrates with ecommerce websites. These ESPs have features that make it possible to easily capture email addresses, segment lists, and test emails to increase open and click-through rates.

Start your email marketing strategy by including an email subscriber form on any page where your audience frequents.

Add a subscriber form to your homepage, your checkout process, and your most popular blog posts.

Additionally, you can take advantage of automation and other tools to create personalized email campaigns that target the right people at the right stage of the buyer’s journey.

Automated emails generate 320% more revenue than manual emails. Once your list is ready, you can initiate various automated email marketing campaigns for different segments of your audience at different stages of the sales funnel.

Once you’ve picked out a solid email platform to use, you can work on building your list through tactics including:

• A limited-time offer or special discount
• Offering exclusive content
• Putting an email signup form on your website
• Creating a contest that involves opting in to enter

Of all the various email automation tactics startups can use to engage customers, it’s essential to set up an abandoned cart automation.

Research from the Baymard Institute found that the average cart abandonment rate across industries is more than 70%.

Startups that are not using an abandoned cart recovery email are wasting a huge opportunity to re-engage customers and capture a sale.

In fact, online shoppers openly admit they abandon carts and wait for a re-engagement email to get a discount.

Image: Twitter

Your ESP will walk you through the exact steps of how to set up an abandoned cart automation email series.

Typically, you’ll start by requiring an email address during the checkout process. Then, you’ll set up a trigger in your ESP to send an automated email to any subscriber who clicks out of your site before finishing their purchase.

7. Leverage user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool that often costs you next to nothing.

This smart marketing solution allows your customers to become brand ambassadors while making your job easier so you can focus on other marketing matters.

79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

In fact, consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer marketing content when making a purchasing decision.

There are several types of UGC that startups can use to boost credibility and lend social proof to their company. UGC includes reviews, unboxing videos, how-to tutorials, Instagram content, TikTok videos, and sponsored posts.

Startups can also use UGC across all platforms to improve digital marketing efforts. This includes posting UGC on their website, social accounts, and review pages.

Il Makiage is an example of a brand that uses UGC effectively. It pulls content from its customers right into its web design and product description pages to show other consumers how real customers are using the product in question.

Showing how real customers use your product is a brilliant way to encourage other customers who are browsing your products to buy.

Simple ways to gather UGC marketing for your content strategy include:

• Creating customer surveys
• Interviewing experts in your field
• Running contests with branded hashtags
• Asking customers to leave reviews
• Posting customers’ content on your website and social media (with permission)
• Offering incentives to loyal customers who refer new customers
• Gifting customers free products

Pro tip: To gather more reviews, register your company on Google Business Profile and Bing Places.

8. Keep an eye on the competition

The last several years have ushered in robust advances in technology, high growth rates in retail, tech, and commerce, over 5 billion global internet users, and more people than ever using the internet to shop.

Along with that, we’ve seen a staggering number of new, competitive, startups enter the business landscape. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing — if you’re strategic about it.

You can actually use your competition to your advantage by studying their case studies and what works for them, then determine how to provide a better user experience.

While you don’t want to mimic or copy another brand, you can make note of successful tactics and brainstorm how your team can use them in your own ways, and implement their tactics as part of your growth strategy.

Ask yourself questions like: Are they ranking for a topic you could write a better, more recent content piece about? Are there high-volume keywords they’re not targeting?

Pro tip: One sure-fire way to get a leg up on competitors? Enlist digital marketing pros. Our experts know all about online marketing for startups — find out how we can help you maximize your resources, optimize your marketing channels, and crush your competition with our digital marketing services.

The takeaway

There’s a lot that goes into effective digital marketing for startups. But when you prioritize these eight practices, you’ll be poised to see impressive success, growth, and development.

Of course, it can feel overwhelming with all that goes into keeping a nascent company powering through.

Create an action plan with the help of a startup marketing agency that’s thorough yet doable, and you’ll be headed in the right direction.

When in doubt, HawkSEM is the digital marketing agency trusted by startups to boost brand awareness, lead generation, and scale their business.

This article has been updated and was originally published in June 2020.

The post Digital Marketing for Startups: 8 Steps to Crush Your Goals appeared first on HawkSEM.

Keywords are, well, key to guiding your content marketing strategy and improving your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) performance.

And understanding the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords can help you craft an effective digital strategy that targets prospects at every stage of the funnel.

In this article, we’ll explore the differences between short-tail and long-tail keywords, and how to leverage each to maximize your SEO efforts.

Long-tail keywords target niche audiences and often have higher conversion rates due to their specificity. (Image: Unsplash)

What’s the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords?

Long-tail keywords are highly specific search terms that attract niche audiences, whereas short-tail keywords are more broad and aim to reach a wider audience.

Short-tail keywords (also known as head keywords), such as “digital marketing,” appeal to a broader audience and generate higher search volumes. However, they face greater competition and usually have lower conversion rates.

In contrast, long-tail keywords, like “digital marketing services in Boston,” target niche audiences and often have higher conversion rates due to their specificity. They have a lower search volume but attract people who know what they want.

What “short-tail” and “long-tail” mean

The terms “short-tail” and “long-tail” actually come from their positions on the “search demand” curve.

(Image: HawksEM)

If we take all search queries performed on Google over a month and order them by their search volumes, the resulting graph shows long-tail keywords in the “long-tail” of the curve due to their lower popularity.

Meanwhile, short-tail keywords occupy the “fat head” of the curve because of their higher search volumes.

Are long-tail or short-tail keywords better?

Both long-tail and short-tail keywords have pros and cons.

Short-tail keywords come with hefty competition and can require years of consistent SEO strategies and building quality backlinks.

But if you rank on the first page for a short-tail keyword, benefits include:

• A lot of traffic: High rankings for short-tail keywords bring in substantial organic traffic.
• Strong backlinks: Ranking high often means you’ve built valuable backlinks, which you can leverage to boost other pages on your site through internal linking.

Long-tail keywords shine for different reasons:

• Lower competition: With less competition, it’s easier to land the top spots.
• Higher conversion rates: Long-tail keywords typically attract site visitors with a specific intent, often leading to higher conversion rates.
• A lot of options: There’s a much higher number of long-tail keywords to target, giving you more opportunities to reach your audience.

However, you’ll need to rank for many long-tail keywords to achieve a significant volume of search traffic.

So, which is better? The reality is you need both.

Short-tail keywords: Pros and cons

Short-tail keywords (also called “head terms” or “broad terms”) typically contain up to three words, for example:

• Swimsuits
• Red roses
• Digital marketing services

When you think about your business, these short terms are the first words that usually come to mind. They’re also the first terms to come to the consumer’s mind when they’re looking for something online.

Short-tail keywords can be the same for a variety of businesses. For “red roses,” this keyword could apply to a local flower shop, an ecommerce shop, or a big-box chain store.

That’s why the competition to rank highly for short-tail keywords is often fierce.

Short-tail keyword pros

• Appeal to a broad target audience: Shorter keywords are excellent traffic drivers for your website, thanks to their high search volume.
• Easy to determine: They don’t require extensive target audience research or keyword search. You can likely come up with a dozen short-tail keywords or more with a quick brainstorming session.
• Easy to use: Short search terms can be used to create a great variety of easy-flowing content, helping to shape your overall content strategy.

Short-tail keyword cons

• High competition: Everyone wants to drive significant traffic, avoid extensive keyword searches, and write easy-flowing content.
• The wrong type of traffic: Short-tail keywords are more general than their larger counterparts — for example, “French tips” could apply to nail salons or those trying to learn the French language.
• Low conversion rates: Short-tail keywords can generate numerous clicks, but the number of people who convert is usually lower.

If you can rank for short-tail keywords, you’ll likely generate a lot of traffic for your website and boost brand awareness.

However, you might also see an increase in your bounce rate from people in the early stages of research.

Long-tail keywords: Pros and cons

Also called “narrow search terms” or “keyword phrases,” these are more specific keywords than their short-tail partners — for example:

• Swimsuits for toddler boys
• Fresh red rose bouquets near me
• Digital marketing services in Boston

By entering a longer search query, people are more likely to find what they’re looking for. Often, the more specific the search, the higher the likelihood of purchase intent.

While you may generate less traffic with long-tail keywords than you would with shorter terms, more of your visitors are likely to convert.

Long-tail keyword pros

• Low competition: You’re more likely to rank at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and reach your target audience.
• User intent: People who use narrow search terms are usually closer to the bottom of the sales funnel than those who use short-tail keywords.
• Conversion rate: Searchers with high intent are more likely to convert.

Long-tail keyword cons

• Specifics: It takes more time, research, and effort to identify long-tail keywords your target audience may be searching for.
• Content implementation: Unlike broad terms, long-tail keywords can be harder to use in your content organically.
• Low volume: 92% of all keywords get 10 or fewer searches per month (i.e. 92% of all keywords people type into search engines are also long-tail)

Overall, long-tail keywords are harder to identify and implement into your SEM campaign. However, they require a lower budget and provide a higher conversion rate, as Yoast explains.

Long-tail and short-tail keywords work better together

Ultimately, an efficient SEO strategy involves a balanced use of both types of keywords.

Short-tail keywords target the top of the sales funnel, while long-tail keywords work closer to the bottom.

Each keyword type contributes to achieving the final goals of your marketing strategy.

(Image: Unsplash)

How to find the right keywords

Start your keyword research with short-tail keywords: Brainstorm what general terms describe your brand and offer.

Then, do a quick Google search of those terms to see what shows up on the SERP. Google’s predictive search might offer insights into keywords you should target.

Next, use a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Ahrefs to identify which keywords you (and your competitors) already rank for and find related terms.

Using your tool of choice, assess metrics like:

• Monthly search volume: Frequency of keyword searches
• Keyword difficulty: A score from 0 to 100 indicating how challenging it is to rank for them
• Cost-per-click (CPC): Helps evaluate the commercial value of the keyword

How to find the right long-tail keywords

With a list of sort-tail keywords under your belt:

1. Google Search

Consider common questions related to your business or offering and enter them into Google search. Check out the “People Also Ask” section and predictive text for additional keyword ideas.

2. Google Keyword Planner

Inside the free Google Ads tool, search for keywords related to your topic and filter by search volume.

3. Keyword research tools

Use the advanced features of SEO tools like Semrush, Moz, or Ahrefs to analyze keyword difficulty and find related keyword suggestions.

4. Conduct a competitor analysis

With your keyword research tool, check out your competitor’s targeted keywords to identify any gaps. (SpuFu is a great resource for this step.)

Listen to your audience

Browse forums, boards, and social media groups related to your offering to see what people are asking and how they phrase their questions.

Similarly, use surveys, feedback forms, and direct interactions for more direct information.

Further reading: How to Do Keyword Research: Tools to Use + Proven Tips

How to incorporate short and long-tail keywords in your content strategy

Short-tail keywords are ideal for primary topics, overarching categories, and main pages. These broad terms help you rank for general searches and draw in a diverse audience. Use them for:

• Top-of-the-funnel content: Articles and pages designed to attract a broad audience.
• Navigational queries: Pages that guide users to your main products or services.

Long-tail keywords excel in targeting niche audiences with specific search intents. These keywords are perfect for subtopics, detailed blog posts, and specific product features. Use them for:

• Product pages: Emphasize detailed features and benefits.
• Blog posts: Address niche topics and answer specific customer queries.
• Subcategories: Create in-depth guides and informative content.

This is done most effectively through topic clusters.

Topic clusters

Also called a hub and spoke strategy, a topic cluster content strategy is a way to organize your website content to cover broad topic categories and more specific sub-topics relevant to your niche, products, and audience interest.

The model looks like this:

• Pillar page (short-tail keyword): Serves as a content hub on a broad topic, often centered around 1-2 broad keyword matches, with internal links to supporting content.
• Cluster pages (long-tail keywords): Relevant subtopics on separate web pages, linked within a broader pillar page.

(Image: HawksEM)

In other words, pillar pages act as comprehensive guides to broad topics (targeting short-tail keywords) with internal links to more specific, high-level articles (targeting long-tail keywords) that further educate your reader.

A hub and spoke strategy can:

• Build topical authority with E-E-A-T guidelines
• Increase web traffic
• Improve the user experience (UX)
• Enhance site architecture with an internal linking strategy

The best part? It seamlessly integrates all keyword types into your content strategy in an organized way that offers real value.
Further reading: What Are Topic Clusters for SEO? (+ Pro Tips to Create Them)

How to implement your keyword strategy

Using your list of short-tail and long-tail keywords, create a content strategy built around your target audience’s needs.

HawkSEM SEO manager Alyssa Mountz uses the following metrics to decide what type of content to create:

Pillar articles that target a short-tail keyword should include those long-tail keywords for an internal linking strategy that keeps readers engaged.

And while the target keywords should be included in your metadata and H1 tags, use them naturally throughout the body of your content to avoid keyword stuffing — repeating keywords excessively can harm your SEO efforts.

Looking ahead: How recent algorithm updates impact long-tail keywords

While including long-tail and short-tail keywords has been best practice for SEO, Google’s recent algorithm updates have put more pressure on targeting the right long-tail keywords.

With the introduction of Google AI Overviews (and other SERP features), users now expect search engines to deliver exactly what they need.

That means content needs to target the perfect long-tail keywords and provide visuals, downloadables, and an attractive meta in order to appear at the top of the SERP.

“If your page is a perfect match for long-tail searches and keeps users engaged with compelling content, it’s more likely to [surface] in personalized results,” explains HawkSEM Senior Lead Strategist Madison Scherner.

“Then there’s the challenge of even if your page ranks well, a boring meta title and description won’t drive clicks.”

Enhanced metadata (engaging titles, compelling descriptions, and structured data) makes your results stand out.

“Diving into your personas and truly understanding what your searcher is looking for and then presenting yourself as the best option is the lifeblood of SEO,” says Scherner.

The takeaway

By leveraging broad and narrow terms, you can get one step closer to improving your search engine rankings, bringing more traffic to your website, increasing brand awareness, driving sales, and boosting your bottom line.

And with Google’s algorithm becoming better at understanding user behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns, identifying the right long-tail keywords and using them effectively is more important than ever for SEO success.

But you don’t have to balance your SEM and SEO strategies alone. Get in touch with HawkSEM today to see how we can help.

This article has been updated and was originally published in April 2021.

The post Short-Tail vs. Long-Tail Keywords: Key Differences (+ When to Use Each) appeared first on HawkSEM.

The Google search results page is separated into two different categories: organic results and sponsored results.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website to rank higher in the organic results for relevant keywords.

Search engine marketing (SEM), on the other hand, leverages SEO as well as pay-per-click (PPC) marketing techniques to appear in the sponsored and organic results.

So which is best: A targeted organic strategy or a hybrid approach?

Here, SEO expert Matt Smith shines a light on the key differences between the two — and when to focus on SEO or use SEM in your marketing strategy.

(Image: HawkSEM)

What are the differences between SEM and SEO?

The primary difference between SEO and SEM is that SEO focuses on earning traffic through organic search optimization, while SEM uses paid and organic strategies together.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the practice of optimizing the content, layout, speed, and backend organization of a website to rank higher in the search engine results.

The goal is to rank highly in the organic search results for relevant search queries.

SEO marketing can be broken into three categories:

1. On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing elements on your website, including:

• Keyword research
• Website content
• Meta descriptions
• Title tags
• URLs
• Images
• Internal linking structure

2. Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is the promotion, outreach, link building, and other efforts you take to promote your content on other sites.

This allows your brand to build a reputation, establish authority, and optimize factors like high-quality backlinks, which involves content and information about your business on third-party websites.

The main focus is to build high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites.

3. Technical SEO

Technical SEO techniques improve the backend components of a website so it performs optimally, is easier for search engines to crawl and index, and provides a better user experience.

This involves:

• Optimizing site speed
• implementing structured data markup
• Ensuring proper XML sitemaps
• Optimizing for mobile devices
• Addressing issues like duplicate content, broken links, and server errors

Together, these elements are the bulk of what we consider SEO, which is a significant component of SEM.

Search engine marketing (SEM)

SEM is the practice of using paid search ads and SEO together to make a brand’s website more visible on the search engine results page (SERP).

The goal is to rank at the top of the organic search results and appear in the sponsored section above the organic results for maximum visibility.

Aside from the SEO techniques mentioned above, SEM incorporates PPC advertising strategies, including:

• Keyword research and targeting
• Ad creation
• Landing page optimization
• Bid management
• Audience targeting
• Remarketing

(Image: Unsplash)

The similarities between SEO and SEM

SEO is often part of an SEM strategy. Therefore, SEO is a subcategory of SEM, alongside PPC.

“SEO and SEM are digital marketing strategies aimed at increasing website visibility and driving traffic from search engines,” says Smith.

He adds that SEO focuses on optimizing a website’s content and structure to improve organic search rankings, while SEM involves paid advertising to appear in search engine results.

“SEO is a long-term strategy with no direct cost,” Smith explains, “while SEM requires a budget for keyword bidding and offers more immediate visibility through paid ads.”

SEO vs. SEM vs. PPC

If SEM is a Venn diagram, then SEO is one circle, PPC is on the other.

SEM is where the two overlap.

(Image: HawkSEM)

The key differences between SEO and PPC come down to four factors:

1. Cost
2. Time
3. Longevity
4. Keywords

Let’s break them down.

1. Cost

PPC involves paying the search engine for a spot in the search results.

SEO, on the other hand, only requires paying for the people, agencies, and tools that assist in your marketing efforts to rank higher — rather than giving money to Google, Bing, or Yahoo directly.

How much do SEO and PPC cost?

You can expect to pay anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 and up per month. SEO can be performed for “free” or cheap, though the results you get may not be effective.

And while you can run PPC ads cheaply by setting a low cost-per-click (CPC) bid and maintaining a high Quality Score, the paid results may be as small as the investment.

Large brands have large budgets, befitting the number of digits on all the numbers they use. Therefore, small businesses may have a harder time with high competition keywords.

2. Time

SEO is considered a long game, while PPC offers nearly instant results in comparison:

• SEO takes roughly 3-6 months to show results, because the search engine needs to index your content and rank it appropriately, which can take
• six months or more.
• PPC takes roughly 2-3 months to see results. You create an ad, the ad network (usually Google Ads) approves it, and it starts running immediately.

3. Longevity

In terms of longevity, the same dichotomy holds:

• SEO can last nearly indefinitely. Some of the best content on the internet is many years old. While organic content can “age out” and fall out of favor, it can also be refurbished and kept relevant. With the proper maintenance, SEO basically lasts forever.
• PPC, meanwhile, lasts precisely as long as you have the money to pay for it and keep your ad campaigns active. If your budget runs out, the PPC campaigns stop until you put more money into the system. And, of course, if you decide you don’t like the ad’s performance, you can pause them at any time.

This phenomenon is primarily why both SEO and PPC advertising complement each other well. SEO starts slow and takes a long time to build up, while PPC begins almost immediately.

Further, you’re less likely to have PPC success without strong SEO. If your ad directs a prospect to a poorly written landing page, you’ll probably miss out on a conversion.

High-quality web pages mean higher conversion rates.

4. Keywords

Keywords are at the core of both SEO and PPC. However, the types of keywords that work best and the metrics that you’re looking at will vary.

When performing keyword research, you’ll find specific keywords have different intents behind them. These intents are:

• Navigational: the user knows where they want to go and wants a link
• Informational: the user has a question and wants an answer
• Tutorial: the user has a problem to solve and wants to know how to solve it themselves
• Commercial: the user has a problem to solve and wants to research solutions they can buy
• Transactional: the user wants to make a purchase and is looking for where to do it

Informational and tutorial keywords tend to perform best for SEO and are less effective for PPC.

If your goal is to get your target audience to download a checklist, for example, PPC ads can probably get some downloads and provide value.

However, you may want to let SEO handle these early-stage inquiries and focus on more purchase-ready keywords for your PPC campaigns.

Commercial and transactional keywords tend to perform best with PPC, though properly formulated high-quality content can also work well for SEO.

PPC tends to be most relevant when it has a tangible offer for the user and a concrete, easy-to-calculate return on investment.

A massive part of effective SEM is understanding the intent behind a search term and sculpting the marketing campaign you use to reach that intent most effectively.

When should you use SEO?

When it comes to choosing between SEO and PPC, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Both strategies have their place in a successful digital marketing strategy. However, for some campaigns and businesses, SEO is the better option.

If your goal is to get on the first page of the SERPs and stay there, investing in a good SEO campaign will be essential. Although Google Ads can get you onto the first page quickly, being on the organic side of SERPs is more reliable and longer lasting.

With a smart SEO campaign and consistent efforts over time, you can achieve a higher click-through rate (CTR) than with paid ads because searchers trust organic results more than they do ads.

Another instance where SEO may be preferable over PPC is when you’re targeting keywords with high competition.

If your budget isn’t high enough to compete with other advertisers for those keywords, then you’ll need to focus on organic search engine optimization instead of PPC.

This involves creating content that targets those keywords and optimizing it for search engines to appear near the top of SERPs when people search for those terms.

If your goal is to secure long-term visibility in the SERPs while also building trust with potential customers, then investing in an effective SEO campaign should be part of your digital marketing strategy.

A real-world example of SEO results

MileIQ, a mileage logging mobile app, needed to enhance its SEO and bring in more high-quality organic traffic to its app. To achieve this, it needed to get more rankings in Google, especially on the first page, by leveraging higher volume search terms.

So it partnered with HawkSEM and our teams zoned in on featured snippets, answering common search questions, and building in-depth content to enhance their authority.

The results:

• Growth in year-over-year organic site traffic by 125%
• Nearly 4,000 new first-page keyword rankings
• Increased organic sessions by 207%

When should you use PPC?

While SEO is focused on improving organic rankings in search engines, search marketing is a paid strategy that uses advertisements like Google Ads or Bing Ads.

Depending on your goals and budget, one of these strategies might better suit your needs.

For instance, if you want a short-term solution with guaranteed visibility, a paid search campaign can deliver fast results.

And because you’re only paying for ads when people click on them, it can be more cost-effective than SEO if budgeted correctly.

Additionally, PPC offers greater flexibility than SEO by allowing you to adjust and test different components of your ad copy when certain keywords aren’t driving enough clicks or conversions.

“SEM requires constant maintenance and refinement, so it’s imperative to consistently test, monitor and execute changes based on keyword-level performance,” says Smith.

In a nutshell, PPC is a great choice if you need quick visibility into SERPs and a way to measure the success of your campaigns in real-time.

But even though it might be tempting to rely solely on paid advertising campaigns instead of SEO strategies, using the two together offers the maximum ROI.

A real-world example of PPC results

Columbia Virtual Academy, a public education program in Washington State, understood the importance of digital marketing, but lacked the in-house expertise to effectively build and execute a strategy.

So it came to HawkSEM to restructure its PPC account with new campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ad copy, and ad extensions.

The results were phenomenal:

• Increased Google Ads conversions by 134% year over year
• Decreased cost per acquisition (CPA) by 51%
• Increased search clickthrough rate (CTR) by 45%

Why a holistic approach (SEM) is best

Using both SEO and PPC maximizes visibility and ensures your message reaches the widest possible audience.

For example, an organic SEO campaign can help boost your website’s rankings while also building trust with potential customers over time.

On the other hand, a PPC campaign can help you get quick visibility into SERPs and also measure the success of different ad variations in real time.

All you need is the right strategy to make your SEM campaign succeed.

The takeaway

“SEM” covers the bulk of your online advertising, while “SEO” is just one of the tools at your disposal, alongside PPC.

Your digital marketing strategy will depend on your goals, targeted keywords, budget, the quality of your site, your competition, and more.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned marketer, finding the right balance between SEO and PPC is essential in SEM.

That’s why powerful tools like ConversionIQ exist. We created this platform to help you easily monitor and optimize your campaigns — from paid search to SEO to social media, resulting in better performance and higher ROI.

The question is, where do you put your budget? Can you write more content for organic traffic and SEO results, pay for high-quality tools to improve your overall marketing, or give Google money directly to give you more exposure and website traffic?

The choice is yours.

This article has been updated and was originally published in September 2022.

The post SEO vs SEM: What’s the Difference? Costs, Strategies + Timelines appeared first on HawkSEM.

Is your marketing calendar bursting at the seams?

You’ve got a Google Ads campaign for your latest offering, a series of Instagram educational slides to prep, and a dozen pending posts for your website blog.

Yet despite a brimming content calendar, conversions are M.I.A. — what gives?

Sounds like your omnichannel marketing strategy could benefit from more cohesive brand messaging, personalization, and performance monitoring.

We caught up with omnichannel wiz Rachel Corak, Associate Director at HawkSEM, to discuss what it takes to generate leads and conversions through omnichannel marketing.

We’ll also share phenomenal omnichannel marketing examples from HawkSEM’s case studies that showcase flawless user experience across various channels by following our playbook.

Ready to finally see the ROI you’ve been striving for? We’ll take you there, one channel at a time.

What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing integrates a consistent customer experience across every marketing channel.

This includes everything from online platforms like social media, mobile apps, and Google Ads to offline channels like brick-and-mortar stores, short message service (SMS) marketing, and billboards.

This type of marketing crashes through the silos of different platforms, creating a consistent omnichannel experience for your customer base.

For starters, it builds brand presence across various channels, presenting multiple touchpoints and opportunities for omnichannel customer engagement and conversions.

Then, you can dive deeper to decipher how each platform factors into your customer journey, integrating them seamlessly to convert at every stage.

Remarketing tactics and personalized ad copy also fall into omnichannel marketing, engaging customer needs later in the buyer’s journey.

The main benefits? You remain relevant in your customers’ minds, outpace the competition, and create even more opportunities for conversions.

Omnichannel marketing in action: Moroccanoil

Let’s say you sell hair products and your customer sees an ad for your hydrating Moroccanoil conditioner:

(Image: Google)

Next, that same customer pops over to your Instagram page:

(Image: instagram.com/moroccanoil)

After a few scrolls, they spot your product at their local Sephora:

(Image: Sephora)

Your ad copy, product photo, social media content, and packaging should all deliver a seamless experience while leveraging the different stages of the customer funnel.

For example, social media content might lean more fun and educational for top-of-funnel customers. Yet, it’s crucial to maintain consistent branding, recognizable visuals, and your brand voice throughout.

That brand voice and messaging should carry to your ad copy and physical packaging while upping the ante to reflect the later stage of the customer journey.

So many channels. We get it; we can hear your finance department buzzing from here. Marketing strategies cost money.

However, your audience spends time on multiple channels, so it only makes sense to prioritize omnichannel marketing. It’s absolutely worth the investment. Here’s why.

Why your brand needs omnichannel marketing

There are four important reasons to harness omnichannel marketing. You’ll see:

1. Higher search engine rankings
2. Better brand awareness
3. More conversions
4. Higher purchase amounts

Starting with SEO rankings, Google thrives on crawling through quality material when deciding who climbs the SERPs.

When done correctly, omnichannel marketing gives Google plenty of rich, customer-centric content and ad assets to SEO-boost your online presence, aka brand awareness.

Just look at the 228% increase in top-3 keyword rankings our omnichannel strategy accomplished for B2B software company Prismatic.

Omnichannel marketing also gives your brand more opportunities for customer interactions.

Amplify that with a stellar, personalized experience that suits every customer journey stage, and you’re paving the way for a surge in conversions and customer retention.

Got in-store products? Omnichannel marketing can increase the chance of customer visits to a physical store by 80%. You just need to make sure your in-store experience is just as persuasive as the ad that attracted them there in the first place.

But what if you’re an ecommerce shop or SaaS business operating online? Don’t worry — omnichannel marketing still boosts web traffic and snags you higher average order values (AOV) by at least 13%.

But wait — isn’t omnichannel the same thing as multichannel? Not quite.

Omnichannel marketing vs. multichannel marketing

Both omnichannel and multichannel marketing efforts benefit from multiple customer touchpoints across different channels.

However, omnichannel marketing offers a little extra cohesion for a more streamlined, unified experience.

A multichannel strategy uses more than one potential marketing channel to connect a brand with its audience. This could include a brick-and-mortar store that also has an email newsletter.

Even though the brand uses both the physical store and emails to connect with customers, the two channels are still pretty siloed.

With omnichannel marketing, that’s definitely not the case. Here, businesses unify the brand experience across digital marketing channels and physical ones.

An omnichannel approach ensures every single channel works in harmony, nurturing the customer relationship at different stages of the journey (instead of separating each channel with its own customer journey).

Ready to see the magic of omnichannel marketing in action?

3 examples of successful omnichannel marketing

You’ve seen the theory and the stats to back up omnichannel marketing, now let’s put all that intel into practice.

Below, we’ll showcase some of HawkSEM’s omnichannel marketing success stories, including how we captivated our clients’ audiences and unleashed epic results.

1. Facebook remarketing seals the deal for 686’s Google browsers

Say you wanna buy some winter gear for your next trip to Vail, Colorado — where do you look?

A quick Google search gives you thousands of options. That’s precisely the competitive challenges our winter apparel ecommerce client, 686, faced. They’ve been in the game since 1992, yet the quality name they established was getting diluted by tons of ecommerce competitors.

They already had a solid following and product, we just needed to reinforce their unique selling points to their customer persona. How’d we do it? With omnichannel marketing, of course, specifically through:

• Google Search: Dynamic search marketing campaigns to send the right message and landing pages for each product to attract new customers.
• Facebook Ads: Remarketing tactics to remind qualified leads of the products they viewed on other platforms with a more personalized experience.
• Google Shopping: Re-optimized product feed on Google’s online shopping platform to showcase professional, striking product photos and capture bottom-funnel customers with pricing information.

(Image: Google)

(Image: 686)

Check out how Google Shopping products and web copy changed slightly with the platform. Yet, 686’s authority and branding are still consistent throughout.

Our omnichannel strategy with consistent brand messaging garnered powerful results for 686 like a 303% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS), a 562% increase in year-over-year SEM Revenue, and a 76% reduced cost per conversion.

2. Search remarketing and YouTube Ads drive qualified traffic for Honda Motor Co.

Honda is a global car brand. But every marketer knows the important role location plays in marketing, and that’s because people are different across the globe.

That’s why they came to us for support with amplifying their online presence in South America while promoting awareness for two new Accord and Civic Hatchback models.

(Image: Honda’s YouTube page)

First, we tweaked ad schedules on their PPC ads and subsequent remarketing campaigns to ensure South American audiences were online to see them. Then, we localized their landing pages to align better with the target demographic’s interests.

The omnichannel marketing holy grail? YouTube influencer pre-roll ads that artfully targeted Honda’s South American audience.

Paired with refined keyword targets and consistent audience monitoring, the results rolled in.

Honda reaped a whopping 200% increase in web traffic, 40% increase in inquiries, and 30% reduction in cost per conversion.

3. Branded and non-branded targeting for Timbuk2’s revenue reign case study

Need a new messenger bag? A quick browse on Google Shopping shows tons of options from Timbuk2:

(Image: Google)

While the copy is limited to a brief product listing title, the full product description and images appear once you click over to Timbuk2’s website:

These are results from non-branded keyword searches, where audiences are more bottom-funnel and closer to making a purchase based on utility and product alone.

The reason they come up first? Our meticulous keyword research and PPC bidding strategies, of course.

But Timbuk2 needed branded organic content as well if they wanted to retain and engage existing customers. Take their Facebook content for example:

(Image: Facebook)

You’ll note the copy on Facebook is longer and tells more of a story than the Google PPC Shopping ad. Corak says that’s just a product of the platform.

“The biggest differences in copy [between PPC ads and organic social content] would probably be character limits,” she explains, “as you’re more restricted with that in ads. Organic posts allow for a lot more content.”

The difference also accounts for audience intent. If you browse a brand’s social channels, you’re curious about what makes that brand unique, like Timbuk2’s highlight of its recycled materials and environmental impact.

A strong combination of strategy for Google PPC and organic social media content helped us achieve a whopping 56% increase in year-over-year (YoY) revenue for Timbuk2.

Want to see the same results? The secret is consistent optimization.

3 expert tips for optimizing omnichannel marketing

1. Don’t invest without a clear strategy and customer journey map

So you know your audience spends most of their time on Twitter and Google. But if you create different campaigns for those platforms without a clear strategy? You’ll blow through your marketing budget for nada. Corak sees this all the time:

“The most common error is when businesses operate in marketing silos. Omnichannel strategies build holistic approaches that support the business through shared goals.”

What does that look like? A clear strategy that includes:

• Overarching business goals: Link these with your omnichannel campaign goals and measure progress with clear metrics and benchmarks.
• Customer journey map: Identify the stage of the buyer’s journey that each platform’s audience is in (awareness, consideration, decision).
• Creative assets for each stage: Photos, interactive quizzes, infographics, Reels, and video content.
• Customer-specific marketing: Remarketing tactics for customers later in the buyer’s journey, like limited-time or personalized offers.
• Brand book: Document that identifies brand voice and tone, to be shared with all marketing stakeholders for consistent messaging across each platform.

Another vital part of your strategy: audience research, which goes beyond just demographics. You need to understand exactly how your customer feels at every stage of the journey, and guessing won’t cut it.

Harness after-purchase surveys, competitive analysis, and keyword research to learn about your audience’s needs at each stage of the purchase.

Pro tip: Peep your audience’s reception to your website’s customer support chatbot, a great marketing tool for customer relationship management (CRM). Those conversations are rich with customer data and insights that tell you exactly how your customers feel when they’re on your website.

2. Monitor channel-specific metrics

Facebook Analytics, Google Analytics, in-store purchases, website visits — we get it, the metric potential for omnichannel marketing is enormous.

Here are some standard metrics to keep tabs on.

Website metrics:

• Clickthrough rate: How often people click your CTAs or other website buttons
• Retention rate: How many of your customers stay loyal after a certain period
• Traffic growth: How many web visitors navigate to your website over time
• Traffic source: Where your web visitors come from (i,.e., Google Search, social media, etc.)
• Page session time: How long people stay on your website or specific web page
• Most popular product pages: The ones that receive the highest traffic
• Heatmaps: Show which areas of your website garner the most clicks and attention from visitors

Social media metrics:

• Impressions and engagement: Views, likes, comments, saves, and shares
• Clickthrough rate: How often people click through on your content
• Conversion rate: The number of people taking action (newsletter signup, download, purchase) compared to your total number of web visitors
• Trending posts: A topic that garners more buzz on social media than usual, resulting in more views and traffic

Email marketing metrics:

• Bounce rate: How often recipients leave your email
• Share rate: How often your recipients forward your email

So, what’s the most important metric for omnichannel marketing?

Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER)

Let’s say you know your ad spend across all channels. The thing is, higher ad spend doesn’t always mean you’re spending too much money.

The goal is to make sure you make the most of each dollar. MER gives you those insights.

“MER looks at ad spend not on a channel-by-channel basis, but by measuring return on ad spend (ROAS) based upon total revenue,” says Corak.

This is important because it gives the truest look [at] how ad spend is impacting the business overall.”

Your marketing manager might prefer to narrow in on last-click attribution models, which tell you a customer’s last click before a purchase. But Corak sees limitations there, too.

“Last-click attribution models only account for a fragment of the user journey, and platforms like Meta continue to struggle with attribution due to privacy laws and changes in the landscape,” she explains.

Bottom line: MER tells you how outreach impacts the business overall, rather than focusing solely on in-platform analytics to understand business impact.

Now, there’s just one problem. How do you actually keep tabs on all these metrics?

Your marketing team already has a packed schedule, so performance monitoring across different platforms could easily fall by the wayside. Our advice? Make it easy-breezy by monitoring everything in one place, like we do with ConversionIQ.

Our proprietary tech is primed with marketing automation tools to tell us exactly which web elements, posts, platforms, and timelines generate the most of every metric that matters. We connect all the dots from search to sale in real-time, helping you attribute results to each stage of the customer journey.

Work with us and you’ll get access to data insights from every platform on a user-friendly, comprehensive dashboard.

3. Keep your niche in mind

Different channels work better for different brands. For example, if you’re a B2B SaaS brand, LinkedIn is probably one of your priority paid marketing channels. But if you’re a retail ecommerce brand? Not so much.

Does that mean you should completely neglect one for the other? Not quite, but you should definitely invest more of your omnichannel marketing strategy into platforms that display the most engagement and conversions from your target audience.

Corak chimes in, highlighting the SaaS niche’s notoriously long user journey:

“Brands often experience scenarios in which their conversions occur far outside the trackable windows within the ad platforms. For SaaS brands, it is important to track multiple conversion actions across a website so that catered strategies can be built to warm leads into converters.”

Ecommerce businesses usually have shorter user journeys, unless you’re a luxury ecommerce brand with higher AOVs.

In these cases, the consideration stage for customers can be quite long, requiring more retargeting tactics via PPC ads after initial engagement on search and social.

Heed Corak’s tips when it comes to ecommerce retargeting:

“Measure different conversion actions and build catered audience segments so you know what sort of retargeting strategy you wish to apply.”

You can also use remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs) so that if you have a warm lead returning to your site, they stand a lesser chance of being pulled to a competitor site if they’re bidding on your brand terms.

The takeaway

Today’s brands can’t afford to rely on just one or two marketing tools or channels to convert audiences and build customer loyalty.

If you want your target audience to recognize your brand value, trust your authority, and buy your products, you need an omnichannel marketing strategy that appeals to every stage of the customer journey.

But juggling ad copy, CTAs, visuals, and bidding strategies across multiple platforms?

Well, let’s just say it can devour weeks of your marketing calendar. That’s why industry titans like Microsoft, 686, and Verizon trust HawkSEM with their marketing endeavors.

Securing top spots in the SERPs? That’s everyday business for our skilled PPC and SEO experts. If you’re ready to streamline a revenue-generating omnichannel marketing experience, you’re in the right place.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January 2024.

The post What is Omnichannel Marketing? (+ Examples & Expert Tips) appeared first on HawkSEM.

If you’ve done any online shopping as of late (we’re gonna go out on a limb and assume that you have), then you’re probably already familiar with SMS marketing.

While shopping or adding items to your cart, you might’ve been met with a limited-time offer that involved sharing your phone number with the brand you were browsing.

This offer usually comes in the form of a pop-up that populates via site automation once you’ve been on a site long enough or taken a certain action, like adding items to your cart.

The pop-up will generally offer something like 10% off your next purchase via a unique code if you agree to share your number so the brand can contact you via text message – that’s SMS marketing.

Whether you’re new to mobile-based marketing efforts or are looking to ramp up your SMS marketing campaigns, we’ve got expert tips and advice straight from Brandi Harvey, a team lead strategist here at HawkSEM. Read on for what she had to say.

 Phone-based marketing can be quite effective in terms of encouraging high engagement for both potential and returning buyers. (Image: MollerFinest/peopleimages.com)

What is SMS marketing?

SMS stands for “short message service,” but it’s more commonly known as text marketing or text message marketing. “This form of marketing allows brands to send news, alerts, discounts, and more to their customers via text messages,” Harvey explains.

It’s similar to email marketing but often provides an even more immediate, direct connection to potential customers (usually with high open rates to boot —more on that below).

Types of SMS marketing

There are different stages of SMS marketing campaigns with different goals and tactics attached for each step of the customer journey. They generally fall under these categories:

• Welcome messages – To simply welcome a new customer or subscriber and/or confirm a new signup
• Transactional messages – These are some of the most common and include info about appointments, new offerings, and other reminders
• Promotional messages – For limited-time offers, short codes for discounts, sales, and special events
• Abandoned cart reminder messages – This ecommerce remarketing message is triggered when someone bags an item but doesn’t check out
• Notification messages – Often, these messages confirm orders, include tracking info, or involve password resets
• Customer relationship messages – These don’t require any action on the recipient’s part and are usually sent to build relationships and foster brand loyalty and retention

Shopify breaks down the various types of SMS marketing this way:

• Promotional deals and discounts
• Coupons
• Flash sales
• Text-to-win competitions
• Loyalty programs
• Product drop alerts
• Order updates
• Abandoned cart notifications

Benefits of SMS marketing

As mentioned above, phone-based marketing can be quite effective in terms of encouraging high engagement for both potential and returning buyers.

The reason is fairly simple: People are often looking at their mobile phones. We field notifications all day long, be it emails, texts, or from social media. This provides a unique opportunity when it comes to your target audience – if businesses approach the method strategically.

Here are just a few benefits of exploring text-based marketing:

• Easily promote a new product or service: Let prospective or current customers know about a new offering your business is now providing in real-time.
• Leverage marketing psychology through limited-time offers: Ramp up your engagement rates through SMS marketing messages that include a time-sensitive call to action (CTA) in the form of special offers or discounts.
• Increase chances of closed deals and completed consultations: Using automated texting platforms for things like appointment reminders (for things like demo requests) increases the likelihood of actually connecting with your prospect.
• Boost customer loyalty: Turn a one-time customer into a returning loyal customer via promotional messages that let them know about similar, new, or additional offerings they may be interested in.
• Decrease cart abandonment: An automated “Hey, you forgot something” message can be the difference between a languishing cart and a completed sale.
• Stick to your budget: There are multiple cost-effective SMS marketing platforms and tools marketing teams can use to create SMS campaigns, track response rates, manage subscriber lists, and monitor customer data.

The top industries for SMS marketing

While any company can experiment with text-based marketing, there are a few industries that are particularly primed for SMS success.

“Ecommerce and lead gen companies can both make use of this marketing channel,” Harvey recommends.

“B2C companies of all sorts can make the most of text ads,” she adds. “Whether you’re an event venue, a baby boutique, or bespoke leather works…there’s no limit.”

According to Textmagic, these are some of the top industries that leverage their SMS subscribers effectively:

1. Retail
2. Hospitality
3. Real estate
4. Finance
5. Travel
6. Healthcare
7. Nonprofit organizations
8. Recruiting agencies and HR
9. Beauty
10. Insurance

SMS marketing success secrets

Once you’ve got your SMS marketing strategy laid out, you can up your chances of maximum ROI by following a few tried-and-true best practices.

Here are Harvey’s top tips for SMS marketing campaign success:

• Segment audiences for accuracy and greater personalization: No one wants to receive advertising texts for products that are completely unrelated to them. Sending snow boot ads to your customers in Florida may not be the best way to go. Make sure they’re getting your surf apparel ads with segmenting. You save money on ads and your customers end up converting with the more relevant messaging.
• Get the timing right: They say life is about timing, and you can make great use of that with SMS marketing. Flash sales can tap into our culture’s FOMO and get people purchasing on impulse.
• Compliance is key: Make sure you’re getting the opt-in from customers. There are a few ways to do this, but look for an opt-in that’s easy for customers.
• Don’t rely on purchased data: Your owned audience data will be far more accurate (and legal).

SMS marketing examples

Want to see what SMS marketing looks like in action? Here are just a few examples from different brands with different goals in mind for their text campaigns.

A special offer and event

This promotional SMS text from a fitness studio is highlighting a limited-time offer. They’re also letting customers know about various events that will be happening during this time, and they’ve offered both a code and a special link where those interested can sign up.

The link and special code will make it easy to pull performance metric data to gauge the success of this campaign.

Direct reviews

This text example shows an effective way to obtain reviews from happy customers simply by asking them to review directly via SMS text message. As you can see, once the visitor confirmed and completed their set appointment, a message was triggered to request a simple feedback review.

Creating as few barriers as possible will make the customer more likely to complete the desired action.

Discount code

This auto company kept things simple and eye-catching with a clear mobile marketing offer, a visual emoji, and a link. This message highlights the value for the recipient, makes scanning the info a breeze, and offers a direct path to the next steps for the best possible customer experience and click-through rate potential.

Brand awareness and relationship-building

SMS marketing doesn’t always have to be about a hard sell. As we see in this example from Lalo, a company that makes baby and toddler products, the message can be a simple one of encouragement and commiseration.

By knowing their audience, leveraging personalized demographic information in their messaging, and being strategic about when to send (this message was sent to caregivers/subscribers after breakfast on a Sunday morning), they’re well on their way to fostering major brand loyalty.

Third-party reviews

We’ve written articles in the past about the importance of online reviews – data shows these can be a crucial factor in helping businesses beat their competition.

The message above, triggered after a completed dentist appointment, uses emotion-based language to politely request a review on a third-party site such as the office’s Google Business Profile.

SMS marketing stats

Now that you’ve got SMS marketing best practices secured, let’s talk facts and figures. Here are some of the latest statistics when it comes to an SMS strategy:

• 72% of people have made a purchase after receiving a text from a brand. (Klaviyo)
• In 2024, 80% of businesses use SMS marketing software to text their customers and nearly 70% are increasing their SMS marketing budgets. (SimpleTexting)
• The average open rate for an SMS campaign is 98%, 5 times that of email (20%). (SMS Comparison)
• 45% of people are subscribed to 2-3 brands via SMS marketing. (Klaviyo)
• 91% of business owners and marketing managers say they see higher conversion rates with integrated marketing campaigns that include SMS. (SimpleTexting)
• 48% of customers prefer communication from businesses to come from text messages. (SMS Comparison)

Top SMS marketing tools and costs

Leveraging an SMS marketing tool can help you build and launch your campaigns easily while maximizing effectiveness, timeliness, and the ability to track key metrics.

These tools offer different pricing models to accommodate companies of all sizes, from small businesses and startups to enterprise brands who want to connect with millions via SMS marketing.

Many can even connect with your existing CRM or project management tool for easy campaign integration, monitoring, and modification.

Here are some of the top SMS marketing platforms (and their pricing models):

• SlickText – Free trial, price per month from $29 to $939 and up
• Attentive – Free trial, inquire for exact pricing
• EZ Texting – Free trial, price per month from $20 to $3,000
• ClickSend – Free trial, from $0.0233 per message to $0.0084 per message and up
• TextMagic – Free trial, from $24.50 for 500 texts to $80 for 2,000 texts
• Textline – Free trial, price per month from $20 to $50 and up

SMS marketing mistakes to avoid

A social campaign that misses the mark can make you go viral for all the wrong reasons. In the same way, an SMS message that hits the wrong note will result in an immediate “STOP” response – not what you want.

We get it – and our experience has shown us what common mistakes you should avoid when it comes to this tactic.

• Not personalizing to time zones: Also, make sure your customers aren’t getting texts in the middle of the night while they’re trying to sleep!
• Failing to purge your rolls regularly: Because these texts do come with a cost, regularly go through and purge your contacts to remove customers who haven’t interacted with your ads in a long time. If they haven’t converted, that’s okay. They may just be looking for the right time. But if they aren’t even opening the messages, you may be wasting budget on a user who’s never going to convert or who’s sent your texts to the junk folder.
• Not following the proper guidelines: Much like Google Ads and other platforms, there are rules and regulations that must be followed when it comes to SMS marketing. Namely, you must comply with the FCC’s TCPA privacy laws (or the Telephone Consumer Protection Act). As Sprout Social explains, this means obtaining explicit consent, always including your business name, providing clear terms and conditions, and always offering an opt-out option so they can unsubscribe.

The takeaway

“As someone who’s in the middle of planning a wedding, I can say there is a wealth of opportunity for personalized, interactive text ads and connection,” Harvey says.

“Automated messages can open the door for closer interaction for smaller businesses to connect with users.”

This personalized touch can set SMBs apart from the bulk “SALE” texts of larger businesses. But even international ecommerce businesses are making the most of small discounts for text opt-ins that lead to big ROI.

Have more questions about SMS marketing or other digital marketing tactics? You’ve come to the right place – let’s connect.

The post SMS Marketing: What It Is, How to Use It + Examples That Work appeared first on HawkSEM.

Google Business Profiles (formerly known as a Google My Business profile or GMB) are a powerful tool for local businesses to boost awareness, engage customers, and make sales.

If your business has a physical location, then your GBP is also a key component of local SEO (search engine optimization).

But to make your profile stand out, you need more than just the basics. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) and tracking results.

What is Google Business Profile optimization?

Google Business Profile optimization is the process of using all available tools to complete your Google Business Profile. This way, your profile has the greatest chance of surfacing on the search engine results page (SERP) for relevant search queries.

Adding contact information like your business name, address, and phone number (or NAP) is only the beginning.

With a Google Business Profile as part of your Google account, you can also add details to your business listing, such as:

• Hours
• Category
• Description
• Products
• Services
• Specials
• Updates

You can also use Google business optimization tools to invite customers to:

• Chat with your business online
• Call your business directly from your GMB listing
• Order food for pickup or delivery
• Rate and review your business
• Get directions to your business address

Think of it as an ongoing process, not a one-time task.

Keeping your profile current and leveraging native tools for engagement, leads, and sales are all important parts of Google business search engine optimization.

Benefits of Google Business Profile optimization

Developing a robust Google Business Profile is essential for local SEO. As a service area business or a company with a physical storefront, here’s how you can benefit from investing in this platform.

Improve local rankings

Without an optimized Google Business Profile, any local business will struggle to rank higher or reach the top of relevant local search results.

Setting up a complete, updated Google Business Profile is an important first step in creating local SEO citations.

“Google Business Profile is a critical feature when we help our clients establish high-performing local SEO,” explains Sam Yadegar, co-founder and CEO of HawkSEM.

“Over the years, Google has gotten better and better at understanding who a brand is and where they are located.”

When done right, Google Business Profile will help you show up for “near me” search terms without having to target them specifically in your content.

With this Google business SEO strategy, you can also improve your online presence on Google Maps or in Local Packs. (The latter is a SERP feature that creates a list of businesses for location-based searches like “best diner in Atlanta.”)

As a result, you can ensure your business is visible whenever local customers use Google Search and Maps.

Share up-to-date business information

From holiday hours to seasonal sales to special events, your business has a lot of updates to manage.

Website updates can require a lot of advance planning, and social media updates may not reach your entire customer base.

By keeping your Google Business Profile up to date, you can ensure existing and new customers can always access accurate information about your business.

An updated profile can also lead to happier customers and cut down on negative reviews.

Convert customers

No matter how your business sells products or services, you can set up your Google Business Profile to convert customers. GMB profiles support interactive:

• Website links
• Phone numbers
• Product listings
• Service listings
• Food pickup and delivery

Engage customers

Some business owners use Google Business Profile exclusively as a broadcast channel.

While you can certainly use the platform to promote your offers and updates, Google Business Profile is also a useful tool for engagement and messaging.

From your GBP, you can chat directly with potential customers. You can also invite customers to leave reviews — and respond to them.

How to optimize your Google Business Profile listing

How can you get the most out of your Google Business Profile? Use these Google Business Profile optimization tips as a guide.

1. Complete your Google Business Profile
2. Upload images and videos
3. List products and services
4. Set up food ordering
5. Publish regular updates
6. Respond to questions
7. Enable messaging
8. Respond to Google reviews
9. Ask for more reviews
10. Review your profile regularly
11. Run Google Ads

1. Complete your Google Business Profile

One of the biggest SEO mistakes local businesses make is neglecting to complete their Google Business Profile. Remember, business location data is only the beginning.

In addition to filling out your NAP, provide your:

• Primary business category (a key ranking factor for Local Packs)
• Description, which can include relevant keywords (but no links)
• Link to your homepage or local SEO landing page
• Social media profiles, including links to Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
• Service area if you travel to customer locations
• Business hours, including hours for specific services

2. Upload images and videos

Give customers a glimpse of your business by uploading images and videos to your profile. Google Business Profiles supports three types of media:

• Logo: Start by uploading a logo, which adds branding to your profile
• Cover photo: Provide a cover photo that depicts your business location
• Business photos and videos: Add extra media that showcases your products and services

Note that any images or videos you upload may also appear in relevant searches or on Google Maps. Always aim for high-quality media to put your business in the best possible light.

3. List products and services

Depending on your business type, you can list products or services (and sometimes both). For each product or service, you’ll need to provide:

• Name
• Category
• Description
• Price
• Image

Linking to a landing page is optional. Make sure to add one if you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to purchase products or services online.

4. Set up food ordering

If your business offers food pickup or delivery, this option is one of the easiest ways to use your Google Business Profile to drive revenue. Restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, and specialty food stores can all set up food ordering.

Enable food ordering for your Google Business Profile, and then add your service providers. You can either list third-party providers or link to your own ecommerce page.

5. Publish regular updates

Is your business offering seasonal items? Have an upcoming event? Need to share holiday hours?

Use Google Business Profile’s update feature to keep customers up to date. Business profiles support three types of updates:

• Standard updates, which can include business descriptions, media, and buttons
• Offers, which inform customers about limited-time discounts or specials
• Events, which tell customers about happenings you’re hosting

6. Respond to questions

Customers can submit questions about business hours, locations, offerings, or specials. When your team receives questions, make a point of answering them promptly.

Your Google Business Profile will automatically display these FAQs for other customers to reference. So it’s important to be responsive and provide good customer service.

Note that you can’t delete questions and answers from your profile. However, you can request removal of any inappropriate or offensive Q&As.

7. Enable messaging

Another option is allowing customers to chat with you directly from your profile. It’s a good idea to use this option if your business receives a lot of basic questions via emails or phone calls. Enabling chat may reduce other forms of outreach and help your team work more efficiently.

But if you allow messaging, it’s important to ensure your team is available to respond promptly. Customers typically expect responses within 24 hours, but a growing minority prefers a response within an hour.

8. Respond to Google reviews

Read and respond to your customer reviews — both good and bad. You can reply to positive reviews with something as simple as, “Thank you, we love to hear that!”

Don’t ignore negative reviews. Responding to them shows that you’re paying attention to what your customers have to say. In some cases, a thoughtful reply can turn a negative situation around.

When responding to bad reviews, maintaining professionalism is key. Never engage in a fight with customers, use foul language, or respond if you’re fired up about what someone has said.

Unfortunately, you can’t simply delete an inaccurate or malicious review. However, you can request that a customer edit or remove a bad review once you’ve resolved their perceived issue.

You can also flag an inappropriate review. Just don’t bother flagging any and all negative reviews, as Google’s moderators will ignore these requests.

Google will remove reviews that:

• Are spammy or clearly posted just to manipulate ratings (this includes duplicate reviews and obviously fake reviews)
• Contain foul or offensive language
• Incite hatred (such as racism and violence)
• You have posted in an attempt to improve ratings
• A competitor has posted to try to bring your ratings down
• Contain harassment or threats
• Are unrelated to your business (such as random comments or political rants)
• A disgruntled former employee who might have quit or been let go has posted

“It’s best to have a person on your team who regularly maintains your GMB account and promptly responds to client feedback, especially negative reviews,” explains Stefan Chekanov, co-founder and CEO of Brosix.

“You’d want those resolved as quickly as possible; a bad word-of-mouth reputation is very difficult to bounce back from.”

9. Ask for more reviews

One way to make up for negative reviews or to improve your overall rating is to ask for more reviews. On your Google Business Profile dashboard, click the “Ask for Reviews” button.

You’ll see a link that you can copy and paste into emails, social media posts, or instant messages. You can also click the “Email,” “Whatsapp,” or “Facebook” buttons to initiate a request instantly.

10. Review your profile regularly

Optimizing your Google Business Profile once is a good start. But it requires regular maintenance. Posting frequent updates for your audience is a great way to keep your profile fresh.

It’s also helpful to check your Google Business Profile dashboard periodically. Google automatically displays your profile strength and recommends updates to help you improve results.

“Once people finish with the initial setup, they stop updating their GMB profile,” says Stoyan Mitov, CEO and co-founder of Dreamix.

“This is not social media, but it won’t hurt to treat it as such, so post often and interact with your customers. Are people asking the same questions often? Do a Q&A. Locals struggle to find the entrance to your business? Post a photo specifically showing how to get there.”

11. Run Google Ads

Most optimization options for Google Business Profiles focus on organic efforts. But you don’t have to stop there.

HawkSEM often recommends paid campaigns to support organic efforts. We also recommend running ads on Google Local Maps for super-relevant keywords.

Examples of optimized Google Business Profiles

Curious how an optimized Google Business Profile looks? Use these examples as inspiration to build out your own profile.

Google Business Profile with product listings

Above, the listing for Ninth Street Flowers features a section for products. Customers can tap to view complete descriptions and pricing for each item — and then purchase online or with a phone call.

Google Business Profile with online orders

Above, the Pizza Verdura Sincera Google Business Profile offers both food delivery and food pickup. Customers can also browse the restaurant’s menu directly from the listing.

Google Business Profile with “book online” option

Leverage your profile to include a “book online” option for relevant businesses. This makes it super quick and simple for potential customers to make an appointment right from the SERP.

Google Business Profile with upcoming events

Publishing upcoming events on your profile is a great way to keep customers engaged and up-to-date. Above, the Tara Atlanta theater listing features the latest upcoming events.

How to monitor your Google Business Profile

The easiest way to monitor your Google Business Profile is to use Google’s free tools.

You can access insights by clicking the “Performance” button on your Google Business Profile dashboard.

Then you can click through to view the insights. The “Overview” tab shows all interactions with your Google Business Profile during the time period.

This tab aggregates all interactions with your profile. It’s helpful for seeing how often searchers are calling your business, booking services, asking for directions, or messaging your team.

Scroll down to see how people find your GBP. Are customers finding you mainly through mobile search, desktop search, or Google Maps on mobile or desktop?

This data can help you pinpoint where to focus your efforts — such as mobile SEO.

This tab also shows the top search results that display your GBP. This data can inform your local SEO, Google Business Profile, and keyword strategy.

“Google gives plenty of useful metrics for tracking performance, and I’d say the most crucial of them is the ‘Searches’ metric,” explains Chekanov.

“You can gather the queries people use to find your business and then optimize based on those keywords.”

For outcomes like food orders, directions, phone calls, and website clicks, Google shows less detail. Yet the data is still helpful for quantifying these conversions and spotting patterns over time.

Based on your Google Business Profile data, you may learn that traffic and engagement increase during certain weeks or months.

You can prepare for these seasonal spikes by planning to be more responsive or to publish posts more frequently.

How to find a Google Business Profile optimization service

Google Business Profiles are relatively easy to set up. Yet, optimizing them fully, staying on top of new features, and keeping them updated can be too much for a small business to manage.

When you work with an experienced digital marketing agency, you can entrust it to a dedicated team. Here’s what to look for in an agency:

• Local SEO focus: Whether you work with an SEO or an SEM agency, partner with one that has proven experience with local SEO — including managing local citations.
• Strong track record: When you hire an agency, ensure you get the full value of SEO. Review the agency’s marketing case studies to see what they’ve achieved.
• Insightful reports: Any agency partner worth the investment should provide regular (e.g., monthly) reports with actionable insights that drive further optimization.

Can a digital agency really improve your local SEO and optimize Google Business Profiles? HawkSEM helped VIOS dominate local search keywords. During our partnership, we:

• Increased the total terms ranking for the website by 74%
• Saw a 128% increase in organic new users to the website
• Increased organic website sessions by 128%

Curious how an SEO for Google business agency could work for you? Reach out to learn more about our marketing strategy services.

The takeaway

Optimizing your Google Business Profile can benefit local businesses in every industry and location. After all, you want your customers to have easy access to the latest information and updates.

You can feel confident that your online presence is thorough, polished, and set up for success when you have a fully optimized Google Business Profile.

To learn how HawkSEM can help, contact our SEO experts for a free consultation.

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This article has been updated and was originally published in December 2021.

The post 11 Expert Google Business Profile Optimization Tips (+ Checklist) appeared first on HawkSEM.

One-third of the global population shops online. And with more than 30 million ecommerce websites, competition is high (to say the least).

To stand out, attract customers, and grow sales, your site needs to be well-optimized.

Learn everything you need to know about ecommerce website optimization from a panel of experts, including HawkSEM Co-founder and CEO Sam Yadegar.

What is ecommerce website optimization?

Ecommerce website optimization is the process of improving site elements to increase traffic, convert more customers, and drive revenue.

Optimizing an ecommerce website effectively involves different strategies that can be broken into four categories:

1. User experience (UX): Making your site easier and more enjoyable to navigate
2. Search engine optimization (SEO): Making your website more visible on the organic search engine results page (SERP)
3. Content optimization: Ensuring the content on your website is high quality and relevant to keep visitors engaged
4. Conversion rate optimization (CRO): Testing different elements on your website to find what drives more conversions and optimizing accordingly

How to optimize ecommerce websites: 10 pro tips

How can your brand get the most mileage out of SEO, CRO, and UX optimization? Map out a plan for your ecommerce site with these expert optimization tips.

1. Make navigation intuitive
2. Create a keyword strategy
3. Enhance product pages
4. Improve product collections
5. Upsell and cross-sell products
6. Simplify the checkout process
7. Prioritize customer support
8. Use A/B testing
9. Improve site speed
10. Optimize for mobile shoppers

1. Make navigation intuitive

A simple, intuitive navigation structure feels inviting for site visitors and encourages quicker conversions.

When a new visitor lands on your homepage or landing page, they should immediately understand who you are, what you offer, and what they should do next.

To support this, your site should have:

• Minimal buttons on the main navigation
• Clear messaging that introduces your brand, offer, and value proposition
• A single, consistent call-to-action (CTA)
• An obvious “next step”

“With the Formen Inc. website, we’ve prioritized seamless navigation,” says Andrew Grella, CEO and founder of Formen Inc.

“The website is broken down into obvious categories: Product Categories, Shop All, and Find Us.”

“We intentionally chose these categories as they are the primary areas clients seek when landing on our site,” says Grella.

“A new visitor first would like to see our products (Product Categories and Shop All) and have the means to reach us (Find Us).”

Is your online store’s navigation cluttered? Start by paring down options to the basics.

Pro tip: If you’re not sure which categories or landing pages to focus on, use the website analytics tools below to identify the most popular destinations on your site.

2. Create a keyword strategy

To create an SEO strategy for ecommerce that attracts and converts search traffic, start with keyword research.

Keyword research uses SEO tools to discover and analyze which search terms your target market uses to find your products.

Using your keyword research tool of choice:

1. Determine the keywords you already rank for
2. Compile topics and keywords most relevant to your brand
3. Find related terms that could boost your rankings
4. See what keywords your competitors rank for
5. Assess keyword volume and cost per click (CPC) to prioritize content creation

Further reading: This keyword research guide walks you through each step of the process .

With your list of keywords, build a content strategy that incorporates the most relevant keywords with the highest search volume. There should be a dedicated page for each keyword to improve ranking and avoid content cannibalization.

Further reading: Use this content marketing strategy guide to build a plan that’ll set you up for long-term SERP success .

To rank for more keywords and make your website more visible for a wider range of searches, create a wider variety of content.

In other words, consider expanding your content marketing beyond product pages. Launch a blog that shares answers to customer questions, high-quality how-to guides, and tips for using your products.

“Be what customers are looking for and where they’re looking for it,” says Gabriel A. Mays, co-founder and CEO of POPSMASH. “This means you have to understand how people search and translate your value into those terms.”

Focus on long-tail keywords

“[Long-tail keywords] are your golden tickets to attracting highly targeted traffic,” says Mateusz Calik, CEO of Delante.

“I’ll give you a simple example: Go for ‘vintage leather backpacks’ for men’ instead of just ‘backpacks.’”

The person searching for this knows exactly what they want, “and if you provide it, that’s half the battle won,” Calik says.

Another benefit of long-tail keywords? Less competition. “The most crucial element here is relevance,” Calik explains. “Make sure your content matches the searcher’s intent.”

3. Optimize product pages

Whether you use SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, or paid social media to drive traffic to your website, it’s critical to get product pages right.

“With Performance Max and automated PPC campaigns, ecommerce optimization will rely heavily on good UX,” says Yadegar. “You need compelling landing pages that visitors will love, with relevant content that addresses the users’ needs.”

So, what’s the key to optimizing product pages?

“Break down product pages into different elements like discounted price and codes, product images, trust badges, product reviews and ratings, and product features,” advises Swapnil Pate, co-founder and head of SEO at GrowthSRC Media.

“Having these elements above the fold keeps the user hooked. All these elements build trust with the visitor and push them towards buying a product.”

Looking for an easy place to start? Focus on customer reviews and ratings, which add social proof to your products.

“Your product listings should be short but rich in the details customers are searching for online,” says Michael Nemeroff, CEO and co-founder of Rush Order Tees.

“Always include a product reviews section for each listing. These add credibility to your brand,” he continues.

“When customers visit your listing, they’ll be more inclined to make a purchase if others share positive experiences with similar items. That’s how you’ll capture cold buyers.”

4. Improve product collections

While product pages are crucial for ecommerce sites, they may not be the pages that drive the most traffic to your online store.

“Collection pages are the most important asset on an ecommerce page due to the search potential and volume they command,” says Pate.

(Image: Lulu’s)

These curated collections of related products help customers browse products based on trends like “vacation essentials,” or “office approved.”

To optimize product collections:

• Categorize products correctly
• Incorporate relevant keywords into collection descriptions
• Add relevant keywords to meta descriptions for SEO purposes

If your collections include a handful of products, you may not need sorting and filtering options.

But if your product categories have dozens of items like Rush Orders Tees do, adding price, color, or size filters can help customers find what they need in a few clicks.

5. Upsell and cross-sell products

Ideally, your online store will convert website visitors into customers. But when your goal is to increase average order value (AOV) or customer lifetime value (LTV), invite customers to purchase more than just the basics.

Automated offers at checkout can suggest relevant add-ons or a more deluxe version of the original item.

You can also suggest similar items on product pages to encourage customers to keep shopping — as Irresistible Me does below:

Where should you add cross-sells to your site?

Pate suggests using a heatmap tool to see where visitors spend the most time, then adding product recommendation widgets in those positions to improve opportunities.

6. Simplify the checkout process

To drive revenue, you need customers to complete purchases. That means reducing your shopping cart abandonment rate and increasing your conversion rate.

“Optimize the whole checkout process, including the shopping basket, checkout page, and, if possible, the payment page,” says Nemanja Janjic, CEO and co-founder of Tunel Studio.

“An optimized checkout experience reduces cart abandonment rates and increases conversions by making the purchase process as seamless and straightforward as possible.”

How can you make your checkout process easier to navigate? Design a better customer experience for logged-in users and guest checkouts alike.

“Create an intuitive and effortless add-to-cart experience on product pages,” says Janjic.

“Ensure customers can easily navigate adding products to their cart, adjusting quantities, and understanding their options on the product page, without confusion,” says Janjic.

“This is key to a positive user experience, which supports SEO and CRO efforts.”

7. Prioritize customer support

No matter how easy or engaging your website is to navigate, you can’t anticipate every question. That’s where providing customer support with live chat comes in handy.

“We’re a huge proponent of customer support, and we’ve found add-on features like live chat to be extremely important in CRO,” explains Justin Staples, co-owner of Burn Right Products.

Just note that if you’re going to use a live chat, use it well.

“Make certain you have someone available to manage the chat during store hours, to avoid any potential frustration from users,” says Staples.

“I can’t stress enough how important customer support is to running a successful ecommerce business.”

8. Use A/B testing

Should you rework your website navigation? How about adding an extra call-to-action (CTA) button? Should you tweak your product descriptions?

With A/B testing, you can run different versions of your website simultaneously to compare how different elements impact performance.

When you review the results, you can determine which online shopping experience worked best for your target audience and make the most effective changes to your site.

Further reading: What is A/B Testing? How To Use It + Expert Advice.

9. Improve site speed

An ideal page load time is 0-2 seconds. Any slower, and visitors are much more likely to bounce.

As a ranking factor, website speed also impacts search engine page positions. Things that can slow down your page load time include:

• Large videos
• Unoptimized images
• Too many graphics
• Excessive ads
• Clunky or outdated plugins
• Too much Flash content

To optimize loading speed:

• Use lighter website themes
• Check out tools like PageSpeed Insights for theme ideas
• Enable compression to make photos smaller and faster to load
• Enable browser caching to store data more efficiently
• Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) — servers that store various pages of content to help it load faster

• Consolidate plugins and widgets and remove any you aren’t actively using

10. Optimize for mobile shoppers

Mobile devices contribute to the largest share of online orders: around 77% of retail traffic globally and 68% of online shopping orders.

Designing for mobile is non-negotiable when it comes to ecommerce websites. So where should you start? Here are a few essential boxes to check:

• Prioritize site speed. Make a point to improve page load times for mobile devices, not just desktop devices.
• Use responsive website design. Every element on a responsive website automatically adjusts to fit the user’s device.
• Streamline navigation. Simplify menus so mobile users can browse and buy easily.

Further reading: This is your go-to guide to building a mobile-friendly website.

Which metrics should you track?

To make more effective optimizations, it’s important to track the metrics that matter most for your ecommerce website goals.

Here are a few metrics to consider:

• Conversion rate: The number of ecommerce purchases compared to the total number of site visitors
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The total amount spent on marketing compared to the number of new customers
• Average order value (AOV): The average amount customers spend per ecommerce order
• Customer lifetime value (LTV): The total amount customers spend throughout their relationship with your brand
• Bounce rate: The percentage of site visitors who click away without engaging with your site

How much does it cost to optimize an ecommerce site?

You can expect to pay an average of $2,500 to $5,000 per month for an ecommerce website optimization package that includes UX, SEO, and CRO.

If hiring a digital marketing agency to optimize your ecommerce website, deliverables should include:

• 404 error identification, resolution, and redirects
• Backlink audit and cleanup,
• Content creation and optimization
• Google Search Console and Analytics integration
• Image optimization
• Keyword research, mapping, and optimization
• Page speed/site speed analysis
• Schema markup implementation
• Server and hosting configuration
• Site structure analysis
• Strategic link building
• Title tag and meta description optimization

At HawkSEM, our ecommerce website optimization services helped ThriftBooks boost clickthrough rates (CTRs) by 35% year over year and AOV by 50%.

Examples of optimized ecommerce websites

Need optimization inspiration? Look at these five examples of optimized ecommerce websites.

Irresistible Me

An online store for hair extensions and wigs, Irresistible Me boasts simple navigation and popups to share limited-time discounts.

These popups encourage subscribers to choose a product preference, which allows for segmentation and more targeted marketing.

Rush Order Tees

Rush Order Tees, a promotional product retailer, creates a good UX by letting customers choose where to start: “Shop Products” or “Start Designing.” The site displays dynamic delivery dates to ensure the information is always accurate for customers.

Formen

Formen, a men’s grooming retailer, keeps its product pages relatively simple so online shoppers can check out quickly. But below the fold, each webpage has detailed descriptions of product features and benefits for added SEO and conversion opportunities.

Levain Bakery

Cookie retailer Levain Bakery ranks at the top of search engine results for competitive queries like “cookie subscription.”

This visibility enables the ecommerce site to attract organic traffic, while its simple design and good UX make it easy for shoppers to convert.

Top tools for ecommerce website optimization

Whether you need to manage conversion optimization or search engine optimization for ecommerce websites, the right tools can help. Use this list of top tools as a guide.

Ecommerce platforms

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that hosts millions of online stores based around the world.

With Shopify, you can build a customized store, sell across social media and other channels, and measure performance. Using Shopify SEO best practices, you can build a highly visible ecommerce store.

WooCommerce is a WordPress-based ecommerce platform that powers 4+ million online stores.

Between the platform’s apps (e.g., for subscriptions and upsells) and WordPress’s SEO capabilities, you can build a powerful store that’s easy to find in search.

Website analytics tools

Google Analytics is a free website analytics tool to understand customer behavior and measure search traffic. It reveals how users navigate your site and where they drop off so you can remove friction points and sell more ecommerce products.

If you enable ecommerce tracking, it can also report on items sold and revenue earned.

PageSpeed Insights is a free tool for analyzing the speed of your website on both mobile and desktop devices.

It simulates how a real user experiences your site and shows you how long your site takes to load. If the tool spots any areas for improvement, it tells you exactly what to fix to make your site faster.

Heatmap tools

Hotjar is a heatmap tool that shows which parts of your website visitors interact with most often — and which ones aren’t driving sales. You can use its recordings feature to view website user sessions and request visitor feedback to make your site easier to use.

Microsoft Clarity is a free heatmap tool that reveals how users engage with any page on your website.

Between heatmaps and session recordings, you can see how far visitors scroll on your site and where they click. You can use this data to inform your A/B testing and optimization efforts.

SEO tools

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO tool for keyword research, rank tracking, and content management.

You can also use it to monitor your backlink portfolio, review the impact of your on-page SEO efforts, and create data-driven plans to capture more search traffic.

Semrush is a complete SEO management platform with keyword research, on-page SEO, rank tracking, link building, and content optimization tools. You can also use this platform to analyze competitors — and use their SEO and content strategies to inform your own.

CRO tools

Optimizely is an A/B testing tool for experimenting with different versions of your website or product pages. This platform lets you see which elements lead to the most conversions and gives you control of which users or groups see which version of your site.

VWO is an A/B testing tool that creates personalized experiences for website visitors. With this tool, you can experiment with layouts, forms, CTAs, and personalized popups to discover new ways to drive more conversions and revenue.

Popup tools

HelloBar is a tool for creating announcement bars and website popups. In addition to customizing colors and styles, you can create popups that target website visitors by location, date, or campaign to convert more customers.

OptInMonster is a tool for displaying popups, scroll boxes, floating bars, and games on your website. You can set up different popups for each page and use exit intent detection to display them before potential customers click away from your site.

Checklist for ecommerce website optimization

Search engine optimization

Develop a keyword strategy

Enhance product pages

Improve product collections

User experience

Streamline navigation

Increase site speed

Optimize for mobile shoppers

Prioritize customer support

Conversion rate optimization

Use A/B testing

Customer acquisition

Simplify the checkout process

Upsell products

Cross-sell related products

The takeaway

With a successful ecommerce marketing strategy, you can attract more prospects, convert more customers, see fewer abandoned carts, and drive more revenue.

For most online stores, you need a balance of SEO, CRO, UX, and customer acquisition tactics.

Our seasoned team has experience with all elements of conversion optimization for ecommerce websites. We’re here to help.

Book a free consultation to learn how we can develop a plan to improve your ecommerce brand’s online performance.

This article has been updated and was originally published in March 2024.

The post Ecommerce Website Optimization: A 10-Step Guide appeared first on HawkSEM.

In this guide, email marketing expert Emily Ammon shares her top tips and insights to use email for improving customer loyalty and connection — whether you’re a small business owner getting started or looking to optimize your current email marketing practices.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that uses email to nurture relationships with prospective and existing customers. The goal is to promote products or services while building customer relationships.

Marketing emails are generally sent to a group of recipients from an email list, but they can also be sent one-to-one, such as from a marketing rep to a potential client.

When done right, marketing emails build trust with your target audience, turn new leads into customers, increase sales, and boost brand loyalty.

Subject lines that don’t align with the body of your email are a top reason for people unsubscribing from email lists. (Image: Unsplash)

Types of email marketing

The type (or types) your company sends out will depend on a variety of factors like your bandwidth, industry, and goals.

The 12 main types of marketing emails are:

1. Welcome – Welcome emails introduce your brand to people who subscribe (by signing up for a newsletter, creating an account, becoming a member, or opting into a lead magnet). These emails let the user know what they can expect from you and prove that you have something valuable to offer.
2. Newsletters – Usually these are sent out regularly to subscribers and can include a mix of company updates, new content, and special offers. These emails are helpful for maintaining communication with your audience and keeping them engaged.
3. Product or service updates – These emails let prospects and customers know about new and improved offerings from your business.
4. Company announcements – Announcement emails let people know if your company makes a big change (such as getting acquired, adding a new service, or changing its name).
5. Special offers or promotional emails – Sweeten the deal for subscribers by offering early access to a sale, a special discount, or another incentive.
6. Exclusive invites – Give recipients first dibs to RSVP to in-person or virtual events such as conferences, webinars, or consultation opportunities.
7. Lead generation/nurture – These emails are usually deployed as part of an email series and are triggered by an action someone takes on your site (like downloading an ebook or filling out a form).
8. Transactional emails – Confirmation emails, account updates, and shipping information sent to customers to provide essential information that reinforces trust.
9. Re-engagement – For subscribers who haven’t engaged with you recently, re-engagement emails act as a nudge to take action through discounts, valuable content, or a feedback request.
10. Abandoned cart – These ecommerce emails are sent to potential customers who added items to their cart without purchasing. These emails remind people to finish what they started — often with product visuals and even limited-time offers to incentivize the sale.
11. Seasonal – From Cyber Monday to back to school, seasonal emails highlight promotions, launches, seasonal or new products and services. These emails typically push a sense of urgency to get people to convert.
12. Feedback – Feedback emails are sent to audiences to gain important insight into how a brand’s products or services could be improved.

How to build an email marketing strategy

1. Define your goals (and bandwidth)
2. Identify and segment your target audience
3. Choose an email marketing platform
4. Create a campaign strategy and calendar
5. Build your list

1. Define your goals (and bandwidth)

What do you want to gain from email marketing? Some common goals include:

• Lead generation
• Nurturing and retention
• Driving sales

Your goals will determine what kind of email marketing campaigns you create and the frequency you send them.

2. Identify and segment your target audience

If you haven’t already, build your target audience (the intended audience base for your business).

This guide walks you through the process, but here’s a quick summary:

• Review your Google Analytics for insights on your existing website visitors.  Open your GA4 dashboard, then click Reports > User > User Attributes > Overview. Click through the different reports in the “User” section.
• Analyze your social media followers if you have a social profile and following. These platforms offer analytics as well so you can gain insights on people who already believe in your brand.
• Conduct market research through one-on-one interviews, surveys, and focus groups.
• Read up on your competitors to draw inspiration from their messaging. But remember that while your audiences may be similar, it’s important to forge a path unique to your brand.
• Build customer personas (aka buyer personas), a fictional profile that represents your target customer.

3. Choose an email marketing platform

Before diving into your content strategy, pick an email marketing tool that will help facilitate your goals.

Some businesses may already use customer relationship management (CRM) platforms that offer email marketing services (like HubSpot).

But if you’re on the hunt, some of the most popular tools include:

• Mailchimp
• HubSpot
• Constant Contact
• Klaviyo
• Sendinblue
• ActiveCampaign
• Campaign Monitor
• GetResponse
• AWeber
• ConvertKit

When looking for the right email marketing software, consider features like:

• A/B testing
• email templates
• SMS
• marketing automation and email automation
• pricing and cost-effectiveness
• user-friendliness
• integrations
• functionality
• contact list size

4. Build a content strategy and calendar

Like all forms of content marketing, email marketing requires strategic and proactive planning.

Welcome emails, nurture campaigns, abandoned cart, and transactional missives go out automatically when someone takes an action on your site.

Other email types are sent out based on things like sales, seasonality, or regularly scheduled newsletters.

If you plan to create ongoing email campaigns, make a plan for what the purpose of the emails will be and when they will be sent.

Create a content calendar that outlines your main messaging and the sending schedule, leaving room for writing, designing, and reviewing your emails beforehand.

5. Create an email list

Building a list of engaged email subscribers is the ticket to a higher return on investment (ROI). Just like pay-per-click advertising (PPC), the goal isn’t more clicks (subscribers) — it’s high-quality leads who are interested in what you have to offer.

To build a list of engaged people, keep it simple:

• Add a subscription form on your website
• Promote your email list through social media channels
• Spread the word with people you speak with who are interested in your business

How to craft effective emails

With all the design capabilities and personalization available, it’s easy to overlook how important regular old email copy is.

But when it comes to email marketing, compelling body text and eye-catching subject lines can make or break your open rates and engagement.

Here are our top tips for crafting effective emails.

One thing that’ll help safeguard you against email marketing mistakes is to create a checklist. (Image via Rawpixel)

Use enticing, actionable subject lines

According to HubSpot, the most effective subject lines engage curiosity, include a promotional offer, and are personalized to the recipient’s interest. Keep it short and relevant to the content inside your email.

Why does relevance matter? According to Gartner, subject lines that don’t align with the body of your email are a top reason for people unsubscribing from email lists.

We suggest:

• Actionable language (what they can do with this email)
• Short, skimmable, sometimes-catchy copy
• Personalization (like including their name)
• Emojis (if it matches the tone)
• Numbers

Preview text with additional context

Preview text gives you the opportunity to elaborate on your email subject line, further pique the interest of your recipient, and provide more context.

While some email platforms allow you to fill in the preview text with custom copy, typically the preview text is automatically filled with the first line in your email — further incentive to keep that introduction in your email punchy and interesting.

Concise body copy

You made some sort of promise with your subject line and preview text, and your body copy should fulfill that by offering that critical content right away.

Keep your copy concise and add clear calls to action (CTAs). It’s also important that your tone mirrors your website and the content is in descending order of importance.

Pro tip: When soliciting feedback, consider offering separate submission options for positive and negative feedback. For positive experiences, ask your audience to write a review and provide the link. For negative feedback, ask for a direct reply to your email so you can try to make it right. This keeps negative reviews from hitting the public before you can remedy the situation.

Effective design elements

Don’t let your email’s message get lost in a sea of bad design. The way you format and lay out your email’s design is arguably as important as the copy it contains.

Here, Ammon shares her top three design tips:

1. White space

“For all emails, whitespace is essential,” says Ammon. “I like to see content that can breathe.”

2. Use images sparingly

“I’m personally not big on an excess of imagery,” Ammon explains. “But a few relevant ones here and there can be nice to break up text-heavy emails or help the subscriber see/understand a product.”

3. A clear, bold headline

“A nice, bold headline will capture the readers’ attention and clearly inform them about what they can expect from the rest of the email,” she says. “If you’ve gotten them to open, don’t blow the rest of the readers’ experience on a lack of clarity.”

Ammon reminds us that “most emails have very little time to capture and engage the reader, so be clear, concise, and to the point.”

Other effective marketing email design elements include:

• Designed for mobile devices
• A design style that matches your website
• Accessibility considerations (such as alt text for images and contrasting colors)
• High-quality images
• Dark mode compatibility

Your marketing emails should feel like an extension of your website, or even a toned-down, more minimal version. Above all, you want them to be scannable, professional, and easy to read.

How to measure and optimize performance

When measuring performance, there are key metrics to track that determine whether you have a successful email marketing campaign or require further optimizations.

Common metrics to measure email performance include:

Open rate: The percentage of people who open an email.

Click-through rate: The percentage of people who clicked on a link inside your email, calculated with the formula (number of clicks ÷ number of emails delivered) X 100.

Conversion rate: The percentage of people who click on a link in your email and complete the desired action, calculated with the formula (number of people who the action ÷ number of emails delivered) X 100.

Bounce rate: The percentage of emails sent that were not delivered, calculated with the formula (number of undelivered emails ÷ number of total emails sent) X 100.

Email sharing: The percentage of recipients who click a “share” or “forward” button, which posts email content to a social network, calculated with the formula (number of clicks on a share/ forward button ÷ number of emails delivered) X 100.

Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of recipients who unsubscribe from your email list after opening an email.

Revenue per email: How much money each email sent generates, calculated with the formula (total revenue generated from email campaign ÷ number of emails delivered).

Use the data you collect to identify weak points in the funnel and create strategies for improvement.

How an expert tracks performance

We asked Ammon what she considers the key metrics to track performance. Here’s what she shared:

For email deliverability and making sure my emails are being received: 

Delivered/Sent (delivery rate)

To understand the general engagement of an audience:

“I look at click rates (clicks/delivered) and loosely, open rates, (but with a grain of salt).”

To understand the content relevance or efficacy of the email content: “Click-through rate (clicked/opened — although again we run into issues with the identification of who actually opened),” Ammon says, “conversion rate (conversions/delivered or even conversions/clicked), and revenue per email (RPE).”

A note on conversion rate:

“Choosing how to define ‘conversion rate’ and what qualifies as conversion will be up to the individual — and may change based on the situation.”

For example, maybe a conversion is filling out a form or completing a quiz, or maybe it’s making a purchase.

“In my current position, I often share responsibility for the conversion rate with our ecommerce manager, since our emails don’t have an option for users to convert (purchase) within the email.”

“So, he designs and optimizes our landing pages, product pages, and anywhere else a link in my email might take the reader.”

“My main job is to ensure that my email content entices the reader to click out to that landing page, and to adequately prepare the user for what they will find there and hopefully, preemptively prepare them to make that purchase.”

Other key performance indicators Ammon uses:

List retention rate (how long someone sticks around as a subscriber), unsubscribe rate, and spam rate.

A/B and multivariate testing for optimization

A/B testing compares two different elements of the same email, like the subject line or CTA button to find the most effective option.

Each version is sent to two different groups of recipients to see which one drives the best results. The winner is sent to the remaining contacts in your email list.

The data also provides insights on what makes your audience act, so you can optimize your emails going forward.

Further reading: Learn more about A/B testing here.

How to grow your list

Once you kick off your email marketing efforts, you can put more attention toward growing your email list with new subscribers.

We argue that the top strategy to grow a good email list is to provide valuable, high-quality content that makes your audience want more — from blogs to email content.

Beyond that, some commonly effective ways to grow an email list include:

• Pop-up signup forms and CTAs on your website
• Compelling lead magnets, like free checklists or guides, that require an email opt-in to download
• Exclusive offers for people who subscribe
• Word-of-mouth and in-person signups
• An email signup link under your email signature
• Social media promotions
• Events such as webinars that require an email for registration
• Giveaway events

How can I improve email marketing open rates?

What good is a well-written and beautifully designed email if no one opens it?

When crafting your campaigns, keeping open rates in mind can help inform everything from the time of day you send your dispatches to how you phrase subject lines and pre-headers.

Keep your email open rates climbing with tactics like:

• Keeping your email list updated – Sending emails to addresses that have been deleted or to people who no longer work at their company is a recipe for low open rates and high bounce backs.
• Personalizing your sender – Whether it’s someone from your marketing team or your company’s CEO, sending an email from an actual human instead of a nebulous “company” can help your messages feel more credible and personal.
• Segmenting your audience – The more specific your audience, the more directly you can speak to them. You can segment by attributes like demographics, purchasing behavior, business type, and more.
• Sending on Tuesdays – Data shows that emails sent on this day often see higher open rates when compared to other business days.
• Avoiding spam traps – Don’t use elements in your emails that could get them caught in spam folders. This includes embedding forms in the body of your email, having too many graphics, employing trigger words like “earn,” “cheap,” or “free,” and using excessive exclamation points in your subject line.
• Provide great content – No surprise here. Offer valuable content and your audience will be eager to open your emails.

What are the top email marketing best practices?

“When designing an email, think about how the email is seen/read,” says Ammon. “It’s usually scrolled through, and there’s a limited amount of space ‘above the fold.’”

Ammon adds that “generally, no user sees an email from top to bottom all at once (like a poster or piece of art). So remember that when creating your email design.”

With that in mind, you also want to make sure that you’re not skirting or breaking any guidelines when it comes to your emails.

Per the CAN-SPAM Act, this means your emails should have a clear way to unsubscribe, be free from deceptive or clickbait-y subject lines and copy, and include a valid physical postal address. (The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a similar law set in place in Europe)

At the end of the day, the most effective emails show a clear value to each recipient.

While you may not be able to incentivize every individual to open your email, you can illustrate to your readers that you appreciate their time by providing value wherever possible.

What are email marketing mistakes to avoid?

As an expert, Ammon sees her fair share of email marketing mistakes. Here, she shares the most common (and problematic) issues to avoid.

Neglecting dark mode and mobile view

“One of the most common mistakes I see is email designs that don’t account for mobile view, dark mode, and/or images not being displayed (and not having proper alt text in place),” says Ammon.

“I’m a fairly generic email user in that I use Gmail on an iPhone set to dark mode,” she explains.

“I’m always surprised when I see a more established brand send an email that has wonky button sizing or text I can’t read because of a mobile or dark mode rendering issue.”

Ammon reminds us that “Mobile isn’t ‘little desktop.’ Thumbs aren’t as small and precise as cursors, and that’s especially true for people with certain disabilities.”

In other words? Buttons should be large enough to account for the lack of precision.

“Mobile font sizes may take on different proportions than your desktop designs…and that’s a good thing! It will help users read and consume your message,” she says.

“Photos and images will be smaller because the screen is smaller. So consider this if you have finer product details you want your customer to see.”

Inaccessibility

“While I understand that it’s difficult to make your emails 100% accessible (especially if you’re not a coder or don’t have access to one),” Ammon says, “there are a few small things you can do to improve accessibility.”

How to make your emails accessible to everyone

1. Don’t center paragraphs of text

“Left-aligned text, especially for body copy that covers more than three lines, is easier for folks with dyslexia to read” says Ammon.

“And honestly, I think that also goes for people who don’t have dyslexia (at least it’s true for me).”

2. Give your images proper alt text

“I know of a massive brand that uses alt text in their email images that says ‘Display images to see real-time content,’” Ammon explains. “Which I’d think would be a slap in the face to people who can’t see well, or can’t see at all.”

3. Don’t hide your headlines within an image; use live text instead

“This might help performance AND accessibility,” says Ammon. “Because if someone has their images turned off, they won’t even see your cleverly written headline.”

4. Follow email marketing experts for accessibility tips

“Follow Anne Tomlin and Sarah Gallardo on Linkedin for helpful information on accessible email design,” Ammon suggests.

The takeaway

“Email is a means of communication, first and foremost,” says Ammon. “If your email message can’t get across to the user, it likely won’t perform.”

If you’re a beginner and need some inspiration and guidance to fuel your email marketing efforts, Ammon recommends Travis Hazelwood, Chase Dimond, and Jimmy Kim for nuggets of email marketing wisdom.

Further, “You will never find a more helpful, intelligent, and supportive group of people than those in the Email Geeks Slack channel,” she adds. “Any person who’s fresh into an email marketing career will benefit greatly from this community.”

And if you want more digital marketing help with your marketing channels, HawkSEM is here — from PPC to SEO to social media marketing. Reach out anytime.

This article has been updated and was originally published in February 2021.

The post Email Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide (By An Expert) appeared first on HawkSEM.