Don't get caught in the recent surge of marketing scams. Perhaps these sound familiar: “Guaranteed ranking the first page of Google search; "Hi, I’m calling from Google and for a lifetime payment of $99 a year, we’ll get your website in the first page;” “I’m an ex-employee from Google and want to reveal the secrets the Google won't tell you;” or “Performance based ads, you don't pay if you ads don't get results."
You have likely seen or heard a few of these. Remember if it sounds too good to be true, it is likely too good to be true. There are no shortcuts or trade secrets, marketing takes time and money. Save yourself a lot of money and embarrassment and learn what the experts recommend as best practices today.
So how do bank cashiers identify fake money? They are trained on what real money should look and feel like. How do you detect an art forgery? Understand what real art should look like - from brush strokes to media. In the same manner, if you understand what real marketing tools should look like, the costs and efforts, you’ll avoid the scammers and run from the big claim marketing ads.
So what's required today? What are the real and proven tools? What are the expected results and what do they look like? For a decade and a half marketing tools have changed and advanced, but five marketing tools are best practices today.
What's required today for small businesses?
SEO - organic website search settings and submissions
Blogging - posting industry related articles integrated with social media
Social Media - regular organic image and video posting on social media pages
Email Marketing - client campaigns and automation with the best ROI
Digital Ads - Facebook/Instagram display ads and Google search ads
So where do you start?
I would suggest if you have just a website platform only, start making some SEO settings and set up your blog. Integrate an all in one marketing platform and start making social media posts, send some emails and post some ads. The NEW all in one website platforms include all your marketing tools, so get started with your marketing on a regular basis. Make sure you integrate Google analytics so you can track your results and make appropriate changes. Better still, if you have a small budget, have known experts do the heavy lifting for you and expect a better return on your investment.