Our Blog Are You Wasting Your Marketing Dollars? Posted on 04.03.2024 Marketing Do you often wonder if the digital marketing dollars you spend are worth it? Are you wasting your marketing dollars on traditional or digital marketing? How do you know? We want to help you avoid a marketing money pit. When it comes to marketing in 2024 and beyond, having a firm, yet flexible marketing strategy is one of the keys to achieving good ROI on your marketing spending. Make the most of every marketing dollar by following a three-tiered approach: Identify the platforms best suited to your business, budget, and goals. Hold your marketers and agency accountable to results. Test often, be flexible, and adapt to new strategies. Jump to Section Identify the Best Platforms Identify the Best Platforms Marketing Accountability Test and Adapt Strategies Identify the Best Platforms One of the most important steps to getting good ROI is by identifying and optimizing the best platforms for your industry. Marketing strategies look very different for B2B versus B2C operations, but not every business owner takes advantage of this knowledge to get the most from their budget. Remember, too, that a combination of organic and paid strategies often performs better than organic strategies alone. For B2B industries, the top platforms for marketing include Google ads and Bing Ads, which drive visitors to specific educational or event information. Website SEO can also play a key role, as your industry specialization can be featured through curated content and optimization. LinkedIn is the preferred social platform for B2B, while YouTube also can help you better convey complex messaging and enhance SEO. For consumer businesses, social platforms rule, with Facebook/Instagram and YouTube dominating most consumer product categories. Google/Bing Ads can also produce great results. Finally, very local businesses can gain traction using cable TV and streaming ads — as long as there is a strong visual element in place. Best B2B Platforms Google/Bing Ads Website SEO LinkedIn YouTube Best B2C Platforms Facebook/Instagram YouTube Google/Bing Ads Cable TV/Streaming Marketing Accountability Whether you have a marketing team, agency, or a combination of providers, you will want to be sure they are sharing results with you and showing how your marketing dollar is being spent. Identify two or three KPIs that will help measure success. The data behind the Google ads, website SEO, and other platforms demonstrates what is performing and what isn’t performing. Follow the data! Secondly, evaluate your spending and put more behind the strategies that can be directly linked to sales. Ask if you need to increase your budget to improve results. Put the appropriate amount of marketing dollars behind ensuring your website looks and works great because that is your first impression and the core of SEO. Finally, schedule reviews and become familiar with your benchmarks, goals, and reports. Take notes and ask questions of outside providers to satisfy your curiosity about analytics that don’t make sense to you. Pay attention to paid campaigns and their direct effect on your business in terms of requests for quotes and sales. Test and Adapt Strategies The marketing landscape continues to change at a rapid pace. If you measure results and test strategies on a regular basis, you will enhance your marketing knowledge and savvy so you can evaluate new opportunities. Learn how to interpret site performance tests. It’s okay to try new things, but prioritize the patient, thoughtful approach based on industry-wide knowledge and your own results rather than acting on impulse. Not sure what to do next to optimize ROI and stop wasting marketing dollars? Get expert input on your marketing budget and benchmarks. Contact Metro Studios for a strategic analysis and audit to help make the most of every marketing dollar.