As an experienced search marketeer, I've optimised a lot of websites, built a few and been involved in the planning of many search campaigns. All of these elements are vital in securing the long term success of a website and business.
While we're all busy getting on with the latest campaign strategy though, who's looking after the website? In this piece we'll take a look at how easy it is to get lost in the big thinking, forget about the simple things and how effective they can be in delivering for your business.
Long Term Strategy
We all know how important it is to have a long term strategy, a destination that we want to get to and objectives we want to achieve, this is vital to any business that wants to grow and expand. These plans are often focussed around large campaigns which influence potential customers across a number of touchpoints, they take a great deal of effort to get off the ground and can result in big returns when implemented effectively.
You may be planning and executing these campaigns through an internal team, the reality is that most small businesses will be looking to an angency partner to deliver for them, adding another cost layer.
Why We Think Big
It's also easy to see the reasons why many of us look to these big campaigns to deliver success, the appeal of seeing a billboard or maybe TV ad with our brand, product or service has an inherant appeal. In the right setting these forms of advertising still carry a great deal of clout when it comes to establishing a brand, but do they work as hard for you if you're a newcomer to your sector seeking to build trust with an audience who don't know you.
Another key influence perhaps, is the ever present need to hit targets, grow sales and increase profitability. Large campaigns can have tremendous reach and with that comes the potential for big reward.
So What?
This isn't about me suggesting large marketing campaigns are bad, out dated or a waste of money, this whole piece is rooted in the idea of maximising value from every campaign. Nearly all businesses rely on some form of digital presence to help sell or communicate with customers and for me, the concept of running before you can walk relates to the ability to get the basics of these digital platforms right in order to maximise value.
You can spend hundreds of thousands on a glossy ad campaign, but if your potential customers struggle to buy from your website or speak to your staff the return on that spend will be impacted. According to "Think With Google"
"For every second delay in mobile page load, conversions can fall by up to 20%."
This sounds dramatic and it potentially is to your business if your website doesn't load quickly. But this doesn't just come back to the developers, or the marketing team, or the content team, everyone in your business has a role to play in making your digital presence work harder for you. As I touched on in my 2020 Search Trends blog, the fundamentals of a good website haven't changed so there should continue to be a focus on getting these things nailed while looking at the bigger, more punchy campaigns.
