Businesses New Secret Weapon – Digital Marketing and SEO – (Search Engine Optimization)

It has been a well kept secret for years but many small and medium sized businesses are finding out the truth – updated Dec. 15, 2016

Digital Marketing has really taken corporate Canada by surprise or a better way of putting it would be bewilderment.   Most decision makers in this country know that Digital Marketing is important but many are not sure exactly what it is and how it can ultimately effect the bottom line of their companies.  As we know, most corporate entities are huge on ROI (return on investment) and that is where the waters of digital marketing can become a bit muddy. Because of this uncertainty Canada still lags behind the USA and the UK in terms of utilizing digital marketing to drive quality visitors to their websites, create buzz in social media and grow their businesses.

The secret that many large companies in the UK and the USA already know and that the more progressive Canadian companies are now implementing aggressively is that having a ‘real’ professional digital marketing staff in-house is like having a “secret weapon” – and just to clarify, I am not exaggerating, blowing my own horn or using a poor analogy.  This is the cold-hard truth and up until recently – a very well kept secret.

Here is an example in support of my above statement:

In my last in-house position the basic numbers supported the true power of digital marketing (SEO in particular) as the ultimate ROI and secret weapon.  When the company made conversions through more traditional marketing methods both online and off with banner ads, radio commercials, TV spots and print advertising the cost per acquisition was $49.00   When they made acquisitions through SEO optimization the cpa was $9.50 – considering SEO brought in almost 20 million dollars in revenue in 2008 I would say that not only was this an amazing ROI but it is really what kept this company afloat during some tough years.

Having an in-house digital marketing staff allows a company to be very ‘light’ on their feet and take advantage of opportunities that would otherwise not be found or leveraged to their full potential.  When you have an edge on your competition by using SEO, PPC (pay per click) and social media marketing to increase your website traffic, brand awareness and ultimately your companies profits it can open many doors for many opportunities because everyone in your industry or a complimentary industry wants to be part of a successful company.

When the boss/board of directors/owners/CEO or president wants to test market a new product or service they can jump in with both feet knowing the in-house digital marketing expert will support, promote and analyze the potential of the new endeavor.  When someone comes knocking to sell them advertising or the newest greatest profitability scheme they can have the digital marketing manager sit in on these meetings and offer ‘real’ advice based on hard data.  For example, we had the Yellow Pages folks in for a meeting last month and they were telling us of their newest and greatest ‘improvement’ coming down-the-pipes in which we would be able to bid on top placement in their online directory (YP.ca).  The section they were recommending for us was one our digital marketing manager (me) knew only garnered us a few dozen hits a month even in spot 3 on Google – so it gave us the heads-up on what type of bid would be worthwhile (a low one) where-as another company in our market might get sucked into bidding very high for the same keyword because they did not know the actual value of it. In fact we later found out from our rep at Yellow Pages that a local competitor figured they got the drop on us by outbidding our company for a term we didn’t even want.

When a partner in the industry was refocusing their mission thereby leaving a website up for grabs the in-house digital marketing team was able to see the value in this site and the company was able to acquire it before it went to public auction where it would have fetched 4 or 5 times the value we paid.

Really, I could go on and on…leveraging current market share, taking advantage of hot news and social media trends, driving long-tail traffic to inner pages, raising the value of current affiliate and membership programs, developing good will with suppliers and friends, spotting red flags on the horizon and avoiding penalties.  I can’t count the times I have sat in on a call with my boss and x supplier, x salesperson, x investor, x affiliate, x business proposal and had valuable input into what the offer might mean to us and our bottom line.  Simply because, as the in-house digital marketing expert you live and breathe the business and industry you work in – knowing the data and pitfalls from the inside out gives you tremendous knowledge and insight.

Having an in-house digital marketing team really is a secret weapons, sort of like having in-house council but it costs a lot less, for now!  With that said digital marketing salaries are on the rise, I get calls on a regular basis from recruitment agencies and they all say the crop of digital marketing professionals is thin.  Most offer juicy cash incentives to me if I can recommend someone qualified and they take the position.  The problem with that is, of the dozen or so good digital marketers I know, all are employed.