Digital Marketing. Every Business Owner needs to know the First Principles.

I'm Darragh, and I work in digital marketing design as a brand consultant. I help business Reposition brands effectively. More importantly, I design and build brands and websites and link them to the bigger world so any business can be found and make money. What shocks me is that even the marketing people in your business and within the industry may have no idea. And it is kind of worrying. Right!

Who is selling here?

Nevertheless, the fundamentals of all Digital Marketing are to sell you something. And you may not even be aware that you are the person they are selling too. As a business owner myself, you need to quantify the return on investment; this simple fact tells us something fundamental do more or do less.

Let me explain.

Would you buy an advert in a magazine for $2000 if it returned only a few customers? Most business owners would say no way! There is risk in all business, and you need to try new things; however, trying any advertising without adding a metric to measure the result is bonkers, in my opinion. Not being able to value that advert or the money spent on the following year's publication. Sadly this happens way too much, and lots of businesses are throwing good money in the air and hoping it will come back. Thankfully this does not have to be the way.

What is working?

I'm here to cut through the BS.' hopefully, even the marketers and Digital people read and learn something here. I call it blinded by numbers and terminology. I'm writing this post as I believe education is the only way forward. As the business owner, you need to understand your business and not be blinded by these numbers and terms, and I'm here to help you know where your effort should be.

First of all, connect your website to Google Analytics.

Now I know in your head you are saying yea, I'm doing that, but I'm telling you that you don't understand the information Google is providing you. Google Analytics is the most powerful tool out there. You need to understand how important the information is that they provide you. Most people take one look at the dashboard page and nod there head in agreeance with the Digital Marketing, but what if I told you it was your ignorance that stopped you from understanding the information that's right in front of you.

Get a clear view of what is going on.

I've noticed that business owners and marketing people don't understand digital marketing basics. So I'll use a real-life example here to help you know just one of the hundreds of things your business can do. So if you have access to your Google Analytics, open it up now and then make that phone call to ask the question. Once logged in, you'll see a tab on the left-hand side called Acquisition Overview. On the top right, you can select a date range. You'll see a pie chart divided into the various channels where the data came from. Depending on what media channels you are doing, this pie chart can identify where your money and effort should be allocated.

Let's take a closer look

At a first glance, I'll try and help you decide the areas you need to work. Depending on your business's life cycle and the places you've focused money on, your results may look different.

Make sure your focus is right

In this case, the business was placing considerable effort on referral websites and social media. They were shocked when I showed them the efforts had a minimal impact over 12 months. Ironically they were running around like a headless chicken and focusing on creating new products and offers rather than focusing on what was working. After looking at the data, it reveals some vital information. The first thing is that the referral websites, social media and paid search are the areas that need improvement. The methods and the money been spent is not returning the capital invested.

Are you sending customers away?

So why is this? The first thing to understand is that your referral websites and Social media websites are there to keep you on their websites where they create income. There is a war for your digital attention. Think about your visit to a social media site and how time passes. However, reversing this process to drive the traffic back to your websites can have a substantial amount of benefit, adding to your bottom line considerably. In today's digital world, it is about making those opportunities work for you.

Ask me how