8 Digital Marketing Touchpoints for 2017 Marketing Budgets

Eric Kazda  |   December 15, 2016   |  Posted in Marketing

With the majority of 2016 already gone, time is of the essence to seriously consider what tools should be in your digital marketing toolbox and budget for 2017.  There are so many applications, actions, and software to weigh and consider that it can be hard to focus on what’s best for your business’s needs.  Here are eight that can help you maximize your digital marketing efforts and you will not regret earmarking line items for in next year’s planning and spending.

Paid Search and Display Marketing

To determine the best budget for your paid search and display advertising efforts in 2017, you will need to know what did and didn’t work in the past year, as well as your opportunities for the coming year.  Many digital marketing resources continue to estimate that paid search and display marketing spends will grow year over year.  But, what that dollar value needs to be for your company’s campaigns can only be determined by what your evaluation of the 2016 successes and failures yields.   By understanding the fluctuations in those results you will be find your best budgetary figure.

Are you new to paid search and display marketing?  There are a few, important factors to consider before deciding your budget.  Firstly, carefully consider the amount your company can comfortably afford to spend, you should also know the average cost of a new lead for your business or industry, along with number of leads you think you “need” to generate from paid search and display advertising to make it worth the investment.  And finally, take a look at your company’s current conversion rates and think about how you would like to effectively layer digital marketing into those efforts.  Ultimately, the line item for these touchpoints will vary from company to company.

Remarketing or Retargeting

Targeted MarketingRemarketing or retargeting tools are a great way to reach customers that have visited your website but have not converted to an action or sale.  Smart marketers looking to move potential customers further into the conversion or sales funnels should plan to allocate digital marketing dollars to either single-channel or cross-channel remarketing, or both.  These digital marketing tools greatly assist in the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

SEO and Organic Search

The point of organic search is that it is earned.  However, to earn it work needs to be done behind the scenes by a trained digital marketing professional whom understands the latest tips, tricks, and trends in search engine optimization efforts for websites.  So, while you’re not necessarily budgeting for the tips and tricks, you will need to budget for someone’s time, either on staff or an agency staffer, to assist with SEO.

Social Media Marketing

Much like SEO and Organic Search, the tools of social media marketing are free, but the time needed and the effort exerted to nurture and grow these platforms requires a line item in your budget.  Successful social media marketing cannot happen in a vacuum, it requires time and attention on a regular frequency.  Make sure to include enough funds to account for the staff member or agency team member whom will handle the social media marketing, along with any promotional, advertising, or content marketing that will be undertaken on all of your business’s social media channels.

Email Marketing

This channel often is the most neglected channel when it comes to budgeting because it the perception is that it’s a cheap-to-execute touchpoint.  Especially if the email marketing for a company is handled internally.  This too often overlooked tool deserves more attention because it can often be a strong-conversion tool.  The question to ask yourself this year as you are preparing next year’s budget, is ‘how can I get more out of my email marketing program?’  And, the answer to this budgeting and action-oriented question is not to buy a list of email addresses!

Content Marketing

Content MarketingContent marketing is not a one-off effort, it’s an art of publishing, so it’s an ongoing marketing effort.  So what elements should you be considering when you’re budgeting for content marketing?  There are a few key ones to consider that are married into some of the aforementioned touchpoints.  You should consider: research and planning needs, the actual content creation, time you’ll spend search engine optimizing the content created, distribution methods of the content, and last, but not least, the time needed to learn which content did and didn’t work, followed on by the training needed to make it work better on the next content delivery.

Multi-Channel Analytics

If you’re not already doing so – you should be using Google Analytics to understand the mechanics of how people are accessing, interacting with, and using your website.  Fortunately, it’s a free-to-use tool.  However, it is most effective when its layered into a multi-channel analytics tool.  These tools layer all of a business’s various online properties’ analytics into one online location.  With some straightforward manipulation they produce informative and useful reporting for digital property performance.  They are pay-to-use.  There are a number of them on the market and it requires a little bit of research and product demos to determine which one is most effective for your business.  They also range in price.

Mobile Optimization

Mobile OptimizedYes, people can access your site from their smartphone or tablet, but is the User Interface one that puts your business’s best foot forward?  If you have not already redesigned your site to be responsive in design, then 2017 is the year to do so.  Budget for it!  Not just for the convenience of your customers, but because Google is making algorithmic changes that are giving priority in SERPs to sites that are mobile optimized.  Find yourself a reputable web design and development agency partner and get that antiquated site updated!

Are you unsure if your website is mobile-friendly?  Use the Google Test to find out!

So, what will be your most effective digital marketing tools as you head into 2017?  Well, that will vary from business to business.  But, with some combination of these eight digital marketing tools allocated in your budget, the coming year of marketing is bound to be a more effective one for your business.

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Eric

About
Eric Kazda

Eric Kazda is a leading expert in the interactive development industry with over fifteen years of experience. With a mastery of critical development technologies, Eric has crafted innovative award-winning work for clients both large and small. Coupling this knowledge with a real world understanding of usability and technological feasibility, his work is developed to be accessible by every user.