Getting your Marketing Right
Is the jury out or in? This article is about getting your marketing right. We, at NCompass, are a one-stop shop for anything you might need for your digital marketing of any business, however big all small. There’s not much we cannot do, from the most basic website to some fairly heavyweight e-commerce options. Our job is fundamentally to facilitate our clients’ needs, whatever they might be.
Right, got that off my chest, now we have to highlight one of our core strengths, but possibly also weaknesses. We might be a one-stop shop, but we’re also very much a Pic’n’Mix business as well. We’re versed in the full range of economies when it comes to attempting to publicise a business, no matter how big or small. Everything has to weigh up and pull its weight.
We do look at the rough ROI of any aspect of a plan. Some clients require us to buy up a range of misspelt domain names, just for brand protection. It makes sense. Others ask us to automate content, another precautionary time-saver. It also makes sense in certain circumstances. I don’t think there is a single task we have been asked that has not been tried before. And we roughly have ideas of our own about what works and doesn’t work according to a client’s budget and desired outcomes. That is, after all, what we are paid for.
The Weakness
Increasingly, however, and this particularly applies to our larger clients, increasingly, we’re seeing a distinct and growing gap between clients that follow some of our advice compared with clients that follow most or all of our advice.
It is just the nature of the game; we’re bound to get on well with some clients more than others, we want to treat everyone equally, but when some choose to use us for this or that service, inevitably, all clients are different.
What is surprising and somewhat frustrating is that the proof is increasingly in the pudding, and it’s incredibly difficult to push that message across. I completely understand if a client wants to use us to manage their Google Ads and have another company do their SEO. That does make sense. I like the idea of playing off one outfit against another. That should work. Have different so-called ‘Marketeers’ responsible for different aspects of marketing and then see what works best.
Google Ads and SEO
Nowhere within our efforts is this more apparent than with our SEO and Google Ads clients, but first a couple of facts for you.
- Just two of our dozens of clients ask us to do both SEO and Google Ads – that is, despite our offering both services to dozens of clients. Only two, choose us to do both.
- Scarily, of the many dozens of Google Ads accounts have access to, we are the only Certified Google Partner and qualified Google Ads Expert, recognised by Google.
That provides food for thought. We have access to a lot more Google Ad accounts than we manage and must have some 400 or more users with access to the same accounts as us, yet we’re literally the only ones that have bothered to get the Google Certification. Either it’s worthless, or it’s a bit like employing an unqualified mechanic to work on your car. It’s a strange thing to do when spending so much money.
I’m not complaining
I write these articles slightly tongue in cheek and I am not actually complaining. I want our clients to pick and choose our services. I almost want to share responsibilities with our providers just so I can ratify our own knowledge; it makes sense. Bring on the competition.
But facts are facts, and we live in complex and difficult times, the rise of AI, the importance of Brand, the things that can go wrong, and risk. I am just sorry I cannot name names and give real-life examples. We have one client topping the list of all lists in terms of growth, but they allow us full control over their website, SEO, Google Ads, Newsletters and Social Media. We do not do everything and 90% of the time we advise on their content rather than doing their content for them. But their growth has been exponential for a few years now, a true success story.
In short, we can work on any aspect of your marketing and we’ll set the right targets and goals for that specific aspect. But the more influence you allow us and the more you ask us to do, should mean in no uncertain terms the better the growth for you, the client.
Naturally, none of this can be proved; that same client may have done even better if some other agency’s strategy had been followed. Who can tell? All we can say is that when looking at the stats, the more a client uses our services, the better the result.