Digital Marketing: Expense or Investment?
The purpose of digital marketing is to help businesses of all sizes make themselves more visible online. It’s the role of companies like ours to lighten the load when it comes to what is expected of businesses within their individual digital marketing strategies.

However, considering how expensive it is to run a business, your company may be hesitant to spend money with an agency without any guarantee of a return. A completely valid concern especially if you’re a small business – but I’m asking you to think about investing in digital marketing for its purpose. If you join a gym you’re investing in your health. Digital marketing is an investment in your business.
What is digital marketing?
We often consider digital marketing as just a social media presence, but it’s so much more. Think web content, SEO, video, mobile response, email and newsletter marketing, targeted ads and blogs to name but a few.
76% of people think marketing has changed more in the past two years than it did over the previous fifty, which sums up the pace of change right now. So, if you’re still reluctant to dip your toe into the world of digital marketing, take this time to do some homework and arm yourself with the statistics of digital marketing to make an informed choice.
On the one hand, it seems that businesses are starting to realise the benefits digital marketing can bring, but on the other, it still seems as though there are many small businesses that are reluctant to make the investment.
Whether it’s through social media, your website, or other means, subtle digital marketing tactics can make a significant difference in your business’ marketability and profitability.
Are there really no guarantees that your investment is returned? Digital marketing is one area small businesses can really excel in and see a large ROI. If you remain unconvinced of the merits of digital marketing, here are a few reasons why it is an investment rather than an expense:
Being mobile
With the use of smartphones ever-present in our lives, you’ve got the option of marketing to your audience on the go. Consumers have the power of a personal computer at their fingertips, and your fully-optimised website content is sure to help you gain business.
Small businesses also need to be able to put themselves in a position to convert local mobile searches into customers. One example here is when people search for things like ‘florists near me’. You need to put in the work to give yourself the best chance of ranking in high intent local search like this one.
According to eMarketer, mobile will account for 72% of digital ad spend in 2019 so there are no excuses for failing to meet user expectations across multiple devices. It’s ten years since the first iPhone was released and most brands are still failing their mobile users by not investing in that side of their marketing.
Your captive audience are online
Did you know that 97% of consumers look online before making a purchase? Whilst other studies suggest between 70-80% of those people research the company itself before making a purchase. By not being visible online and investing in a thorough content strategy, you may be missing out on real opportunities that could be going directly to your competitors.
If you don’t have a website for your business then you won’t rank for local searches, which have a high conversion rate. Similarly, you run the risk of losing ground to more digitally savvy competitors who rank for important keyword search terms relevant to your industry.
Digital marketing is always measurable
There’s a misconception that spending your money on digital marketing is like throwing your money into a black hole with no measurement between cost and return. The sheer size and constantly evolving nature of social media platforms and our online world can seem like you’re shouting into a void.
Let’s compare this to traditional marketing methods from days gone by. When they think of putting a billboard of your business in a certain place, it is impossible to calculate the direct impact that this had on their sales. On the other hand, with digital marketing it goes completely in the opposite direction and you can measure how many times each ad was viewed, how many people clicked on it, and how many people made a purchase or contacted you.
Digital marketing is cost-effective for business because you can continually evaluate how and if it is working. Measuring the ROI from your campaigns helps you to re-work strategies and put the resources toward the right projects.
Increased Sales
Digital marketing investment means a content strategy is built around your business’ product or service to reach the appropriate audiences, which will result in higher sales. Devising a content plan to increase sales online allows the following:
- Attracting (through blogs, SEO, sponsored links, social networking)
- Converting (through the creation of offers, landing pages and CRO)
- Relating (via email marketing, marketing automation and lead nutrition)
- Selling (through scores of leads and inbound sales)
- Analysing (through various software metrics and statistical analysis)
These five steps make it simple to see an increase to your sales. In the long run it’ll be more expensive not investing in digital marketing than it will to make an investment.
Digital marketing investment doesn’t cost money, it makes money
By working alongside a good digital marketing agency, you can invest your money wisely to get the best possible return. Just like the saying goes – speculate to accumulate: you have to spend money to make money. It’s also how the money is spent as the difference between a good digital marketing plan and a great one will outline the best possible solutions and processes for any budget given.
That budget doesn’t have to be ludicrous either and we often advise to start small then gradually build up. If budgets are tight then a good digital marketing agency will optimise that budget and use it wisely.
Is it time for your business to invest in an effective digital marketing strategy and harvest the immeasurable results it can bring? If so, feel free to get in touch. We’re always on hand to offer advice to small businesses looking to immerse themselves online.
Image by Javier Rodriguez from Pixabay
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