What Is Digital Marketing and What Should Small Businesses and Non-Profit Organizations Expect
We get so many questions like ‘What does digital marketing cost and what does it include?’ So we pulled this piece together to address the most common questions:
- What are the typical digital marketing costs?
- Does digital marketing include social media management?
- How about paid ads on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Instagram?
- Does it include web development and web design?
- Does it make sense for a small business or non-profit to hire a digital marketing manager?
What does digital marketing mean?
First, let’s start with what digital marketing means. Digital marketing is any marketing strategy that takes place through digital or online means. The most common forms include:
- email marketing
- social media management and social ads
- Google advertising
- web development and SEO
However, as you’ll see from our services, marketing in the digital age includes a broad scope and a wide range of pricing! For non-profit organizations and small businesses, in particular, you should focus on only a few digital marketing services at a time, instead of trying to tackle everything.
If you’ve got a question that can’t wait, contact us at Top Rope Media!
What does digital marketing cost?
“Well, it depends.” I’m sure you’ve heard this from marketing agencies or freelancers when you’ve asked what digital marketing services will cost you. Therefore, we try to be upfront with our digital marketing costs and fees so that there are no surprises. In addition, we work with many non-profits and smaller brands that cannot afford the fees of a larger agency, so we try to work with you to see where you can save.
As an example, we work with clients on a monthly retainer to help them manage digital marketing needs such as social media, email marketing, and paid advertising and cost varies between $850-$2,500 a month depending on the following:
- number of social channels and frequency of posts and reels
- how many emails are sent each month
- what types of ads we’ll be creating- Google, YouTube, Instagram or Facebook ads
- what other digital services you may need
Therefore, when deciding what to budget for marketing services, first decide which tasks you and your team are most familiar with. Of the various digital channels, which are you capable of continuing to manage? Can you delegate any of these tasks within your team? Finally, our last blog on the cost of hiring a marketing manager, freelancer, or digital agency will help you figure out your monthly budget!
Does digital marketing include social media management?
Yes! Social media management is the most requested service we offer. And nowadays social media involves a lot more than posting on Facebook or Twitter. There’s the all-powerful engagement that needs to happen on each channel you are using. Then there’s the rise of videos, and using these strategically on YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram Stories, Reels, and even Facebook has Reels now!
Here’s more on our social media services, and the clients we work with!
Reach your potential customers where they spend time, which these days is most often on TikTok, YouTube, or listening to a podcast!
How about paid advertising on YouTube, Google, and social channels?
Again, yes on paid advertising. Digital ads should always be part of your marketing strategy. Paid digital advertising can help you create more brand awareness, show up in searches, and grow your following on channels like YouTube and Instagram. For social media-specific ads to gain more followers, check out our last blog for lots more info and to get started!
What digital channels should you focus your efforts on?
First, before you decide which digital channels you will use, clearly outline your goals. Here are some of the most common goals non-profit outdoor organizations and adventure brands request from us:
- Establish or elevate their brand presence
- Generate better leads
- Increase sales and conversions
- Drive more traffic to their website
- Integrate marketing efforts to allow team members to focus on other projects
Next, who is interested in your product or service? Here are a few things to look at in your website metrics and/or Google Analytics to determine this:
- Customer demographics: age, gender, location, interests, etc.
- Which channels are directing the most traffic to your website? Also known as acquisition. An acquisition can come from a search result, an email, a referral from another website, social posts, or paid ads.
- Which pages do customers visit? Also known as the customer journey.
The answers to these questions will help you zero in on the digital channels and content creation that will be most crucial in promoting your business online. Keep in mind, not all social media channels will be necessary for your business to thrive.
What does your website design say about your business? Does it draw customers in? If not, digital marketing agencies or freelancers can help!
Does digital marketing include web development and web design?
Yes, web design and development should play extremely important roles in your digital marketing strategy. From branding to search engine optimization (SEO) to user experience (UX). As either an outdoor non-profit organization or a small business, you need to be very clear with your potential customers about what you offer AND why someone should choose your services or products over another brand! Here are a few things to think about that you might want to showcase on your website:
- Do you sell sustainably made goods?
- Are you solving some of the world’s most challenging environmental problems?
- Is there a feel-good, give-back component to your work?
- Did you work super hard to get where you are and are a badass in every way? Tell that story!!
Your website is a representation of your outdoor organization or business; it’s where your customers often first get to know your products and services. Therefore, it’s important to have a website that aligns with your brand and your audience.
Learn more about how improving your web design can help you generate more leads from our last blog! Or bookmark it for later and focus on these 6 areas for great website design:
- Use creative aspects that match your colors, fonts, style, and tone of voice
- Create a unique website that tells your story
- Develop a proper SEO strategy so you can be found by search engines like Google, Bing, Safari, and Yahoo
- Build a user-friendly e-commerce platform (if you’re selling online products or services)
- Install lead generation forms, a pop-up email sign-up, or other ways for people to get in touch and for you to collect the email addresses of potential customers
It sounds simple, but many startups, outdoor organizations, and small businesses can make the mistake of DIYing a website that doesn’t quite connect to customers or communicate their story.
Why spend on digital marketing? Because you want to reach people where they spend time, on their mobile devices, searching Google, or scrolling through Instagram.
Does hiring a marketing manager make sense for a small business in the outdoor industry or a non-profit?
Investing in your marketing is an excellent way to grow your small business, non-profit, or outdoor organization. However, you may not have a budget yet for a Marketing Manager, who typically expect a starting salary of $52,000-130,000/year for non-profits and outdoor recreation brands. Therefore, you may want to look at hiring a marketing coordinator at a lower salary range. As Top Rope Media’s team often acts as a marketing coordinator for many of our brands, read more about our services to see if we’d be a good fit for you!
Final Thoughts on Marketing in the Digital Age
Marketing is changing all the time. And the online channels keep growing! If you are not on them yet, Tiktok or YouTube could be the next channels that help you sell more products. Or starting up a podcast! Be open to new ideas.
Also, remember to start small! Here are a few examples of where to begin:
- Hire a freelancer to create and schedule content for your social media posts, Instagram stories, or tweets!
- DIY your search engine optimization (SEO)!
- Consider spending on either Google ads or social media advertising to grow your brand presence and generate more website traffic!
Because there are so many avenues to target within a marketing plan, look at your goals, identify your needs, and get the ball rolling!
If you have more questions, please reach out to me, and let’s start at the trailhead together!
Meredith McConvill, Top Rope Media
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