Digital Marketing Services Pricing in 2020

Is It About Time to Go Digital?

We’ve all been there—giving our all to every campaign and getting our hopes up it’ll work.

But upon launching it?

Deafening silence. Short reach. Little engagement. Low to zero sales.

It might roll somehow yet still way below our expectation. We curated the best idea so why?

Great idea doesn’t guarantee success. Being on the right platform is crucial.

Digital is the platform-to-be. Since almost everyone is online, digital marketing should come into play.

Without further ado, let’s get into the loop of digital marketing and explore:

• Digital Marketing in a Nutshell
• The Rise of Digital Marketing in the Philippines
• Digital Marketing Disciplines and How Each Will Cost You
• The Significance of Hiring a Digital Marketing Company
• How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Company

Digital Marketing in a Nutshell

Digital marketing is quite overused today but is often thrown into discussion without clear explanation.

Simply put, digital marketing is identified as a process of promoting products or services through electronic devices, a.k.a the internet. But it’s far more than this brief definition.

It encompasses a wide range of disciplines; some of these are Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Content Marketing, Paid Advertising and many more. (We’ll get these disciplines tackled one by one later on.)

For now, let’s make a little intro of this strategy:

The Rise of Digital Marketing in the Philippines

From traditional to digital marketing

Years ago, it used to be enough for companies to promote their businesses through traditional platforms such as yellow pages, magazines, newspapers, televisions, and radios. Many business owners may have heard about digital marketing. However, they weren’t necessarily convinced that they need it—or that it’s even working. Well, marketing has changed more in the past decade-launching us out of the age of TV spots and print ads into the period of Virtual Reality (VR), apps, social media, and Google.

Gone are the days when advertisers blindly wondered how many individuals have seen their advertisement. The primary reason why businesses are starting to embrace and adopt digital marketing is that it is result-oriented. Companies can understand where every investment amount is spent and the exact numbers regarding their traffic, conversions, the pages with the highest conversions and the channels that provide you this traffic.

The current state of digital marketing

About 67 million online users.

That’s how many people access the internet here in the Philippines. Looking at it closely, that’s more than 60% of the country’s total population (as of this writing).

As per Google itself, the Philippines houses a very tech-savvy population. Should companies look forward to growing their businesses significantly, they should be smart enough to take advantage and leverage digital marketing. A successful digital marketing campaign is what companies will need to reach out to this promising market that can open opportunities for business growth.

They can no longer choose to ignore their presence on digital channels. With less to no online visibility, customers are bound to discover and opt for the offers of your competition (who seems to utilize online marketing already).

The very reason why digital marketing is so crucial to every business, regardless of its type, is because consumers now are connected to the web 24/7. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are the first thing most adults use in the morning, and likely the last thing they see before they going to bed.

Digital Marketing Disciplines and How Each Will Cost You

As we have mentioned earlier, digital marketing has different disciplines. Let’s now unfold each of them:

Web Design and Development

A business website is arguably the best marketing asset. If the internet is a shopping district, then your site will serve as your storefront. Having a website to drive leads and sales is also known as inbound marketing—a strategy focused on bringing customers to your business through company-created content on your site.

So, first, your business needs a website.

“My business is already on Facebook and Instagram, why do I still need a website?”

This is probably one of the most commonly asked questions, particularly of business owners who are already doing well on their Facebook Page or Instagram account.

1. Algorithm changes can affect your visibility

The truth is, social networks always update their account rules and algorithms. You may find out all of a sudden that your page becomes less visible to users’ feeds. A lot of business pages experienced this when Facebook recently adjusted its algorithms. They could do nothing but complain and accept the new policies. Even worse, what if the social channel you depend on loses its fame and shuts down? What if they flag or suspend your page? Apparently, all your investments (time, energy and finances) will be put into waste.

2. Authority

Creating a website lets people know that there is a certain go-to where they can find anything and everything about your business. This is where they get to read relevant contents and learn more about your company. All of these things are crucial in building authority. Without a website, you’re on the verge of losing prospects.

3. Flexibility

With a website, you can have more leeway to communicate with your audience. You can include tab/s where prospects can easily make inquiries, book, and settle payments. These all are either difficult to input or merely unavailable to social media pages.

As David Mulcahy, founder of Conversion Strategies, articulates it, “A website is the hub of your online presence, and social media is (simply) a marketing tool.”

Remember that it’s always smarter to invest in something you own rather than to build on someone else’s land. Time will come where respective owner/s would want to change rules, and this could significantly affect your business. This is the reason why it is highly recommended to invest in a website and subsequently utilize social media to grow your business further.

Now that you’ve recognized the more advantages you can reap from having a website than just doing business on social media, the next thing you need to know is the key features of a site.

Important Features of a Website

If you think a fancy design is what it only takes to get a high conversion, you better think again. Though it’s one factor to look at, you should also be looking (mainly) at its functionality. It takes a combination of factors to complete a website, and the combinations vary depending on the needs of a specific business.

Below are some of the critical features of well-built web design you need to take note of. These features are necessary for every website in delivering exceptional results.

Responsiveness. It’ now a commonplace to access sites from multiple devices with multiple screen sizes. That being said, it is essential to consider if your website is mobile friendly. It must able to adjust to different screen widths.

Easy Navigation. A well-designed design should contain a user-friendly navigation scheme allowing visitors to find the information they needed quickly. Important links should be easy to find and include easy-to-understand labels. If there’s a lot of contents, a search box is recommended so visitors can reach faster specific pages within site.

On Page SEO. On Page SEO is a method of optimizing individual sites pages to rank higher and earn much-needed traffic in search engines. It refers to both the content and HTML coding that can be optimized. We’ll discuss more of this later.

Page Load Speed. Everyone hates websites that take ages to load. The longer a site takes to load, the more likely a person will leave before it fully renders. Gorgeous designs and meaningful contents become useless if the website’s speed hampers its ability to deliver content quickly.

Conversion. If there’s an ultimate goal of every website, that’s to drive conversion. Conversion rate refers to the number of individuals who take desired action to your web pages, whether it means subscribing to your channels, downloading a PDF, completing a registration form, or making purchases.

If you’ve finally decided to get a website for your business, visit our Web Design Pricing in the Philippines page for a complete guide.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search still play a significant role in the success of every digital marketing campaign which allows businesses to reach their marketing objectives. Search Engine Optimization serves as a surefire mean to attract targeted visitors to a specific web page. This is basically divided into two- On page and Off Page.

On page SEO refers to any activity on a specific site and individual pages to grow its traffic. This is first thing every postmaster must consider when creating a new post. If you desire to maintain or improve your ranking, this should continuously be utilized. In this technique, the role of keywords or key phrases that the user might type has a prominent position. For it to be more optimized, the site size should not be too large or too small and must have unique and relevant content. The primary components of on-page SEO are:

• Heading and Subheadings – H1, H2, H3, and more must be indicated appropriately for both SEO and Readability. Include your keyword to at least one of your headings.
• Meta Descriptions – Summarize your web page content up to 160 characters. Never forget to add your keyword in the snippet.
• Images – Your images’ file names and Alt Text should include your keyword.
• URL Structure – Make sure you have your relevant keywords in your URL.
• Unique content – Length is strength in SEO, but you also need to consider putting value in your every content.
• Outbound Linking – Linking to pages outside your website helps Google figure out your topic.
• Internal Linking – Add 2-3 internal links. Check Wikipedia pages for good samples of internal linking.

Off Page SEO depends on another web page to improve your website pages. It deals with link building factors. It’s an ongoing process and needs regular new links that are given priority by search engines. In this technique, if you obtain a high-quality link, then your site can rank higher. Strategic link building increases the traffic to your website and its position on Google.

“Quality beats quantity all the time, even in SEO.”

The quantity of links is still necessary. However, digital marketers, especially SEO experts, have recognized that posting relevant and shareable contents has become one of the most effective means to earn valuable links and improve ranking.

Also, if buying links to further ranking on Search Engines Results Page (SERPs) worked before, it’s a different story now; Google will likely penalize your site for buying links to manipulate page rankings. Your website can also get punished for submitting links to those directories that only increase your domain authority and won’t likely give you quality backlinks.

Read more: SEO Services Pricing in the Philippines

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing involves creation and sharing of content on social media channels to achieve effective branding. It includes activities such as posting texts, images, videos, and other contents driving audience engagement.

To choose the right social media platform to market your brand is never easy but to help you decide, we’ll provide you with some brief information for each social channel. Keep on reading.

Facebook. Facebook is good for lead generation, and its advertising platform can be highly customized to reach and target a particular audience. It’s also great for building relationships showcasing your company’s human side and turning visitors and leads into loyal followers and customers. Other types of contents work on Facebook as well, but the idea is to show a different side of your business.

Twitter. If your business is about urgency, then Twitter is the channel for you. You can utilize this channel to reach out to netizens with essential announcements, breaking news, and other messages that require immediacy. Twitter users are usually below the age of 50, and the content that works effectively is easy-to-understand textual content like a quotation, listicle, and how to article. An image works better compared to video, but the text remains the best type of material for Twitter.

LinkedIn. This channel is basically the choice of B2B businesses, and especially if their goal is to generate leads. Linkedin can help companies to establish themselves as trusted leaders in their respective field. In terms of demographics, it’s different from other social sites since its users usually age 30 to 49.

Youtube. Since YouTube is visually driven, it provides people with an exciting vibe making it a compelling channel. It’s watched worldwide, and individuals post videos with hopes to go viral. The key to using YouTube effectively is to feature your business product or service in a way where people can’t forget about it. With millions of YouTube users, the opportunity is set very high. Just remember that nobody is going to watch a boring video.

Instagram. Instagram users are very engaged, making this platform great for introducing products and growing brand awareness. 70% of Instagram users have spent time looking up a brand on the platform. With enticing photos and brief video, IG allows you to promote your brand and product in an authentic and friendly way without the need for hardcore selling.

Paid Advertising

Organic ranking you said? Well, it’s a no easy task. It may take ages before business websites, especially those less established ones, to rank on the first few pages for their given set of keywords. Having said that, you can’t simply relax and sit waiting for qualified leads. Through a paid search in the form of Pay-Per-Click (PPC campaign), Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Impression (CPI), your ad will appear when people look for your similar products and services on Google and other search engines such Bing and Yahoo.

The Significance of Hiring a Digital Marketing Company

Without a doubt, digital marketing is a broad concept that easily gets technical since it envelopes anything that represents online methods of marketing to grow businesses. In this regard, it’s complicated to launch a marketing campaign if you lack enough resources, time, and expertise for this undertaking.

This is why it just makes sense to hire a digital marketing expert. For now, let’s discuss the reasons why you should be working with a digital marketing company over other digital experts.

1. Expertise

“Concentrate on what you do best, outsource the rest.”

As a small business, it may be difficult to find the right personnel to work for your digital marketing needs. This is mainly due to two reasons: 1.) Digital Marketing is not something you’re expert at so it’s likely you can’t figure who’s qualified and who’s not, and 2.) Real experts are already employed since a lot of companies are paying the top buck to retain and hire top talents.

2. Cost Efficiency

Hiring a digital marketing company lets you reach out to that expertise level that your company needs and allows you to control your budget. Instead of getting an in-house staff which is costly (considering training needed, salary, benefits, and many more) a permanent member of staff, outsourcing allows you to tap into an enormous selection of digital marketing professionals all over the world. You’ll be able to negotiate your rates and enjoy complete control over your outgoings.

3. Measurability

There are so many tools available these days that help increase performance efficiency, especially for digital marketing. However, a lot of tools is a bit pricey for small or medium-sized companies to afford. Luckily, digital marketing companies already utilize relevant tools to help them ensure project measurability. They have updated strategies and know which ones work best so you can be sure that their output is of the best quality.

How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Company

Before wandering off in search of a digital marketing firm to work for your objectives, you may need to hold your brakes first. While there could be a good number of businesses lining up to serve you, not all can generate good results that they claim.

Digital marketing can be slow and may require continuous schemes. Having said that, be wary of those agencies promising to deliver instant and quick results. Identify the significant limitations and specialties of a company before coming up with a decision.

Let them tell you their previous projects and the industries they cover. They must share with you some of the tools and techniques they use. If necessary, you can ask for reports of their past and current projects to examine their performance. To be more sure, you can may also need to tap their past clients to confirm outputs received.

Determine the digital performances of the company’s web properties, such as official websites. Their ranking on search engines helps you confirm their credibility and experience in the industry.

Get Your Brand Known, Go Digital!

Digital marketing has the power to grow your business faster than most marketing techniques.

Hiring a digital marketing company lets you get started with your campaigns almost immediately. You don’t need to navigate the learning curve or set up a team. It’s possible to see your campaigns live within weeks after creating a strategy.

Begin by understanding and sharing your needs with the company you’ll be working with. As always, a campaign works best if both parties are on the same page. Plus, your business should enjoy the freedom of making decisions that best suit your interests and budget plan.