Making it Happen: Practical Tips to Make the Plan Work
Many of us have plans to open a business, introduce a new product, or offer a unique service. There’s a lot of anticipation at the start; many excitedly begin, but sadly, it often ends with just a verbal plan. How can we retain the enthusiasm and drive to proceed? Focusing on execution and transforming plans into reality has become the most challenging part.
Regardless of what stage you are at with your plan, make sure you catch up and join the ride by following these steps.
Initiate a discussion – reach out to friends and colleagues who might be interested or have experience related to your plan. Screen those who are willing to work with you and be a part of the development.
Brainstorm with the Team – Build your small team and devote time to gather everyone’s ideas.
Accept all possibilities – There is no right or wrong, no passing of judgment, just a free flow of ideas on how to build the business.
Listen actively – Share your thoughts and listen more to what others are saying; discern the essence of each one’s point of view. Ask questions and pay attention to answers.
Checklist of what’s attainable – List all the ideas and then have a realistic view of what’s possible and what’s not.
Review competitors – Find out if there are existing companies running a similar business. The intention is not to copy but to gauge success, see required improvements, and learn common industry practices.
Set the goals – Identify from the checklist what is really SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely).
Create a timeline – Follow a schedule so the project is not drifting in the dark. It may not be fair to expect drastic results in four months, or it may be too long to see conversions in one year given the efforts that came with it.
Recruit and assign the owners – Find the right people. Remember that someone has to take responsibility for each group of tasks and be accountable for the success or failure of every step. There is no reason for a blame game when everyone knows the exact mandate.
Create a written plan – Translate all the words into a written agreement so all the efforts are laid out with actionable steps.
Start implementing – Now is the time to execute the plan and make it work. Don’t stop at hiccups.
Monitor each step – See what activity contributes to the success of the plan and which one sets it back. The idea here is not to be disheartened by the weakness or even failure of a specific task but to realize what needs to improve.
Tweak what’s needed – Revise what’s not working and apply changes with the intention of enhancing the process.
Always remember why you started. Your goal is the beacon that guides you through challenges and drawbacks. Visualize your success and let it drive your actions every day. Break down your ultimate goal into smaller, manageable milestones to celebrate progress along the way.
Consistency is key. Follow your plan diligently, but also be flexible enough to adapt when necessary. Regularly review your progress and make adjustments to stay on track. Persistence and adaptability are essential for overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals.
Metrics That Matter to Your Online Marketing Campaigns
How do you gauge if you a have successful website or social media campaign? You are consistently doing a daily post and updating your website regularly but how do you measure success? How will you know if your online marketing strategy is on the right track? Pay attention to your consultant’s updates on task status, but don’t stop there. Ask questions, seek to fully understand, and delve into the crucial data.
Start with a goal and strategy in mind. What do you aim to achieve and how will you make it happen on a day-to-day basis? Lay down the metrics that will define your efforts.
Take a moment to identify your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) so you don’t get lost in limbo with your digital marketing efforts. KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a business is achieving its objectives. It is used to evaluate success at reaching targets.
Perhaps increase in the following areas for your social media stats:
- Number of fans/followers
- Number of impressions and reach
- Engagement rate/number of shares, reactions, and comments
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Number of social media inquiries
- Number of clicks sent to the website (c/o Google Analytics)
Facebook has a “focused with your objective” paid advertising capability and good to run it with proper targeting (age bracket, locations, interest, demographics, etc.) to align with your set goals (brand awareness, event attendance, foot traffic, send message).
Take advantage of the “send message” feature when posting on Facebook, this has an opportunity to give you a lot of hits if properly implemented. If one of your goals is to get social media inquiries via messenger then boosting this post has a good possibility to deliver a result. Understand the insights it generates and improve from there.
While your website is a major gateway for conversations and conversions, its creation should align with your overall goals. Your website needs to generate quality leads through your contact forms and sales page.
Take a look at these factors:
- Monthly site visitors
- Average session duration
- Bounce rate – the percentage of visitors who navigate away after viewing single page.
- Traffic source – find out where you get the traffic (Google, social media, referrals, direct, etc.)
- Behavior – learn how visitors navigate through the site (what are the pages visited the most?)
- Number of relevant inquiries
- Number of people who subscribed to the form
You can monitor all these items and even add more reports to study depending on your set criteria via Google Analytics or gather auto-generated insight from your Content Management Software like Wix. Google Analytics is a free platform and generates site activities to help marketers improve their website.
This may sound like jargon at first, but you’ll definitely get used to it as you learn from your actual data and improve your strategy backed by insights. The initiative has the potential to enhance results.
If you have any questions about evaluating and improving your metrics, and you have the desire to learn along the way, feel free to send me an email.
What to Consider When Hiring an Online Marketing Consultant in the Philippines
According to Digital Reportal, there are now 5.45 billion* internet users in the world as of July 2024 and the number is rising rapidly every year. This means that brands can now reach more people via digital marketing. In the Philippines alone, there are 85.16 million** Filipinos using the net and 84.45 million** are social media users.
Companies should collaborate with their marketing teams to effectively leverage digital platforms. Creating a Facebook page is a good start, but it’s just the beginning of a long journey on the internet, alongside your website and other available tools.
But how to streamline the strategy? How to pin which of the many channels will work for your business? How to integrate this new opportunity into your overall campaign? And what are the specific steps needed to achieve the set goals (e.g. increase of online inquiries leading to higher sales)?
If you and your team are somewhat clueless about how to answer these questions, then it’s a clear signal that now is the time to consider working with a digital marketing consultant. Before hiring someone, consider these five factors:
Core Expertise – Online marketing is vast so make sure to check his core knowledge. If you aim for your website to rank on the first page of Google, hire a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist rather than a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) expert. If you are hiring a social media content manager, try to review his writing and design skills, as this is vital for your content creation and community engagement. Can he deliver the set goals?
Conversion Background – Request him to share the actual results of his work and clarify when the campaign was implemented. Digital marketing campaigns from five years ago are different from today’s strategies, so it’s important to determine when the success occurred and what is his current milestones. Be alert for overpromises and a hyperbole of triumphs. Do your own research.
Trainings Attended – For the most part, the digital landscape is changing faster than we can learn it. What a consultant knew last year may be totally different from how it is today, so it is vital that he stays on top of these changes by constantly learning from relevant resources. Check out the conferences or seminars he has participated in, as this shows his willingness to remain at the top of her game.
Running Rate – As in all industries, fees vary depending on the person’s profile. Know your job requirements and try to be realistic when bargaining rates. If you drop the price too low, you might push away good consultants and end up with someone who is just available (and there will be a lot) but perhaps lacks a solid background. You get what you pay for, as they say.
Professional Attitude – Is he easy to work with? Trustworthy? Approachable? Will he be honest with the reporting and not taint data for his own benefit? Would he be patient and eager to walk you through the jargon? It won’t hurt to find out what his former clients and colleagues are saying about him. A proven consultant would organically earn positive feedback and authentic testimonials to validate his quality output.
The person you work with must bridge the gap between your current business state and the vast network of online marketing opportunities that can boost your company’s growth. They will set the digital pace and drive your success.
Source:
* Digital Around the World — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights
** Digital 2023: The Philippines — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights
REAP Your Social Media Campaign
Creating social media profiles for business comes with a multitude of motivations, yet it’s crucial that our goals are not siloed. A cohesive digital marketing strategy should be employed, one that encompasses and effectively integrates all our objectives.
Facebook fan page isn’t merely a sales platform, nor is it just a showcase of our company’s excellence or the day-to-day activities. As we craft our content strategy, let’s ensure it’s comprehensive—reflecting the REAP principles to engage and grow our audience effectively.
Relationship – Create a message that is human. Make real connections. Your community will feel your honesty by reading the posts you make or by the tone of your reply including how frequent you answer private messages and comments.
Engagement – Build engagement around posts that tickle the interest of your fans. Monitor your likes, shares, and comments, discern the pattern of what is engaging, and bank on it. What kind of materials do we need to post? Original videos and photos of people from the company have higher chances of engaging!
Awareness – Make your product or service known. Moreso, become the top-of-mind brand of your industry. On this part, it’s acceptable to sporadically highlight your product or subtly promote your accomplishments, provided that it is executed with moderation.
Captivate your audience with the remarkable aspects of your brand, draw them in BUT make sure the content is real and not make-believe.
Promotion – Engage your community and spark their interest in your offerings. Extend your reach beyond just fans to capture a wider audience and enhance your conversion goals—be it encouraging visits to your website, driving sales, initiating private messages, making calls, soliciting resumes, or increasing video views. While standard posts have their limits, investing in a targeted advertising campaign can significantly broaden your message’s impact and visibility.
Enjoy creating your content but balance that enthusiasm with a keen eye on the technical aspects. Keep a close watch on your analytics and remain open to adjusting your strategy based on what the data indicates. For inquiries on how to implement REAP in your business, just send a message.
Your Blog Writing Project Starts Now
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to start the writing process and once you rip that barrier with the support you need, the challenge is to remain consistent and how to keep the creative juice flowing. Don’t hesitate to begin the blog project now, and good things will follow.
Use your keywords on the title and first paragraph – Ask your SEO consultant for your brand keywords and build a write-up around it. Don’t overstuff your key phrases, no need to use all. If you have 15 key terms, just use one to three depending on the natural flow of your content.
Draft an article/blog content plan – Schedule posts can vary but make sure that you are committed to writing quality contents. Avoid writing now then two years after or never again… this scenario is for real. I’ve seen websites with this big blog schedule gap.
Give value – Write with purpose, and remember, it’s not always about your personal journey; it’s about what you’ve learned and how it can help your readers. Give tips with a clear target reader in mind, so you don’t fall out of tune with your messaging.
Write in bullets and have highlights – You may be giving a thought-provoking concept but try not to overwhelm your readers. Don’t bore and intimidate them. Make your idea chewable and easy to digest. Bear in mind that it is a blogging platform, and not a text book or your diary.
Catchy images – Images have to make sense to your overall content. It has to be a visual representation of your words. It is not supposed to confuse your readers and lead them to think away from the actual flow of your blog.
Leave a strong takeaway – Make them think or encourage them to reach out… this is a good way to build a relationship. Given the 300 to 500 words of your article, they should be able to articulate it for at least 75 words. Ideas that will stick to their head, push them to move, or make them think twice. Create a call-to-action that can really mobilize your readers.
A successful blog doesn’t happen in a snap. It’s a journey of sharing, learning, and connecting. Start your blog writing project today, and watch your ideas come to life!
Begin Your Digital Marketing Campaign with these Strategies
Online selling in the Philippines thrived during the pandemic, and many entrepreneurs continue their businesses post-pandemic. Local, homemade, and bespoke items have been introduced in the market and digital marketing has undoubtedly played a huge part to amplify these products
Here are some battle-tested strategies to consider:
Start with your own connections
Jumpstart your marketing initiative with family and friends plus your own Facebook connections. Word of mouth and organic (not paid) honest review can help create initial buzz for your business. Not everyone will buy at once but other than thinking of the immediate “purchase”, we can also consider “brand awareness” at this stage; people will have you on mind the moment they wish to hit the buying button.
Create social media pages
Other than your personal profile, try creating a social media page to stretch your product reach. Although the common challenge in managing a fanpage is consistency. Some people post the first week but tend to forget the task later on. On occasion, you may also run a targeted send message, post engagement, and page like advertisements. FB and IG ads are affordable promotion to explore. Depends on the targeting and industry, you can get 10 to 30+ inquiries for Php1,000. Create valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and related memes.
Join local online groups and communities
There are tons of “online buyers and sellers” communities with the goal of helping each other get the best deal and achieve a win-win scenario. Members who are inquiring have already passed your awareness campaign and have walk into the possibility of purchase so make sure to politely answer all relevant inquiries.
Explore FB Marketplace
There are many sellers making use of this platform to reach the local market for free. Check for possible conversions since traffic here already signals their interest to buy.
Tap Online Influencers
If you have friends or colleagues who are influencers, send them your sample product and request them to feature it on their page or give a review. They will not always ask for payment as many would gladly do the endorsement for free especially if they genuinely enjoy the item. Collaborate with influencers in your industry to promote your product. Influencers can provide authentic reviews and reach a larger audience that trusts their recommendations.
Get a Website
If there is a budget for a website then do so. It may not come as a priority for small entrepreneurs but this is beneficial if you see your business to continue in the long run. Website becomes your online portfolio and ideal tool to strengthen online presence with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) included in your campaign strategy. Additional must-have for your website: mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, fast-loading, forms to fill are working, and equipped with clear calls to action (CTAs).
Push Email Marketing
Make use of your current database. Build and maintain an email list of interested customers. Send them regular newsletters with updates, offers, and valuable content. Personalize your emails to increase engagement and conversion rates. I would recommend a once-a-month email blast to keep you top of mind, but not more than two emails sent in one week, as this could be seen as annoying and eventually cause your emails to be marked as spam.
Monitor and Analyze Your Insights
Use analytics tools to track the performance of your marketing campaigns. Monitor key metrics such as traffic, conversion rates, engagement, and ROI. Regularly analyzing these metrics helps you understand what’s working and where improvements are needed.
Digital marketing is an ever-evolving field. Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies to keep your strategies relevant and effective. Build trust with your target market along with an excellent product so you can stand out from the competition.
When Plotting Your Digital Marketing Strategy, Keep it Simple
Now that many companies have finally jumped into digital marketing and has learned to adapt in this new environment, it is a must to stay focused at work and resist distractions. There will always be something new, better, and improved technology or platform but let us not get our sight out of what is really important. Sometimes the basic, simple way of doing things is still the best path for the business. Make sure to know…
…who you are talking to
Create a clear picture of your customers and build around content that will draw them to you. Push your expertise so they can “run to you” or you become the “top of mind” person when they need assistance in your field. You can create a specific profile to represent your audience—Who are they? What is the age range? What do they like to do? Interests? Activities? Pain points? Offer a ready answer as you help them sort out their concerns.
…what is your messaging tone
Now that you understand your audience, find a tone that is relatable to them. This should still reflect your brand identity so you merge yours and their voice to communicate naturally. Will you use vernacular? Will you be friendly or serious? What is your CTA (call-to-action) mindset? Will you be using jargon or avoid technical terms?
…why are you doing it
You just don’t post for the sake of posting or just because you feel like doing it. You and your team must have a clear understanding of why we are drafting a social media content plan or why we are inserting keywords to a blog article. Why are we reaching out to partners for referral links? All these efforts are part of the whole online marketing strategy that we must integrate to succeed.
…what is your measurement of success
We don’t simply guess if the campaign is winning or not. Digital marketing team needs to plot specific KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) to know if it is working. Getting a website inquiry can be considered an achievement for the SEO (search engine optimization) people but are the leads generated qualified for the sales department? Given this scenario, you can have two metrics and weigh how it can seamlessly blend to reach the ultimate result.
Streamline your digital marketing strategy with simplicity in mind. Start your next steps today, get in touch.
5 Proven Ways for Your Company to Embrace Digital Marketing
Introducing digital transformation takes time; there are still several companies in the Philippines that are not yet fully embracing online marketing. Other than being in-the-know of all things online marketing, there are techniques to push your company to fully embrace all your digital-related initiatives. Your effort can be a success with proper strategy planning, focused mindset, resilience, and good relationship with your colleagues.
Get support from the C-suite with data and metrics relevant to them – No need to use so much technical jargons, just put on the table what matters—if we spend money on Facebook ads, we can get more inquiries via private messages and convert this to sales by 20%. Just make sure you have proper data to support it, perhaps a comparison with traction on Facebook with and without ads?
Provide training to primary departments – This can help drive appreciation to the ongoing and future digital marketing campaigns. Keep in mind that training with the Finance team is different from the approach with the IT people, adjust your presentation based on your audience.
Identify staff who can be your ally – Some are more online savvy than the others. Many are the go-to person in terms of digital in their respective department, bond with them. You will need this people to help push your initiatives as they are already an identified influencer among their peers.
Give small rewards to employees who are engaging with your social media activities – Thank those who are consistently liking, commenting, and sharing your posts. Think of ways to keep their enthusiasm at the peak. During a monthly or quarterly town hall meeting, acknowledge those who are the most engaged or those who managed to invite their friends to like the company fanpage then give tokens (Uniqlo or Starbucks gift card always works!).
Spot those with special skills that can be highlighted for digital contents – Encourage staff who can write well to contribute to your website’s article page then give them proper byline. Tap those who are articulate on camera to be one of the hosts of your company livestreams while those comfortable to be on photos or videos can become one of the faces of your brand. Making your company human is very important and having real people as part of your content can draw higher awareness and engagement.
We can help you organize and execute an online marketing strategy that is in full integration with your business, enabling your company to fully embrace the power of digital marketing. Send us a message today.
Do-It-Yourself Fixes for Your Online Marketing Presence
As people become increasingly familiar with using digital tools, many business owners are now eager to explore social media and search marketing for business growth. In my recommendations to clients, I always emphasize not to feel intimidated by the jargon. Everyone can start from the basics, and knowledge will gradually progress with daily practice.
Here are some pieces of advice I share with clients and colleagues as they manage their own campaigns.
- Quality content is still one of your most important assets in digital marketing. It should be made original and distinct to your brand. Resist copying. Do not post low quality, blurred photos. Take some efforts to provide materials that your audience can consume.
- Blogs can be repurposed to image posts and videos. If filled with data, it can be turned into infographics and white paper.
- Try to avoid drastic and persistent grammar and typo errors across your online communications. Regardless of your industry, make sure to appear professional at all time.
- Answer relevant messages as soon as possible. Be polite and honest. Push on building authentic relationship. People inquiring are already interested to your product, nourish this and aim for conversion.
- Don’t allow trolls to affect you too much. Whatever platform you are using, they seem to actively exist but this should not stop your initiative.
- Allot some time to analyze the data. Explore Facebook Insights and your website’s Google Analytics. You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate its value. FB and Google are doing their best to make reporting user-friendly.
Stay consistent and patient as you implement the strategy. It may take a while to see results, but it is surely geared to happen. Enjoy the process and remain voracious to learn.
Tips When Outsourcing a Writing Task
When hiring someone to write for your online marketing content (such as website, social media, blogs, white paper, etc.), start it right by providing the person with the information he needs to fill the knowledge gap. This will save time and money especially if you are paying the writer on a per hour basis. Tons of back-and-forth revisions can also be avoided if there is a proper direction. Either you schedule a zoom meeting to have a thorough discussion or provide him with a gdrive file of the company’s information. Better yet, do both.
- Give a background about the company so the writer gets a feel of what he is writing about. No need to elaborate too much but just the highlights.
- Clarify your objective. He needs to understand the deeper context of his own writing tasks. Mobilize him with a clear path; say, you are rebranding your company so it can cope with the new online trends and you need to adjust your content to better fit the market. Make it relatable to the new identified audience while keeping the message relevant to the existing group.
You can start with this: “Our tone is professional yet friendly, and the profile of our readers include…”
- Describe your audience. Good if you can provide an audience profile so he gets a realistic picture of who will eventually read his material.
- Simplify the jargons. Help him uncover the terms that may sound strange for a new comer in the industry; this way, his writing will not alienate the readers and the technical terms can sound naturally pleasant. Good to also recommend resources the can aid his research.
- Share the style and voice that you like to “hear”. You can refer him to a prior content output or other online references. The point is to get a grip of how he will narrate your story.
Just last month, I also wrote an article about 7 Pre-Writing Considerations that can come useful when engaging with a writer. You can also apply the given steps as you move forward in building a productive writing project.