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How SeniorPreneurs are Changing the Business Landscape in Australia

How SeniorPreneurs are Changing the Business Landscape in Australia

The New SeniorPreneur

Retirement doesn’t have to mean the end of your career. In fact, a growing number of seniors in Australia are becoming entrepreneurs, starting successful businesses and making their mark in the business world. These SeniorPreneurs are proving that age is just a number when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Who are SeniorPreneurs?

SeniorPreneurs are individuals who start their own businesses after the age of 50. They are often retirees or individuals who have left the traditional workforce but still have a desire to work and contribute to society. SeniorPreneurs come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, and their businesses range from small startups to larger enterprises.
SeniorPreneurs are becoming increasingly common in Australia, with many individuals choosing to start their own businesses later in life. These entrepreneurs bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their ventures, and often have a unique perspective on the market.
Many SeniorPreneurs are motivated by a desire to create something meaningful, or to solve a problem they have encountered in their own lives. They may also be driven by a desire to stay active and engaged in their communities, or to supplement their retirement income. Whatever their motivations, SeniorPreneurs are an important and growing segment of the Australian business landscape.

Why are SeniorPreneurs on the rise in Australia?

There are several reasons why SeniorPreneurs are on the rise in Australia. Firstly, the aging population means that there are more individuals over the age of 50 who are looking for ways to stay active and engaged in the workforce, and starting a business can be a great way to do this, as it allows individuals to use their skills and experience in a new and exciting way.
Finally, advances in technology and changes in the business landscape have made it easier for individuals to start and run their own businesses, regardless of their age.

What challenges do SeniorPreneurs face?

While SeniorPreneurs are proving that age is just a number when it comes to entrepreneurship, they still face some unique challenges. One of the biggest challenges is access to funding, as many investors may be hesitant to invest in older entrepreneurs.
Additionally, SeniorPreneurs may face age discrimination in the workforce, which can make it difficult to find clients or customers. Finally, balancing the demands of running a business with other responsibilities, such as caring for family members or managing health issues, can also be a challenge for SeniorPreneurs.

Another challenge that SeniorPreneurs may face is keeping up with technology and digital marketing. Many older entrepreneurs may not have grown up with the same level of technology as younger generations, which can make it difficult to navigate the digital landscape. However, there are resources available to help SeniorPreneurs learn and adapt to new technologies, such as online courses and mentorship programs.
It’s important for SeniorPreneurs to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and tools in order to remain competitive in their industries.

Despite these challenges, SeniorPreneurs are proving that age is just a number and that they have a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to the table.

Success stories of SeniorPreneurs in Australia.

Despite the challenges they face, SeniorPreneurs in Australia are making their mark in the business world. One success story is that of Janine Allis, founder of Boost Juice, who started the business at the age of 42 and has since expanded it to over 500 stores worldwide. Another example is that of Peter Strong, who started his own consulting business at the age of 60 and has since become a leading voice for small business in Australia. These SeniorPreneurs prove that age is just a number when it comes to entrepreneurship and that it’s never too late to start a successful business.

Another inspiring SeniorPreneur success story is that of John Ilhan, founder of Crazy John’s mobile phone stores. Ilhan started the business at the age of 33 and grew it into a multi-million dollar company with over 120 stores across Australia. Sadly, Ilhan passed away in 2007, but his legacy lives on as a testament to the potential of SeniorPreneurs in Australia. These success stories and others, show that age should not be a barrier to entrepreneurship and that SeniorPreneurs have a wealth of experience and knowledge to bring to the business world.

How can aspiring SeniorPreneurs get started?

One of the first steps for aspiring SeniorPreneurs is to identify their passions and skills. This can involve reflecting on past experiences, hobbies, and interests to determine what they are truly passionate about. From there, they can explore potential business ideas that align with those passions and skills.

It’s also important for SeniorPreneurs to seek out resources and support, such as mentorship programs, business incubators, and networking events specifically geared towards older entrepreneurs. These resources can provide valuable guidance and connections to help SeniorPreneurs get started and grow their businesses. SeniorPreneurs should have a solid understanding of the market they are entering and develop a strong business plan. With the right attitude, determination and guidance, SeniorPreneurs can successfully launch and grow their own businesses and make a positive impact in their communities and to their bank balance.

Whether you’re a start-up and need to grow your existing business, or have an established company that is looking to get past a plateau, YBR Marketing will create a customized growth strategy for you. With our SaaS Growth Strategy we’ll show you how to profit from your unique perspective and experience.

We’re seniorpreneurs ourselves. We know what you need to start, grow your business and get to the next level. We are the quiet partner behind highly successful SeniorPreneurs and we want to be the same partner for you, through our Seniors as a Service (SaaS) Strategies. Like to learn More? Contact one of our SaaS professionals today!

“Dedicated to your business success”

John

wollongong digital marketing

How To Make Your Ad Campaign More Effective Over Time

How To Make Your Ad Campaign More Effective Over Time

Google AdWords has been around for many years now, and there are lots of people that use this platform to promote their business. The question is, how long will your ad stay on top of the search results?

Here’s how to make it happen.

If you’re using Google AdWords, then you probably know that you need to set up an account with them. Creating a Google Ads Account”

Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to decide what type of advertisement you’d like to run. There are two main options: text ads and display ads. Text ads are basically just words that appear at the top of the page, while display ads are images that show up when users scroll down the page.

Create an effective ad group.

After you’ve decided which kind of ad you want to use, you’ll need to choose where you want to place it. This decision will depend on how much money you want to spend. Display ads cost more than text ads because they take up more space on the screen. However, they also tend to generate higher click through rates (CTRs). So, if you’re looking to make the most out of your budget, then display ads might be the way to go.

Set up your keywords.

Once you’ve chosen an ad type, you’ll need to decide what words you want to show up when people search for those terms. These are called keywords. If you’re using paid advertising, you’ll need to set up keywords before you start running campaigns. You can do this by going to the “Keywords” tab in the “Ad group settings.”

(“SEO Keyword Research and Mapping”)

Choose your bid strategy.

There are two main strategies for bidding on keywords: cost per click (CPC) and cost per impression (CPI). CPC bids are based on how much advertisers are willing to pay for each click on their ads. CPI bids are based on how often users see your ads.

Test your campaigns.

If you’re not seeing results after a few weeks, try testing different ad groups, ad copy, and landing pages. (“How to Create a Lead Generation Landing Page”)

Also consider changing your bid strategy.

(“Reasons Why Your Google Ads Don’t Work & How To Fix ’em”)

So there you have it, if you’re thinking of starting a Google Ads campaign and you want it to stay up at the top of the results, then remember these steps. In time, your ad will reach the first page and stay there. Besides, who doesn’t want to be advertising on the first page of Google? Well what are you waiting for? Get started!

Go to our “Free Tools” for more resources from professional  standard SOPs to free software apps that can really boost your marketing without draining your wallet..

Dedicated to your marketing success

John

wollongong digital marketing

What’s Your Unique Selling Position?

What’s Your Unique Selling Position?

Get Out Of The Commodity Business By Developing A Unique Selling Proposition

You know you’re marketing your business as a commodity when prospects start the conversation by asking you about price.

Positioning yourself as a commodity and hence being shopped on price alone is a terrible position for a small business owner to be in. It’s soul crushing and this race to the bottom is bound to end in tears.

The answer is to develop a unique selling proposition (USP). Something that positions you differently, so that prospects are forced to make and apples-to-oranges comparison when comparing you with your competitor.

If they can do an apples-to-apples comparison of you and your competitors then it comes down to price and you’re toast, because there’s always someone willing to sell cheaper than you.

There’s Nothing New Under The Sun

Very few if any businesses or products are truly unique, so a common question is, “there’s nothing unique about my business, how do I develop a USP?”.

There’s no quick and simple answer to that question but here are a few ideas.

Firstly we want to get into the mind of our prospect. What do they really want? It’s rarely the thing you are selling, it’s usually the result of the thing you are selling. The difference may seem subtle but it’s huge.

For example someone buying a $50 watch is buying something very different from a person buying a $50,000 watch. In the latter case they are likely buying status, luxury and exclusivity. Sure they want it to tell the time just like the buyer of the $50 watch but that’s unlikely to be their core motivation.

So to get into the mind of the prospect, we need to discover what result they are actually buying. Once you understand this, you then need to craft your unique selling proposition based on the result your prospects want to achieve.

For example if you’re a printer, you’re a commodity business. You want to get out of the commodity business as quickly as possible. I don’t mean get out of the industry but you do need to change how you position yourself.

Stop selling business cards, letterheads and printing and start asking open ended questions such as, “Why are you coming to a printer? What is it that you want achieve?”. The prospect doesn’t want business cards and letterheads, they want what they think business cards and letterheads are going to do for their business.

So you could sit down with them and and say, “What are you trying to accomplish? Let’s do a printing audit and evaluate all of the things you’re trying to use printing for. By taking them through the process, you can charge them to do a printing audit. Then if they end up hiring you to do their printing, you can apply that consulting fee towards printing. This way you’re no longer viewed as a printer anymore. You’re now viewed as an advisor that’s serving their needs.

Use Outrageous Guarantees

Another great strategy for creating uniqueness in your offer is an outrageous guarantee. One which completely reverses the risk of the transaction.

To be truly unique when using this technique you must avoid the vague crap that everyone says e.g. satisfaction guaranteed, service quality, dependability.

You must have a very specific guarantee to address the fear or uncertainty that the prospect has about the transaction.

For example if you’re in the pest control business you’re customers want to know:

  1. The pests won’t come back
  2. The technician won’t leave their house dirty
  3. That you won’t poison their family with chemicals

So you’re outrageous guarantee could be something like this:

“We guarantee to rid your home of ants forever, without the use of toxic chemicals, while leaving your home in the same clean and tidy condition we found it. If you aren’t absolutely delighted with the service provided, we insist that you tell us and we’ll refund double your money back.”

Compare that to a weak, vague guarantee like, “satisfaction guaranteed”.

Does an outrageous guarantee like the one above entail risk for the pest control service provider? Sure, if they do a crappy job. But in a case like that they’re likely to have to give the customer a refund anyway. It may even be a legal requirement.

Here’s the other thing about guarantees. If you’re an ethical operator, you are most likely already offering a guarantee but you just aren’t using it to your advantage in your marketing.

So why not make a point of talking about something that you’re already doing.

Most people are honest and won’t abuse guarantees if they’ve received the service they were promised.

Even after accounting for the few people who do abuse them, you’ll be far ahead because a strong guarantee will attract more customers than a weak and vague one.

A strong, results oriented guarantee will also drive you to deliver a great customer experience. This alone ensures that it’s worthwhile to have a strong guarantee.

Your customers have their own fears. When you can name the fears and guarantee
against them in your marketing, you give yourself an overwhelming advantage
over your competitors.

Pricing Strategy

I’m sometimes asked, “can’t lowest price be my USP?”. Sure it can, but can you absolutely guarantee that everything you sell will be priced lower than all your competitors including the behemoths like Target and Kmart? Unlikely.

So a USP that says “lowest prices on some things, some of the time” is not quite so compelling.

The fact is if you’re a small or medium business, you’re unlikely to beat the big discounters at the lowest price game.

Truth be told, you probably don’t want to. By charging higher prices, you attract a better quality client. As counter intuitive as it may seem, you get far less grief from high end customers than you do from low end ones. I’ve seen and experienced this in multiple businesses across multiple industries.

A better option than discounting is to increase the value of your offering.

Bundling in bonuses, adding services, customising the solution can all be of genuine value to your customer but can cost you very little to do.

This also helps you create that apples-to-oranges comparison that gets you out of the commodity game.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. So as hard as it may be to resist, don’t play the commodity/price game.

Dedicated To Your Marketing Success

John

wollongong digital marketing

“I would like to acknowledge the wonderful Alan Dib from Successwise

Why I Need Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Why I Need Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Easy Steps to Follow?

Lucky for you, it’s seriously simple to track conversions using Google Ads. In this guide, I’ll take you step by step through how to set up and monitor conversions for your online ads and marketing campaigns.

You’ve got your Google Ads campaign up and running, and your ads and keywords are starting to generate an impressive number of clicks. Great! But unless you’ve got conversion tracking installed, you won’t be able to see how many of those clicks are actually resulting in sales. 

conversion touch points

Conversion Touch Points

Google Ad Conversion Tracking: How It Works

Conversion tracking is a system that allows you to monitor the performance of your Google Ads campaigns at an individual level. With this information, you can make changes to your account that will optimize your ads and increase ROI.

In order to get started, you’ll need to set up conversion tracking in Google Ads, which involves three things:

1) Turning on conversion tracking for each campaign or ad group (this is done by going into the “Settings” tab under “Tools”)

2) Setting up conversion values for each conversion type you want to track (you can do this by going into the “Conversions” tab under “Tools”)

3) Creating goals for each conversion type (the goal creation process is the same as setting up the conversion types)

Google Ads setup objectives

Why It’s Important To Track Conversions In Google Ads

Google Ads can be a powerful tool for your business, but it’s only as powerful as the data you have about what works and what doesn’t.

In order to make the most out of your advertising budget, you need to know how many conversions each ad brings in. This is where conversion tracking comes in! Conversion tracking allows you to see which ads are driving the most conversions and then use that information to make adjustments that will help optimize your campaigns.

You can use conversion tracking with any of Google’s ad types, including text ads (formerly known as Search Network), image ads (formerly known as Display Network), remarketing ads (formerly known as GDN), YouTube video ads, and shopping ads.

Understanding Google Ads Conversions

Google Ads tracking is a powerful tool that allows you to track the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns. But if you’re looking to track conversions in Google Ads, you need to define your conversion, install the proper tracking tag, and choose an attribution model. Of course, if it were that simple, we wouldn’t need an entire blog post for it. We’re going to get into the step-by-step instructions for this shortly, but before we do, let’s unpack what each of those terms means so you can get a full picture of what this all means for your Google Ads account.

Defining Your Conversion

When you set up conversion tracking, you’ll need to choose a method for counting your conversions. This method is called an attribution model, and it can be either first click, last click or linear. The choice of attribution model depends on how many ads a user interacts with before completing a conversion action.

First click attribution gives all the credit to the first ad they interact with; last click attribution gives all the credit to the last ad they interacted with; linear attribution gives each ad a fraction of the credit based on how many times they interacted with each one before completing a conversion action.

attribution model

Conversion value is an option within some conversion actions that allows you to assign a specific value towards that given action. For example, a business might know that form-fills from a specific landing page lead to a $2000 job versus a $200 one, so that page’s conversion action will have that value applied to it. This can impact bidding strategies within your account, like maximize conversion value.

Google tag is a code you add to your website that acts as the “middle man” between your website and your Google Ads account. We’ll fully explain the Google tag installation process and purpose later. For now, keep in mind that this is what enables your website to accurately signal completed actions back to your Google Ads account.

Google Ads enables you to track a variety of conversions.

There are several types of conversion actions in Google Ads, and each one has a different purpose. For example, a click-through is just that: someone clicked on your ad and then visited your landing page. A form-fill is when a user filled out an online form (usually to receive more information about your product). A sale is when someone makes a purchase through your website. Here are the five main types:

Website actions are the most basic or well-known types of Google Ads conversions. A website action could be a purchase, form-fill, button click, and more.

Website conversions are when your website visitors take an action on your site.

These are the most basic or well-known types of Google Ads conversions. A website action could be a purchase, form-fill, button click, and more.

Phone calls: This conversion type is also very popular as it’s simply a call to your business that originates from your Google Ads.

If you have a local business, this is one of the best ways to track conversions, since Google Ads can provide you with details about the number of calls your ads received and who made them.

The only downside is that there are no details on how many people actually went through with buying something once they called—you just get to know how many people called.

App installs and in-app conversions: These only apply to businesses that are advertising an app. Their purpose is to count app downloads or other interactions within an app.

App installs: When someone clicks on your ad and downloads your app, Google Ads counts this as a conversion.

In-app conversions: If someone opens your app after clicking on the ad, Google Ads counts this as a conversion. In-app conversions also include purchases, upgrades, or subscriptions made within the app.

If you’re not advertising an app, then these data types won’t apply to you.

Imported or offline conversions: These are actions that happen offline, but may have originated from an ad. You would import those tracked offline actions, such as an over-the-phone sale or in-person action, via a customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking (GATC): This is the easiest way to track conversions on Google Ads. GATC is a snippet of code that you add to your site’s code so it can track actions on your site and report them back to Google Ads as conversions.

Free Professional Standard SOP: “Adding Google Ads conversion tracking to a site (using GTM)”

When a user completes an action that is specific to an advertiser’s physical location, it’s considered a local conversion action. These are automatically defined for you by Google Ads since they occur only across Google’s products or services, like Google Maps. Some examples of local actions are clicks to call, viewing a menu, or getting directions.

You’ll also have to choose a conversion category for your conversion actions. The point of this is to make segmenting your PPC reporting easier later by separating out data by category. There are 12+ conversion categories in Google Ads, but Google containers them into types:

Sale categories: Making a purchase, adding an item to a cart, initiating checkout, or subscribing to a recurring service are all examples of sales categories. These are the ones you’ll be familiar with if you’ve ever made a purchase online before—they’re what you see at the end of an e-commerce checkout process!

Non-sale categories: Clicking on an email newsletter signup form or filling out a contact form are examples of non-sale conversions. These kinds of actions are important because they represent potential customers who have become aware of your brand but haven’t yet made the decision to buy anything.

Leads categories: These include other website actions as well as local actions, such as submitting a lead form, booking an appointment, requesting a quote, calling your business, or getting directions.

There are further categories you have the option to select for unique Google Ads conversion tracking situations, like page views or downloads.

Conversion types: You can also choose from different conversion types. These include:

-Download

-Click on a URL

-Click on a phone number

-Click on an image (that is not an image ad)

conversion category types

Setting up Google Ads conversion tracking can be done in three steps.

Now that you know what to expect during the process, let’s walk through a basic website conversion action set up! In order to set up conversion tracking, you’ll need:

A website to place your Google tag code.

The ability to edit your website code: You or your web developer will have to paste a short snippet of code onto your website.

There are two core steps to start your Google Ads conversion tracking journey: creating a conversion action and installing your Google tag.

Step 1: Create a conversion action.

The first step for a standard Google Ads conversion tracking setup is creating a conversion action within the Google Ads platform. Here are the quick, easy steps to do so:

1. Sign into your Google Ads account.

2. In the upper right corner, click into the tools menu, and select the Conversions option located under the Measurement bucket.

3. You’ll be brought to the summary section within your Conversions view, where you’ll want to click +New conversion action.

4. Select website as your type of conversion action and follow the prompts to enter your domain and scan your website. This is to check if you have the Google tag installed on your site. If you don’t, you’ll receive a snippet of code you’ll be prompted to put on your website.

5. Choose how you want to set up your conversion action: either URL setup or manual setup (more on this below).

Which Setup is best?

While a URL setup is quicker and easier, it will only apply to you if you’re looking to track a page load as a conversion.

A manual setup allows you to track clicks on buttons or links, with the option to customize the event tag with conversion value tracking and transaction IDs.

It’s a fairly easy process. You just follow the prompts, and during this step you’ll select an attribution model and other settings. Click on the links below to 

Instructions for a URL setup,

Instructions for a manual setup.

I’ve linked to an Attribution Model Guide, so you can decide which one is right for you.

Guide to attribution models.

Step #2: Set up your Google tag

If you’re ready to get started with Google Ads conversion tracking, the next step is going to depend on whether or not your Google tag is already set up.

If your Google tag is already set up and you created your conversion action using a URL, then you’re done and good to start seeing data on that conversion.

If your Google tag is not set up and you created your conversion action using a URL, you’ll get a screen with instructions on how to set it up.

If your Google tag is already set up and you created your conversion action manually, then you’ll get instructions on adding the action’s unique event snippet.

If your Google tag is not set up and you created your conversion action manually, then you’ll get instructions on both setting up the Google tag as well as adding the event snippet for the action itself.

Installing the Google tag

Your Free Access to our Professional Standard SOP: “Adding Google Tag Manager to a WordPress Site”

Step #3: Check your Google Tag

To ensure that your Google tag is properly installed and firing off conversion tracking correctly, follow these steps:

1. Sign into your Google Ads account and navigate back to the Conversions section via the upper right corner menu.

2. In the conversion actions table view, you can see under the Status column how any single conversion action is performing. You can click on a statuses to get more information about it or click on Resolve to see what could be causing it. Check out our Google Ads conversion tracking hang ups guide to know which statuses to look out for.

3. If everything looks good, then you’re ready to start analyzing data!

google tag installation

Looking at your Google Ads conversion data

Once you’ve set up your Google Ads conversion tracking, you’ll be able to start seeing conversion data in your account!

To see this data, you’ll want to add columns like “Conversions” (known as “conv.” in the column view of the platform), “Conversion Rate,” and “Cost/Conversion” to your view. That way, you can leverage those PPC metrics to know you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

And if you’re wondering how your conversion data stacks up against competitors, check out this search ad industry benchmarks.

search conversion industry benchmarks

Troubleshooting Google Ads conversion tracking

You’re not seeing any data in your conversion columns.

If you’re seeing zero conversions in your conversion columns, don’t worry.

It can take up to 24 hours for conversion data to start appearing in Google Ads. If after 24 hours your conversion still isn’t showing up, it’s possible that no customers have converted yet. One way to test this is by going through the motions of a conversion yourself by clicking on your ad when it appears and doing whatever action is required to trigger the conversion on your site.

If after another 24 hours your conversion isn’t registering, double-check that the code was installed correctly. You might have to install additional plug-ins or move the code to a different part of the page.

The campaign has received many clicks, but not many conversions.

If your Google Ads campaign is receiving a lot of clicks, but few conversions, it’s time to take a look at your landing page.

A common reason for this kind of discrepancy is that you’re sending users to your homepage instead of a dedicated landing page. Sending users to your homepage can result in low conversion rates because the visitor doesn’t know what they’re getting into when they click on the ad.

It’s also possible that your landing page isn’t optimized for conversion. Is there a prominent CTA? A simple form? Is the key information available above the fold? If not, it could be that people aren’t ready to convert when they arrive at your site and so they don’t do anything at all—or worse yet, they leave without converting.

Finally, it’s important to make sure that if someone clicks on one of your ads, they’ll be reassured upon reaching their destination that they’ll get what you’ve promised them—including the same keywords and copy so that the person is reassured upon clicking on the ad that they’ll get what you’ve promised them.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you got as much out of this article as we did in writing it. Ultimately, there is a lot to know about Google conversion tracking, but no matter what level of expertise you are at with your conversion tracking, hopefully this guide helped answer some questions and get you headed in the right direction to be more successful with your paid media strategy.

If you like to access our complete library of Professional Grade Digital Marketing SOP’s for FREE, just click on the SOP link in the sidebar or click on this link.. Become an Expert Digital Marketer minus the work..

Dedicated to Your Marketing Success

John

wollongong digital marketing

Why Advertising Agencies are the Best Option for your Business

Why Advertising Agencies are the Best Option for your Business

If your business wants to grow, advertising agencies are the way to go.

As a small to medium sized business owner, you would have to agree that one of the toughest things to figure out is how to get the attention of potential clients. While we have all heard that word-of-mouth is the best way to generate business, today’s customers are inundated with ads, promotions and information overload. As a result, they can easily ignore your message or even worse, get annoyed with it. That’s why advertising agencies are so important. They are trained strategists who know how to deliver your message in a way that will capture the attention of your target market and keep it from interfering with their world.

They also have the resources and experience to help you reach your goals.

 

When you’re in the business of selling products and services, it’s important to have an advertising agency on your side. They have the knowledge and resources to help you achieve your business objectives. They have the ability to develop creative campaigns that will attract customers to your products and services.

What’s more, they can help you build a brand that people will recognize and want to buy again and again.

Business owners who work with advertising agencies tend to see results quickly—and those results are often measurable in terms of increased sales or improved customer loyalty.

You get access to their expertise.

Every marketing campaign is unique. Your business has its own goals, needs and audience. You need an ad agency that can develop a customized strategy for your company based on your specific needs.

The best ad agencies are able to take the time to understand your business and your goals before they develop a plan of action. They know that effective advertising requires more than just creating an ad campaign; it requires understanding who you’re trying to reach and what message will resonate with them.

You get access to new ideas.

You’ve got a business to run, and you don’t have time to spend hours on your marketing strategy.

Fortunately, an advertising agency can help you get the most out of your marketing dollars. They can bring fresh perspectives to your business, helping you develop creative campaigns that will appeal to your target audience. They can also provide insight into the latest trends in your industry so you can stay up to date with current events.

You get access to more qualified leads.

It’s no secret that marketing is a challenging endeavor. In order to succeed, you need to get your message across to the right people at the right time—and that means being able to reach a diverse range of demographics.

You need to get access to more qualified leads.

When you work with an advertising agency, they are able to offer you a wealth of opportunities that would otherwise be unknown to your business. This includes access to advertising platforms and markets that might not be available to smaller businesses like yours.

You also get access to more qualified leads.

When companies advertise on TV or radio, they are often advertising to everyone in their local area or even state. This means that the leads generated by these ads may not be targeted enough for your business needs. With an advertising agency, you get access to a network of professionals who will target their campaigns specifically at your ideal customer base.

At the end of the day, an ad agency is the ideal choice because they are experts at creating marketing material. While they will require payment for the services they provide, it is a small investment that can pay off in a big way. Their expertise will result in a better advertising campaign than you could ever run on your own.

Ultimately, the agency you choose will depend on your own needs and preferences. But if you are searching for an advertising agency that can provide your business with primary or secondary marketing tools, such as commercials or advertisements, then an ad agency may be just what you need to help your company thrive.

Dedicated To Your Marketing Success

John

wollongong digital marketing

 

Essential & Affordable Marketing Tools For Your Marketing Tool Chest

Essential & Affordable Marketing Tools For Your Marketing Tool Chest

Optimise Your Marketing Efforts

It’s not easy to run a small business. You’re probably spread thin and don’t have the budget or personnel to shell out for countless expensive marketing tools. The good news is that there are plenty of affordable and effective tools out there to help you optimize your marketing efforts and compete with the big guys. We’ve compiled a list of our favorite marketing tools to help you avoid marketing madness. You won’t need them all, and we’re not comparing apples to apples here. So find a few that work for your business and invest time and energy into maximizing them.

Read on to learn more about these tools for analytics, content marketing, lead generation, SEO, PPC, email marketing and automation, design, project management and social media below the infographic.

How are you measuring your small business’s success? The Power of Analytics for Small Businesses

What’s the only thing better than having great marketing analytics? Having great marketing analytics paired with easy to use customer engagement tools. You’re online, in a very crowded space, competing for your customer’s valuable attention.

If you’re looking for a solid analytics tool, consider these options:

Google Analytics

When it comes to marketing, the importance of analytics can not be overstated. The truth is that if you don’t have a solid analytics tool in place, you’re missing out on all sorts of opportunities to improve your business.

Chances are you’ve heard of Google Analytics. It allows you to capture and analyze data on your web traffic and visitors. When used effectively, you can greatly increase your site’s user experience and increase conversion rates.

Google Analytics is one of the best tools out there for analyzing your website’s traffic, but it’s not your only option. There are several other great analytics tools that offer similar functionality and can help take your business to the next level by providing insight into how people interact with your content.

KissMetrics

Do you have a SaaS business? If so, you need KISSmetrics!

KISSmetrics will help you find out where your prospects are coming from and map their journey on your website from prospect to customer. It gives you the important data you need to optimize your marketing channels, attract more customers, and get them to convert once they reach your website.

Hotjar

Hotjar is an all-in-one analytics and heatmap tool that integrates with tons of tools like WordPress, Instapage and Unbounce. Hotjar’s setup is incredibly easy AND you can record web visits to see where your customers are clicking and focusing on your website.

With hotjar, you can see how users are interacting with your site—from clicks, to scrolls and even mouse movements. You can also see how many people are using your site in real time!

Hotjar has several different types of tracking:

Heatmaps – See what areas of your page are getting the most attention (and which aren’t). This will help you optimize your pages for conversion!

Recordings – Record web visits so you can see what people are doing on your website or blog. Perfect if you want to see where they’re clicking or scrolling on a specific page.

Funnels – See how many users drop off at each step of the conversion funnel before converting. Use this info to improve your conversion rates!

Surveys – Collect feedback from visitors about their experience on your website or blog by creating surveys with Hotjar’s survey tool.

Intercom

You know what’s better than a customer? A customer who loves you.

And you know what’s better than a customer who loves you? A customer who loves you so much that they tell their friends and family, who also become customers!

But how do you get there? How do you take the first step to building that kind of relationship with your customers?

Well, first of all: stop doing things manually. If you’re managing a website or platform and answering customer service emails by hand, it’s time to change that.

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that allows you to see where your customers are getting tripped up and to send them targeted messages to solve their problems. The tool gives insight into areas of improvement on both your website and within your platform if you’re a Saas company. By automating customer service and triggering live chat, you can keep customers engaged and prevent costly churn.

How Small Businesses Can Use Content Marketing to Grow.

As a small business owner, you’re probably focused on growth. To that end, have you considered content marketing as a strategy for growing your business? It can be an excellent way to attract potential clients. If that is something you want to learn more about, read on..

WordPress

WordPress powers 27% of the internet. And there’s a reason for it. WordPress is the easiest content management system out there (in our humble opinion), and it’s super reasonably priced: free for personal use, but the best package for small businesses starts at $8.25 USD/month.

That’s right—you can get all the benefits of a professional website that you control at an affordable price!

You know what else makes WordPress so great? It’s easy to use, even if you don’t have any technical skills. You don’t need any special training or knowledge of coding, because WordPress does most of the hard work for you! And if you need help, there are tons of tutorials and resources available online to help you get started (just search “WordPress tutorial”).

What are some other benefits of using WordPress? Well, here are just a few:

-It’s free to start with and only costs money once your site gets big enough that there are fees involved in hosting it.

-It has thousands of themes available so that no matter what kind of business or brand identity you have, there will be something out there that suits them perfectly!

-It has built-in security measures.

Feedly

Don’t waste your valuable time searching for content.

With Feedly, you can search, organize and share relevant content directly from one place. Not only that, but it integrates with several project management tools such as Slack and Trello.

Here are some other reasons why you should use Feedly to curate your social presence:

– It’s easy to use

– It saves time by letting you focus on what matters most

– You can access it anywhere

Grammarly

Are you one of those people who never get their blog posts edited before they go live? You know the ones—they have all kinds of weird mistakes in them, like the fact that their subject and verb don’t agree, or their pronoun doesn’t agree with its antecedent, or their passive voice is clogging up their writing.

We feel your pain. But we also have a solution! Grammarly can help you avoid embarrassing errors like these.

Grammarly is an online grammar checker that works with your spell checker (if you use one) to catch errors in your writing that are way too common for anyone to make on purpose. It will even help you avoid common typos like “their” instead of “there.”

And if you spring for the premium version, Grammarly also offers a plagiarism checker that can help ensure that none of your content has been lifted from other sources without proper citations.

Co-Schedule

You’ve got a great content marketing plan. You know who you’re targeting, how to reach them, and how to keep them engaged.

Now it’s time to get down to business: writing headlines.

Headlines are the first thing readers see when they look at your content. They determine whether or not they’ll click on it—and if they don’t click, they won’t read any of your amazing content.

So we recommend using CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer tool to make sure your headlines are as strong as they can be. This tool will give your headlines numeric scores AND suggestions for making them even stronger!

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is an excellent tool to help you uncover the trending topics and content that performs across various social media the best. You can also identify influencers (and spy on your competition if that’s what you’re into).

With BuzzSumo, you can:

1. Find out what’s trending across all major social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+), including content published by specific people or brands.

2. Identify the most shared content on each platform for any time period between 1 month and 6 months—or even longer if you want to go back through history!

3. See which sites are linking to a certain piece of content.

Wistia

Video marketing is all the hype this year, and it’s no wonder why: people love watching videos! It’s a great way to show off your product or service in a fun and engaging way, but it can also be super intimidating. If you’re new to video marketing, I’ve got some great news for you: Wistia is the best resource for learning how to make videos that convert.

Wistia is an awesome video tool that helps you create stunning videos with ease. Not only do they offer analytics, automation and a place to host your videos (which is perfect if you’re hosting on your own site), they also have an incredible call-to-action feature that allows you to drive traffic back to your site no matter where your Wistia video lives on the internet.

Small Business Tools for Capturing Leads

Small business owners have unique challenges when it comes to generating leads. If you’re struggling with generating leads, check out these small business tools that can help you capture more qualified leads. I’ve worked with many (too many) SMBs over the years and know these tools in particular will help you thrive

JotForm

JotForm is a drag-and-drop form builder that allows you to create, publish and analyze online forms.

The best part? You can do all of this in no time at all! JotForm is the easiest way to build, host and share your forms. It’s free, easy to use and works great on any device.

You can build your form in minutes and customize it however you like. Once you’re ready to publish, JotForm will send users directly to their form so they can fill it out. And if you want feedback from users, JotForm includes a survey feature so you can collect information about how your customers feel about certain products or services.

JotForm helps businesses save time by eliminating the need for manual data entry and expensive software tools. It also helps them easily collect customer feedback so they can make informed decisions about what direction their business should go next.

OptinMonster

As a business owner, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You’re trying to grow your list, improve your conversion rate, and increase sales.

But how can you possibly do all of that and still make sure your website is running smoothly?

Enter OptinMonster.

OptinMonster’s simple lead capture forms are an easy way to serve up irresistible resources to your audience, growing your list. OptinMonster allows you to A/B test your forms to see what’s working and what isn’t so you’ll understand why your visitors are staying and going.

Unbounce

If you’re looking for a way to build a landing page without having to code or hire a professional web designer, then Unbounce is a great option.

Unbounce has beautiful pre-designed templates that will allow you to get your pages up and running in no time. You can choose from over 100 different templates, or use one of the many free ones available on their site. You can also create your own layout using their drag-and-drop builder, or add elements from Unbounce’s library of stock images and videos.

You can even use Unbounce’s built-in A/B testing feature to find out which designs are working best for your users.

LeadPages

LeadPages is a popular landing page builder that makes it super easy to create beautiful, professional-looking landing pages without any coding.

LeadPages offers pre-designed landing page templates, pop-up forms and the ability to send SMS opt-in codes. They boast tons of easy integrations and their Pro Plan starts at $48 USD/month.

Sumo

Sumo (formerly SumoMe) has an array of helpful lead capture tools, including sophisticated opt-in forms, easy integrations with just about any content management system, Google Analytics integrations and heatmaps. Pricing depends on your website visits but starts with a free package (best for those just getting started).

If you’re looking for a tool that helps you grow your mailing list while tracking the effectiveness of your campaigns, Sumo is the solution for you. The service offers many options for capturing leads and driving traffic to your website, including heatmaps and analytics reports.

SumoMe is an all-in-one platform that helps you grow your email list, improve your website’s performance, and make more sales through their email marketing tools. It has an intuitive interface that makes it easy for anyone to use; however, it does require some technical knowledge to set up correctly. If you’re looking for a simple solution without much customization then SumoMe might be right for you!

HelloBar

HelloBar is a tool that helps you turn website visitors into email subscribers, and those subscribers into customers. The tool is simple and easy to use, and it’s free for the first 100 emails you send.

The lead capture bar, called HelloBar®, adds a non-intrusive lead capture bar to your website. Visitors can enter their contact information right there on your site, and you’ll get an alert when they do so. You can then send them an email thanking them for signing up—and inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter!

The tool also allows you to promote your social content. When users click on any link in the bar, they’ll be sent directly over to Facebook or Twitter so they can share your content with their friends. They’ll even get a reminder of what they were just reading about right when they arrive at another site.

And finally, HelloBar® makes it easy for you to A/B test your messaging: just go through all of the options available in the app and see which ones perform best!

Qualaroo

Qualaroo is the best way to get the answers you need about your website, product and conversion funnel.

Qualaroo allows you to optimize your site by providing targeted website surveys to capture customer insight. With Qualaroo you can target questions to visitors anywhere on your website, in your product or in your conversion funnel. Their startup package starts at $199 USD/month billed annually.

Qualaroo is a great tool for getting valuable information from your customers and increasing conversions. The surveys are easy to set up and you can choose where they appear on your site. You can also set up triggers so that only people who have visited certain pages will be asked questions about them.

LiveChat

When you’re a small business, you have to use every tool at your disposal.

LiveChat is an easy way to engage customers on your website, capture visitor information and provide more personalized, immediate customer service. The LiveChat starter package starts at $19 USD/month—and it’s a great way to capture prospects from your website who might otherwise bounce.

Small businesses can save money on SEO and PPC with simple tools.

Talking to marketing agencies can get expensive, especially if they are trying to sell you on SEO and PPC without telling you that there is a much cheaper alternative. This guide provides some alternatives which will make SEO and PPC affordable for your business.

Wordstream

WordStream is the company to trust when it comes to all things PPC and paid advertising. They know their stuff and they can help you get the most out of your digital marketing efforts.

Their free Google Ads Grader is a surefire way to know where your small business can make improvements. It’s quick and easy to run through, and it will show you exactly what you need to do in order to make sure that your ads are reaching their full potential!

Not only does WordStream have a phenomenal team and company culture, but they’re absolute bosses when it comes to all things PPC and paid advertising. Their free Google Ads Grader is a surefire way to know where your small business can make improvements.

Yoast

Yoast is the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress. The tool works easily to optimize your content and landing pages to make sure your site is set up for success. With features like a readability checker and keyword optimizer, Yoast will make sure your content is optimized for the right eyes.

With Yoast, you’ll be able to take full advantage of our best-in-class features. You can simply install it on your WordPress site and get started optimizing your content automatically. You’ll get notified when one of our amazing features has detected an issue with your content or meta tags so you can fix it before Google notices it and penalizes you!

Google Adwords

Google AdWords is an incredibly important advertising platform that can help your small business reach new customers.

AdWords offers search, display and video advertising to help you reach your customers where they’re searching. This means you don’t have to pay for every customer who finds you on Google; instead, you can choose which customers are the best fit for your business.

There is a cost to using AdWords, but it’s worth it for your business to drive more traffic to your website.

SpyFu

SpyFu is the best tool for spying on your competition.

We all know that SEO is a competitive game, but we also don’t have time to waste. SpyFu makes it easy to see where your competitors rank, what keywords they’re bidding on, and what strategies they’re using—without having to do any of the hard work yourself.

SpyFu literally allows you to spy on your competitors. The platform allows you to search for any domain and see every place they’ve shown up on Google. You can also see a list of every keyword your competition bought on Adwords, every organic rank, and every ad variation in the last 10 years. Now that’s good detective work.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest will help you find the best keywords for your business. It’s a tool that helps you dig deep into Google’s search suggestions and find out what people are searching for—and then how they’re searching for it.

You can use this data to do a few things:

1) Figure out what people want to know about your product or service,

2) See what keywords they’re using to search for your product or service, and then

3) Use those keywords in your content strategy so that when someone searches one of those terms, they’ll find your website!

Email Marketing & Automation For Small Businesses

Email marketing and automation is one of the most effective marketing methods for small businesses. It permits sending personalized messages to interested audience, 24/7. But choosing from a wide variety of email services can be challenging. This article will teach you how to find the best email marketing service for your business.

Zapier

Automating your business is essential. It allows you to focus on running your company, instead of wasting time on the boring stuff.

But what if you don’t know where to start? Or how to do it? Or even what “automation” means?

Zapier changes all that. It’s an easy-to-use tool that allows you to connect your web apps for easier automation that will optimize your processes and keep your small business running smoothly. You can set up simple triggers (such as when someone submits a form), or create more complex automations (like when someone uploads a video). Whatever type of automation works best for your company, Zapier has got you covered—whether you’re looking for something simple or complex.

MailChimp

MailChimp is undeniably the most well-known email marketing platform. They have 15 million customers and tons of integrations, but they don’t offer the CRM feature. This tool is perfect for enterprise businesses who can build an integration with their CRM or for those not looking for CRM functionality.

With [tool name], you can easily view customer data in a single place. You can segment your subscribers into groups based on location, gender, interest and more. You can also create automated workflows based on actions such as purchases, abandoned carts or failed signups.

With this tool, you will be able to send personalized emails that improve your open rates and click-through rates. There are tons of features that make it easy to customize your campaigns according to your needs and goals. You can have up to 2000 subscribers with the “free forever” plan. So its great for low budget startups.

Mailerlite

MailerLite is a software tool that helps you create, send, and manage all of your email marketing campaigns.

MailerLite’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create beautiful emails that get results. It makes it simple to design a template from scratch or customize an existing one, so you can make sure your message looks great on any device.

MailerLite also lets you schedule and send emails at exactly the right time, so you don’t waste money sending messages to people who aren’t interested in what you have to say. You’ll get more engagement with MailerLite because your subscribers are getting messages when they’re ready for them. You can have up to 1000 subscribers on their “free forever” plan.

Clicksend SMS

With Clicksend SMS automation for small business, you can set up a system that allows your customers to text you questions and receive responses automatically.

This is a great feature for small businesses that want to offer their clients the option of receiving answers through text messages.

You can set up as many automated responses as you want, so it’s easy to make sure every question gets an answer.

The best part about this service is that it’s completely free!

Small Business Social Media Tools

Small businesses don’t have the same social media marketing budgets as the big guys. In fact, most are limited to a few hundred dollars in their monthly marketing budget. How can you use social media to engage an audience when you’re on a shoestring budget? The answer is your creativity! Here’s a look at some affordable social media tools that can help you achieve your goals

Buffer

Social media can be a major time suck. Lucky for you, Buffer’s incredibly easy scheduling tool, content library and robust analytics make it easier to reach more people while saving you time.

Buffer is the easiest way to schedule social media posts in advance and analyze how they perform. You can use this simple scheduling tool to turn your social media posts into a set of tasks that automatically go out at the best times for your audience. They also give you suggestions on what days are best to tweet or post based on your past performance.

You can also use Buffer as a content library where you can store all of your favorite quotes, articles and images that you want to share—so when you’re ready to post, just drag them into our scheduling tool!

And with our new analytics dashboard, we’ve made it even easier for you to see how your posts are performing—and adapt accordingly!

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is the best social media management tool out there.

With Hootsuite, you can manage all of your social media accounts from one place. You can post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn from a single dashboard—and that’s just the beginning. The real magic happens when you start using the advanced analytics and reporting features to analyze your content performance and keep track of how your audience is responding to it.

The best part? Hootsuite has a “free forever” version that lets you monitor up to two social accounts at once, so there’s no reason not to give it a shot!

Bitly

Bitly is the most popular link management available. Users can shorten, manage and measure shared links across the web giving greater insight into engagement. Best news? Bitly is free (unless you want branded links and an enterprise account).

Social media managers know that tracking links shared on social media can be a nightmare. Bitly makes it easy to manage, track and measure all of your links in one place.

With Bitly, you can create shortened URLs for any link you want to share online. When someone clicks on your shortened URL, they’ll be taken to the original source of your content. This means that you can use Bitly to track how many people click on each link so you can see how effective each piece of content is at driving traffic back to your website or blog!

DrumUp

DrumUp is a newer kid on the block, but it’s effective nonetheless—and it does everything you need out of a social media scheduling tool.

Not only can you curate content, schedule it, and suggest hashtags for your posts to expand reach and engagement, but DrumUp has a few features that really make it stand out in the crowd:

-It’s easy to use. Just drag-and-drop your post into the timeline for your campaign, choose whether you want it posted as soon as possible or later on in the day (or week), and click “Create.” That’s all there is to it!

-The app is free and doesn’t even require an account—just sign up with Facebook or Google if you want to save your campaigns or access them on mobile devices.

-DrumUp suggests hashtags based on the content of your post so that you don’t have to worry about coming up with them yourself. Just input your message (and maybe a few keywords), choose a campaign name, and let DrumUp do all of the work!

Design tools for small businesses.

Looking for the right design tools to kickstart your next idea? Small businesses face unique challenges when it comes to design — and even the basics can sometimes be out of reach. That’s why we’ve put together this guide explaining the best design tools for small businesses with little money and time.

Canva

Visual content gets much higher engagement and conversion rates than text only content. Canva helps you create beautiful images and other visual assets. If you’re not ready to create images all on your own yet, Canva is the perfect option for getting started.

In fact, Canva is so effective at helping you create visually appealing content that it has been used by brands like Red Bull, Facebook, and Apple.

The best part? It’s free! You can even use it as a web app or download their iOS app if you want to use them offline.

Just select what kind of image you want (like an infographic or social media post), choose from a wide variety of templates, and customize it however you want!

With just a few clicks and some simple design skills, Canva can take your visual content from mediocre to amazing.

Stencil

You can’t have too many tools at your disposal when you’re creating content for social media and content marketing. Stencil is a great option for people who want to create high-quality images quickly and easily, even if they don’t have any design skills.

Stencil is similar to Canva, but with a few extra features that make it stand out. For example, you can upload your own fonts and use them in your designs—something that Canva doesn’t offer. You can also get started on an image from scratch by drawing a shape or using one of their templates. And the best part? They have almost a million images to choose from!

If you use Chrome, you can also install their extension so that you can create images while browsing the web!

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Creative Cloud is the perfect tool for small businesses that want to make a big impact.

There’s a definite learning curve, but once you master Adobe Creative Cloud, the possibilities are endless. You can create professional and engaging images with ease—and pair them with any content you’re working on.

Don’t let the name fool you: this isn’t just for creatives. Creative Cloud gives small businesses the opportunity to share their story in a way that will capture the attention of their target audience and convert them into paying customers.

Project management tools for small businesses.

Project management is a critical part of any small business, and it can be incredibly difficult to get right.

But with the right tools, you don’t have to be an expert at project management to get it done—you just need the right tools.

Here are some of our favorites..

Slack

Slack is the place to be for businesses.

The platform helps teams organize projects by bringing communication into one place, sharing and commenting on files, and integrating with other apps to get more done in less time. Not to mention the Giphy feature is loads of fun during team chats. Oh, and it’s free for almost all businesses (unless you need an upgraded account).

But wait… there’s more! Slack has a ton of other incredible features that make it even better than it already is—like being able to add customized emojis to your messages, or search through all past messages in a specific channel without scrolling through page after page. It even lets you see which team members are online at any moment so you can easily reach out when needed.

We (like millions of other businesses) l-o-v-e Slack because it helps us be more productive and stay connected with our teams around the clock – no matter where we are in the world.

Evernote

It’s so easy to get lost in the shuffle of a project. When you’re in the thick of it, it can be hard to keep track of all of your responsibilities and deadlines, let alone your project documents.

Evernote makes it simple to create notes and categorize task into project-specific notebooks. You can even scan in paper docs to make keeping track of project documents a breeze.

Trello

Trello is a popular choice for small businesses because it offers a free plan for small teams and their business accounts start at $10 USD/month.

Trello’s main interface functions like a whiteboard, making it easy to use for anyone who’s unfamiliar with project management software. The setup process is also seamless.

Trello has more than 8 million users worldwide and gets good reviews from small business owners because of its seamless setup and ease of use.

Asana

You’ve got a lot of stuff on your plate.

And Asana is here to help you make sense of it all.

Asana provides a holistic overview of personal or professional to-dos with its simple interface and powerful integrations. It’s a great option for teams and individuals alike. With Asana, you can unify your workflows and improve productivity with smart alerts and notifications that keep everyone on track—no matter where they are or what device they’re using.

Google Drive

If you’re just diving into project management, Google Drive is a simple way to share and collaborate on documents, see revision history, and let team members leave & resolve comments. Drive offers a plethora of business tools including documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides. Plus, it’s free.

The best part about Google Drive is that it’s easy to use. You can create new files in any format or upload existing ones straight from your computer or mobile device. You can also set permissions so that only certain people can view or edit your documents and folders.

Google Drive comes with a robust search engine that lets you find exactly what you need in seconds—whether it be an old presentation slide or an important document that was lost in the shuffle. It also offers real-time collaboration capabilities so everyone can see who’s working on what at any given time. The tool is even compatible with other cloud storage platforms like Dropbox and Box!

Marketing can be a relatively expensive proposition, but if you get the right tools at a good price (and in some cases free), marketing your business becomes more manageable and you save money. Hopefully this guide has shed some light on what to look for when purchasing marketing tools and how to get the best deal. The possibilities are limitless with great marketing tools, and now it’s up to you to make them work for you. If you found this article helpful please follow us on our social media platforms, we would love to have you onboard!

Dedicated To Your Marketing Success

John

wollongong digital marketing

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