Bizapalooza: Symphonic Digital Execs with SMB Marketing Tips

Symphonic Digital’s CEO, Steffen Horst, and Chief Client Officer, Dave Antil appeared with Ivana Taylor on her #Bizapalooza podcast recently, offering their Digital Marketing Tips for for Small and Medium Business. The hour-long chat focused on key tips for businesses with More Time than Money and then those lucky few who have More Money Than Time. [The video can be found here: http://smallbizapalooza.com/digital-marketing-tips-for-2018/]Both Steffen and Dave agreed that key to any businesses success lies in understanding the basics of the business and properly communicating the value and the message. It’s critical to know who your customers are and what and why they buy from you. From an SMB marketing perspective getting the basics done right early on is important. Steffen said “Setting up Google (Business), Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin profiles is important for a medium or small business to establish itself online. They are free and easy to set up.” Dave pointed out that there are a number of simple things to do “Play with Facebook, it’s easy to use and has a ton of data to better help you understand your customer and marketing results. You can get started with a small – even tiny – budget.”The conversation turned to content and Steffen noted how important it is to have great content on the site as well as on landing pages – they are the first point of entry to new customers and is considered an expert helps your brand and your relevance. The guys shared Symphonic’s point of view on how they like to dig deep into a client' business and understand how it ticks, learn what makes it special and how a business talks about themselves and their products. “This knowledge is used in all media messaging from simple search ads to content to the way we target media programmatically. It’s surprising how many small and medium-sized businesses have not done this thorough thinking. A good agency will help you polish off these things.”From a media perspective, small and medium-sized companies should start with the basics. Dave offered that “80% of all media spend is going through Facebook and Google – it’s good to know how those platforms and channels fit into your marketing plan. They are simple to use and experiment with.”Small companies should also plan their media based on what they are looking to accomplish – the old marketing sales funnel. “Companies turn to social – Facebook primarily – to build awareness, and then Google paid search and remarketing for conversions,” Steffen pointed out. “and don’t forget the landing page. These need to be laser-focused on moving the customer through the process they landed there for and what you want them to complete. There should be no way out but through the page,” Dave added.Steffen, Dave, and Ivana covered several other topics including the importance of website and landing page content on quality score and influencing buying decisions. They talked about the right media mix to engage with prospective customers and how to use sales automation to streamline lead generation. Finally, why you shouldn’t run a brand-building campaign when you are really looking for sales.The video/podcast can be found at: http://smallbizapalooza.com/digital-marketing-tips-for-2018/You can follow Ivana Taylor on Twitter @DIYMarketers and @Bizapalooza and Symphonic Digital @SymphonicHQ