Intro content While statistics can tell ad execs a lot about what’s working and what isn’t, the subjectivity of marketing often supersedes fact. It lives in the minds of creatives tasked with campaign ideology that must persuade prospects and existing customers to buy in and convert. Together, they partner with sales. But there’s a price in the typical disconnect.
Success stories in digital and traditional marketing spends are founded on some basic principles that often get lost in one-off trends.
Before you start identifying how your marketing budget will be spent for 2019, take a look at your performance this year. Use the following as a guideline. It might be painful. Nonetheless, it will serve as a powerful reminder of what’s important for strategy going forward.
4 Marketing Budget Mistakes to Avoid:
Forgetting Who You Are. Revisit the company mission and vision. Review your current position and how you stack up against competitors. Do your marketing initiatives define your product/service brand? If not, you’re marketing spend is off-target.
Clueless about Customers. When was the last time you did a survey or email campaign that focused on existing customers? Do your social media silos help identify and define who your business aligns with best? Who you want your customers to be may not equate to who they really are.
Knee-Jerk Reactionary Spends. Fear of missing the boat on being part of whatever is trending in marketing looks a lot like throwing money down the drain. One-off initiatives are more effective when they can be embedded into a larger, ongoing campaign. Cross-channel marketing works.
Buying Social Boosts. Consumers are savvier than ever before. If a social post has a lot of views but minimal engagement, you’re not fooling anyone. People want their info real and raw. Don’t waste a lot of your budget on boosts or paid ads, build your audience organically with substantive content and real time interaction.
Need a Deeper Dive into Marketing Budget Strategy?
''An annual marketing budget is like winning the lottery. You have dollars at your disposal. Spend them well and the investment grows. Spend them wrong and you're back at zero.'' - Melanie Stern #marketingbudget2019
Our approach to content and marketing budgets is simple, straightforward and effective. Have a look at what we can do for you.
For more insights into the best ways to formulate marketing campaigns and how to distinguish wise budget spends, canvass these resources from our blog:
Examples of Neuromarketing Done Well to Help Inspire Your Marketing Strategy
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
There’s an all too common phenomenon in companies across America that lives in marketing departments. In fact, it’s the last place we’d think would have this problem, but it’s not just evident; it’s a cesspool of inefficiency rooted in a lack of communication. Really? In the marketing department comprised of so-called experts in the field of communication? Yes.
And it’s no different with drug rehab marketing and sales. In actuality, this conundrum makes the addiction treatment business more challenging. We thought we’d provide some relief by sharing why tracking your efforts keeps your business better aligned.
Visual Cues Show Evidence of Addiction Treatment Marketing Mismatches
Let’s start with a simple illustration to represent ad marketing misalignment. First, hold up your right and left hands in front of you. The left hand represents your sales; your right hand represents marketing strategy and execution. Now, instead of your hands facing each other, they look in opposite directions. How can they work together when they are having separate conversations?
In order for sales and marketing to work cohesively, they must be agile and fluid, yet able to shake hands. If you haven’t taken a look at what your website is ranking for on a monthly basis, it holds the key in what you’re hitting and what you’re missing in client retention and prospect reach. It starts with a plan.
Not two plans — a single plan that encompasses sales and marketing in a way that champions both modalities and sets up a success matrix that is only achievable if they work together. Yeah, I know, good luck with that.
Sales and Marketing – Getting Past the Egos
Since the advent of advertising, sales was the evil stepchild of creative that spun into marketing as well. According to sales, marketing doesn’t know their head from their … well, you know what I mean. It could be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious fatal flaw to most companies. In truth, sales needs marketing to help them reach a large audience. In turn, marketing needs sales to better understand their customers, their industry and the need that brings them all together. Sales and marketing are best utilized as a collective funnel, not segmented silos that never touch.
In a recent article in Forbes magazine, research helps build a case for this business model: “When sales and marketing get on the same page, companies see, on average, a 67 percent improvement in closing sales and a 36 percent increase in customer retention.”
When you lead with your product or service, it creates a shared goal between sales and marketing that is much easier to accept and deliver on.
Organize Your Goals by Monitoring Inbounds and Outbounds
You could be spending more money than your competition, but if you’re not doing anything to track it, you’re throwing money and time down the drain. And unless you’ve just won the billion-dollar lottery, your drug rehab probably isn’t looking for a business loss to offset gains.
If you’ve got any broad scope marketing plan in place (and if you’re a new addiction treatment facility or service, pay attention) watch where your admits are coming from. Inbound marketing, which includes web content, social media and search engine optimization (SEO), is useful in getting your company brand and associated stories out into the world. Just because it’s award-winning creative doesn’t mean it’s getting results.
Make sure you have a person within your organization or external agency keeping a watchful eye on the responsiveness and overall engagement of each. See how often specific webpages, blogs, videos and other social content are viewed. From there, you’ll know what’s getting the most interest and where you need to make adjustments.
Outbound marketing is a different animal and not for the thin-skinned. It’s found in:
Event marketing
Telemarketing
Radio and TV spots
Press releases
Billboards
Direct mail
Email
The use of swag
To put it simply, outbound marketing casts the widest net of reach to consumers or B2B, with less desirable results because there is less of a niche to the audience.
Make sure to take an accounting of what inbound and outbound efforts rein in as far as ROI, and then alter the percentages where needed to get the desired results.
Lead Generation Results Are Multi-Layered, with Value in Each
Everyone wants the hot leads, the ones that respond to exactly what you have to offer and are ready to convert, now. Striking while the iron is hot is great for sales, though many forget the value of warm and even cold leads, especially in the addiction treatment and recovery space. Here’s why:
Often, it takes a prospect multiple media impressions before they go “hot.”
Cold leads may provide touchpoints for outbound marketing:
Wider net of outreach.
Most people know someone with a drug or alcohol problem.
Can help build referral base.
With any lead generation program, be sure to segment your leads and respond in the best manner possible to generate the most appeal for hot, warm and cold leads.
Web Chat Delivers in an Instant
To enhance the ability to capture leads as soon as they come to your website, consider using a web chat service. With it, you never miss an opportunity to engage with a prospect because the system does it for you.
The benefits to web chat are numerous and include:
Immediate engagement
Segments leads (hot, warm, cold)
HIPAA-compliant marketing tool
Secure and password protected
Delivers each lead to your email, mobile device or both
Increases leads, on average, from 35% to 40%
Understanding your cost per lead (per method used) may rule out some of what you’re already doing to bring in prospects and conversions. If your beds aren’t full, maybe it’s time to be open to suggestions.
Tracking Drug Rehab Sales and Marketing Is Only as Good as the Analysis
No one’s expecting you to be a solid expert on Google Analytics and other pertinent SEO integration. Whether you decide to take on those skills yourself or hire an expert who eats, drinks and sleeps that business, what these numbers tell you should dictate what you do in marketing and how sales should support the initiatives.
Results Are Learning Tools that Need to Be Applied for Growth
If your best idea received a cool reception from your lead gen campaigns or social media, dive deep into the numbers and responsiveness (or lack of) to look for silver lining. It’s always there even if the numbers aren’t. Perhaps your messaging was great but the timing was off. Whatever you do, don’t table it into the forever furnace. Archive it, as you could repurpose some or all of it in the future.
Revisit Addiction Treatment Marketing Spends Often
Consumers are fickle. Challenging as that is, it also provides an easy ability to reset a wrong and make it right.
Through reporting and client surveys, as well as ongoing interaction with your staff, you can reconfigure where your marketing dollars are better spent and devise a mix that reaches:
Untreated clients/new prospects
Family or friends of No. 1 above
Alumni of your program/service
Success stories/testimonials
Former clients who have relapsed
Formulate an annual addiction treatment marketing budget and keep some dollars available for golden opportunities that may come about throughout the year, such as an industry co-sponsorship (special event or nonprofit organization), public relations opportunities and more. We recommend a multi-channel or cross-channel marketing approach.
Social Media Needs an Active Voice
The whole point of social media is to create an active forum for people to receive information, develop a personal voice (applies to businesses, too) and share them on an ongoing basis. It’s all about engagement with your followers and enticing more people to join your group and become something greater than themselves. It’s what we all want.
Now, let’s dial this in to drug rehab sales and marketing. Social media is all about stories. In fact, Facebook recently added another engagement tool to their platform and called it “The Story.” Twitter may be removing its “like” button in the hopes that its users engage through more commentary instead of a feeble click of an icon.
Salespeople are full of stories and often use them to engage prospects, which ultimately lead to conversions. It’s how sales connects with their clients. Marketing creates stories to connect with prospects, existing clients and their referrals. If only sales and marketing could be on the same page with their stories….
They can.
Bring More Admits by Pulling Drug Rehab Marketing and Sales Together
Looking at the world through word-colored glasses, I am continuously in awe of how we evolve as people in business. We strive to communicate in a direct approach and, when we see fit, through subliminal channels. As a content strategist, I look forward to sharing all perspectives to help entertain, enlighten and engage more in others.
Whether your fiscal year begins in January or July, what you allot for marketing budget has much to do about what you believe you’re supposed to spend. And this belief could be founded on formulas or equations that have been passed on by business owners or prior leadership within your organization. Who knows? It could be from something you found after searching online (like that ever happens).
The following insights are my effort to help you discern between industry folklore and the reality of your marketing budget needs – to reassess this year, and to plan to make next year more pennywise instead of pound foolish.
The Life Cycle of Marketing Budget Creation
The very term budget, when spoken, heard and visualized, immediately invokes numbers and, for some, nausea, especially after a lackluster sales performing year. Before you ever get to working those numbers that will set up many marketing decisions to come, you need to take some vital steps to ensure that the budget will truly have a fair shake in supporting your endeavors. And these steps have little to do with dollars.
Take a Good, Hard Look at Who You Really Are
As you’ve probably already guessed, there is no steadfast rule on just how much of your overall business budget should be dedicated to marketing efforts. Because every business vertical is different, so too are the marketing needs of each enterprise, eventually effecting the spend necessary to get the desired goals achieved.
If you are a consumer-based company with a product or service as your calling card, the marketing budget will undoubtedly be costlier and more general-public-facing than if your company catered to B2B markets.
Marketing Budget Mistake #1: Not truly understanding your own brand.
If you haven’t taken the time to establish your company brand, there’s a trickle down of miscommunication that ensues. This will assuredly result in missing the mark on your audience, sales and client acquisition and retention.
Now Remember What Your Clients Really Look Like
Company owners, marketing directors (no matter how good you are) and creative geniuses often carry a level of delusion about whom their product or service attracts. In our minds, we glamorize who we are and, in turn, who our audience is.
There’s nothing like that swift kick in the butt during a public appearance, conference or trade show that wakes us up into, “Oh…so you’re our customers…” This resets brand messaging and affects marketing spends.
Marketing Budget Mistake #2: Having no clue about your customer base.
Once your business accurately connects with your product or service audience, then your marketing messaging can speak to their needs through your brand to nurture long-term relationships, referral business and conversions on both fronts.
Where to spend your marketing budget is, in large part, founded on the places most likely to capture your audience. Now’s the time to switch hats (no, not to a black hat), to take off that corporate hat and be your customer.
If You Were Your Client, How Would They Find You?
Before you start adding line items to your marketing budget for what remains this year and planning for the next-year spend, consider the human behaviors of your customers. Think about their physical attributes, emotional needs, mental acumen and anguish, even their insecurities. Because somewhere in all of that is the place(s) where you will identify strategic pinpoints in their days to hit them with who you are and why they can’t live without you. This is the sweet spot.
Cross-Channel Marketing Maximizes Your Budget Spend
As long as you’re spending money to get more business, set up your marketing in a way that boosts each campaign through heightened reach and stronger impressions. You can achieve this when you use multiple marketing channels that cross-promote one another.
Need an example? If you are spending money on pay-per-click campaigns, be sure to include hyperlinks within the campaign landing page that keep visitors on your website, possibly leading to a product or service page, or even to a blog post.
For more traditional marketing, if you’re advertising on a radio station (yes, companies still do that), make sure you get value adds through a presence on the radio station’s website or have your radio spot mention a promo code for a special deal – but one that only applies if the customer goes to your website or calls and mentions the promo code.
It isn’t just about capturing your audience: You have to tell them what to do and where to go. Your business leads your customers, but they must feel as though they are in control. Sounds like a personal relationship, doesn’t it? Yeah…it is.
Once You’ve Found Them, Spend Your Money on Keeping Them
In sales, it’s all about keeping the conversation going. “No” is just no today; it could be a “yes” tomorrow. This is the premise regarding social media engagement. Foster the relationship. Talk about things that matter to you and your audience. Give them something to think about, talk about and share to get others talking about it. Be informative, yet entertaining. If you do social right, your followers do the work for you.
Marketing Budget Mistake #4: Relying on social paid boosts alone.
Many companies scramble to increase their followers, likes, views or shares by paying to boost Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts. Until your social presence gets a solid footing, the practice of boosting may be a necessary evil. But don’t count on it as a long-term strategy.
Working a social platform well is all about building your profile and followers organically. Like every other marketing program, it’s a long game usually played for 90 days to 18 months before seeing real, consistent results. You can’t just put your big toe in it. Jump in wholeheartedly and get your hair wet!
What to include in your market budget going forward:
Blog outreach (backlinks, linking to other sites, guest bloggers)
Email drip campaigns (enough touchpoints and upsells without being annoying)
Direct response marketing (extremely targeted campaigns)
Public relations (it’s free!)
Best Practices After the Marketing Budget Needs Are Set in Stone
Keep a certain amount of marketing dollars fluid. Meaning…give your business some cush. Without having some extra funds available to use at your discretion, your business may miss golden opportunities that you couldn’t have planned for, but nonetheless have presented themselves out of left field.
In addition, many companies experience the fourth-quarter panic, where any remaining funds from a current year’s marketing budget must be spent or they lose it. This phenomenon is common in the VAR (value-added reseller) market. Therefore, the best way to avoid this panic is to keep on top of your marketing month to month.
Reassess marketing initiatives every 30-60-90 days to ensure there are no gaps in the life cycle of your marketing budget (noted earlier in this article). By staying tuned into your plan while it’s in action, it allows for a nimbleness that enhances marketing scalability. This strategy also empowers creative agility when needed, allowing you to keep your budget running lean while having room for unexpected marketing opportunities that will undoubtedly arise throughout the year. They always do.
Recommended Market Budget Spend
The following figures reflect how you should allocate your marketing dollars, based on industry trends and consumer behavior forecasts:
Online marketing – 45% of your overall marketing budget, broken down into:
Search engine marketing – 47%
Social media – 25%
Online video – 11%
Other online channels – 17%
Budgeting for online marketing is on the increase while traditional media advertising spends continue to drop year after year. According to eMarketer, “TV ad spending is 35.08 percent of total media … total digital ad spending is 38.4 percent of total media.”
These figures are for 2017 and represent how consumer behavior has shifted, and continues to shift, toward online screen usage (mobile platforms).
Stay Open to Sharing Costs
One aspect of your marketing budget that you may overlook in the planning stages is in shared sponsorships or co-op dollar spends. This is when your business can partner with another company and share the marketing opportunity.
The cost to participate in these programs is decreased as the expense is shared, and when done right, the benefits far outweigh the dollars spent. Moreover, the relationship between you and the business(es) in cooperative marketing efforts provides a seamless exchange between audiences.
Co-op marketing advantages include:
Your business engages your current customers.
Your business engages new prospects.
The business increases its market reach.
Increased market reach occurs at reduced cost.
Can’t See the Fund Forests from the Trees
Sometimes, we can put emotion and ego into our business and the decisions we make about the business. It’s hard not to. Your business is your baby. However, one of the most difficult, yet loving things you can do for your business is to let go of it.
Refer your online marketing strategy to a third party who can review your company goals, marketing budget spend and short- and long-term missions to devise a solid plan that will make the most out of your marketing dollars without shedding a tear.
Looking at the world through word-colored glasses, I am continuously in awe of how we evolve as people in business. We strive to communicate in a direct approach and, when we see fit, through subliminal channels. As a content strategist, I look forward to sharing all perspectives to help entertain, enlighten and engage more in others.
As Google, Facebook and the other popular platforms continue to change the terms of their advertising services, many who have previously overlooked organic marketing are now asking, “Can I use SEO instead? How long does SEO take, and is it worth it?”
Let’s start by talking about what SEO is – and also, what it’s not.
What Is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of optimizing your content (website, social platforms and ads) for the search engines. We consider SEO an umbrella term for a number of different services and tactics. Primarily SEO is considered:
Keyword Research and Competitive Analysis
Before any target keywords are selected, research must be performed. If you are going to optimize your website and outrank your competition, you must understand them first. In-depth competitive and market analysis should drive the SEO strategy.
On-page SEO and Content Optimization
Each buyer type and stage of the buyer’s journey should be considered first when developing the website and content strategy. Keywords should then be incorporated into well-written content and metadata. That’s not all, though: On-page SEO is highly technical and includes everything from fast load times to internal linking.
Off-site SEO and Link Building
Link building or link earning, call it what you will, means SEO isn’t just limited to what you can control on your website. Off-site SEO is equally, if not more, important. The process of link building is very in-depth, but in a nutshell, the goal is to get other relevant and reputable websites to link to yours. Links act like votes, and how many, where and whom they come from matters.
Testing, Reporting and Analyzing
Because Google is always changing, so too is SEO. The fundamentals are the same, but the specific tactics, tools and applications are always changing.
Luckily, SEO is a data-driven marketing method, and almost every component can be tracked, tested and reported on. By analyzing the data, you can make changes based on user behavior as well as the search engines.
What Is NOT SEO?
Although SEO is a lot of things, it’s also NOT a substitute for:
High-quality website designs
Branded videos and images
Interesting content for the users
Products consumers want
Great customer service
A positive brand reputation
Trained sales professionals
All of these are needed to have a successful SEO campaign. It’s all connected.
How Long Does SEO Take to Start Working?
This is maybe the No. 1 question we have received over the last 13 years or so of doing SEO. And, the answer is always the same: It depends.
Not what you wanted to hear, right?
But, it does depend on a number of different factors, including:
Age of domain and website
Number of current pages indexed by Google
Current rankings
Existing website content and digital assets
Information architecture and blog categories
Indexed website backlinks
Social media channel following
Existing competition and their websites and digital marketing strategies
Budget
If you come to us with a new website, hardly any content indexed, very few rankings, an outdated design, no digital assets, a sloppy navigation, no blog optimization, low social channel followers and heavy competition, depending on your budget, I will tell you it’s going to take at least six months – maybe a year. SEO is a long-term strategy, and you have to put in the work. It takes time to gain authority with Google. You can’t fake that.
However, if you come to us with a decent website and some of the foundational work done, we can speed up the process and rank a site in as little as two to three months.
It all depends.
If you have very little competition, if your keywords are under-marketed, if your competition isn’t spending a lot on SEO – all of these variables work in your favor.
Real SEO Case Studies
Since it all depends, it’s best to look at some real-world examples to see what is possible.
SEO Case Study #1: Transitioning from Google Ads to an Organic SEO Strategy
In October of last year, an addiction treatment center came to us with a huge Google PPC ad budget and a cost per admit that was higher than the price of treatment. We switched them to an SEO strategy right before the big Google AdWords smackdown, and now look at the data.
This SEO traffic would have cost $200K. We saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars per month on paid ads, and their ongoing SEO campaign is a fraction of the cost with a higher conversion rate.
SEO Case Study #2: Big Gains in a Competitive Niche
This client has been with us for a few years now. He also had a Google ad budget running and wanted to slowly transition from paid ads to organic SEO. He knew SEO would take time, so he continued to run Google ads while our team worked on the website SEO.
By staying true to the course, his website now dominates for all of the top terms in his niche and he no longer has to spend any money on paid ads. His organic traffic is estimated to cost almost $100,000 dollars a month if he were still bidding on paid ads. The cost of SEO is a small fraction of what the paid ads would cost.
SEO Case Study #3: New Domain and Website and Small Budget
This client came to us as a new brand. Their goal was to get online and start producing results through digital marketing. They were open to paid ads, but their industry is very limited on what they can advertise on, driving up the cost of the terms you can bid on. Due to their budget constraints, we started with SEO only.
In only three short months of a small-scale SEO campaign, we have climbed to more than 1,000 ranking keywords, showing it is possible to get organic rankings on Google in a short period of time. Of course, the site is also beautifully designed, and we’ve implemented expert SEO.
Is SEO Worth Investing Into?
Let’s talk financial investment. All marketing costs money. The key to success is to be smart about the long-term strategy. If you simply throw all of your marketing dollars at short-term gains, you’ll miss out on an awesome opportunity to develop a marketing channel that will provide a substantially higher return on your investment in the long run.
For example, let’s say you have a set marketing budget. Over the first three to six months, you may see little monthly ROI. However, over the course of the full year, when you take your total sales and total marketing expenses, SEO generally produces anywhere from a 300 to 3,000 percent return on investment. That’s HUGE! Any investor’s dream!
Being Patient
The problem is, many new businesses didn’t plan for this, and when SEO doesn’t produce an immediate ROI, they become uneasy and turn to Google or Facebook for paid ads.
Google has been a powerful ad platform for many simply because it’s a search engine and buyers are asking for specific products or services – placing them much further along in the buyer’s journey. Problem is, some people can’t afford to pay the high cost per click, and some industries are even blocked from bidding on relevant terms unless they pass a difficult certification process.
Facebook, on the other hand, is at a higher point of the sales funnel. Prospects are simply scrolling through their social feed and minding their own business when an ad pops up. It doesn’t take an expert to guess that Facebook ads are harder to convert. They are definitely more affordable than Google ads, but unless you sell a product that has a social message, the click-to-website conversion rate can be less than desirable.
Then, there’s SEO. Just like with Google ads, the buyer is already searching for the product or service. But, unlike paid ads, when a user clicks your listing in the organic search results, it doesn’t cost you any more or less. Just one click on a paid ad can cost between $3 and $5, all the way up to $300 to $500, depending on what industry you are in. If that visitor doesn’t convert, you may have just wasted hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars!
The Long Play
SEO isn’t just about saving money on ads though. SEO is the foundation for years and years of brand visibility and website traffic. It’s the gift that keeps giving. Once you achieve a certain age and trust with Google, you can add new content to your site and rank it almost instantly.
And, another benefit? The leads are better. Just ask anyone who has run both SEO and paid campaigns which leads convert better, and they will tell you that SEO leads, every time.
Conclusion
When you really take the time to weigh the pros and cons, it’s pretty clear that SEO is a marketing channel worth investing into. Yes, it takes time…but honestly, all ad channels take time.
What sounds more strategic to you? Dumping thousands of dollars into paid ads that provide short-term gains with no residual return? Or, investing into SEO, which has proven to provide long-term value for companies through residual gains for years on end?
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
So far, there have been several direct questions that stem from this article, so here I will attempt to answer all of these questions. In addition, I will give some suggestions and professional insight, being that Eminent SEO is an agency that works with several addiction treatment centers and behavioral health care consultants.
Question 1: Does this mean we can bid on Google AdWords again?
Yes, kind of. Google did announce it will allow treatment centers to run ads after they have been vetted by Portland, Oregon firm LegitScript.
“During the first three months, we’re going to intentionally take it slow. Irrespective of how many applications we receive, we’ll probably only certify about 20 to 30, simply so that we can make sure and get the process right. After that, we’ll ramp up the speed. (This goes into the “lessons learned” bucket from our existing healthcare merchant certification program.) This also works well with Google’s timeline, since they have indicated they will actually begin allowing these advertisers in July.”
Question 2: What does it take to get the addiction treatment certification?
The LegitScript website says the company is now accepting applications and that the evaluation includes criminal background checks as well as license and insurance verification. Rehabs will also have to provide “written policies and procedures demonstrating a commitment to best practices, effective recovery and continuous improvement.”
They will charge $995 up front and then $1,995 annually for the vetting.
Up until recently, treatment centers could buy Google ads without a certification. However, over the last few years, Google has been rolling out a new vetting process for certain industries that will only allow entities to bid once they get the certification.
Before this announcement, the certification process only applied to garage-door repair techs, locksmiths, pharmacies and prescription drug providers. Now you can add addiction treatment centers to that list. From the LegitScript article, it sounds like Google will also be asking for more documentation from political advertisers soon this year as well (thank God).
Question 4: Does this LegitScript company manage the ads?
No. This is a qualification process, but the company will not be managing the ads. What LegitScript does is verify you meet the criteria and then provide a legal certificate to Google as proof. You would still need to have a professional Google PPC expert run your ads.
So, this cost is in addition to the ad management, and apparently required if you want to do Google ads in the future.
Question 5: How much will Google ads cost now?
This is still yet to be determined. Before the Google rehab keyword crackdown, the ad rates were out of control. Keywords were going for $50 to $150 a click sometimes. It was crazy!
Since the rollout doesn’t come until July, all we can do is speculate. And since LegitScript is only certifying up to 30 applicants, I can’t imagine there will be a bunch of competition driving up the bid rates.
Anyone care to speculate? Please add your thoughts to the comments.
Question 6: Can my treatment center get certified?
If you are a treatment facility with a valid company website, physical address, qualified staff and think can meet all of their certification qualifications, you can definitely apply!
However, it looks like the early bird gets the worm in this case. With only 30 applicants being accepted for a trial run and more than 14,500 specialized drug treatment facilities in the U.S., it may be tough to become one of the first.
Maybe the bigger question here is really: Should I get certified?
A successful Google AdWords campaign now requires a significant financial investment each month:
A LegitScript fee of $995 up front, and then $1,995 annually.
A professional setup and management fee, which could run you $500 to $5000 per month, depending on who you hire and their level of skill.
Expertly written ad messages and optimized landing pages, which could run another few thousand dollars.
Google AdWords and Display ad fees, which historically have run companies anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000 per month. That’s right, I said $500 THOUSAND. These people were not messing around. I don’t know what ads will run for these 30 or so accepted applicants, but I am guessing they will need a few thousand dollars, just the same.
What Does That Total?
Conservatively speaking, you’re looking at $5,000 for the setup costs and at least $10,000 per month including ad fees, landing pages and management costs. I guess you could do it for cheaper, but if you think your ads will perform without expert management and optimized landing pages, you’re probably wasting marketing dollars.
Ads need the right strategy to get results. It’s easy to blow tons of money fast if you don’t have your campaigns set up right.
Final Take
My advice? If you’re not prepared to spend thousands of dollars, don’t bother. There are so many other channels of marketing that you can utilize to generate qualified leads without breaking the bank. I would strongly suggest you really think through all of your options and talk with a strategist before making a decision on investing into Google AdWords again. It’s a commitment.
On the other hand, if you DO have the money, this could be an opportunity for your rehab organization to come out ahead of the insanely high pre-ban bid rates.
What do you think? Worth it or naw? Weigh in below.
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
Whether you have an in-house marketing team or you use an agency, your sales and marketing teams must work in tandem. Yes, there will be some crossover as far as which team handles which duties. But ultimately, the two teams need to serve distinct (yet interrelated) roles.
Your marketing agency or in-house team is essentially responsible for delivering business leads, and then it’s up to your sales team to close those leads and produce revenue for your company.
This sequence is futile if the two sides don’t communicate well. The sales team must continually report and provide feedback on the quality of the leads. If the leads are mostly calling about general info or asking off-the-wall questions, then it’s up to the marketing team to refine its tactics and target a more specific potential buyer.
At Eminent SEO, it’s our goal to not only increase the number of your leads through digital channels, but to deliver highly qualified leads in the process. We strive to build positive rapport with your sales team to open up a constant dialog about the quality of your leads. It makes all of our jobs easier – and ends up with a better ROI for your sales and marketing dollars.
“The objective of all advertising is to buy new customers at a profit. Learn what your customers cost and what they buy … Spend all of your ammunition where it counts.”
– Claude C. Hopkins, “Scientific Advertising” (1923)
Website Highlights: Is Your Business Aligned for Sales and Marketing Success?
In her latest blog entry, Eminent SEO cofounder and CEO Jenny Stradling gets into the specifics on the roles that your marketing and sales teams play in achieving the overall goals of your business.
“What is the difference between a marketing-qualified lead and a sales-qualified lead?”
“How do I track sales back to their originating source?”
“Do I need to use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool for my business?
“What do I need to track in a CRM?”
See the answers to these and other relevant questions, along with insight into how to align your sales and marketing strategy, in the full article:
At Eminent SEO, we love to educate our clients, fellow small business owners and the wider public on the basics of SEO, marketing and business needs. In talking among ourselves and to our clients, there are dozens of unique terms, abbreviations and slang we use quite often. Without a knowledge and understanding of the terms, how can you – as a business owner – understand how they affect your bottom line?
What is a website landing page?
Landing Page – A landing page can be any page on a website that is accessible to search engines or that can be linked to directly. Most times, a landing page suggests a specific page on a website that is meant to attract new website visitors through both organic marketing and paid marketing efforts.
What are long-tail keywords?
Long-Tail Keywords (Long-Tail Keyword Phrases) – Keywords grouped in three or more words that are more specific and generally less competitive. These are used in the SEO industry with the intent of getting better conversions since the terms are usually more targeted than higher search volume keywords that are overly broad.
Example: “Find an Internet Marketing Company in Arizona” is a long-tail keyword versus “Internet Marketing,” which is general and likely overly competitive.
Use Our Free SEO Slang Resource to Get a Stronger Understanding of SEO
On Instagram, we’re all about great visuals and thought-provoking blurbs, with a mix of professional and lighthearted content. Head on over to this thriving platform to follow us now, or to simply enjoy our latest photos and videos, even if you don’t have an IG account!
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
So many businesses are still entranced with marketing channels that no longer yield a worthwhile ROI. Using outdated and non-data-driven tactics just isn’t going to get it done, whether online or off.
As we continue to get our feet settled in 2018, we are pleading to businesses small and large to stop using marketing tactics that essentially flush money down the drain.
We’re ready to step in. Below you will find actionable tips and links to help your company make smarter decisions on how to spend your valuable marketing dollars.
“We have some good ideas here. But the only way to know if they’re workable is to try to make them fail. If we fail to fail, then maybe we’re on the right track.”
Our own Melanie Stern explains how to not get taken by shady marketers promising hundreds of instant leads. She also covers six channels and tactics you should explore instead.
Is there another site copying your content and passing it off as their own? Try out Google’s in-content search operator.
Find out if someone is plagiarizing you by copying a unique quote or phrase from your own online content and entering it into Google Search like this:
intext:”quote or phrase”
If sites other than yours are showing up at the top with an exact or near-exact match, then there’s a problem.
Answer FAQ
QUESTION: What are some of the most effective digital marketing channels for small businesses today?
ANSWER: All small businesses should invest into these four staples:
1. Website SEO and Organic Marketing
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving your website’s organic (aka not paid) search engine rankings. Not only does solid SEO get you visibility online, but it is also proven to win customers. According to research from Google, roughly half of customers who search for local businesses from their mobile devices end up making purchases the very same day!
2. Content and Brand Asset Development
Want more brand and website visibility? Start by creating high-quality content and visual assets. Branded content includes everything from expert website copy and useful blog posts to insightful videos and eye-catching infographics. Creating valuable digital content will add trust and value to the brand long term.
3. Social Media
Small businesses must have a social media presence. Social platforms are a great way to connect with your customers directly. If you’re just getting started, remember that less is more. Stick to the platforms your customers are using the most. Share valuable content, but also identify and engage with key influencers in your space.
The goal is to get other pages to share your content, but before you can do that, you must spend some time building relationships.
4. Email Marketing
Often overlooked, email marketing is still a great tactic for small and large businesses alike. Grow your list organically by offering valuable information in exchange for an email address. You can also run contests, host a quiz or offer a monthly newsletter. But remember: No one wants to be spammed.
Instead of promotional-only content, offer valuable information to your subscribers, such as industry news, how-to guides, tips and other helpful advice.
Customer Survey
The more avenues you have to receive a payment from a current or prospective client, the better.
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
This is probably the conversation I have the most frequently with marketing industry peers and clients. It is just a repetitive chat; the subject gets people animated, agitated, confused and eyes-bulging, vein-popping frustrated. Why? Because nobody listens.
Here’s one note of caution for starters: If you think you know marketing because of a Google search or two, you don’t know squat!
Marketing and Sales People Are the Biggest Suckers on the Planet
We’re in this conundrum together – because there isn’t one answer on how to do marketing. Instead, it’s essential that you understand the options and how they work together (or fail).
Even with the best industry gurus on your side, watching the SEO analysis month over month and staying current with the latest Google and Facebook algorithm shifts, there are no guarantees that your creative campaigns or media placements are going to work. Depressed yet?
Here’s what I can tell you. Marketing, just like people, shifts. What works today can be gone with the wind of tomorrow’s latest and greatest trend. Yaaass. This business is not for the emotionally thin-skinned. In other words, grow a pair, do some due diligence and have fun.
Beware of Snake Oil Yes Men (and Women) That Guarantee Anything
Recently, I had a client call me on the phone (old school, I know) to share his excitement. He’s got a handful of websites and just got a call from this guy in Chicago who swears he can deliver a branded TV commercial and media placement on 30 some odd stations. Wait for it… all for 1,000 bucks.
You’re laughing, right? It gets better. This guy also says he will guarantee 300 leads, calls that will go directly to my client’s call center.
Remember what I said earlier about there being no guarantees? Yeah. It applies here. So I called the guy in Chicago. I told him that if he wanted to swear to God that 300 leads are guaranteed, it was on him. I wouldn’t bet on that and I don’t think the Lord would appreciate being the brunt of a wager in futility.
How did I call him out? With one easy question: “Can you send me the list of media channels where the commercial will run?” I asked with a snarky smile. He replied, “No.”
This was a sketchy operation with phony leads that would undoubtedly go nowhere. Trust (sort of), then verify. Works like a charm.
@eminentseo
@eminentseo
Businesses are wasting money on #marketing that doesn't work because they do not think QUALITY over QUANTITY. They are also thinking about the past instead of evolving.
Secret Keywords Are Like a Losing Game of Hide and Seek
Ever since Google has been cracking down on those who try to outsmart it (some do so successfully, but it’s temporary) one such solution appears as a “miracle grow” for SEO rankings. Watch out for the companies that say they will boost your presence by using targeted keywords strategically placed and hidden within your fine print of terms and conditions or right-hand-side testimonial content, for example.
Do really you think this is smarter than the peeps and tech that crawl websites for Google? Naw, probably not.
Marketing That Doesn’t Work: More Isn’t Mo’ Better
Overconsumption comes by us honestly. We’re Americans. It’s what we do. While some people have an issue with taking in excessive amounts of food, alcohol, drugs, toxic relationships or shoes (yes, shoes), many business owners believe that a handful of websites to represent their product offerings are better than just one.
Moreover, these duplicate (basically that’s what they are) sites house essentially the same content as one another. Not only is this so passé and ineffective; it’s naughty.
Why the marketing tactics mentioned so far don’t work isn’t just about cheesing up our industry standards. Our core audience detests it. Millennials are now the largest group of consumers. If your business doesn’t understand this audience, you might as well hang it up right now.
If you’d rather get a clue as to what you should be doing to get their appeal and more accolades for your product or service, keep reading.
Pander (I Mean Cater) to Your Audience
Millennials can be cruel. Maybe not cruel, but brutally honest. They don’t understand the merits of privacy (thank you MySpace, and now Twitter and Facebook) and believe that everything is subject to discussion, rant and opinion on the web. If your product or service doesn’t cut it, you’ll know, quickly. Here’s what to do to angle it all in your favor.
Invite the Criticism
Take a deep breath. Swallow that lump of insecurity in your throat. Be bold enough on social media to have a unique presence and put posts out there that speak to who you are and what you stand for. Take the heat that comes.
Pay attention; it’s the most inexpensive way to get an understanding of what’s working or not…and it’s ideal for discovering gaping holes of opportunity. Although, social media is not the place for ongoing product pitches. It’s about having a personality and building a following.
Make Millennials Matter
Leveraging the right social media platforms is essential to owning the millennial market. How you position your profiles is even more important. Make sure your content doesn’t talk down to them, as it needs to include them.
Position this audience as instrumental in your success. They must be part of your conversation. If your brand strategy allows them to lead the conversation, that’s golden.
Create the Experience
Product and services aren’t flat surfaces (though many smart devices are pretty close). The world isn’t flat either; it’s full of dimension. Enter marketing and editorial content.
What resonates with people today is a full-bodied experience with your product, service or brand. It taps on the emotion, the most powerful place your marketing can target. People may not remember what you said or did, but it’s how you made them feel that matters.
Provide Information That’s Unique and Individually Topical
The definition of an information junkie = millennial. From their childhood, web surfing was the only way to get the answers they needed. Ask a question of their parents, and “Google it” was the go-to response. As such, the information you put out must be accurate, relevant and thought-provoking, which gives them a reason to investigate further (they will) and respond.
Build Your Brand with Integrity That Is Globally Relevant
Long gone are the days where providing a free product offering would win over potential customers. Today’s consumers are cynical, and for good reason. With the onslaught of cyber theft and security breaches, people understand that if it says it’s free, there’s probably a cost.
If your product or service doesn’t provide global impact by its very existence, then your company brand should. If it doesn’t – to a millennial – you don’t exist.
Top 6 Marketing Angles Worth the Expense
Sales, web development and marketing firms will try to entice you into needing what they offer. With all the choices, it’s difficult to discern between necessity and fluff. Use this list of must-haves to position the marketing of your business well.
2018 marketing angles that work:
Quality content – original copywriting and optimized alt tags for imagery should rank organically
Video often – boosts viewership and experiential marketing
Cause marketing – brands your business with emotional substance
Niche campaigns – all media outlets, segment your audiences
Embrace the screens – use cross-channel marketing to increase impressions
Long-phrase keywords – catches the low-hanging fruit of search engines
Final Thought on Marketing to Your Audience
Not every business can claim millennials as its target audience. True. However, early adapters of web use and the culture of instant gratification aren’t merely for the young. This is how every generation under 65 years of age consumes.
Today, we are all millennials. Your marketing efforts need to align with our new, collective behavior.
Looking at the world through word-colored glasses, I am continuously in awe of how we evolve as people in business. We strive to communicate in a direct approach and, when we see fit, through subliminal channels. As a content strategist, I look forward to sharing all perspectives to help entertain, enlighten and engage more in others.
How Will You Spend Your Marketing Dollars in 2018?
As we’re preparing for the holidays, we’re giving thanks for all we’ve accomplished and all the new clients we’ve brought on board in 2017.
But we’re also looking ahead to 2018, and we’re encouraging companies to invest enough in marketing and advertising in order to grow their respective brands and generate more sales.
Jenny Stradling, CEO of Eminent SEO, says:
“This is my favorite time of the year. There’s such a good energy that comes with holiday preparations and celebrations. If you need help preparing your clients’ websites and marketing campaigns for the holidays, it is not too late! We can refresh content, launch a new Facebook ad campaign and offer dozens of other services to help your clients meet their goals this holiday season.”
Related Industry Links
There were some major players on the move and established companies acquired by industry giants in October. Here is a quick recap of the major moves:
How have marketing budgets changed from 1980 to 2017? Businesses are pouring less money into TV, radio and print ads while taking advantage of newer outlets such as social media paid ads and PPC/Google AdWords.
Here’s a visual representation of the evolution of modern marketing:
Highlights from the Eminent SEO Blog
As marketing continues to evolve, the way agencies interact with their clients will change, too. More transparency, flexible deliverables and realistic expectations will be among the newest developments.
Here’s some advice we all could use: how to stop your desk job from impacting your health beyond repair. Let’s look at the 5 ways office jobs harm your health, plus 8 tips on how to mitigate the damage.
CEO, Business Consultant, Researcher and Marketing Strategist
Jenny Weatherall is the co-owner and CEO of Eminent SEO, a design and marketing agency founded in 2009. She has worked in the industry since 2005, when she fell in love with digital marketing… and her now husband and partner, Chris. Together they have 6 children and 3 granddaughters.
Jenny has a passion for learning and sharing what she learns. She has researched, written and published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including: SEO, design, marketing, ethics, business management, sustainability, inclusion, behavioral health, wellness and work-life balance.
It’s a time of growth here at Eminent SEO. We’re close to launching our website makeover, and that’s just the start of what we’re cooking up for the rest of 2017.
We’re also expanding our marketing capabilities by bringing on talented new creators, aiming to do even bigger and better things for our clients.
Speaking to our growth, our CEO Jenny Stradling pointed out that:
“Our ability to test, track and make real-time adjustments to our marketing strategies and websites has been the key to our success.
“You have to be flexible. You must have the ability to grow. This may seem simple enough, but plenty of companies miss it. With SEO and PPC, it’s evolve or die.”
With that in mind, this month’s newsletter will touch on business growth topics and how digital marketing can help your company stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital world.
Your Industry News Roundup
The idea of “growth” is a broad concept that can mean very different things to different organizations. For some, growth may mean bringing on more qualified specialists to the team. For others, growth may merely be measured by a change in revenue.
Regardless of your definition of growth, digital marketing is bound to play a major role in the following ways:
Expanding your customer base (the right way) is an integral part of business growth. (Search Engine Journal)
Aligning SEO data with social media is necessary for brands seeking relevance in the digital age. (Marketing Land)
The best way to think about SEO is as a business investment, not a luxury. (Forbes)
Business and Marketing Tips
This may seem like a no-brainer, but the ways that marketers are spending their budgets have changed drastically over the past four decades. The changes reflect considerable shifts in consumer behaviors, particularly the shrinking relevance of television, radio and direct mail.
Want access to more marketing tips and shareable assets? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter by entering your email address directly below.
Related Blog Articles
You’ll find more useful tidbits in these recent blog articles from Eminent SEO. We hope our latest discussions about SEO and digital marketing inspire you to shake up your strategy for business growth:
Gone are the days of piecemeal marketing. The multichannel approach has become the new standard.
We really appreciate your taking the time to read our newsletter each month. It’s our sincerest hope that these tips and strategies are a big help to you and your organization.
Please reach out to us if you have more questions about optimizing your web presence. You can also keep an eye out for our September newsletter for even more helpful input from Eminent SEO.
Eminent SEO provides strategic SEO campaigns with measurable results along with expert website design, development, pay per click, content and social media and organic website marketing. 800.871.4130.
Many companies scramble to increase their followers, likes, views or shares by paying to boost Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts. Until your social presence gets a solid footing, the practice of boosting may be a necessary evil. But don’t count on it as a long-term strategy.
This is maybe the No. 1 question we have received over the last 13 years or so of doing SEO. And, the answer is always the same: It depends.
If you are a treatment facility with a valid company website, physical address, qualified staff and think can meet all of their certification qualifications, you can definitely apply!
Overconsumption comes by us honestly. We’re Americans. It’s what we do. While some people have an issue with taking in excessive amounts of food, alcohol, drugs, toxic relationships or shoes (yes, shoes), many business owners believe that a handful of websites to represent their product offerings are better than just one.
Jenny Stradling, CEO of Eminent SEO, says:
It’s a time of growth here at Eminent SEO. We’re close to launching our website makeover, and that’s just the start of what we’re cooking up for the rest of 2017.
