enlarging your window… on Google
This time last year I am happy to say that we completed a small renovation at the front of our house which involved widening one of our windows and installing built in wardrobes on either side. I am happy with the result and will gladly recommend the fellows who did the job. We now have more sunlight as well as a decent place to hang our clothes.
What has this got to do with digital marketing, you ask?
My family had moved into the area a year earlier and didn’t know any builders, having previously only rented an apartment. An earlier builder recommended by a friend had disappeared when the job was supposed to start so I turned to Google to find someone reliable. It turns out that while there are plenty of houses around, there appeared to be be very few digitally savvy builders. For my part, I’m not one to make many phone calls during during office hours; the only time I get to sit down and research personal matters is after dinner. I was quite surprised to find the search was not a simple affair and it took several weeks before I found someone willing to quote and do the work after I had shelled out some money to a draughtsman and the local council.
At the same time, in the office, we’re doing some great work for ambitious organisations by helping them attract new leads from Google. Alas none of them would have been able to help me with my window but one example is a privately owned business that sells products to builders around Sydney. The advantage that smaller businesses have is that they generally offer quite a specific product or service, and this means that – with a little guidance – they can be quite visible in Google search results.
doubling your return on investment
We aim for a solid return on investment for our clients from every project so we’re particularly proud of the increase in new business we’ve been able to generate for this client without them increasing their advertising budget. As the following chart shows, we’ve been able to dramatically reduce the cost for each new lead down from about $1.75 to about $0.75 in the last 12 months.
This means that the company is now paying less than a dollar to bring a new prospect to its website. And since one sale can generate thousands of dollars in revenue, it’s money well spent.
We’ve essentially managed to move their shop from the suburbs to the centre of town without paying any more rent. The company’s window to the world just got a lot bigger and they’re now staffing up to cope with the demand. In the meantime we’re now focussing on improving the website itself to make it more informative and persuasive.
(If you’ve already optimised your advertising reach and spend, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got clean pipes.)
