Advertise, Diversify and Sell

For each healthy and functioning business, one standing imperative is to bring more customers and sales. Having just one channel for incoming leads is a precarious situation. And there are many businesses in such peril. Some rely on sources outside their control such as search engine algorithm updates that can unexpectedly impact all organic optimization efforts. Others fare better and pay for advertising or do a combination – optimize their online presence for organic results and also do ads. But each business strives for new channels that bring sales.

I still remember my mentor saying – diversify – 20 years ago. The meaning of diversification in marketing is evident to everyone. But few people know there is a hidden strength in using different channels – they complement each other and boost the overall results.

As you can see, a small minority of customers buy just from seeing an ad once. Purchases come from people who have seen your ads a couple of times or seen an ad and found you online. Or remember you from a search and click a link on one of your emails. Looking at their behavior is fascinating.

But I digress. Creating such an engine takes time, and businesses need to start somewhere. It is a risk to begin with optimizing for search engine results – search engine optimization. To be clear, SEO is critical, but it takes time, consistency, focus, and a lot of effort, and the results are not guaranteed. Concurrently, it is not your best choice as a leading channel from the start.

Start by paying for ads on Google, Bing, or Meta. If your budget is more than $50,000 monthly, you can start with all of them. But if you have less than $10,000, pick one and see how it goes. Starting slowly and testing what works is a smart strategy for small businesses.

Remember that results may vary, and you will need to test everything – images, copy, strategy, configuration, and much more. Constantly. Find professionals, invest, be patient, and optimize results. As seen in the image below, the results will come.

In the images above and below, you can see the Meta advertising results in sales we brought to a small family-owned company this month.