Digital marketing: online advertising, follow-ups and measuring results

Digital marketing encompasses everything that attracts customers via the internet: search engine optimisation, online advertising, social media and email marketing. On this page, we discuss the paid marketing channels that can be measured on a day-to-day basis: advertising on Google and Bing, email and text message follow-ups, and measuring the results of each.

Organic search and social media consultancy have their own dedicated pages.

Online advertising: Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising

Paid search links — also known as SEA (Search Engine Advertising) — are the adverts that appear at the top of Google and Bing results, above the organic results. You choose the search queries for which your advert appears, and you only pay when a user clicks on it.

Online advertising is useful when organic search isn’t enough, or isn’t quite there yet:

• when launching a website, a product or a promotion, before Google recognises you;
• for a seasonal offer or event, whilst it lasts;
• for searches that are too competitive to hope for a first-page ranking in organic search results.

We set up your Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising campaigns: selecting keywords and geographical areas, drafting adverts, creating landing pages that match the adverts, setting a budget cap, and tracking leads and sales generated. For the most demanding accounts, we work with a data analytics specialist recognised by Google Ads.

Organic search and advertising: the two sides of SEM

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) combines organic search, which establishes your website’s long-term presence, with advertising, which makes you visible straight away. The two feed into each other: advertising campaigns quickly reveal which search terms are profitable, and SEO then takes over for those that warrant in-depth work. For SEO, see our SEO audit.

Email and SMS: re-engaging and building loyalty

It costs less to bring back a returning customer than to win over a new one. We set up:

• newsletters and email campaigns targeted at your customers;
• automatic reminders for an online shop: abandoned trolleys, orders due for renewal, post-purchase feedback;
• text messages, for a short message that needs to be read quickly.

These messages are only sent to people who have given their consent, as required by the GDPR: this is a legal obligation, and it is also what makes them effective. They are particularly valuable on an e-commerce site.

Inbound marketing: attracting customers through content

Inbound marketing brings customers to you rather than you having to go out and find them: useful content — articles, guides, answers to your customers’ questions — which helps people find you on Google, followed by follow-ups that turn a visitor into a lead. It relies on organic search and the follow-up strategies described above.

What about social media?

We advise you on which platforms to be active on, your editorial approach and posting frequency; your teams are responsible for managing the content. This is the focus of our communications consultancy.

Measure to decide

Every action is judged by what it delivers, not by what it shows. Before launching a campaign, we work with you to define what matters — a quote request, a phone call, a sale — and we measure it:

• the cost per lead or per sale, campaign by campaign;
• the searches and pages that generate results, and those that incur costs without delivering anything;
• trends over time, so we can cut out what isn’t working and strengthen the rest.

For audience measurement, we prefer Matomo, which stores data on your servers and respects your visitors’ privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What budget should I set aside for Google Ads?

It depends on the competition for your keywords and your location. We work with you to set a monthly cap, which Google will not exceed, and we adjust this based on the actual cost per lead.

Do I have to choose between organic search and paid advertising?

No: advertising delivers immediate results, as long as you’re paying; SEO delivers results later, but over the long term. We often start with advertising to build awareness whilst SEO takes effect.