Want to know the absolute fastest ways to get sales? Here they are.
Fastest: Google Ads
The absolute fastest way to increase sales is Google Ads (formerly AdWords). Google Ads is an online advertising platform. It allows entrepreneurs and business owners to run ultra-targeted ads on Google – and on other websites that are part of Google Ads’ display network.
Time to Set Up
Google Ads is easy and fast to set up for your business. Any entrepreneur or business owner can realistically set up Google Ads in one day.
If you don’t already have a Gmail account, you can sign up for one in a few short steps. Once you have a Gmail account, you can create a Google Ads account.
The basics to setting up a Google Ads business account:
- Set up currency and time zone
- Define campaign settings
- Submit billing information
Check out the Google Ads sign-up guide to get you started.
Landing Page for Your Ads
Before you start running Google Ads, you need a website or landing page. This page or website is where people will go once they click your ad.
If the goal is to drive up website (or landing page) traffic, then it’s PPC for the win.
However, if the goal is to generate leads, then gated content (forms) is a successful way to move prospects down the sales funnel.
You can easily create a landing page with gated content and a contact form. There are several online tools you can use to make a website.
Time to See Results
How soon will you begin to see results from Google Ads?
Andy, one of Artonic’s digital marketing experts, says, “Direct, highly-targeted advertising like PPC campaigns can deliver nearly instant results in sales or leads that can show even the most impatient entrepreneur results before they start to panic.”
Sean, a Google Ads expert, agrees. He says, “As long as the entrepreneur is willing to spend money, online advertising is a great way to receive instant results.”
Andy continues, “However, it’s important to remember that advertising ends just as quickly as it begins – the moment you stop running your ads, your awareness will atrophy – sometimes instantly, sometimes over a few days or weeks.”
Your Budget
If you want results fast, you’ll need a realistic budget. Google Ads can be expensive, especially for highly competitive online industries. Google Ads may also cost more if your competitors invest in Google Ads, too.
What are Good Results?
Success should be measured by click-through-rate (CTR) and conversions. A conversion can be many things, such as a completed form, a download, or a sale. This is something to define with your Google Ads consultant at the beginning of your campaign. To track conversions, a tracking mechanism needs to be set up.
Your account manager works with you to determine what metrics to measure. We’ll incorporate the tracking code into your website as part of the setup process. (You may be interested in 10 Questions to Ask Your Google Ads Consultant.)
Tracking Results
Although Sean concedes that “new marketing efforts take time to see results,” he also adds that Google Ads and other forms of digital advertising allow “for hour by hour tracking which makes it simple to adjust things that are not working.”
Also Fast: E-mail Marketing
Not interested in Google Ads or paid advertising? Andy suggests “from execution to results, e-mail marketing is one of the fastest digital ways to see real responses to your marketing.”
He continues, “Depending on the quality of a list (or your need to build one,) e-mail marketing can let you reach thousands of potential customers at once and start collecting data immediately: who may be interested, who’s interested now, who’s ready to buy, and what patterns can be found?”
Time to Set Up
First, signup for an e-mail platform that offers mass e-mailing. MailChimp is one example of such a platform. Create an account for your business on MailChimp in minutes.
Next you’ll need a contact list. MailChimp and other e-mail platforms allow you to import your contacts.
Once you have a list of contacts, it’s time to create your e-mail. You can choose a pre-designed template or can create a custom e-mail template, like many of our clients do.
After you pick a template, add content to it. Include your marketing message and a link back to your landing page or website. Then select the contacts to whom you want to send the e-mail. Then hit “Send”! It’s really that easy.
Time to See Results
You can see results from an e-mail instantaneously. Once you send the e-mail, your contacts will begin to see and open it. If they click the link in your e-mail, they will be taken to your landing page.
Once on the landing page, your contacts become leads. These leads can convert by taking action on your landing page. This action is called a conversion. Many landing pages include an e-mail contact form. If a lead enters her e-mail into this form, she has indicated interest in your business.
Your Budget
Depending on what you already have, basic e-mail marketing may cost very little. You’ll need to invest your time, of course. You’ll also have to pay for an account on an appropriate platform like MailChimp.
Additional costs may include:
- Contact List – If you don’t have a list of e-mail address, you can buy one or build one. Note, buying or building a list takes time and money.
- E-mail Template Design – If you want a branded, custom design to match your website, you may have a small cost associated with it.
- Content Creation – If you don’t write your own content, you’ll have to pay someone to create it for you. Same goes for photos or video.
Additional Tactics
Want more options? To impatient entrepreneurs, Angela says, “Don’t underestimate offline marketing tactics to support online efforts and really increase awareness of your new business!”
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Marketing
Short-term marketing tactics like Google Ads or e-mail “give our clients an immediate win when looking at successful campaign results,” according to Angela.
However, she is quick to add, “it’s important to remember that building a long-term marketing mix of SEO (including content and social), PPC, and relationship marketing AFTER a purchase is so important. That’s where you will go from small wins to exponential lead growth.”
That’s right – long-term marketing builds upon itself overtime. Instead of investing into a fast campaign that fizzles out quickly, consider longer-term marketing tactics like content marketing and automation.
Andy agrees, “Marketing is a long-term process with a long-term goal. A marketing plan will never reach its full impact right away, and impatience will undermine its effectiveness.”
Feeling Impatient?
If you’re an impatient entrepreneur or business owner who wants results now, Andy suggests learning a little more about marketing. He says, “impatience with marketing often comes down to just not understanding it.”
Why? “What it is and how it helps goes a long way to prevent them from thinking the early stages of marketing aren’t working just because they haven’t built up yet.”
Don’t Sabotage Your Timeline
We know you want results fast; we get it. We want results, too. However, the decisions you make regarding your marketing campaign can sabotage your timeline.
Andy makes an excellent point when he suggests entrepreneurs stay with one marketing medium or message longer than a few weeks. “Changing mediums or messaging can reset progress if decision-makers start firing from the hip because they [don’t] see immediate results.”
Get Better Results
Entrepreneurs are usually full of passion and drive for their business and, understandably, they want to see results (i.e. sales) quickly. But unless they are launching a marketing firm, their own expertise often is not in marketing.
If you want fast results, you’ll probably be better off hiring a professional digital marketing agency or Google Ads consultant to manage your campaign. Marketing agencies, like Artonic, can construct a marketing strategy that offers quick results, but then transitions to longer-term marketing tactics.
Artonic wants results – we want the absolute best results from all marketing activities. But best results doesn’t always mean fastest.
For me, it’s all about setting the right expectations for our clients at the beginning.
If you are building a startup or small business, you need to know that it takes time to create an online presence, define the best customers for your product or service, and build relationships for those customers.
Google Ads Results Case Study
We work with a lot of clients to optimize their Google Ads campaigns. Take a look at one of our recent case studies, showing exactly how our client increased sales online.
Say Hello!
Give Artonic a call or email us if you’re interested in website design, development, or marketing.
Michigan, USA