Are you looking for a quick solution to drive traffic to your website? Do you feel like you need to see quick marketing results to keep up and stay competitive? We hear you. But in truth, marketing results take a lot of work and often a longer timeline than you may want for your business.
Since we specialize in getting marketing results, a big part of our job is to help clients have healthy and appropriate expectations around when those marketing results will roll in. It’s estimated that for a small- to medium-sized business, a strong content marketing strategy generally takes between six and nine months to yield real results.
That’s right, marketing results take time.
What’s the holdup for marketing results?
There are a few reasons why coming up with a fantastic marketing plan and implementing it overnight won’t necessarily change anything right away—and one of those reasons is Google.
Google has an algorithm that keeps an index of what content is on web pages, so when you conduct a search on Google you are actually just going through Google’s index. Google then determines what your webpage is worth to viewers and rates it based on SEO, Content Quality, Keyword Competition, Domain Age and about 250 other factors. This rating then determines what order search results will appear in, with more well-rounded web pages being ranked higher and appearing closer to the top of the search results.
This video about how web searching works from Google goes a little more into detail.
More established sites that have more consistently published quality content will be more favored by the algorithm, so taking the time to really build up the content and quality of your business’s web page will be very beneficial in terms of search. But again, earning these marketing results will take time. (That’s why so many businesses invest in Google Ad campaigns (aka PPC) because by spending money they can “jump” to the top of the results for the keyword searches they bid on.)
Polishing your brand yields marketing results
The longer a site has been neglected, the more work will be needed to get your brand up to par and optimized so that an agency can start the work of promoting it. This process typically takes between 3 and 6 months depending on how much work the brand needs.
Some work that may need to be done to become a valuable resource in the eyes of Google can include:
- New website design or copy
- Professional logo design
- Professional photography showcasing your products, services, or team
- Creating more content
- Establishing a company blog
Ready for marketing to support your business dreams?
Ready for marketing to support your business dreams?
Building a foundation of trust
Trust is another big reason why marketing results rarely arrive overnight.
A lot of marketing is about winning the trust of consumers who are looking to your business for a product or service. Trust takes time: there are no shortcuts. It is built, partly, by optimizing the brand, pushing out the message, and living up to the brand’s promises.
Studies show that customers need nine or 10 “touches” (interactions) with the brand, slowly building trust and forming an impression of the brand, before they are ready to make a purchase—perhaps more if there is any previous negative perception or connotation or confusion.
Finding your target audience
Ultimately, marketing results are about building relationships. Like any relationship, you need to make sure you’re building it with the right person (or people). While you’re building trust and sending out your brand’s updated message, you need to make sure you are targeting the right audience. It takes time to identify the right audiences and reach them in their preferred ways, but doing so builds longer-lasting, high-quality relationships and the potential for creating customers for life.
With all this in mind, there are several things you can do to boost your business while practicing your patience:
- Identify your buyer personas
- Create strong organic content
- Identify S.M.A.R.T goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Actionable, Relevant, Timely)
- Build your presence on social media platforms
- Wait patiently for the marketing results to increase
- Find a way to track and measure those marketing results
For more information check out this article on content specific marketing results.
Do you need help improving your marketing results?
We specialize in helping brands play to their strengths for the long game—and get results. Get in touch for more info.