See Our Blogs

We may not be able to take you skiing, camping or hiking, but we can help you grow your outdoor clothing and equipment shop so you can help others get out there! Read on to find out how Google ads put you right in front of your customers.

Google ads put your business at the top of the search results page, on the most used search engine in the world. Google accounts for 77% of search engine users and the first five results receive 67.6% of clicks, according to Forbes.

This means that if you want your business to be seen you need to be at the top of Google, otherwise it’s like you’re not on the internet at all. Here we’ll explain what Google ads are, and how they can help you get your business right in front of customers. We’ll also tell you what you need to know to get started yourself!

Since the outdoor equipment industry has been identified as an emerging sector for Alaska, now is the perfect time to grow your business. The sector is growing significantly due to a lessening in the severity of the climate. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and this has the result of reducing the length of the snow season in Alaska. As most visitors to the state come in the summer months, and many take advantage of the great Alaskan outdoors, you can expect to see an increase in visitor participation in outdoor activities.

What are Google ads?

That’s enough data for now! Let’s move on to what Google ads are, then we’ll look at how they can be useful for the outdoor equipment industry specifically.

Most people are familiar with the spooky feeling of seeing an ad about something you were only just thinking about. This happens because you’ve been targeted by something called “remarketing”.

Remarketing is the practice of having advertisements for websites or products follow you around the internet.

These ads can be generated because you visited a website, or because Google has determined your interests from tracking your online activity. As a business owner using Google ads, you can make use of this kind of advertising power.

There are two types of google ads:

• Display ads: these pop up on websites, they are usually a graphic or image and can be identified by grey “advertisement” text above them.
• Search ads: these appear at the top of your search results page and can be identified by a small green box with “ad” to the left of the URL.

Clicking on these ads charges the business who runs them, hence the name “pay per click” or “PPC”, which we’ll get into in more detail in the next section.

Paid ads are generally at the very top of the search results page, below them are the “organic” results. Here at Beacon, we recommend strategies for both paid ads and organic ranking for our clients.

Google search ads comprise only three parts: headline, URL, and description. Display ads, on the other hand, can come in up to 16 combinations of logos, graphics, headlines, and descriptions!

How do Google ads work?

When starting to look into Google ads, it is important to understand the algorithm, bidding structure, and cost. This is all managed through GoogleAdwords, which you will want to create an account for, which you can do here.

The Algorithm

You may have heard this magical-sounding term “The Algorithm” which has come to public prominence in recent years, related to platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Here we’ll explain what is meant by the word algorithm in the context of Google ads.

Google uses an algorithm to determine which ads you see when you search. In the fraction of a second after you press search, google takes an inventory of all the ad accounts that contain keywords or phrases used in your search.

Say you search for “outdoor clothing and equipment shop near me”. A business trying to increase their outdoor equipment sales will have ads on google which are included in the inventory search.

But how did they get it included in the inventory?

The business will have bid a monetary amount that they are willing to pay every time someone clicks on their ad. This makes it a sort of auction, and the winner is determined by two factors:

1. The maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid you have set
2. The quality score of your advertisement

The second point here is very important.

Google is a business, they want to make money. The best way for them to do this is to provide quality content so that people come to trust and rely on their service. They have a near-monopoly on search engine use which they built by providing the best content to people.

The quality score is determined by two factors:

1. Past performance of your ad, ad group, and account in general.
2. The relevance of your chosen keyword, ad (title, URL, and description), and landing page to the search and to each other.

Let’s just explain the terms “ad group” and “landing page”.

An ad group is the group of keywords that you are trying to rank your ad for. The landing page is the page users “land” on after they click on your ad. The ad you write and the landing page should both use the keyword you are targeting and be focused on the topic you are discussing.

The factors we just discussed culminate in a simple equation that determines your ads final rank on the results page:

CPC Bid x Quality Score = Ad Rank

Google display ads work slightly differently, with bids made on ad groups, rather than keywords. You also have the ability to bid on impressions rather than clicks. Impressions are the number of times your ad was delivered, i.e. how many times it was “seen” by searchers. In this case, we talk about “cost-per-impression” or “CPM”.

How much will Google ads cost my outdoor clothing and equipment shop business?

We’ve mentioned that you will be charged every time someone clicks on one of your outdoor equipment business’s google ads.

The equation to determine the cost per click is:

Next highest ad rank/Quality Score + $0.01 = CPC

This means that the higher your quality score, the lower your costs. Again, this is due to Google’s own self-interest in providing quality to users. It is important to note that the CPC will never go above your maximum bid.

Can Google ads grow my outdoor clothing and equipment shop business?

Ok, we’ve covered the ways google ads works, but can they really grow your business?

The answer is, absolutely!

But it is not guaranteed.

It is important to understand the level of competition in the area you are targeting. Some industries, in certain locations, have more competition than others. For example, the CPC in the legal industry in anchorage, at Beacon HQ has been as high as $50!

Spending this amount per click is unlikely to be worthwhile unless you have very high profit margins, especially as a click is not necessarily a customer.

Keywords for “outdoor equipment” have quite high competition in our area, although the prices are still relatively low. We might instead choose to use “outdoor clothing and equipment shop”, which has low competition while retaining high search volume. Remember, you may find that the situation is different where you are.

A competitive industry shouldn’t discourage you, however!

We at beacon excel at creating quality ads, and that goes a long way to reducing costs and ranking your ads higher than the competition.

So, how do we do it?

• For every service we want to advertise, we use a budget of at least $300 a month.
• We always find some way to differentiate the services we are advertising by using more nuanced keywords.
• Our team makes it a priority to create quality, relevant ads and landing pages.

Are you ready to give it a go? We hope this article will serve as a handy reference while you’re getting started!

On the other hand, our team is Google Partner Certified and we are constantly working to achieve the best results for our clients.

If you are interested in hiring Beacon to tackle advertising for you, you can schedule a free consultation, here!

Recently, on the way to work, I heard a radio ad that caught my attention.

It was for an imaging provider. They were offering the latest and greatest in imaging technology and procedures. Radio ads don’t usually catch my attention, but this one made me pause. A marketer by trade, I began to get inside my consumer brain to explore exactly why this particular ad was so effective.

Here’s what I discovered:

1. I had been looking for an imaging provider (need)
2. I had been in need of imaging services for over two years now (pain)
3. I didn’t want to go to just anyone because the procedure is typically painful (pain)
4. I was aware of non-painful, alternative methods (education)
5. I didn’t know who offered them (need)

It was the perfect culmination of events. I just so happened to turn the radio on that morning during the time this provider’s radio spot was running, I just so happened to be in a season of life where I needed their services, and I just so happened to have enough consumer education to know that they offered exactly what I was looking to find.

The crazy thing is I didn’t even call the number at the end of the ad! Nor am I planning to anytime soon. But when the time comes and the stars align just right again, you can be sure that this provider has my consumer preference.

This experience did a few different things for me. First, it made me realize just how difficult it can be to win people’s business (and how incredible it is that we’re so great at it at Beacon!). Second, it reinforced the importance of targeted, consumer data-based digital advertisements versus the shotgun approach of traditional media like radio.

Finally, it re-centered my definition of marketing.

Marketing is not about who can talk faster, or close better. It is about a deep psychological understanding of customer needs. – Michael Brenner, What Is Marketing?

Handy Definition of Marketing

When I got home that night and had some more time to mull over the events of the day, I pulled out my iPhone and Googled, “What is marketing?” It’s a slightly embarrassing search for a marketer, especially one who took numerous academic courses on marketing in school, but sometimes we all need to be reminded of “the main thing.”

A particular part of the Wikipedia definition caught my eye, “Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships.” “That’s it,” I thought. Marketing is literally just taking people like me, everyday people who listen to the radio and Google simple searches on their smartphones, and finding a mutually beneficial exchange of value that you both agree upon, typically your services in exchange for their money.

“Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships.” – Wikipedia

I thought about everything that this involves, from finding and targeting the right people using data like demographics and life circumstances, to creating the right offer using differentiation and customer education where necessary. A fresh framework for marketing began to form in my mind.

Suddenly, I could see that everything that we do at Beacon falls neatly into that framework.

All Marketing is Inbound Marketing

We are a digital marketing agency. That means we focus on digital media such as websites, videos, social media posts, and blogs rather than traditional media like print, radio, and TV. We do so because we believe it is the most effective. Not that we don’t use traditional media in combination with digital media sometimes as a part of a holistic strategy, but we prefer to invest our money (and our client’s money) where we know we can get results.

As I mentioned earlier, digital marketing is highly targeted, whereas traditional marketing takes more of a shotgun approach. With digital marketing, you can show people ads based on their demographics, life situation, interests, and even outwardly expressed needs. You can also track their responses. Because everything is internet-based, we can follow every like, comment, share, click, and convert (or bounce). It’s kinda hard to know if someone called or visited your website from a print, radio, or TV ad. There are methods, but they all come back to digital tracking in the end.

One of the core philosophies of digital marketing is called “inbound.” It’s the idea that if you know who you want to serve, if you truly understand them in all of their wants, needs, pains, and dreams, and you put valuable information for them in the places that they spend their time, they will notice you and pursue a business relationship. Of course, in the age of the internet, pretty much everybody spends a great portion of their time online. 

This is how we create exchanges at Beacon. We market online. We conduct deep customer research and practice A/B testing on as many demographics and other customer markers as we can get our hands on until we have the perfect target audience. We find out exactly what they’re searching online down to the keywords and phrases they use to communicate their problems and desires. Then, we craft our value-driven brand message and produce helpful information.

Most Important Part of Marketing

What is a brand message? To us, it is an empathetic messaging that will resonate with our target audience given what we know about them.

The truth is, the provider I mentioned at the beginning could have done a lot more by way of brand messaging. If they had focused more on what their technology means for the patient, as in, less pain, rather than just how cool and awesome it is, they would have had a chance of capturing more than just people like me. I had to read between the lines. Fortunately for them, I knew a thing or two about imaging technology.

A brand message is more than just empathetic statements. It is also empathetic action.

I am a content writer, and 90% of my time is spent producing information that helps the customer along their journey. I answer commonly searched questions, write “how-tos” and “quick guides,” and generally put written form to the solutions our clients are offering their customers.

This does more than simply educate the customer. When we produce empathetic and valuable content like this for our customers, we show them that we are the kind of people who have the answers they are looking for. The result? They want more from us, which quickly becomes our products or services themselves.

“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” – Doug Kessler

If I could summarize all of this succinctly in one statement it would be this, “know thy customer.” If marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships, then the obvious first step is knowing who you are relating to and what they might want to exchange. Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to find and foster exchange relationships through data-based targeting and empathetic brand messaging.

We are seeing incredible results for our clients who use this marketing framework every day. If you are interested in getting back to “the main thing” in your marketing, we would love to talk! You can schedule a free consultation with us at the link.

As always, happy marketing.

Looking for the digital marketing tools that will knock your next campaign out of the park?

As a digital marketing agency, we have a lot of experience with the tools that help (and some lessons learned with the ones that hinder).

Today, we only use the best.

Want to know what our top 5 digital marketing tools are?

Well, today you’re in for a treat.

What Is a Digital Marketing Tool?

Before we begin, let’s get an important definition straight.

What is a digital marketing tool?

A digital marketing tool is any web-based technology that can be used to advance your digital marketing efforts.

“A digital marketing tool is any web-based technology that can be used to advance your digital marketing efforts.”

There are digital marketing tools for email marketing, for customer relationship management, for marketing automation…just about anything you can think of!

Today, we’re going to talk about digital marketing tools that fall into three categories:

1. Website marketing tools
2. Search marketing tools
3. Social media marketing tools

Let’s begin.

Your Foundation: Website Marketing Tools

To start, we’re talking about website marketing tools, because your website is the foundation of your entire digital marketing campaign.

When we say, “website marketing tools,” we mean the system you choose to build your website on, better known as the “content management system.”

“A content management system is a system you choose to build your website on.”

In the world of digital marketing tools, there are many content management systems to choose from.

You have probably heard of many of them before: WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, etc.

The #1 content management system on the internet is WordPress.

Top Digital Marketing Tools #1: WordPress

WordPress powers 34% of the internet according to W3Techs, a technology survey firm.

WordPress powers 34% of the internet according to W3Techs.

Let that statistic settle in for a second.

Thirty-four percent of all websites across the globe run on WordPress.

This makes WordPress the top website marketing tool.

It’s the one that we use for all our client websites (including the website you are reading now!).

Why do you think 34% of us digital marketers are using WordPress?

We recently wrote a blog on why WordPress is so popular for new websites.

Here is a brief summary of the benefits of WordPress:

1. WordPress is free and open to everyone
2. You can build any kind of website you want on WordPress
3. WordPress is easy to use
4. You don’t have to learn to code to use WordPress
5. You can get WordPress support just about anywhere
6. WordPress is scalable and can handle business growth
7. WordPress integrates with most business software
8. With WordPress, you own your business website – not so with the “other guys!”
9. WordPress is the best blogging platform in the world
10. WordPress is SEO-friendly
11. You can upload photos, videos, and documents
12. WordPress is mobile-friendly
13. WordPress is safe and secure
14. It’s just plain popular!

And that’s just the abbreviated version!

If you would like to learn more, read the blog.

For now, suffice it to say that you should be using WordPress over anything else if you want the best of the best among website marketing tools.

Next Steps: Search Marketing Tools

Once you’ve chosen the best digital marketing tool for your website (that’s WordPress), you’ll want to promote it on the top channels.

Naturally, the first channel you’ll be promoting your website on is the search engine.

The #1 search engine in the world is Google.

Google offers a couple different search marketing tools for you to take advantage of.

 

 

Top Digital Marketing Tools #2: Google

Google boasts an 88% market share according to Statista, another survey firm.

“Google boasts an 88% market share according to Statista.”

If you’ve been in business for any significant amount of time, then you’ll understand the value of market share.

You’ll also understand that an 88% market share is unheard of.

What this means is that all other search engines in the world–be it Bing, Yahoo!, or something as obscure as DuckDuckGo–capture only 12% of all search traffic combined.

This makes Google the top search engine.

A. The Google Algorithm (Search Engine Optimization)

The first Google search marketing tool we’re talking about here isn’t so much a tool as it is a way to approach a tool we can’t access.

What we’re referring to is the Google algorithm and search engine optimization (SEO).

The Google algorithm is not public knowledge.

However, it is the tool Google uses to determine which websites rank on the first page (and which get buried on anything lower).

Google does not publish their algorithm in order to keep things fair.

Nonetheless, digital marketers like us are always seeking strategies for ranking on Google.

This discipline is called search engine optimization (SEO).

Search engine optimization (SEO) is making your website as Google-friendly as possible to achieve a high ranking among the search results.

“Search engine optimization (SEO) is making your website as Google-friendly as possible to achieve a high ranking among the search results.”

Although the Google algorithm is not available for public eyes, there is a lot we digital marketers have learned through testing, experimentation, and leaks over the years.

These SEO strategies are very valuable, making them an important aspect of Google search marketing.

B. Google Ads

A secondary search marketing tool is Google’s own advertising platform, Google AdWords.

Google AdWords is used to pay for search results, often in combination with unpaid SEO strategies.

“Google AdWords is used to pay for search results, often in combination with unpaid SEO strategies.”

You’ve probably seen Google ads before, they’re the first couple results on most search pages, indicated by a little, green “ad” box:

If you’re struggling to rank among the Google search results, Google ads are a great way to get some traction on the first page.

They’re also a great way to get on the top of the results page.

For these reasons, Google ads are another important aspect of Google search marketing.

The Gold: Social Media Marketing Tools

Let’s just say your website is on WordPress, it’s achieving first-page ranking on Google, and you’ve made good use of Google Ads…

What other digital marketing tools could you be using to get your campaign message in front of as many people in your target audience as possible?

There’s a large part of digital marketing that we haven’t addressed yet: social media.

People spend 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media each day, that’s 71% of the 3 hours and 22 minutes they spend on the internet over that same span of time.

“People spend 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media each day, that’s 71% of the 3 hours and 22 minutes they spend on the internet over that same span of time.”

Our top three social media marketing tools are Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Top Digital Marketing Tools #3: Facebook

Facebook has 2.41 billion monthly active users, making it the #1 social media platform in the world.

“Facebook has 2.41 billion monthly active users.”

It is seconded only by YouTube (technically a video marketing platform) (also owned by Google, *wink wink*) and Instagram, it’s own subsidiary.

What makes Facebook so popular?

Only you, the user, can tell us.

The success of Facebook is largely due to how big it became in a short amount of time, squashing all competition.

Being first to market is as good as gold.

But that success is reinforced by its value to the end-user.

Facebook was created for humans interested in other humans, which is all of us.

It allows us to take a sneak peek into one another’s lives, answering questions that had gone unanswered before at the rapid speed of the internet.

And so it became the best social media marketing tool available.

Top Digital Marketing Tools #4: Instagram

Instagram is Facebook’s subsidiary that has over 1 billion monthly active users.

“Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users.”

For this reason, Instagram is the #2 social media marketing tool in the world, unless you count YouTube (which is a slightly different animal, but we will talk about it next).

What is the value of Instagram?

Two primary points here.

1. Instagram was created to be a visuals-oriented platform.

Instagram is pictures-first, then text.

It lends itself well to artistic and engaging images.

In this way, it cuts out all the clutter that Facebook has become littered with–long, text-based posts, articles, funny photos, kitschy graphics, and memes.

(There is a place for those things but it’s Facebook, not Instagram.)

People who want a streamlined, clean, and simple social media experience love Instagram.

That’s a big reason why it has become so popular.

2. Instagram caught on with the millennial audience.

Another reason for the rise of Instagram is that the millennial audience has taken this social media platform by storm.

64% of 18-29-year-olds use Instagram according to SproutSocial.

“64% of 18-29-year-olds use Instagram.”

Just like Facebook entered the social media market loud and fast, making it the best, millennials took over Instagram so it became the place to be.

 

Top Digital Marketing Tools #5: YouTube

Earlier this Spring, YouTube crossed over into the 2 billion monthly active user camp.

Already the #1 video publishing platform in the world, this news only reinforced YouTube’s popularity.

Why is YouTube the top video marketing tool across the globe?

According to Social Media Explorer, there are five reasons:

1. YouTube creators are compensated
2. YouTube creates community
3. YouTube mobilizes underrepresented talent
4. YouTube is gamified and offers recognition
5. YouTube welcomes competition

YouTube is generally a creators-first platform, making it very easy and valuable for creators to publish the educational and entertaining content that a good video sharing site is known for.

Are you ready to hit a home run on your next campaign with the best of the best among digital marketing tools?

We hope that you make good use of WordPress, Google, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

These are the top by far because of the number of people who use them and the incredible experience they deliver.

If you are interested in partnering with an agency who uses these tools on a regular basis and understands their nuances, we would be happy to talk.

Please schedule a free consultation with us using our live scheduler.

To everyone else, best wishes as you tackle this next marketing push with the #1 tools on the market.

Happy marketing!

Originally published on November 7, 2017. Updated on May 30, 2019.

About 10 days ago, I heard a respected industry person put forward the premise that marketers are really just paid to be good bullsh** artists. Of course, there was a lot more to the conversation than that. In fact, after asking about it later, it turned out that’s not really what they were saying at all.

It’s certainly not the first time or even 20th time I’ve heard someone make that claim of marketers in general. For some reason, the statement really got under my skin this time. I’ve heard it enough that it really made me question things. Is that a true statement? Am I just fooling myself in this field?

Marketing Needs Shared Values

I decided to examine myself and be willing to answer the question honestly whatever the outcome. Taking the deep dive into personal and professional motives has been challenging, but rewarding too. There are certain things I discovered about myself, and choices I’ve made, that sometimes do describe bullshi**ing. Yuck… that feels terrible to put into words.

Specifically, past clients that I questioned whether we were the best fit for them. Often we weren’t. Obviously, we didn’t produce stellar results. I’ve also worked with folks where I knew there was a disconnect between vision, ideas and values, but I was too intimidated to call it out.

The willingness to ignore my best self in those situations haunts me today.

Clearly, the first issue I had to look at is whether we are putting our client’s interests first and using our expertise to produce the best work possible on behalf of their goals and vision. At first, we sometimes failed at this, but as we grew into our shoes, so to speak, and our expertise started to take hold, we achieved this more and more.  To put it simply, we became industry experts not by working for our own success, but for our clients’ success.

I think that is the standard we can agree on for all professionals.

Authentic Marketing Works Best

The second issue is where the situation gets tricky. How can we really represent a client if we don’t wholeheartedly believe in their product, service or their values? The truth is we can’t.

That’s the key for us at Beacon Media + Marketing, and for myself personally. There has to be buy-in. There has to be a belief that the person and company we work with and represent is one that we stand behind. Anything less than that and some B.S. is going to be involved.

Part of the advantage of being 46 and gathering the self-awareness that I have so painfully acquired over these past many years is that I know and accept myself for who I am. When my heart is not aligned with a situation my stomach hurts, literally. A headache generally follows next.

In the past, I might have tried to stuff my feelings with food to numb the situation, but since I’m not doing that anymore (yay, to mindful eating and exercise!) I just feel terrible instead.

This does not in any way lead to great creative work or representing my client well. You see the problem. Even when I did go the B.S. route – it always turned out badly.

Return of Idealistic Marketing

Here’s what I know that I know now. I am an Idealist Marketer, and when I act against my beliefs, I am miserable, my work is uninspired and our company just doesn’t thrive.

On the other hand, when we believe in the company, people, and values for whom we are marketing we will put our heart and soul into the project. Creativity flows in a beautiful way and great results follow. Here are a few examples of the incredible businesses we’ve helped, who not only align with our idealism, but inspire it:

• The HVAC company that employs more than 50 people in Anchorage, whose owners rode out the recession in the ’80s with less than 5 people remaining. It took 10 years to personally repay the debts and stand strong again so they could honor their commitments to our community and rehire staff. Their clients trust them so much that they often give them the keys to their house when they are vacationing in the winter. We’ve helped lower this client’s monthly marketing budget and substantially increase new leads over the past few years. It’s an honor to work with them because they represent the best of businesses in our city.
• The property management company that has grown from 1 employee to more than 40 in the past 5 years. They started with the mission to educate our community and raise the standards for property management services in Anchorage. They have done just that. They offer free classes monthly, at their own expense, to DIY Landlords and they constantly educate their staff and provide best practices in their profession. They have not only raised the standards in Anchorage but provided new jobs. We’ve provided their marketing throughout their growth over the past 5 years and it has always been an honest reflection of who they are.
• The non-profit online homeschool program that was losing students to their competition and on the verge of laying off teachers. They have an incredible service and were struggling with the proper messaging to reach the specific parents and students most in need of their services. We were able to help raise their new student attendance and raise revenue by 15%. No teachers were laid off; in fact, extra teachers had to be hired to cater for new enrollments.

I could go on and on about the amazing clients that we get to work with every day. The folks we truly align with – the holistic dentist, the midwife who owns a freestanding birthing center – are making our communities better places. I realize that being an idealist marketer may not be for everyone, but it is absolutely where I feel we belong… this is where we’re going to stay.

Jennifer Christensen, Vice President of Marketing.

Want to connect with a marketing agency that understands your values? Schedule a free consultation today.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – June 1, 2018 – PRLog — Award-winning inbound marketing agency Beacon Media and Marketing announces the promotion of Jessica Muller, former Account Manager, to VP of Production. Her new role will focus on improving efficiencies in the production of creative work at the company. Muller is promoted just months after she was made Partner and Owner with the company in January of this year.

Two summers ago, Muller came to Beacon with a proposal. “Give me a year, and I will centralize your accounting system,” she said. Muller was connected with Beacon through her husband Rob, a current employee. She was also connected through the Alaska Inbound Marketing Summit (also known as AIMS), a Beacon event that Muller contributed to as Event Coordinator that year. The AIMS event took off, and Beacon knew that Muller had talent. The Beacon team accepted Muller’s proposal–She was brought on to spearhead the accounting department immediately.

After hiring Muller, it was quickly discovered that she had other talents. Not only was she highly skilled in accounting, but she had a knack for marketing and work in other areas as well. She developed a flair for the creative side of Beacon’s work, and started to take on increasing responsibility in campaign management. Jennifer Christensen, the Co-Founder and VP of Marketing at the company, noticed Muller’s abilities. Christensen took Muller on as a right-hand assistant in her work managing client accounts.

By the summer of 2017, Muller was attending exclusive meetings with the executive team in order to get the information she needed to centralize the company’s accounting department. Once the accounting department was in a good place, Muller had more time to pursue her talents in other areas. She started looking at the systems and processes of Beacon and making them increasingly efficient. Her labors paid off when in the fall of 2017, she accepted the Small Business Development Award from the Alaska Chapter of the American Marketing Association on behalf of the Beacon team. The award was the true turning point for Muller’s career.

The executive team credited Muller with the work that earned the AMA award and unanimously voted Muller on as a Partner with Beacon. Christensen went above and beyond and gifted Muller with part of her ownership in the company as well. Effective January 1, 2018, Muller became a fellow Partner and part-owner on the executive team. Just months later, she was made Vice President of Production for her ability to streamline the systems and processes of the company.

“When I came to work at Beacon, I always felt like it was more than ‘just a job,'” Muller says, “I was investing and building something. It was really special to me that they (the executive team) felt that way too–That we are a team, and that what we accomplish is valuable and makes a difference every day. It was particularly special to me that as a group they trusted me to have a voice in leadership, and that as a person Jenn and I had such a great relationship.”

Christensen comments on what motivated her to gift Muller part-ownership in the company, “Long before Jess was given ownership, she had the dedication and character of an owner,” Christensen says, “From day one she cared and gave everything she had for Beacon to thrive, not just survive. She felt like the missing piece–Once we had her on the team, everything started to fall into place. Everyone on the team agreed that it was the right thing to do.”

Adrienne Wilkerson, Co-Founder and President of Beacon echoes Christensen’s statement on Muller’s initiative, “I’m so thankful to have Jess’s considerable talent and insight here at Beacon. Her ability to instinctively anticipate jogs and turns is amazing. She is a joy to work with!”

This June, Muller celebrates her two year work anniversary with the company. Commenting on her vision for the VP of Production position, she says, “I want to make what we do as efficient as possible so we can do it for the most people. I have seen the result of our work have a serious impact on our community. My role will increase our capacity to do that even more.”

About BEACON MEDIA + MARKETING
Beacon Media + Marketing is an Alaska-based digital marketing agency cutting through the fog of the convoluted marketing industry to shed light on real solutions. Their services include everything from social media marketing to corporate branding to web design. Learn more at BeaconMM.com.

Fall is rapidly descending on the US, and the summer is winding down, especially in Alaska. As we all prepare to settle back into the fall routines for many of us business owners, that means it will soon be time to start planning for next year. One of the main things that should always be part of planning for the next year is budgeting, where are you going to spend your hard-earned money. Where is the money going to benefit your company the most? Many Alaskans are facing uncertainty and recession like environments in their industries. Therefore, where the money goes becomes even more important. Sadly, it is common for businesses facing hard times to consider cutting their marketing budget, while this is the worst thing you can do. Marketing keeps the flow of clients steady, which in turn keeps much-needed cash flowing through your business.

How Much of Your Revenue Should Go to Marketing?

Traditionally the rule of thumb is that your marketing budget should be between 5-10% of your total revenue. According to recent surveys of businesses across the US, we can see that companies are now allocating on average between 7-12% of the total revenue for marketing. Those who are wanting to increase their market-share, especially during slow times, are usually on the higher end of those averages while companies that are more focused on moderate growth or maintaining their current market share are falling on the lower end.

Interestingly enough, the businesses under $25 million a year in revenue tend to spend more on marketing, usually in the range of 10% or more of their total revenue. The type of business you are in can also affect how much you invest in your marketing. For example, a recent CMO Study found that business to business firms (B2B) typically spent about 7-8% of their total revenue on marketing while business to consumer companies (B2C) averaged 9% of their revenue on marketing.

One quick item I want to point about these numbers is that the 7-12% listed includes marketing staff salaries, marketing agency fees, and direct marketing costs. Some companies manage all of their marketing in-house and only have salaries and direct marketing costs. Other companies leverage marketing agencies, which means they have the fees associated with the agency and the direct marketing costs. Still, other businesses have found that a hybrid of the two is the most effective. They will have in-house people as well as an agency and the direct costs. Direct costs include pay per click fees, Facebook fees for promoted posts and ads, Google AdWords, digital ads, TV and radio airtime purchases, and printed advertising costs.

Where Should I Spend my Marketing Budget?

The answer to this question is going to vary based on your goals and your marketing budget. First off, take a look at the chart below. Based on historical data and current trends, eMarkeeter is predicting that in 2017, spending on digital advertising will surpass TV for the first time! We’ve been rapidly approaching this tipping point as TV marketing consistently loses effectiveness and people increasingly turn to digital. Likewise, the disruption of the digital world is eating away at the print advertising world. HubSpot consistently reports that inbound marketing (also called digital or content marketing) costs 62% less per lead than traditional advertising. This means that while TV may still be getting over a 1/3 of the marketing budget, it is significantly less effective than the 38.4% of the budget being spent on digital advertising.

If you are considered a “mid-sized” company, which means you have revenue of $10+ million, then your marketing budget is going to be larger, and you can afford to spend money on TV advertising, even if it the return on investment isn’t as good as digital marketing. If you are a small business with revenue between $750,000 to several million or a micro-business with revenue under $750,000, then I would strongly advise you focus on digital marketing due to its much higher return on investment.

Now those revenue numbers are my own and not based on information from the Small Business Administration (SBA) because but the hard thing is that no one can agree on what is a small business, a mid-sized business, and big business. Plus there is the emerging term of “micro-business” now. According to a recent US Census survey, businesses with nine employees or less make up 95% of the “small-business” classification. Additionally, the solo-entrepreneurs and freelancers (so-called micro-businesses) make up 78% of all businesses in the US! Yet the SBA says a “small-business” can have up to 199 employees and revenue of $25 million. Those of us in the 95% know we have different marketing needs and entirely different structures than companies with almost 200 employees.

Okay, enough of the rant, the bottom line is that you need to have a marketing budget and it must contain digital advertising pieces. Traditional advertising methods of print, radio, and TV have a rapidly dwindling place in a marketing plan. An effective marketing budget does not have to be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Take a good look at your revenue, commit to spending at least 7% of it on marketing and check out our blog What Should Your Marketing Plan Include for tips on what to spend your money on. Take a good look at your local digital marketing experts, get competitive quotes, and figure out the company that is going to help you reach your goals and you’ll enjoy working with.