One step back, two steps forward – when to switch marketing priorities when budgets are tight
I think it’s fair to say that sometimes we can all be guilty of maintaining the status quo even when conventional wisdom would dictate that we need to change what we’re doing. Changing nothing is the easy thing to do. After all, if everything has been going ok then why not adopt the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra. And when budgets are tight, the thought of spending MORE seems very uncomfortable. How, then, do we gear ourselves up for making a positive change when changing nothing is the ‘safer’ option?
This is where the premise of taking a step back to move forward comes from. One of the biggest problems we face in digital marketing is when to tell a client that, actually, a lot of the money they are spending on marketing work with us would be better funnelled into design work. It’s a level of honesty that comes with risk, but in order to get the best possible results we have to be frank.
SEO work can only really succeed if the foundations that are being built on are sound. If an SEO company tries to do work on an eight year old website then it’s going to struggle to perform no matter what they do. Technology has changed, designs have moved on, and no amount of maintenance will bridge the gap. It would be like putting a world championship racing car driver in a car from a decade ago. They can have the best team and the best support network, but fundamentally they won’t win because they’re driving around in something that used to be top of the line, but is now well past its prime.
I’ve recently had a number of conversations with clients that have revolved around this issue. In making it clear to them what the priorities are, I’ve put my money where my mouth is with the message ‘reduce your marketing spend’. This often takes them aback, but it needs to be said. The budget would be much better placed in the short term by undertaking a full redesign of an old website, rather than throwing money at trying to get an older website to rank well and convert patients. From a return on investment point of view it’s really a simple matter of diverting the budget to the area that will do the most good.
This approach can seem counter-intuitive, especially when you have the mindset that you need new patients right away. However, most SEO experts will tell you that nothing provides a good boost to rankings than a brand new website, designed with Google in mind. There is frequently a jump in visibility as soon as a fresh website goes live, often enough to offset any temporary decrease in SEO work.
The solution to any problem is usually to do something different, and that’s as true in the digital marketing world as it is in real life.
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