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Originally published September 2016. Updated Jan 2019 with lifetime value example. When you spend $1 on marketing, how much should you expect in return? That's what we'll answer in this post. ///// When someone asks you, “is your marketing working,” what do you think they’re really asking? Are they asking if it’s generating awareness, generating foot traffic, or generating sales?

Most businesses are advertising on the few platforms that dominate the market, such as Google and Facebook, but are you missing out on cost-effective opportunities to reach your target market on some less popular platforms? Our last live show covered some less common, but often effective, digital advertising platforms, and when companies should consider incorporating them into their marketing strategy.

We spend a lot of time researching and trying out tools to improve the results of our clients' marketing efforts, to measure those results, and to simply make our time more productive. Last year, our broadcast about our favorite DIY digital marketing tools was a big hit. Many small and medium sized businesses are looking for user-friendly and inexpensive solutions to make their marketing more effective, and we are happy to share what we've learned! Because the digital world moves so quickly, and we had many more to share, we decided to put out a new show with an updated list of tools to consider adding to your marketing technology stack.

It's one of the most common questions businesses have when they consider investing in a digital marketing plan. Expecting instant results, or underestimating the ongoing commitment required to see a return on investment, are common misconceptions. However, there are some tactics that can start to produce results quickly. So what's the answer?

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing marketing thought-leader Todd Feldman about his experience blending brand and lead generation tactics to create performance marketing powerhouses. Todd’s previous roles include CMO of Virginia Credit Union, Head of Social & Emerging Marketing Channels at Circuit City, and Vice President of Marketing for Aaxis, a global ecommerce consultancy.

Over the last several years, we’ve shared countless tips for generating leads online. But did you know it's typical to only close a fraction of those leads? So what’s going on here? Turns out, it can be several things. I recently interviewed Neal Lappe, CEO of Forensics of Selling and WebStrategies Founder, on how to turn more of your digital marketing leads into paying customers. We explored some of the top factors that contribute to a lead not closing and what you can do about it.

Display advertising has gotten much more sophisticated in the past decade, allowing you to deliver highly relevant image ads to the audience you specifically want to reach. But does it get results?

Google Analytics offers a huge amount of data, and an almost endless array of options for analyzing that data. That's a great thing for data-driven marketers such as ourselves, but for many businesses, that can be overwhelming and is frankly more information than they will ever need. There are a handful of critically important metrics that every business should be reviewing to identify the overall health of their website, and our recent broadcast focused on those.

On a recent broadcast of our WebStrategies Live show, we gave an introduction to Facebook advertising, and it was a hit. It turns out many of you are hungry for advice on how to approach Facebook ads and make them successful for SMBs. We had a lot more to say on the topic, so we decided to continue the conversation with Intro to Facebook Advertising Part 2. This segment offers guidance on custom audiences, different types of ads and placement of those ads, and tailoring your message to where your prospects are in the buying journey.

WebStrategies Inc. is proud to announce their placement on the list of 2020 Best Places to Work in Virginia. WebStrategies also appeared on the 2018 and 2019 list.