Using Digital Marketing to Grow Your Business

What We Discussed with Saunder:

On this episode, host Eric Dickmann interviews Saunder Schroeder about using digital marketing to grow your business. Here are some highlights of our conversation:

• [00:00:57] What is disruptive in the digital advertising world right now?- Saunder has seen a lot of B2B companies advertising on platforms such as Spotify, Hulu, and LinkedIn. Despite the high costs of these platforms, there are still many options available today for small and mid-sized businesses to grow and expand. 
• [00:06:49] How do B2B companies get their message out?- Saunder shares that with their clients, they still tend to maximize as much of Google as possible but increasing visibility in the B2B space can be quite expensive. However, working on keywords to increase clicks and traffic, purchase sponsored listings, and ranking high with review sites such as G2 Crowd can be a game-changer for your brand. Saunder also mentions that retargeting an audience is an excellent place for B2B businesses to invest ad spend.
• [00:08:55] Do businesses need to get a presence on all review platforms?- Schroeder believes that having a presence on all sites is beneficial. Different review platforms can give you the option of paying to get yourself instantly on the top rankings or allow you to steadily work to acquire reviews and get positive results. 
• [00:11:42] What does it look like for businesses new to retargeting ads?- It is essential for businesses to focus on the three stages of the funnel- top, middle, and bottom. The top of funnel audience are the ones who visited your site once or twice, maybe because they clicked on your ad. Next, the middle funnel audience would be someone who opened up a form but hasn't converted or visited the site four or five times,. Bottom-funnel audience has seen your site around 8 to 10 times. Saunder advises businesses to add value to their audience wherever they are in the funnel by understanding their interaction history. 
• [00:14:08] Should value be also given to people who search for leisure?- Content matters based on where the audience is found. It is not necessarily an annoyance if businesses gives out valuable content, even on platform where the audience most likely is there for non-business activities. As much as possible, find your brand's biggest differentiator, stay relevant, and don't let people see your ad more than three times. 
• [00:18:28] Simple mistakes that businesses should avoid- Schroeder believes the most common mistake is marketers accepting the changes Google recommends. Not all their recommendations are bad, but businesses need to recognize end-to-end tracking and understand what keywords are actually converting for them. Unfortunately, many businesses go for a shotgun approach instead of optimizing the keywords that are performing well.
• [00:24:09] Where does video fit into what people are doing today?- Video is definitely the preferred content by many. People look for organic content that is honest and adds value. Audiences are so used to big video productions that they often look for something different, personal, and relatable. Your videos don't have to be like a Super Bowl commercial, just simple and easy to understand. There is a time and place for everything, and it's crucial to position your brand strategically. 
• [00:26:51] How is YouTube viewed as a platform?- YouTube is a huge platform that has had a significant uptake in the last two to three years. This platform is where people are willing to sit down and consume many minutes of content watching a video; that is why it is becoming a beneficial place to post long-form content. Saunder also adds that as people start to see more and more success with different videos on YouTube, that's an excellent opportunity to create more targeted pre-roll ads and similar opportunities.