Intro
In an article a few years back we discussed Why Outfitters Must Have a Website and the concept of your website as the hub of your Marketing activities. In todays article we will be going a few steps further and give you check list for Digital Marketing Success. We list the Pros and Cons of each component and a brief explanation, plus our own insights.
First, The Checklist
Next, The Pros and Cons
Your Professionally Built Website
A website, in our opinion, is a must have. Yes, you can be successful as an outfitter without a website, using other marketing components, such as a highly loyal client base that re-books frequently or with a highly effective social media strategy. We would argue this is the exception, but not impossible. In the end, we always recommend a website as the hub of your marketing activities.
Pros: It provides credibility, branding, and the opportunity to show off your business. A professionally built website will be mobile responsive so website visitors (your future clients) can view it on the device of their choice. This is important, as if your website visitor can not access your site, or find the information they are looking for, they will move on to the next listing in the search results. A professional web designer, especially one with experience in the industry, will also know how to structure your site, what to include for content, functionality, and how to make it visually appealing. One of these components is image galleries. Image galleries provide the proof of your experience, the evidence that you have done this before. Content management can be time consuming so outsourcing this let's you focus on your operations.
Cons: You will need to spend some money to get this done right. The going rate is anywhere from $2000 to $10,000 for website built by a marketing agency. Depending on your choice of agency, you may have ongoing support fees and content management fees, but that will depend on how well you choose your agency and your ability to navigate content management systems. Best to ask about these ahead of time.
Search Engine Optimization
Pros: SEO that works means you can spend less on other digital marketing items, like online ads. Search Engine Optimization will boost your profile in the organic search results meaning you get more traffic to your website without a cost per click ad campaign. Some web design agencies also provide SEO services. Netnotic Marketing does both web design and SEO.
Cons: Like anytime you hire an agency or consultant to work for you, there is a cost. Don't expect that throwing some money at SEO will be a magic bullet for your lead growth needs. In your own province, you are already competing with dozens of other outfitters, and their websites, for the same clients. Make sure your SEO consultant knows your industry.
New Content Development
Pros: Content is an essential marketing element. You need content for just about any marketing activity. Your website. Your ads. Your social posts. Everybody and everything (Google especially) love new content.
Cons: More than anything, new content takes time. It takes time to conceive the concept, to gather the raw content, to edit, design, format, transform raw into finished, and to post. Most business owners have the skills to manage their images and image galleries. A few are good content writers, able to use descriptive and convincing language. Most are not fluent with web site design and layout or video editing and production.
Lead Follow Up Process
Pros: Timely follow up leads to more bookings. The important thing about your lead follow up process is that it works for you. If it is entirely manual, like a notebook and pen, but it works for you, that's OK. If it is highly automated, like auto form responses, emails to database, newsletters, etc., and it works for you, that's OK. If you are looking for the latter, here's some digital marketing best practices. Keep in mind that this customer group is often high-touch. They will check out your website but they also want to talk to you, to get a feel for your experience, your knowledge, and to find a reason to choose you over the dozens of others that appear to be like you, maybe just a few miles away. I've spoken with a number of outfitter clients over the years of doing digital marketing for outfitters and many of them base their final decision to spend thousands of dollars on the comfort level they get from a phone call, the trust factor.
Cons: It takes time, and time is always in short supply. Don't over-do it. Too much follow up is an annoyance, but not enough is potential lost revenue. Over time, the balance should become intuitively obvious.
Newsletter
Pros: This an opportunity to communicate with your leads and your past clients to stay top of mind. Keep them engaged and increase the likelihood that they will turn to you first when they are ready to book. Have some opening in your hunting or fishing bookings This is the best place to start filling those. Integrate this with your blog, so that when you post a blog article, it automatically notifies your list of followers about the new article.
Cons: The technical tools to make this happen seamlessly are complicated. You will need a web design agency/consultant who has done this before. you can cobble together a set of disparate pieces: a sign up form, a list, an email client, but you will triple the workload to send a newsletter.
Analytics and Tracking
Pros: Know where your visitors come from and what they do. More importantly, know which traffic sources are leading to the accomplishment of marketing objectives, such as how many visitors from Google Organic Search submitted your contact form. This is one place where knowledge is definitely powerful and having the right information will help you make much better Marketing decisions. As Marketers, we believe this is a must have.
Cons: This is not for the beginner. The tools and services you need to set up proper tracking are a mix of Google tools and Google has done their best to make this confusing. If you want to know, contact someone who knows how to set this up. Depending on your website and how it was built will alter what you have to do to set this up.
Social Media
Pros: We all know that the hunting and fishing lifestyle also includes a high degree of sharing our favorite places, our best hunts, our biggest catches. This market is on social media, many platforms, so it simply stands to reason that an effective Marketing plan would include having a strong presence on the social media platforms where your market is. Social media is also great for sharing multi-media, images, videos, and this market is highly attracted to visual cues.
Cons: The challenges come in time and in choosing the right social platforms and learning how to most effectively utilize that channel. Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter (or X). Which is right for you? The most important thing to remember is to not try and be everything on all social platforms right our of the gate. Each platform will demand your time, and, to do it right, on a regular basis. So start with one, master it, tackle another if you have the time.
Google Tools
Pros: First of all, we recommend that you own your Google tools, your Google accounts. Google has a wide array of tools for website owners / managers. Used in the proper ways, they can deliver extremely helpful insights into your digital world. Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Business Profile. Some tools are intended to help your business provide information online and in Google searches and others are more helpful as behind the scenes performance metrics.
Cons: Like any set of tools, they have operating instructions, and each does a different job. If you havent worked with these tools, we see two options. One: navigate the Google documentation and learn the what, why and how of each. Two: make sure your web designer knows the what, why and how.
Google Ads
Pros: If you need more traffic, and most websites do, then our #1 go to is Google Ads. In addition to being highly targeted, Google Ads are also highly trackable so you know if your investment is achieving results. Geo specific (country/state/city/zip code), short term campaigns, long term campaigns, species specific campaigns, Google ads delivers search traffic that is actively seeking information.
Cons: It's a lengthy set up process. If you don't know what you are doing, you can easily blow your monthly budget in a day.
Facebook Ads
Pros: While we are very much in favour of Google Ads as a powerful lead generation tool, we are far less favourable in regards to Facebook Ads. Here's why. Facebook is a platform of interests, not intents. When someone is browsing on Facebook, and they see your ad, it is because the Facebook algorithm says your add is relevant to the interests of that Facebook user.
Cons: Now, having said the above, what we are in favour of when it comes to Facebook is Boosted Posts. If it is you are doing a good job of new content creation, then your boosted post will be of more interest, garner more attention, and create a stronger impression than a typical ad, of any format, at least on Facebook. As Facebook ads are displayed based on areas of interest, you will typically get a higher click through rate (cost per click) but a lower conversion rate (the number of people who actually contact you).
Conclusion
It's up to you, and your Business Plan, as to what components you choose to include in your Marketing Plan.