BIG IMPACT, SMALL FOOTPRINT: The New Type Of Digital Marketing Service

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Digital marketing has the power to drive massive traffic. In fact, in 2018 alone there were 3.5 billion searches made on Google every day, that doesn’t include the growing number of alternative search platforms and online advertising tactics. But, with great power comes great responsibility. Digital Marketing takes time and can be a tedious undertaking.

Digital Marketing is meant to make our lives easier. It has the power to connect our businesses with the right audiences and for a more reasonable spend than billboards and TV commercials. Because it is so powerful and difficult to get right, agency models charge a lot to help companies out. That’s the idea behind OGNO, Simplaex’s recent venture. OGNO is providing a cost effective approach to inbound and outbound marketing tactics that works wonders for businesses big and small.

Digital Marketing Expert, Darwin Wiranda, talks about Digital Marketing and what he thinks the state of the industry is for now and how it looks going into the future.

Q: What do you see as the biggest issue with Digital Marketing agencies today?

A: Marketing is a vital part of all businesses, and yet it is also the least outsourced. Meaning that businesses are paying a premium to hire on full time people who are either expensive or learning as they go. Companies are outsourcing accounting, their reception desks, you name it, but it seems that they aren’t ready to outsource marketing.

There’s a big misconception about Digital Marketing, no one really understands what a big undertaking it is. These are tactics that are supposed to be saving companies money, but doing it properly can cost a lot. Or the other option is to hire an agency. There you have a full team to do the task – one for SEO, one for on page, one for off page, one for content creation, for graphics etc etc. But this has become quite costly, with clients footing the bill for fancy offices to house all these employees. It seems they’ve lost their way a bit. It’s also impossible to find anyone being transparent about their pricing. It’s only after consultations and phone calls that you can get this answer, leaves a lot to the imagination around what they’re charging across the board.

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Q: Who do you think is the best profile for an internal Digital Marketer?

A: I really don’t think there’s one person who can cover all the aspects of Digital Marketing. It’s nearly impossible to find one person who can do on page, off page and social media, all between 9am and 5pm. In my opinion, hiring someone who is flexible and comfortable wearing many hats is a good start, but only for the short term, because in the end, it’s been proven that you will never get an optimal result relying on 1 person for everything. You need experts who are specialized in each aspect of digital marketing and most importantly, up-to-date with all trends and updates in Google and any advertisement channels. I recommend finding the right combination of people as a marketing team if it has to be done in-house, but of course the price of a team may not be affordable for everyone.

Q: How did you get started in Digital Marketing?

A: I started working in a really lean startup. We were working on six different websites in different languages, using the free version of SEO software that only allows one website a month … I was managing six different sites, so that’s six emails… it was a lot. It sucked, but it was a great place to start since now I truly understand the struggle of small agencies or teams trying to do big jobs. It takes a village to get SEO and digital marketing tactics right. It also takes expensive programs if you’re going to get the most out of the blood, sweat and tears put in. That’s one of my favourite things about working at OGNO, we work closely with clients to save them a lot of grief and money spent on these programs.

Q: What is your advice to modern companies who want to get more and better traffic?

A: Work with OGNO … just kidding. But really, what I’d say is that it’s important to not lean too heavily on AI. There’s some great software out there, but without real live humans you won’t be able to connect emotionally. There are humans on the other end of your searches after all. Good content that follows solid SEO requires you to understand the emotion behind it, machines aren’t quite there yet. We’re injecting a consumer P.O.V on how they feel the website and what happens when they land. Keep in mind, yes it’s about getting found, but more so it’s about connecting with people who are looking for you.

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Q: Any final words of wisdom?

A: Watch out for black hat SEO!! Any agency that claims they can get you ranking fast is probably using tactics that optimize through the flaws of Google’s algorithm to trick Google into getting more traffic. It’s not sustainable, it may work short term, but as soon as the update fixes the bug you will get penalized.

And last but not least, start to consider outsourcing marketing services as any other departments (accounting, legal, taxes) instead of burdening one poor soul to create accounts, analyze, optimize and even creating content for all marketing channels. I understand that one of the biggest hurdles in outsourcing is trust and transparency, but I hope with OGNO, we can change that mindset. We’re not an agency, we’re just a group of people, passionate about digital marketing, who understand how important it is to growing a business, and want everybody to enjoy the benefits without overpaying.

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