It’s indeed a good thing that Kenyan businesses continue to adopt internet as means of reaching out to potential buyers. More business opportunities, jobs and markets are being opened up by embracing online marketing. The major challenge we have continually faced from most locals is one – the perception that e-marketing is easy and is supposed to be cheap!
It’s the reason why I have seen it easier to work with clients who had previously tried doing it themselves and experienced it complex nature, or even worse….failed. They understand one thing that makes them respect and value what we do – Running online advertising is easy. Selling is not.
Try telling that to people who know nothing else but traditional marketing. From most of their reactions, it clearly shows some kind of doubt. I mean, you just sit there staring at your computer, do few cheap tricks and boom your internet campaigns are up! I have respect for the convectional marketers and their vast experience. But when it comes to managing online marketing tools effectively, most tend to do it terribly wrong!
They are those who are ready to learn and know what goes behind the scenes. It becomes easy to work with them and learn from each other. They always have vital contribution when it comes to selecting the best media and identifying the target audience.
“… I have close to 15 years experience and even today I still feel like a novice when it comes to digital marketing since it’s so dynamic and ever evolving.” – Moses Kemibaro.
On his blog post, “Why digital marketing IS rocket science, even in Kenya”, Kemibaro couldn’t have put it any better. The only foundation that I have found to be strong and sustainable in internet-based business is change. Confusing? I bet you say yea, till you get in and realize it.
Take for instance Adwords, one of the most used online media. Opening an account is no brainer. Setting up campaign and adgroups makes the difference. Spending thousands of shillings on Ads is pretty easy. Getting qualified leads and sales requests is pretty hard.
Now tell me, are you going to really do proper keyword research, test your ads copy, set well targeted adgroups, continuously monitoring CTR and quality score? Do you want to invest in accredited marketing classes online that teach you the most recent online advertising trends – for a hefty tuition fee, of course? And while at it, continue delivering on your core business? I bet one thing will go seriously go wrong, or even worse, both!
Am sure by now you have gotten the idea how easy is internet marketing. You just set few things and forget. And overwhelming sales requests keep coming….
Let’s talk about cheapness now. I simply can’t understand why some people expect to make money while investing nothing. Just because you have a nice company website, it doesn’t mean online marketing is done. To be frank, having a nice company website means your internet marketing just barely started.
They are hundreds of websites similar to what you have. Why should I care to visit yours, and how am I supposed to know it even exists? If you expect real results, you really should invest in real online marketing budget.
If you expect results, be ready to pay. And take your time in finding the right internet marketing companies for you. It’s always easy to determine how well they can deliver for you. Just ask them how well they are using online tools to get clients for themselves. It’s also worth remembering how you found them.
Suppose you find costs of digital marketing to be high for you, try do-it-for-yourself approach. Start a campaign, load it with say, Kshs 10,000 and wait and see. If you don’t get calls, email requests etc, admit you hard earned cash just went to drain! This will be the right time to get a good internet marketing consultant.
Getting good returns on your internet marketing campaigns require specialists who know how to do it. Experience counts and so does keeping up with ever changing online marketing landscape.
