Iceberg Web Design can help with all your digital marketing needs. So don’t let your marketing budget go unused.

With the hits many businesses have taken throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have cut their marketing budgets to curb spending. Data from research firm Gartner CMO Strategic Priorities Survey 2020-2021 reveals that the proportion of revenue allocated to marketing was cut almost in half, from an average of 11% in 2020 to just 6% in 2021—the lowest proportion allocated to marketing in the history of the survey. 

The Problem with Reducing your Marketing Budget

• You risk losing market share
• It will be harder to attract new leads
• Even if you hold onto your current business, you will find it next to impossible to grow
• Out of sight, out of mind

Marketing is Essential, and it Can Be affordable

You can make the most of your marketing dollars by choosing wisely where those dollars should be allocated. Of course, the best place to start is with your website. That’s because your website is a continuing source of marketing.

It is versatile and evergreen. It is essential as a calling card, but it is also more than just a calling card. You can add features that not only help in your marketing efforts but can also streamline your business.

A Good Website, and All Good Marketing Starts with Great Content

It is essential to have clear messaging, the right tone, and precision branding to reach your target audience. This will make the most of your marketing budget by allowing your advertising arrows to hit their bullseyes.

Good content extends to your social media marketing, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Tik-Toks, and special campaigns. Everything must have brand consistency and a clear plan.

What You Can Cut

It’s essential to evaluate what you do well in the marketing sphere and your target audience. For example, it is far better to focus on two social media channels and use them well than to use all the channels only halfway and often the wrong way.

Use It or Lose It

Use your Marketing Budget by the end of the year, or they may be cut from your budget next year.

• SEO Audit- Work with an SEO Expert to evaluate your keywords and your overall SEO. This can help you formulate a plan for the upcoming year.
• Blog Posts- Now, use those keywords to up your website’s SEO. Hire an SEO professional content writer to ensure your post hits all the marks.
• Social Media Campaign- Retarget your social media and use it combined with powerful content and stunning imagery to gain leads and customers
• Update Your Website- Start the year with a new website that expresses your company’s message and mission.

We Can Help

Iceberg Web Design has SEO Content Writers, Digital Marketing Specialists, and incredible Designers and Developers. We can help with all your digital marketing needs. So don’t let your marketing budget go unused. Contact us today!

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Automated messaging offers a lot of benefits to business owners who wish to use it. Best of all, it is easy to set up. While you can integrate this functionality into your website by embedding Messenger into your site using a plugin or through Facebook’s integration, this article will only focus on automation through Facebook Messenger.

Getting Started

• To automate your Messenger, you must have admin access to your Facebook business page.
• On the left-hand side of the page is a column of options. You will want to click on “Business Suite.”
• Now you will be looking at your inbox.
• From your Inbox, you will be able to see your messages from both your Facebook and Instagram accounts.
• Just below the Facebook and Instagram links on the left-hand column, you will see “Automated Responses.”

Instant Reply

There are several things we can do within this feature. Let’s start with “Instant Reply.” Instant Reply will pop up when someone first attempts to message you.  It can do anything from alleviating the frustration that customers often feel waiting for you to respond to steering your visitors in the right direction. For example, if you primarily use email rather than Messenger, you can let them know that with a link to your email address.

Personalized Response

There are some great features built into Instant Reply. For example, you can personalize the message by having their name automatically inserted in your response. Messenger pulls this directly from their account. It will instantly add warmth and humanity to your automation.

Embedded Links

Then, you can write whatever reply you would like to go out to the people who message you. You can embed links, including your website. Note that you can only link to your main website, not particular pages. These links will not look like links as you create them on the backend, but when you send them in Messenger, they will show up correctly. You should always do a test run to check it out to be sure everything looks right.

Away Message

Many businesses like to have an after-hours message letting their visitors know that their business is closed for the day. Often these messages include business hours and the assurance that they will return and reply and when to expect the reply.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is another place that business often post their hours. You can also add service costs, how to schedule an appointment, Covid policies, or anything else people may have questions about. It is ideal to have questions to answer with a link to a page on your website. This will be efficient for the customer and will improve your web page’s ranking over time. Keep in mind that you can only use four FAQs in a conversation, so choose your four best questions.

Contact Information & Location

Thankfully, you do not need to include “Where are you located?” in your Frequently Asked Questions. Messenger knows this is such a common question that they have added it as an automatic option. If you choose to turn this on, it can give directions to the person needing your location.

Contact Information is another option. With that, you could link right to your Contact Us page on your website or have your phone or email address.

Schedule Appointments

If you schedule appointments through Facebook’s appointment scheduler, you can add this feature to your automatic messaging.

Finally, save your answers, and you are all set!

Need More Answers to Your Marketing Questions?

Iceberg Web Design has them. We specialize in website-based solutions to your business needs. We build custom websites, turn-key websites and have a host of services that can improve your ability to communicate your message. Contact us online today or call 763-350-8762 to learn more!

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At Iceberg Web Design, you get to have a dedicated partner with an invested team working for your business’s interests. Each month we have been featuring each of our team members in a profile post, so you can get to know the penguins better. This month, we are talking to Heather Erickson, our SEO Content Writer.

Heather | SEO Content Writer

I’m an SEO content writer and head of the content department at Iceberg Web Design. I was a freelancer, contracting with Iceberg from November 2019 until July of 2020, when Iceberg hired me to be on staff full-time.

Have your duties changed since you first started working here?

I started writing blog posts for customers who subscribe to our SEO writing services. That involves researching the business and the things about which their customers are concerned. Then, I write articles about those topics. I might be writing for a lawyer and an electrician one day, and the next, I could be writing for a roofer and a flooring company. So, I get a lot of variety.

Over time, I started taking on website projects. That’s an entirely different type of writing, but the same SEO principles apply.

What do you do for Iceberg’s customers?

Every website project that I write content for starts with a content interview. I prepare for the interview by doing some preliminary research and deciding what I need to prioritize since I will only have an hour with the client. That time can go very fast!

My job is to gather enough information from the content interview to put the business owner’s passion for what they do into words. I need to do it in a way that evokes trust and assurance to customers and gets customers excited about working with the business—all while making the copy search engine-friendly.

The process includes writing a couple of drafts to ensure I get all of the details right. Once I have delivered the final copy to development, I am pretty finished, other than checking the site before it goes live for any potential issues.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

My childhood dream job was to be a detective, so I love the content interviews and the research. I get to pull out important details to get an accurate picture to have on the website. Plus, I love getting to know our customers. It’s the one chance I have to really connect with them.

What is your #1 goal when working with a customer?

My number one goal is to help create a website that will fulfill their business’s needs. Sometimes that means they want sales. Other times they want to hire new staff because of high turnover. I love finding ways that their website can make their job easier. The truth is, we do much more than build websites. We build business solutions that happen to look like websites.

In what other industries have you worked?

Haha. You name it. I’ve been a nursing assistant, a waitress, a cashier, a trainer in restaurants. I guess I like the service industry. I was also a realtor for about ten years. My favorite job was homeschooling my kids. I got them through to college, which they each started at the age of 16.

Tell us a bit about your family (including pets):

I’m a widow. My husband had lung cancer for seven years before his death in 2019. Our kids are Matt (17), Samantha (19), and Summer (22). Summer just got married, so now I have a son-in-law, too! I have a gerbil. My youngest kids are allergic, or I would get something more interactive.

Do you have any hobbies/special interests?

I hunt wild mushrooms and am involved in the Minnesota Mycological Society. I also carve Wooden Duck Decoys. I don’t hunt, but I love the carving process. I enjoy learning Spanish, as well. I like learning anything.

What is something about you that might surprise your customers and co-workers?

I’m a true crime junkie.

Describe your perfect day:

Perfect weather, 72* with no humidity and a soft breeze rustling through the trees. I get to spend the day in the woods. I can walk, look for mushrooms, read, take a nap, relax. That sounds amazing to me.

Science or History? Which is your favorite and why?

I think history, though it is tough to choose. I love the stories that are attached to history. There are science stories, as well, but they aren’t well known.

If you were guaranteed the correct answer to one question, what would you ask?

“What should I do?” The key thing is to save that question for the most crucial moment—a pivotal point in time.

What is your best piece of advice? It can be about anything.

If you can learn from your mistakes, you turn them into life lessons. Then, they are no longer regrets or wasted moments in time.

My second-best piece of advice is to contact us at Iceberg Web Design for all of your website needs! 

Connect With Heather or the Iceberg Team

Learn more about The Iceberg Team. Read Some Of Iceberg’s Reviews!

The post Penguin Profile: Heather Erickson | Iceberg Web Design appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

When you work with Iceberg Web Design, you get to have a dedicated partner with an invested team in your business’s interests. Each month we have been featuring each of our team members in a profile post, so you can get to know the penguins better. This month, we are talking to Hattie McCoy, our Marketing & SEO Penguin! 

Hattie | Marketing & SEO

How long have you been working for Iceberg?

 Over eight whole months! 

Have your duties changed since you first started working here?

 Duties are evolving but absolutely fit under the umbrella of my title.

What do you do for Iceberg’s customers?

I am privileged to work with many different types of companies on their SEO and Digital Marketing goals. The job varies by company but can include reputation management, Optimizing web pages to better-fit lead goals, google my business set up and monitoring, Google Ads, Keyword research, email campaigns, and more.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I appreciate that the job looks a little different each day. I learn more about businesses and figure out how to better serve their customers, and I help them meet their milestones, whatever they may be.  We work with a lot of local businesses, and it’s great to be able to see the impact we can make to the small business and the local community.

What is your #1 goal when working with a customer?

I think paramount of my job is to make sure I am on the same page with our Customers. I need to understand their business well enough to speak to it and find out what they are looking for from their qualified leads/ customers. I think the plan is to be collaborative while making the dial turn for the business.

In what other industries have you worked?

I have worked in many jobs. Including radio, retail, custom perfumes, credit unions, data centers, and more! I have also moved from Iowa to Colorado to Minnesota. I think my varied experiences have made me a good fit in this position to work with very different businesses.

Tell us a bit about your family (including pets):

My husband, Mike, is an electrician who has the biggest heart and always wants to make sure everyone is having a great time. My dog Gimi is a 5-year-old Lab- Mutt that is a large (100 lbs) baby. I am also expecting a tiny human addition to my family in March 2021. I am excited to be a new mom! 

Do you have any hobbies/special interests?

I enjoy reading, playing video games, board games, binge-watching tv shows, hiking, swimming, trying new foods, and the occasional craft time. 

What is something about you that might surprise your customers and co-workers?

That I am an open book, and not much is super surprising. 

Describe your perfect day:

Great food, great company, great weather, and I’m there. 

Science or History? Which is your favorite and why?

It’s a tough choice because I think it’s good for everyone to know and appreciate both at least a little. I think I am probably a better history student, but I could easily get into a few specific science fields. I’ve always been pretty fascinated with psychology, and I think it probably draws a little on both history and science. 

If you were guaranteed the correct answer to one question, what would you ask?

How can I make the best positive impact?

What is your best piece of advice? It can be about anything

Some of our biggest disappointments are the expectations that we have that cannot be met. A lot of things are out of anyone’s control. Do the best you can with what you have, and you may find that there are a million ways to yes. 

Connect With Hattie or the Iceberg Team

Learn more about The Iceberg Team, Read Some Of Iceberg’s Reviews or Connect with Hattie on Linkedin!

The post Penguin Profile: Hattie McCoy| Iceberg Web Design appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Become a specialist

It may be tempting to not pigeonhole yourself. After all, won’t you be missing out on customers who don’t fit your ideal client’s profile? Yes, you will, and that’s okay. It is far more beneficial to specialize. Consider the medical field. Most people will see a general practitioner for their check-ups and viruses, but when something goes wrong, it’s the specialist whom they trust. They see a podiatrist for foot pain and an ENT surgeon if they need their tonsils removed. A pregnant woman wouldn’t usually see a neurologist to have her baby delivered. She wouldn’t be their ideal customer. If she did go there, they would likely refer her to an obstetrician.

Here are some ways to find out who your ideal customer is.

What do you do best?

By finding your ideal customer, you will be able to do what you do best for the people who need those services and value them. That’s a good place to start. Grab a piece of paper and a pen to do a little brainstorming.

For consistency, let’s look at an example of how you would go about this if you were a medical doctor. You aren’t just any doctor, you are an oncologist. Your patients will be different from those of a neurologist, a podiatrist, or a rheumatologist. You’ll want to get more specific. Out of the many cancers that an oncologist treats, what is your specialty? Blood cancers, particularly leukemia. Your patients are of all ages, but you specialize in pediatric patients. They have scared parents who have a lot of questions and high expectations. The parents are your actual customers. They decide who will treat their child. You ultimately have to serve both the child who is the patient and the parent who is the customer.

Outside of this example, you may have this same complicated situation when it comes to figuring out your ideal customer.

Ask yourself some questions

• What do you offer to your customers?
• What does your product or service do for your ideal customer?
• What problems does your customer have that you and your business can solve?
• Are you considering shifting your business plan to focus on a different market? How?
• What are your ideal customer’s age, education, and occupation?
• What is his or her financial situation?
• Where would you typically find your ideal customer? This could be a literal place or a virtual one.
• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• Who actually benefits the most from your product or service?
• Who makes the buying decision? Remember, it may not be the person who benefits the most.
• Is your customer local, or can they be from anywhere thanks to the internet?
• Does your ideal customer rely on reviews to help them make their buying decisions?
• What time of year, season, month or week does your customer buy?
• Is there a life event that prompts them to seek your product or service?
• How does your ideal customer make their buying decision? Is it spontaneous or well thought out?
• Where does your ideal customer shop?
• How much they are willing to spend?
• How does your ideal customer talk? By understanding their lingo, you will be more relatable to them.
• What emotions does your ideal customer have that you can speak to? How can you connect with them emotionally on more than just a rational level?
• What are your ideal customer’s goals and priorities? How will your product or service help them reach those goals?
• How does your customer like to communicate? Do they tweet, text, email, or prefer snail mail? Knowing this will help you communicate with your customers where they already are.

Describe your ideal customer

The answers to these questions can help you not only describe your ideal customer, but they can also give you clues to some of the best ways to reach him or her. Having a better understanding of how to reach your ideal customers is an incredibly valuable tool in your business marketing. The professionals at Iceberg Web Design can help you put together a plan to reach your ideal customer. Contact us today to find out how!

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