Aaron Wittersheim | Straight North

Are Your Paid Advertising Channels Optimized for 2025 Success?

admin — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:05:47 +0000

Paid advertising is one of the most effective ways to drive growth, but without ongoing refinements, ad spend can quickly be wasted. With competition rising and platforms evolving, businesses must go beyond simply running ads by following a structured method that maximizes performance. Success depends on precise targeting, compelling creative, automation, and accurate tracking to ensure every dollar delivers measurable results.

This post covers the important types of paid advertising, including search, shopping, social, display, video, audio, referral, and affiliate marketing. By reviewing your current campaigns, identifying gaps, and making data-driven changes, you will strengthen your campaigns and achieve better results. Whether your goal is lead generation, ecommerce sales, or brand awareness, optimizing your advertising channels will help you make the most of your budget in 2025 and beyond.

Conversion Tracking

Without accurate conversion tracking, budgets can be wasted on underperforming campaigns and valuable opportunities are missed. Successful paid advertising starts with properly configured tracking, ensuring every lead and sale is attributed to its ad source for smarter, data-driven decisions. From setting up conversion actions in ad platforms to implementing tracking codes and integrating your CRM, precise execution is required to maximize campaign performance.

Confirm that your business captures every conversion correctly with these important questions:

Do all your paid ad campaigns include UTM tracking on destination URLs to ensure accurate attribution?
What conversion actions are currently available on your website and landing pages, such as forms, phone calls, chat, and online orders?
Have you documented all unique forms on your website and categorized them by purpose, such as contact requests, free trials, demos, or newsletter signups?
Have you selected and prioritized the specific forms you want to track for conversions, focusing on those that drive revenue?
Are your forms properly grouped and configured as conversion actions within each of your ad platform accounts?
Have you integrated the ad platform tracking code on each form to ensure conversions are correctly attributed?
Is click ID functionality enabled to append tracking IDs to destination URLs, and are you capturing and storing these IDs for each conversion in your CRM?
Have you set up enhanced conversion tracking on ad platforms that support this feature to improve measurement accuracy?
Are you using third-party call-tracking software to monitor all phone calls generated by your paid advertising campaigns?
Is your call-tracking software correctly configured on your website and have you tested it to confirm accurate functionality?
Have you ensured your call-tracking software sends phone conversion data to ad platforms in real-time while filtering out short, non-sales-related calls?
For ad platforms without integrated phone conversion tracking, how are you using call-tracking data for attribution and campaign optimization?
Is all form and phone conversion data being automatically captured and stored within your CRM?
Does your CRM include a lead status field to categorize marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and new customers for better sales tracking?
If your website supports ecommerce, is each ad platform and its tracking code properly set up to capture unique order numbers and transaction values?

Search Ads

Without a properly structured and managed search ad campaign, significant ad spend can be wasted, leading to poor results and rising costs. Strong campaigns rely on precise keyword targeting and match types to attract high-intent searches, strategic bidding to increase conversions efficiently, and thoughtfully designed landing pages that turn clicks into valuable leads and sales.

To audit your search ads and find opportunities for improvement, ask yourself these questions:

Are you running a branded campaign to dominate search results for your brand and safeguard it against competitor ads?
Have you properly structured your search campaigns by service/product category and/or geography to optimize budget control and bid strategy?
Have you organized your ad groups around keyword themes to improve quality scores and ad relevance?
Are you targeting high-intent commercial keywords and strategically using multiple match types to capture all relevant variations?
Do you have all relevant negative keywords in place with the correct match types, and are you actively monitoring your campaign daily to add new negatives and minimize wasted spend?
Does each ad group include a diverse set of headlines and descriptions to optimize performance, along with compelling offers to increase CTR?
Are you using additional ad assets in Google Ads, such as call, sitelink, callout, image, structured snippets, and location assets, to maximize SERP visibility and drive more clicks and conversions?
Have you implemented remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) in Google Ads to lower CPCs and increase conversion rates?
Are you using dayparting to pause campaign-level ad spend during less effective times, such as weekends, holidays, and night and early morning hours, to reduce wasted spend and lower overall cost per conversion?
Are you using automated smart bidding in each campaign to maximize conversions while minimizing costs?
Are you importing offline conversions into the ad platforms to optimize smart bidding based on MQLs and closed deals?
Do your landing pages follow modern design trends and responsive development to ensure an optimal user experience across all devices, while also allowing you to quickly create and test multiple versions for conversion optimization?
Do your landing pages maintain consistent messaging that matches your ads, feature a compelling offer, prominently display a conversion form and phone number, and include strong calls to action (CTAs) to drive conversions?
Are you continuously testing landing page changes to improve conversion rates with a clear testing plan, while analyzing key visitor behavior metrics, including time on page, bounce rates, and click/scroll heatmaps, to guide optimizations?
Do you have a clear understanding of the ROI for each campaign in each ad platform, and are you actively optimizing to maximize conversions at the lowest cost?

Shopping Ads

Shopping ads are a powerful way to boost ecommerce sales when properly improved. Success comes from reaching the right shoppers at the right time while standing out from competitors. High-quality images and an optimized product feed improve visibility, competitive pricing and promotions enhance appeal, and refined audience selection brings in high-intent traffic. When combined with smart automation and product landing pages designed to drive conversions, these strategies work together to increase sales and achieve the best return on ad spend.

Use these important questions to assess and enhance your shopping ad performance:

Do your product photos, both on your website and in your product feed, meet high-quality standards, and are they optimized to attract clicks and drive conversions, given they are the first thing users notice?
Have your product titles been optimized with relevant keywords and key details such as brand, product name, color, and size to improve visibility and conversions?
Can your product descriptions be improved by incorporating key features, benefits, and additional relevant keywords for better visibility and engagement?
Are you proactively working to increase the number of positive reviews for each of your products?
Do you actively monitor and resolve product feed errors in your Google and Microsoft Merchant Center accounts to prevent performance issues?
Are you using a product feed management tool to create and optimize segmented feeds while benefiting from AI-driven enhancements?
Are you taking advantage of the promotion features in your Google and Microsoft Merchant Center accounts to offer discounts, free shipping, and limited-time deals to increase clicks and conversions?
Have you upgraded from Google Ads standard Shopping campaigns to Performance Max campaigns to maximize ad reach, improve targeting, and leverage AI-driven automation for better performance?
If you are using Performance Max, have you implemented brand, placement, and audience exclusions, along with account-level negative keywords, to minimize wasted spend?
Are you supplying Customer Match (first-party data) and offline conversion data to Performance Max to refine AI-driven targeting, ensuring your ads reach the most relevant users at the right time and place?
Are you continually optimizing your product pages to enhance user engagement and increase conversion rates?

Social Ads

Social ads thrive on relevance, creativity, and audience selection. Choosing the right platforms, setting clear goals, and improving ad formats ensure campaigns support business objectives. Engaging visuals, persuasive copy, and smart retargeting help capture attention and increase conversions. Ongoing tracking and regular testing keep campaigns effective and cost-efficient.

Review your social ad campaigns with these important questions:

Have you chosen the right social ad platforms based on your goals, such as brand awareness, ecommerce sales, lead generation, or local business growth?
Does your campaign objective align with your desired outcome, whether it be traffic, conversions, lead generation, or video views?
Are you segmenting audiences effectively by testing custom and lookalike audiences, as well as behavioral and demographic targeting, to find the most responsive groups?
Have you tested different creatives, headlines, CTAs, and ad copy to determine what resonates best with your audience?
Do your ads feature a strong hook in the first few seconds, minimal text, clear messaging, and social proof like testimonials, reviews, or ratings?
Are your landing pages fast, mobile-friendly, and aligned with your ad messaging, featuring a clear CTA to drive conversions?
How well are you tracking key performance metrics like CTR, CPC, conversion rate, and ROAS and are you making data-driven adjustments to optimize budget and bidding strategies?
Have you implemented retargeting campaigns for high-intent users, such as website visitors, cart abandoners, and engaged social users, to maximize conversions?

Display Ads

A successful display ad campaign goes beyond generating impressions. It delivers engaging creative to the right audience, driving real interactions and conversions. Reaching high-value users requires careful audience selection, strategic placements, and smart automation. First-party data enhances audience selection, while optimized landing pages turn clicks into sales or leads. Ongoing testing and adjustments ensure display campaigns remain effective, balancing brand awareness with measurable results.

Use these questions to review and enhance your display ad performance:

Have you been actively testing various audience targeting features in each ad platform, such as custom intent audiences, in-market audiences, affinity audiences, demographic targeting, remarketing, and placement targeting in Google Ads, to maximize conversions at the lowest cost?
Are you providing Customer Match (first-party data) and offline conversion data in Google Ads to enhance AI-driven targeting and reach the most relevant users ready to buy?
Do you exclude low-quality placement categories such as mobile apps, games, parked domains, and clickbait sites while continuously adding blocked sites and negative keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks and wasted spend?
Is your Google Ads remarketing tag properly set up on your website to retarget visitors who have engaged with your site but haven’t yet converted?
For responsive display ads, are you providing your logo, a diverse set of headlines, and descriptions with compelling offers and clear CTAs, along with high-quality images to enable the ad platform’s AI to optimize for the best-performing combinations that drive conversions?
Have you been consistently creating and testing custom image ads against responsive display ads to determine which performs best in terms of CTR and conversion rate?
Are you implementing frequency capping to prevent ad fatigue and ensure a positive brand experience?
Do you utilize automated smart bidding in each campaign to maximize conversions while minimizing costs?
Are your landing pages optimized for modern design and responsiveness, maintaining ad-aligned messaging, strong CTAs, and key conversion elements, while being continuously tested and refined using visitor behavior metrics to maximize conversions?

Video Ads

Video ads capture attention, but using them to turn views into conversions requires the right strategy. Engaging storytelling, clear branding, and carefully selected audience targeting help drive impact. Testing different formats, adjusting video length, and using smart automation will boost results and minimize wasted spend. Every second of your ad should contribute to achieving real business goals.

Review these important questions to strengthen and improve your video ads:

Are you consistently creating and testing video ads across different ad platforms to identify what delivers the best performance at the lowest cost?
Are you experimenting with different ad formats on each platform to find the most cost-effective and high-performing options?
Are you utilizing various audience targeting features on each ad platform to enhance campaign performance and reach the most relevant users?
Are you using Customer Match (first-party data), lookalike audiences, and offline conversion data in Google Ads to enhance AI-driven targeting and optimize smart bidding to reach your ideal customers?
Are you creating video ad sequences to nurture audiences through different stages of the buying journey?
Are your videos hooking the viewer within the first five seconds, showcasing your product or proof quickly, incorporating strong branding and featuring a clear CTA?
Are you ensuring that your branding is introduced early in the video to reinforce brand recall, even if viewers don’t watch the full ad?
Are you optimizing video thumbnails and titles to increase CTR on video ad placements?
Are you using captions or text overlays to ensure your message is clear even when videos play without sound?
Are you testing different video lengths to determine which drives the highest engagement and conversions?
Are you tracking key engagement metrics beyond view rate, such as watch time, CTR, and post-view conversions?

Audio Ads

Audio ads offer a unique way to connect with audiences in a focused, distraction-free environment. The right mix of voice, tone, and sound design will make messages more memorable and engaging. Audience selection, personalized messaging, and testing different formats help improve results and increase impact. A clear message and strong CTA ensure listeners know exactly what to do next.

Use these important questions to enhance your audio ad campaign:

Have you tested audio ads on different platforms to achieve the best performance?
Are you experimenting with different audio ad formats on each platform to identify which delivers the best results?
Have you explored various audience targeting features in each audio ad platform to optimize campaign performance?
Are you using first-party data and retargeting strategies to reach engaged listeners who have interacted with your brand before?
Do your ads feature a well-chosen voice actor with the right tone, complemented by engaging music and sound effects to enhance listener engagement?
Is your audio ad creative capturing attention within the first 3-5 seconds by using bold statements, intriguing questions, and direct listener engagement or by immediately highlighting key benefits?
Are you keeping your audio ads concise and to the point, avoiding unnecessary filler while delivering a clear and engaging message?
Does your messaging include a compelling offer and a clear CTA that directs listeners on the next action to take?
Are you using a dynamic audio ad creative (personalization) to tailor messaging based on user location, weather, time of day, or demographics?
Have you tested different voice styles, messaging, and CTAs to determine what drives the highest conversion rates?

Email

Email provides direct access to engaged audiences, but success depends on reaching the right recipients with compelling content. Sponsored placements, co-branded promotions, and partnerships with influencers increase visibility, while customized messaging and automated scheduling enhance engagement. Strong CTAs and ongoing testing help improve open rates and conversions.

Review your email ad campaigns with these important questions:

Are you sponsoring email newsletters that reach your ideal customers through industry associations, trade groups, or media outlets by placing featured content or ads to increase brand exposure?
Do you run co-branded email campaigns or dedicated email blasts with trusted influencers or industry partners to expand your reach and engage your ideal audience?
Are you working with influencers, affiliates, or industry experts to promote your service/product through their email lists?
Have you explored sponsoring event and conference email campaigns or partnering with virtual summits and webinar hosts to reach and engage attendees before and after the event?
Is your email campaign design focused on clear, compelling CTAs that guide recipients toward a specific action, such as signing up, purchasing, or learning more?
Do you use reputable third-party email list providers, platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or ZoomInfo, and intent-based tools to build high-quality email lists while leveraging automation to scale outreach with personalization and compliance?
Are you testing different send times, days, subject lines, and audience segments to determine the best combination to maximize open rates and conversions in your email campaigns?

Referral

Referral traffic is a valuable source of high-intent visitors, but only if placements are carefully chosen and improved. Sponsored listicles, editorial reviews, and premium directory listings increase visibility and credibility, while paid features on industry blogs and comparison sites help attract qualified leads. Monitoring results and adjusting your methods ensure referral efforts deliver meaningful outcomes.

Review your referral ad campaigns with these important questions:

Have you sponsored high-ranking listicles and comparison articles to drive targeted referral traffic to your website?
Are you investing in editorial reviews or featured articles on industry blogs and media outlets to build credibility and attract qualified leads?
Have you secured paid placements in resource hubs, industry guides, or recommended tools pages relevant to your audience?
Are you using paid sponsorships in high-traffic blog posts that generate consistent organic referral traffic?
Have you listed your business in premium directories like Clutch, G2, or Capterra to increase exposure and drive inbound leads?
Are you paying for enhanced visibility on review websites such as Trustpilot, Yelp, or TripAdvisor to boost trust and attract new customers?
Have you sponsored business leads through professional associations, membership organizations, and trade groups?
Are you utilizing paid placements on price comparison or lead generation websites like HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack to acquire qualified prospects?
Have you sponsored virtual summits, industry conferences, or online events to position your business in front of a high-intent audience?
Are you regularly analyzing referral traffic and conversion performance to refine your strategy and maximize ROI?

Affiliate

Affiliate marketing drives cost-effective growth, but success depends on forming the right partnerships and maintaining a well-managed campaign. A competitive commission model, strong affiliate relationships, and conversion-focused landing pages improve results, while reliable tracking ensures profitability. Providing affiliates with the right tools and clear guidelines helps increase conversions and protect brand integrity.

Ask yourself these questions to strengthen your affiliate marketing plan:

Have you selected the right affiliate model, whether pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, or pay-per-click, to align with your business goals?
Is your commission structure competitive enough to attract and retain high-quality affiliates while maintaining profitability?
Are you partnering with top affiliate networks and reputable affiliates, including influencers, bloggers, and niche websites?
Have you optimized your affiliate-specific landing pages for speed, mobile usability, and high conversion rates?
Have you tested different creatives, offers, and CTAs to maximize conversion rates from affiliate traffic?
Are you maintaining consistent communication with affiliates and providing them with strong marketing assets like banners, product images, and promo codes?
Do you have clear terms and conditions outlining approved promotional methods, traffic sources, and brand guidelines?
Are you actively monitoring for affiliate fraud, such as fake leads, cookie stuffing, or unauthorized paid ads, while ensuring compliance with FTC disclosure requirements and GDPR?

Getting the most out of your paid advertising in 2025 requires daily monitoring and ongoing adjustments. Each channel holds unique potential, but true success comes from aligning them to enhance results and increase revenue. By fine-tuning audience targeting, testing creative assets, leveraging AI-driven automations, and closely monitoring performance, you will reduce wasted spend and drive sustained growth. The right strategy combined with detailed execution ensures your budget delivers impactful results and keeps your campaigns competitive into the future.

Is Your Organic Marketing Strategy Ready to Thrive in 2025?

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 19:10:04 +0000

Organic marketing channels are a powerful way to grow your business without relying on costly ads. They boost brand visibility, generate sales leads and drive ecommerce revenue, with many efforts delivering lasting benefits.

In this post, we’ll help you take a closer look at your efforts. Are your CRM, website and organic channels, like AI and search, shopping, video, social, email, referral and direct, working together to drive results? In today’s competitive landscape, trust and credibility are everything. Let’s make sure your organic marketing is ready to thrive in 2025.

CRM

Your CRM is the core of your marketing efforts. Every interaction with visitors, leads, prospects and customers is stored here, tracking how people engage with your business. From that initial click or email to becoming a new customer and beyond, a strong CRM helps you identify what’s working, what needs attention and where you can improve. It’s your key to keeping customers satisfied, discovering new growth opportunities and managing everything from follow-ups to referrals.

If you’re not sure your CRM is pulling its weight, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Are you tracking anonymous visitor activity on your website, like the referral and entry URLs for each visit?
Are you connecting anonymous visitor activity to contacts once they identify themselves (ex. by filling out a form with their email address)?
When a visitor converts into a lead through a form submission, phone call or another method, are you attributing the lead source across all touchpoints leading up to the conversion, making sure each channel or campaign involved gets credit?
For phone leads, are you using a call tracking tool to capture accurate lead source data or are sales reps manually entering leads without knowing how the caller discovered your business?
Do you have a clearly defined, step-by-step sales process set up in your CRM that your sales team follows to guide leads from prospect to customer?
What steps have you automated in your sales process within your CRM to save your team time?
Are you able to quickly measure the ROI of your marketing channels and individual campaigns?
Are you capturing and storing all emails, phone call logs, meeting details and other interactions with your business in your CRM under each customer account?
How are you using your CRM to retain customers, encourage reviews, generate referrals and drive cross-sells and upsells?
Are you continually gaining new insights across the entire customer lifecycle and using that information to improve your sales process, customer service and internal operations?

Website

Your website remains a central hub of your business’s online presence, giving you complete control over user experience, conversion paths and performance metrics. As one of the few marketing assets you fully own, it is a foundational part of your organic marketing efforts. Channels like AI and search, shopping, social and email rely on its functionality and content to deliver engaging and relevant experiences that drive action. When operating at its best, your website transforms interest into sales leads, new customers and revenue.

Here are some important questions to help you figure out how well your website is working:

Does your website have a modern design that is a true reflection of your brand and speaks directly to the audience you want to reach?
Is your website content written to highlight what makes your business unique and provide visitors with a compelling reason to choose you?
Do you have dedicated pages for each product/service that contain helpful information in multiple formats (text, images and videos) to engage users?
Are there enough pages on your website to cover all questions that people have about your business?
Does each page of your website include enough detailed content to provide clear answers to these questions?
Are testimonials, success stories, awards and examples of your work presented to visitors to build trust?
Are your CTAs placed where they’ll grab attention and written in a way that makes it easy for visitors to take the next step?
Does your website have a blog with all needed functionality for publishing fresh content regularly?
Is your tracking set up to measure traffic, understand user behavior and see how well your website is converting visitors?

Websites have long been the gateway to online visibility, but things are changing as users discover and interact with brands in entirely new ways. AI platforms and search engines are often delivering direct answers without requiring a visit to a website. At the same time, visitor’s paths to discovery are becoming less predictable, bouncing between search results, social media and video platforms before they ever think about visiting your site. In addition, major platforms are doing everything they can to keep users within their own walled gardens, so brands have to find ways to show up where their audiences are spending time.

Even with these shifts, your website still plays a central role in your strategy. But to stay visible, it’s not enough to focus on the website alone. Expanding your efforts across multiple channels is key to reaching and engaging your audience. From here, we’ll dive into how you can audit your organic marketing channels to build a stronger, more effective strategy.

AI & Search

AI has been a driving force in Google search for years, but its role is evolving faster than ever. AI-generated overviews now dominate the top of many result pages, while platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer user questions and drive website traffic. While many foundational SEO principles still matter, staying competitive in 2025 means evolving beyond the basics. To thrive, you’ll need to adapt your organic marketing strategy to excel in AI-enhanced search and on emerging platforms.

Here are the key questions to audit your organic AI & Search strategy:

Have you researched and analyzed all informational and transactional keyword groups (including root keywords, their variations and questions) that people use to search for your products/services?
Do you monitor the structure of AI and search result pages for your keyword groups to guide your optimization efforts?
Are you continually adding new pages to your website, increasing the depth of content on each page, creating content in different formats (like text, graphics and video) and improving your internal linking structure?
Are you using experts in your business as authors to create unique, high-value blog posts enhanced with custom graphics, videos and strategic internal links?
Is your website free of technical SEO issues that could prevent it from being crawled, indexed and ranked properly?
Have you implemented structured data to help your website show up more effectively in search results?
Are there improvements you can make to improve speed and UX and achieve better Google Core Web Vitals performance?
Do you track visibility and traffic data on AI and search platforms to evaluate the effectiveness of your optimization efforts?
Are you maximizing your Google Business Profile and other trusted business listing sites by ensuring your profiles are fully completed and optimized?
Have you been increasing your business ratings on Google and other review websites?
Do you focus on building relationships with authoritative publisher websites to create and share high-quality, expert content in multiple formats?
Are you earning linkless brand mentions and backlinks to grow your business’s authority and visibility?

Shopping

Getting your products to show up for shoppers who are actively looking for them in organic search and shopping results can increase sales. Google and Bing provide opportunities to showcase your products, helping you reach new customers without relying entirely on ads. To obtain successful results, it is especially important to focus on detailed product data, high-quality images and customer reviews.

How well is your organic shopping strategy working? Ask these questions to find out:

Are your product titles, descriptions and attributes detailed, accurate and using keywords that help more shoppers find your products?
Is your inventory updated regularly, with accurate pricing so customers always see the correct information?
Do your product photos look clear and professional and do they follow the image guidelines for Google and Bing Merchant Centers?
Have you added structured data to your website’s product pages to help them stand out in results?
Are you doing everything you can to encourage more positive customer reviews and ratings on your product pages?
Does your website support product feed functionality to share data with Google and Bing, using options like an XML file URL or a CMS plug-in with API integration)?
Are your Google Merchant Center and Bing Merchant Center accounts opened and is all information about your business fully populated?
Is your product feed configured correctly, free of errors and meeting the platform requirements for Google and Bing Merchant Centers?
Are you using a product feed management tool to address the limitations of your website’s feed, segment and improve the quality of your data and have AI optimize your product feed using data insights?

Video

Organic video is about creating and sharing content that naturally draws in viewers, without relying on paid promotion. Whether it’s hosted on your website or platforms like YouTube, video content offers a powerful way to connect with audiences, build trust and expand your brand’s reach. YouTube, the world’s second-largest search engine, gives businesses an incredible chance to connect with people looking for answers, tutorials or even entertainment. As more people prefer video content, having a solid strategy can help you attract followers, drive traffic to your website and establish your brand as a go-to resource in your industry.

Here are the questions to evaluate your organic video strategy:

Do my videos answer the questions my audience is asking and offer information they can actually use?
Am I creating videos on a variety of topics, such as tutorials, product demos, customer stories, educational videos and behind-the-scenes moments?
Have I researched the right keyword phrases to mention in my videos and used them to improve titles, descriptions and tags so my content is easier to find?
Are my videos embedded on key website pages to enhance user engagement, provide additional context and improve the overall visitor experience?
Am I sharing my videos across other marketing channels, like email campaigns, social media platforms and blog posts, to expand their reach and maximize their impact?
Is my YouTube channel well-organized, with consistent branding and an “About” section that invites people to learn more?
Are my video thumbnails attention-grabbing and appealing enough to make viewers want to click?
Am I encouraging viewers to subscribe, comment, like and share so my channel continues to grow?
Have I added ways to guide viewers to more of my content and keep them watching?
Am I creating videos regularly enough to keep my audience interested and engaged?
Am I using analytics to see what is working, where the opportunities are, and how I can improve?

Social

Organic social gives businesses a way to connect with their audience, share valuable content and grow a following without leaning on paid ads. It’s all about creating moments of real interaction, building trust and strengthening relationships. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Pinterest and Reddit are always evolving. Trends like short-form videos, bold visuals and tools that bring communities together are reshaping the way brands engage.

Use these questions to audit and improve your organic social strategy:

Am I creating a steady stream of content, like blog posts, videos or infographics, ready to share on social platforms?
Have I chosen the platforms where my audience spends most of their time and focused on them?
Is education, entertainment or providing value the purpose of most of my content and not direct promotion of my business?
Do the posts I am making encourage people to like, share and comment?
Am I using analytics to see what is working, where are the opportunities and how can I improve?
Have I used social media platform specific tools or features that may enhance engagement or touch?
Am I using third-party tools to help manage and improve my organic social marketing efforts?

Email

Reaching your audience through email is one of the most effective ways to drive growth. It gives you a direct line to deliver valuable messages that engage, inform and inspire action. To succeed, you need to build an engaged subscriber base, craft personalized messages and maintain consistent communication. When done right, email marketing becomes a powerful tool to nurture leads, earn trust and turn interest into tangible results.

Wondering if your organic email strategy is effective? Ask yourself these key questions:

Is our email list filled with high-quality subscribers and are we actively growing it?
Are we creating content that meets our audience’s needs, keeps them engaged and provides real value?
Have we segmented our email list to send personalized messages tailored to each group?
Are our emails designed for mobile devices, with short subject lines, responsive layouts and proper element spacing?
Do our emails include clear, compelling CTAs that motivate recipients to take the next step?
Are we encouraging subscribers to share our emails and refer others to help grow our list organically?
Are we using automation and a consistent schedule to send timely emails that nurture leads, build trust and keep our audience engaged?
Are we monitoring deliverability and maintaining a clean email list to prevent messages from being blocked in spam filters?
Are we tracking performance metrics like open rates, click-through rates and conversions to improve our approach?

Referral

Referrals are one of the strongest ways to drive growth without relying on paid efforts. Being mentioned and linked from relevant blogs, forums, industry association, partner websites and business directories, boosts your credibility and sends traffic directly to your website. To maximize this potential, focus on building relationships with trusted sites that align with your audience. A strong presence across these platforms can turn referral traffic into a steady stream of conversions.

Ask these questions to audit your organic referral marketing strategy:

Am I leveraging the right online review platforms to establish trust and attract customers or taking steps to build a presence on those most relevant to my business?
Are my business details accurate and up to date in the most important industry directories?
Is my profile optimized in local directories to attract nearby high intent customers, how well?
Have I built strong connections with partner websites that can bring quality leads to my business?
Is my business listed on comparison sites where potential customers are making decisions?
Is my business effectively showing up on aggregator platforms, so users see my products or services?
Have I sought media coverage from blogs, news outlets or other reputable sources within my industry?
How am I leveraging community forums to engage users and secure valuable referrals?

Direct

Direct traffic reflects strong brand recognition and trust, occurring when visitors reach your website without a traceable referral source. This includes typing your URL, clicking bookmarks, accessing links in PDFs or untracked emails or arriving from platforms that block referral data. Understanding these pathways helps you identify how visitors are engaging with your business and uncover opportunities to drive more traffic and conversions.

To boost organic direct traffic and grow your revenue, ask yourself:

Is my brand memorable and easy to recognize for my target audience?
Am I promoting my website through offline channels like business cards, flyers or events?
Am I encouraging customers to share my website link with others to increase visibility?
Does my website make it easy for visitors to bookmark and continually return?
Are my email campaigns designed with clear calls to action that bring users back to my site?
Have I used QR codes in offline marketing or on product packaging to drive traffic to my site?
Do I make the most of PDFs, desktop apps or shared documents by adding direct links to my website?
Is my messaging consistent enough to keep my brand top of mind and encourage repeat visits?

As you refine your organic marketing plan, focus on how each channel contributes to your growth and builds lasting connections with your audience. Whether you are improving your website’s performance, driving referral traffic, crafting engaging email campaigns or strengthening your social media presence, the goal is to stay consistent and align your efforts with your business objectives. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your tactics will help your business thrive in 2025, driving steady revenue growth while building trust and loyalty with your customers.

The last post in this series will provide a detailed guide to help you audit your paid advertising channels.

If you haven’t yet read the first part of this series, be sure to check it out: Is Your Digital Marketing Ready for 2025? Prepare for the Future.

Is Your Digital Marketing Ready for 2025? Prepare for the Future

admin — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 18:34:38 +0000

Preparing for the future requires structuring your marketing efforts strategically to achieve success in 2025. Whether you are a marketing leader or a business owner, it is important to take time to step back and assess your approach in order to find areas where you can not only beat your competitors but also increase your revenue.

First of all, focus on three main areas of your marketing operations:

Budget: Is your spending plan effectively driving your sales and revenue targets?
Resources: Do you have the right team members and collaborators to meet your objectives?
Channels: Are your actions delivering the outcomes you need?

Looking at these base areas can result in changes that will improve your marketing performance.

Budget Assessment

It is important to recognize that your marketing budget is a tool to support your quest for growth. To be effective, it must be aligned with your revenue goals. It is dangerous to have a misaligned budget because it means that some resources are being squandered while some opportunities are being missed, while a well-structured budget will position you for success.

The following questions will help you assess your marketing budget:

Have realist revenue targets been clearly defined to guide the strategy?
How much of the growth plan depends on digital marketing efforts?
What is the annual budget and are the funds sufficient to cover marketing staff, partners, tools and promotions?
Is the budget aligned with the growth goals?
How is the budget allocated across campaigns and are investments made appropriately?
Which parts of the budget are most effective and where are opportunities for improvement?

Reviewing Your Resources

Marketing efficiency is only possible when there is the right balance of internal resources and external partners. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and the way they are used determines the outcome.

Considering internal teams, ask these questions:

Which roles are best suited for in-house handling and which should be outsourced?
Does your staff you have the right skills and expertise?
Is the team knowledgeable about the trends and tools?
Are the members of the team performing their tasks efficiently?
Are costs reasonable when compared to the results obtained?

When it comes to working with external partners, ask these questions:

Can specialized skills such as SEO or paid advertising be better handled by third parties?
Have the partners you have chosen performed well in the past?
Are the costs of doing business with them reasonable?
Do the partners understand your company’s goals and align with your vision?

Evaluating Marketing Channels

It is very important to audit your website and marketing channels in order to ensure that the strategy being employed is in line with the set goals. Different channels – AI and search, shopping, display, video, social, audio, email, referral, affiliate – are meant to be employed in different ways, but often overlap. These channels work together to guide users from awareness to conversion. Visitors often interact with multiple touchpoints across campaigns, so it is important to evaluate how each channel contributes to your marketing performance.

When conducting the audit of each marketing channel, ask these questions:

Are you using this channel and if so, does it fit with your marketing goals?
Who is in charge of the channel and responsible for its performance?
What actions are being taken to get results from this channel?
How much time and cost are being spent on this channel?
What are the key performance indicators of this channel?
Is the performance meeting your goals?
What is the ROI?

In 2025, marketing success requires a holistic approach across all marketing channels. By analyzing your budget, resources, and channels, you can find ways to improve the strategy and increase results. Aligning expenditure with objectives, using the appropriate resources, and optimizing channel performance all contribute to the development of an effective marketing system. By auditing, adjusting, and acting on insights, your efforts will drive growth and help you deliver great results.

The upcoming posts in this series will provide a detailed method to audit your organic marketing channels and a guide to audit your paid advertising channels.