Leave the Driving to Us!

A number of years ago, a well known North American passenger bus company used the slogan “Leave the driving to us”.  The idea was that a traveler could sit back and enjoy the ride without worrying about the traffic or tedium of a long distance drive.

When it comes to Digital Advertising and Social Media Marketing, that slogan could be well used as an admonishment as much as an encouragement to business owners who have a “hands-on”, micro management attitude with regard to their businesses.  This is often the case with small and medium sized business, where owners cannot see that they must entrust some aspects of their operations to professionals.  Although it is important to have input and oversight, these owners will never achieve anything but mediocrity due to their overzealous insistence on having a direct hand in everything.

Imagine, if you can, a surgeon in the middle of an operation who is faced with a patient who takes the scalpel from his hands and insists on completing the procedure himself!  The result could be fatal if not severely damaging.

Such is the case with regard to implementing and managing a Social Media Ad Campaign.  A business owner who insists on interfering with a marketer’s methods on a day-to-day basis is no more useful than a troll.

Certainly, it is vital that a business owner have the final say in the overall message and tone of an ad campaign, but the mechanics and administration of the actual platforms and software must be in full and exclusive control of the professional Digital Marketing Professional.

RoamBusiness has the experience and expertise to successfully execute a profitable and effective Social Media advertising campaign.  Bring us your best ideas and the pride you have in your product or service, but please, “Leave the driving to us”!

Contact us for a free consultation www.roambusiness.com

Do You Really Need a Rash?

What if, tomorrow, a new fashion trend was wearing itchy burlap clothing?  Would you rush out to buy the latest pair of uncomfortable pants or ugly shirts, guaranteed to make you break out in a rash, just because fashion dictated it or some celebrity was wearing it?  Should you be expected to pay good money for something that fits poorly, looks ugly and make you uncomfortable?

In a multimedia world of constantly changing applications and massive data crunching there seems to be a "new" way of getting your message across on almost a daily basis.  Yesterday's application is "dead" and tomorrow's platform is waiting for you to use before it gets old in a week!  Social Media Gurus will gladly spout endless emails and blogs describing the strengths and weaknesses of the latest interface with your clientele, faster than you can say "download this app".

One of the biggest questions that often goes unasked by Social Media Marketing consultants is "what is your business comfortable with?".  The need to reach the best target market cannot be secondary to a company's ability to manage the vehicle that will deliver the message.  If a business is saddled with an application that is too unwieldy or complicated to use, it is as useless and can be as poor a fit as a burlap sweater!

Here are just a few points to consider when choosing the platforms your business can best use when deciding how to reach your customers and potential customers.

     1)  Are we using this platform because that's where our clients are, or are we using it because it's the    latest craze and our huge competitor XYZ Inc. is using it?

     2)  Do the people in our organization have sufficient knowledge of the application's use to avoid costly mistakes and wasted time?  Will they have to devote hours to learning a process that will be obsolete in a few months?

     3)  If we are outsourcing the digital management of our marketing and/or advertising effort, is the company that is handling the account selling us the latest fashion (burlap sweater) or is it utilizing the best tools to effectively and cost efficiently get our message out to the right segment of the population?

     4) Are we buying an uncomfortable rash in order to look good?

Roam Business always strives to find digital marketing solutions that our clients are comfortable with.  No geek speak or techno babble, we use plain language to discuss options and offer solutions to our clients.  Our goal is to find a fitting way to fulfill your online advertising needs that will suit your budget and give your business its best possible look, in a style that makes you feel most comfortable.  Contact us today for a free consultation.  www.RoamBusiness.com

What a Beautiful Baby!

Many magazines and newspapers feature an annual section entitled “Babies of the Year” in which proud parents are compelled to pay for space featuring a photo of their newborn along with some brief description of the little one’s vital stats and a list of his/her newly acquired relatives.  Parents are proud of their babies and rightfully so.  No matter how butt-ugly the little screamers are, parents will pony up the cash to have a picture of their new acquisition appear in the local press.  While most babies are cute little creatures, some do bear more than a passing resemblance to ET. Given that they don’t have a resume to post along with the pic, that’s not the best first impression they can make on the world!  But the world be damned, proud parents will stop at nothing to assure that their newborn gets its fifteen minutes of fame straight out of the womb.

          Many small business owners are very much like those parents when it comes to their businesses.  Unable to see the weaknesses in their enterprise, they spend their advertising dollars on a snapshot of their going concern, without giving a second thought to the substance of their ad or its value to the targeted consumer.  Essentially, their pride in their small accomplishment overwhelms the efficiency of their advertising dollar.

          Every parent should rightfully be proud of their newborn and every business owner should justifiably be proud of their successful small or medium sized business, but when it comes to getting the most out of an advertising expense, especially in the digital age, the business owner would be well rewarded by consulting with marketing and advertising professionals before baring all before the public.  A dispassionate outsider, with knowledge of the most efficient tools to get a message to a business’s target consumer has a better chance of getting a return on advertising investment than a proud papa handing out cigars!  

          Roam Business has been helping entrepreneurs get an effective message across via online marketing for over 15 years.  Whether it’s simply optimizing your website or designing and implementing a strategic ad campaign, Roam Business has the experience to help you grow.  Contact us today for a free initial consultation and an unbiased evaluation of your marketing strategy.   RoamBusiness.com