Online marketing at a smaller business often looks like this: a bit of Facebook, an occasional ad, a website from a few years back and a feeling that “it just isn’t working somehow”. The problem usually isn’t one channel – it’s the lack of a system. This guide walks you through four steps – from goals to your website and campaigns all the way to tracking – in the order in which they make sense.
Quick overview: 4 steps
- Set measurable goals and get to know your target audience.
- Prepare a website that turns visitors into customers.
- Launch campaigns and SEO that complement each other.
- Measure, test and review every month.
Step 1: Define your marketing goals and target audience
Without a clear goal and an idea of who you’re talking to, you’re spending time and money blindly. This step shapes everything that comes after it.
Set measurable goals
“I want more customers” isn’t a goal. A goal has a number and a deadline that you set based on your situation – for example, how many inquiries a month you need to be able to hire another person, or what revenue your online store should reach before the season. Typical areas:
- sales and revenue,
- new customers or inquiries,
- repeat purchases and loyalty,
- website traffic,
- brand awareness in your region,
- quality leads for your sales team.
Write your goals down and come back to them once a month. You’ll see whether you’re on the right track before you spend your entire budget.
Get to know your target audience
Start with demographics: age, location, occupation, income. Then add behavior: where people spend time online, what they search for, what problems they’re solving and what holds them back from buying.
Demographic and behavioral targeting
- Demographic targeting works with data such as age, gender, location or income. It’s simple, but sometimes too general.
- Behavioral targeting is based on interests, website behavior and shopping habits. It’s more precise, but needs more data.
In practice, you combine them: for example, people from the Bardejov area (demographics) who looked at your price list on your website (behavior).
Create an ideal customer profile
A so-called buyer persona describes a typical customer as a specific person. Not “men aged 25–55”, but, for example: “Martin, owner of a small carpentry workshop, has no time for marketing, needs a reliable supplier and decides based on references.” With every piece of copy and every campaign, you then ask yourself whether it would appeal to Martin. You’ll find information for the profile here:
- in conversations with your current customers,
- in the questions you get by email and phone,
- in data from your web analytics and social media,
- in reviews – yours and your competitors’.
Step 2: Prepare a website that turns visitors into customers
Your website is your store, and it’s open around the clock. If people don’t know what to do on it, every campaign costs you more than it has to.
One page, one goal
For every page, be clear about what the visitor should do: buy, fill out a form or call. Everything else should support that goal. A prominent call to action – a button that clearly says what happens next – belongs on every important page.
Speed and mobile
Slow loading and clumsy mobile navigation drive people away before they’ve read the first sentence. A large share of visits now comes from phones, so test your website on them first and foremost.
What a website that sells needs
- a clear layout without unnecessary elements,
- fast loading on all devices,
- navigation that leads to the goal,
- reviews and testimonials from happy customers,
- trust signals such as guarantees, certificates or real photos of your team,
- copy that solves the customer’s problem, not just describes your business.
You’ll find more tips in our article How to design a website that sells.
Pick up where people come from
If someone clicks an ad for “custom kitchens Košice”, they should land on a page about custom kitchens, not on the homepage with everything on it. The better a page follows on from the ad or search, the greater the chance of an inquiry.
Tip: Don’t make ten changes to your website at once. Pick one page with one goal, rework it and let it run for a few weeks before you change the next thing. Otherwise, you won’t know what helped.
Step 3: Launch campaigns and SEO that complement each other
SEO and paid advertising are like two engines in one car. Each works differently, but they pull best together.
SEO: long-term visibility
SEO (search engine optimization) is working on your website’s content and technical side so Google shows you higher in the results. Results come more slowly, but they last – you don’t pay per click for visits from search.
PPC: fast results
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, such as Google Ads or Facebook ads, brings visitors right after launch. But you pay for every click, and when you switch the campaign off, the visits stop. We explain how to choose the right platform in our article Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads.
How to launch a campaign
- Set a goal and KPIs – the indicators that tell you it’s working.
- Choose channels based on where your customers are.
- Prepare content and ads that answer what people are searching for.
- Set up conversion tracking before launch.
- Test and adjust based on data, not gut feeling.
Don’t forget email and social media
Your channels should work as one system. Someone finds you on Google, signs up for your newsletter, comes back to your website from an email and finally buys. Meanwhile, social media builds trust and reminds people you exist.
An example of how it can all work together
Imagine a stonemason’s business in a smaller town. Google ads and a business profile in Maps capture people looking for headstones nearby. The website shows them finished projects, guide prices and a simple form. On Facebook, the business regularly posts completed jobs, building trust with people who are still making up their minds. Every inquiry is tracked, so at the end of the month it’s clear which channel brought in jobs and where to add money.
Tip: Don’t start with every channel at once. Pick the one that makes the most sense for your business, get it into shape and only then add another.
Step 4: Measure, test and review
Without measurement, marketing is just guesswork. When you know what works and what doesn’t, you have both your budget and your results under control.
What to track for each channel
- SEO – organic traffic and rankings for important keywords.
- PPC ads – conversion rate, cost per click and cost per conversion.
- Social media – reach and interactions, but above all website visits and inquiries.
- Email marketing – opens, clicks and orders from emails.
Basic numbers for all your marketing
- the number of visitors and where they come from,
- conversion rate – what share of visitors become customers,
- average order value,
- return on investment for each campaign,
- customer acquisition cost.
We explain which of these numbers are key for you and which you can safely ignore in our article Key metrics in online marketing.
A/B testing
An A/B test means showing two groups of people two versions of a page, email or ad and comparing which works better. Always change just one thing – the headline, the button text or the image – so you know what made the difference.
Monthly review
Once a month, go through all your campaigns, compare them with the previous period and decide what you’ll improve, what you’ll scale up and what you’ll switch off. With tests, wait until you have enough data. Decisions made after a few days lead to chaos more often than to better results.
Frequently asked questions
What marketing goals should I set?
Ones that have a number and a deadline and are tied to your business – the number of inquiries, revenue, new customers. Base the specific figure on your current situation and your business’s capacity.
How do I find out who my target audience is?
Look at your current customers: who they are, where they’re from and why they chose you. Add conversations, customer questions and analytics data, and create an ideal customer profile.
Should I start with SEO or ads?
If you need customers fast, start with ads and build SEO alongside them. Ads bring results right away, while SEO gradually reduces your dependence on paid clicks.
How often should I review my marketing?
Track campaigns on an ongoing basis and review overall results once a month. Make bigger strategy changes based on a longer period.
Turn theory into practice
If you don’t have time to piece together your website, campaigns and tracking yourself, we’ll help. We’ll build a website that sells, set up your ads and SEO, and every month we’ll show you what they delivered. Check out our services and choose where you want to start.
