What digital marketing covers
Digital marketing uses channels such as search and social advertising, organic social media, content, email and brand identity to reach an audience and turn it into customers. The key difference from traditional advertising is that the return on what you spend can be measured.
Measurement doesn’t happen by itself, though. Without properly configured conversion tracking, even the busiest campaign won’t tell you what’s actually working.
Channels and the jobs they do
Each channel is strongest at a different stage of the buying journey. Before splitting the budget, it’s worth being clear about which channel is meant to do which job.
- Google Search ads: reaching people who already have a need and are actively searching
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram) ads: creating demand among broad audiences by interest
- LinkedIn ads: reaching B2B decision-makers by job title and industry
- Organic social media: building trust and a sense of consistency around the brand
- Remarketing: re-engaging visitors who came to the site but didn’t convert
Criteria for strategy and choosing an agency
A sound marketing plan starts with business goals, such as quote requests, sales or dealer applications, rather than post counts or clicks. Once the goal is clear, you set the indicators to track for each channel and report against those.
Expect any team you work with to open ad accounts in your name, to report both spend and conversions, and to test creative regularly. A consistent brand identity strengthens the effect of everything you do across channels.
What shapes budget and scope
Total cost has two parts: the media budget paid directly to the platforms, and the service fee covering strategy, management, creative production and reporting. Competition in your sector, the size of the target area and the volume of results you’re after determine the media budget.
The service scope depends on the number of channels managed, how much content and video is produced each month, the number of campaigns, languages and whether brand identity work is included. It’s more realistic to treat the first months as a testing period while campaigns learn.
Common mistakes
Running ads without conversion tracking, confusing reach and likes with sales, and sending paid traffic to the homepage are the most common mistakes. Ad accounts opened in an agency’s or freelancer’s name can mean losing the entire history when the relationship ends.
Changing campaigns so often that the platform never gets a chance to learn, or the opposite, leaving them untouched for months, both waste budget.
How fountr approaches it
We agree the audience and channel strategy with you and set up conversion tracking before any campaign goes live. Work runs to a monthly content and campaign plan, and we report results with spend and conversion data side by side. Ad accounts and all data remain your property.
