Digital Marketing Strategy ROI for Entrepreneurs: It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Launching a digital Marketing strategy doesn’t happen overnight

ERIK HUBERMAN – CONTRIBUTOR Founder and CEO of Hawke Media

MARCH 28, 2016

As any marathon runner will tell you, covering 26.2 miles is no easy task. Preparing for a race that grueling requires an abundance of time, willpower and commitment. You can’t train for it in a few days — or even a few weeks. But when you cross the finish line, you know that all the time you’ve invested pays off.

Launching a digital marketing strategy is similar: It doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, if you think you’ll be able to see returns in a month, your projections will be all wrong, and a lot of things you should be doing (but aren’t) will end up looking like failures.

Recently, my team encouraged a major fashion client to increase its Facebook ad budget. We understand the purchase cycle and cost per lead, and, like other marketers, have been seeing incredible results using Facebook to attract our clients’ target audiences online.

Unfortunately, the fashion client preferred a “wait-and-see” approach and ultimately turned off certain ads after just two weeks. Two months later, when it became clear that those ads had ended up outperforming all of the client’s other advertising, it was too late: The brand had missed its window of opportunity.

To avoid such a costly faux pas, use the following tips to determine how often your customers actually purchase your product or service. That way, you can better allocate time and money to your digital marketing strategies.