AMA with 2H Media: Planning your 2023 marketing budget

[SarahF_Shopify]

Marketing costs are rising, and we want to support you in creating a profitable plan for the year ahead.

Hit reply and post your question now to Shopify Partner and marketing experts, 2H Media.

Co-founders & owners, @MatthewHerchel and @AronMurch join us live on March 21 from 12-2pm EST to answer your questions on how best to reach your audience, which marketing channels to focus on, and how to plan a sustainable 2023 marketing budget. 

Matt Herchel and Aron Murch are the Owners of 2H Media, a marketing agency that specializes in helping luxury ecommerce brands increase sales by building video-driven Shopify websites that reduce confusion and increase conversions. 

As Co-Owner and CFO, Matthew plays an active role at 2H Media managing the overall operations and resources, and running the financial activities of the company. In addition to these responsibilities, Matt acts as the sales and digital marketing lead for the company, providing guidance and strategy to numerous growing businesses.

As Co-Owner and CIO, Aron plays an active role alongside Matt in managing the overall operations and resources, while implementing the information and computer technology systems, and overseeing the development and dissemination of technology for the business. Additionally, Aron’s the design and development lead, overseeing and implementing branding and ecommerce projects.

What’s in scope of this AMA:

• How best to allocate your marketing dollars for 2023 based on your industry
• Which marketing channels to focus on and why for your omni-channel business, such as email, Google, SEO, influencers, affiliates, display or programmatic advertising, SMS, influencers, YouTube, and social media such as Meta, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok
• How to determine whether your marketing efforts are profitable and sustainable 
• North American-focused
• We can’t advise on very specific use cases because technology and integrations can get complex. Please rely on the Community after the event to help guide your use case.  

Rules of engagement: 

Our Shopify AMA hosts can’t claim to know everything. So if there’s something we can’t answer live that’s within the scope of this AMA, we’ll get back to you shortly after the event with an answer.  As always please adhere to our community guidelines and code of conduct.

Post your question now & RSVP for the live event here (so you can get email reminders). 

[Peggy8]

Im interested in this, but will be away that week, will this be recorded? I really need help in this area and I would really love live support with someone who can help me figure out the best way to ship my products, that's very complex.

[Peggy8]

Thank you, Im in PA. 

[SarahF_Shopify]

Hi @Peggy8 , this event will happen right here on the AMA discussion board, so you can read up on the Q&A after. There's no video component, and will be fully text-based. Keep in mind this event will be focused on marketing and not shipping. 

[Wingspan]

Hi,

I sell my own work on shirts, caps, and mugs. I've tried fb ads. 

How much should I be spending on my marketing?

What's my yearly budget supposed to be?

Say if I currently don't have a marketing budget. Where should I start?

[MatthewHerchel]

Hey Wingspan,

How much you should be spending on marketing is a tough question. It depends on a few factors: 

• Your industry
• How much competition there is
• Your margins
• Your marketing/growth strategy. (if you want to grow faster, you'll need more budget)

Here's where you can start.

Typically we start at the desired end result and work backwards. So you need to have a revenue/sales goal in mind.

Let's say your sales goal is $100,000 for the year.

We usually recommend a marketing budget between 10% - 15% of total revenue. This includes costs associated with your website, email marketing, paid ads (including ad spend) and anything else that falls within the realm of marketing.

So, if your marketing budget is $10,000 - $15,000 you should be able to prioritize the most important opportunities. This means you need to spread your budget out across multiple initiatives. You wouldn't spend the whole amount on one marketing activity.

As the year progresses you should be able to get a better sense of your revenue and adjust your budgeting accordingly.

[TRB28]

Going to work off of this since I can not figure out how to make a "new" post. Matthew, I currently have being utilizing a 3rd party analytic company called North Beam to help me determine where my ad dollars are best being spent. It has helped me to see more truth into our data rather than solely relying on the reports Meta / Pinterest have to offer.

I own a subscription based business and I am constantly battling to determine if my CPA should be based on initial purchase or LTV? For example our ad manager will generally have us between a CPA of $25-$42 give or take, if I see us creeping over $30 I feel like I am spending too much because a single order cost only $38 + shipping. Our ad manager tells me that I shouldn't be focused on that though because generally our customers stay with us for at least 4 months which gives us an LTV of at least $152 + shipping. What do you think about this?

I have been questioning if I should start moving some of my ad spend off of Meta and onto TikTok even though we don't have a large following on Tik Tok yet. I just feel like Meta is never giving me growth and only giving me consistency but at a higher cost then I would like. What are your thoughts?

Lastly in regards to budgeting I know they say to aim for 10-15% of your Revenue, Do you review your percentage each month and then tweek your marketing from there? I have been trying to focus on that this year but every-time I want to make changes to our ads / budgets our ad manager says it will hurt its performance

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi TRB28,

In my opinion CPA (Cost per Acquisition) should be based on CLV (or Life Time Value) as you are acquiring a customer and their buying power over a specific length of time. This is especially true for a subscription based businesses.

This really comes down to cash flow. If you can stomach spending ~$40 upfront to acquire a customer that will spend ~$150 over time, and if your margins are okay, then you can make the decision on how profitable each new customer is.

We all want lower CPAs which is sometimes out of your control. What you can control more of is Churn (Preventing customers from stopping their subscription). If you can increase the buying frequency by even 1 extra purchase the profit per customer goes up a ton.

Facebook vs Tiktok

I don't know what kind of subscriptions you are selling but FB and Tiktok are very different markets. Where do your customers spend the most time? How proficient are you at creating video? 
Aron mentioned this in another post but we aren't super fans of Tiktok as it's super trendy at takes a ton of effort to stay current. 

Tiktok requires way more video and a better knowledge of social media to be profitable.

Budgeting

Yes, you should be reviewing your ad budget every month, but decreasing the budget shouldn't hurt your performance.

If you are converting 7% of clicks into customers, a decrease in budget shouldn't decrease the 7% but it will limit your reach which means less sales, but not a drop in the campaign metrics.

Specifically on Google Ads - They always try to get you to raise your budgets so your optimization score will decrease if you don't, but I wouldn't worry about this. It's kind of a shady tactic.

There are a ton of reasons why your ad budget should be flexible. Depending on what your selling you budget should be flexible to capture more customers during peak season and less in the off season.

[TRB28]

Thank you so much! Very insightful! I'll be reaching out via Linkedin.

[PhilTulz]

Glad I found this! I'm new to this topic and interested in finding out more.  

If I don't have a budget, what should I DIY? And I assume that budgets should contain time and money. How should I prioritize my time?

[AronMurch]

Hi PhilTulz,

Great question and good assumptions. We always recommend budgeting both time and money. If your money budget is small or nonexistent right now, your time budget has to be a lot bigger to make up for it.

As a new merchant, you're likely being pulled in a lot of different directions so deciding what to DIY and how to prioritize your time can be a challenge. To start out, keep it simple: Get the platform working consistently for you. Don't focus on any complicated customizations or extra features unless absolutely necessary to your business.

Right now, your time is a limiting factor on your business growth and you don't have money to offset that so you need to prioritize revenue generating activities - sales and partnerships are the best place to start.

Put a plan in place and make sure you tick off measurable deliverables every day in terms of capturing images for marketing, posting on social media, and connecting directly with potential customers and partners through direct outreach and whatever industry events you can afford to attend. 

To avoid being overwhelmed, I recommend completing an Eisenhower Matrix to really prioritize your goals and cut down on all the noise.

I hope that helps!

[Jac_Dan_McL]

Very excited for this! I have a couple questions. 

1. What should I be spending the most on?

2. Are there any trends right now that I should be focused on?

3. Where should I be advertising? Google TikTok Meta? Does it matter what my product is for the marketing platform I focus on?

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Jac,

This is a really tough question as I don't know a ton about your business.
As a rule of thumb you want to spend the most on the channel and activities that generate the most.

I would start by analyzing where you are making the most sales. I would run the following reports:

• Sessions by referrer
• Sessions attributed to marketing

From these reports you can determine how your efforts are bringing in traffic to your website. If you are running paid ads you will need to look at those reporting tools as well.

We always want to pour gas onto the fire so if you are getting a ton of sales through Instagram you will want to focus more of your time and money on this sales channel.

When it comes to marketing it's very rarely "set it and forget it" so you will need to refer back to these reports often and adjust your spending. There's a ton of factors that can shift whether a channel is performing or not so please remain vigilant.

Trends

Most small business owners can suffer from "Shiny object syndrome" which is basically chasing a trend without a strategy or game plan in place. My advice is to avoid seeking out trends and focus on the core business activities that earn you the most. 

If you do have budget to explore new ideas, start small to avoid any unneeded risk.

Advertising

Each platform has its pros and cons. You need to be on the platform that makes the most sense for your desired audience. We start with this question:

"Where are your customers?"

That's the platform you need to focus on. 

Don't spread yourself too thin. Each platform takes time, energy and money to become profitable. We would rather you have 1 successful channel working for you than 4 that aren't.

[FleuRias]

Aktualnie dopiero zaczynam powiedz jeśli nie posiadam budżetu na czym powinienem się skupić 

**Translation by Moderation**: Currently I'm just starting tell me if I don't have a budget what should I focus on?

[FleuRias]

I have a shop still in the making and I thought and first want to start with dropshipping 

[FleuRias]

I don't have it yet, I've been trying to make a shop for 2 weeks but I'm having big problems

[AronMurch]

Hi FleuRias,

Dropshipping is really tough. Since you don't control the product, you need to find other ways to set your company apart from the competition. The main things you can do to stand out in this space are to build a long-term brand that looks and feels like a legitimate company, provide outstanding customer service, and put serious budget into ads. Social channels are some of your best bets for gaining ad traction (facebook, instagram, tiktok). If it's feasible for you, figure out how to produce consistently great video content about your products. You'll want to land some product that you can use to create your own promo content and push it out into all your channels. In addition to organic posting, paid ads are key. I'd recommend spending at least $1000/mo on ads if you want to make any real headway.

For more on dropshipping success, there is a great Shopify blog post you should read.

[Taxdoo]

Hi, as App developers in the Shopify App store, we would like to see more resources for our Growth. 
How could we increase conversions ?
What are the steps to becoming a featured app?
What are the steps to be featured in a Shopify blog article?

Will there be technical developments or integrations that would allow us to directly transfer the app user data into our CRM?

Thank you!

[Jasoh]

Hello @Taxdoo ,

Thanks for taking time to let us know your plan. Those are all great questions! I would like to share some resources to help you out as possible as I could.

Q1: How could we increase conversions ?

Here are some great resources to help make your app shine:

• The Built for Shopify program offers great visibility and growth for apps that meet the high-quality standards Shopify has for commerce experiences. Get guidance on building great apps and improved performance reporting, then apply to join the program for special treatment in the Shopify App Store.
• Get your app in front of the right brands with self-categorization and a redesigned app listing that’s optimized to convert.
• Easily access key information about your apps, including revenue, API health, and progress toward earning app highlights in the improved app overview page in the Partner Dashboard.

Q2: What are the steps to becoming a featured app?

Great question! Please follow this dev document on App quality and promotion for more information.

Q3: What are the steps to be featured in a Shopify blog article?

Thanks for your interest in this. I can pass along and highlight your interest to our content team for consideration. Please note that there's no guarantee on response or a timeline.

Q4: Will there be technical developments or integrations that would allow us to directly transfer the app user data into our CRM?

This is a very creative question! I can see the potential opportunities this integration can bring. As it requires some technical customizations, I would suggest creating a net post in our Shopify APIs and SDKs board, providing as much detail as possible. There's no guaranteed response, but our API support team do monitor the board and offer assistance as best they can.

Hope this helps!

[Wingspan]

Forwarding my question there, is there a why to determine how much my competitors are spending on advertising? Print on demand can be a bit of crowded market. 

I came cross the idea of customer lifetime value here: https://www.shopify.com/ca/blog/what-is-customer-lifetime-value#:~:text=now%20with%20Shopify-,What%2...

Can you guys speak to that from your experience, please?  Basically, how do I determine customer life time value, CLV?

[MatthewHerchel]

Hey Wingspan,

There's no great way you can determine how much your competitors are spending on advertising. It would be a pretty unfair advantage if we could look into someone else's business and get that information.

We can make a few assumptions. If you see one of your competitors advertising on very broad keyword or on keywords with a ton of competition you can assume they are spending a ton on a per click basis.

There are tools like Google Keyword Planner that allow you to look at how often a specific keyword is searched for, the amount of competition on the keyword and how much you can expect to spend per click. This is where we normally start with determining what keywords to buy. Google Keyword Planner is a free tool, but you will need a Google Ads Account to access it.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CLV is a very important metric for brands that have a ton of repeat purchases.
Let's say you sell a consumable product like shampoo, soap, food, makeup or even shoes. At some point your customer will run out and if they liked your product they will want to buy more.

This means we advertised to the customer once, but we can generate multiple sales over and over again from the same person.

This usually increases the cost of acquisition because the full value of the customer isn't realized until they have purchased multiple times.

Unless your clientele is mostly b2b, you probably have a lower CLV as a print on demand business. Most people will order print on demand for a specific occasion but aren't going through print on demand products on a regular basis. If you are focused on b2b some of your recurring accounts could be very lucrative making your CLV much higher.

The article you linked has a great breakdown.

So a marathon runner who regularly buys shoes from your shoe store might be worth:

$100 (per pair of shoes) x 4 (pairs per year) x 8 (years) = $3,200

And the mom of a toddler might be worth:

$20 (per pair) x 5 (pairs per year) x 3 (years) = $300

So who should you be paying more attention to? Using CLV, the marathon runner should be your focus!

Shopify has a great article on calculating and increasing your CLV
https://www.shopify.com/ca/blog/customer-lifetime-value


 

[Jac_Dan_McL]

I thought of some more questions!

1. What reports can I run in shopify for the most important sales data? It seems like there are so many reports, I'm not suee what's most valuable. 

2. When should I start planning or creating a budget? Does it need to happen before I even start or should I test a few things and see what gets me the best results for the least money?

Thanks again for putting on this great event 🙂

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Jac,

I assume you are on Shopify Basic (the $51 Canadian plan).
You get basic reports included with this plan but the most important for sales are as follows:

• Sessions attributed to marketing
• Sessions by referrer
• Sessions by location (very important if you have geo focused campaigns)

These reports are a starting point to start looking at where your customers are coming from.

Creating a Budget

Most companies start planning for the year in advance to make sure they have resources allocated correctly. It's never too late to start but you will want to find a rhythm for your business.

You don't want to be planning during your busy season.

In a perfect world, yes you should have a plan in place before you start spending money on ideas. Part of your plan should include time for testing and exploring new opportunities. You will want to include a time budget as well for things that are new.

[Sportitfirst]

How do I join?

[SarahF_Shopify]

Hi @Sportitfirst , everything will happen right here, so you're already in the right place to watch along and engage directly on this thread.

[TIMECAPSULES]

Hi - There is no obvious weblink that has been presented to enable me to watch this event. I just spent 15 minutes going in circles trying to find how to watch!

This isn't what I expect from Shopify.

[CandTel88]

same, driving me nuts. blocked two hours of my day for this. wix had a presentation with google employees and ad agency. I thought I was signing up for something similar. we use both platforms 

[Jacqui]

Hey @CandTel88, 

This event is here in this thread, there is no video to accompany it. However, I will be sure to pass along your feedback to our team.

Feel free to post any marketing questions you have, and Aron and Matt will be happy to answer them. Thanks for making the time to join us today!

[TRB28]

How can I make a post? I only see the option to reply or like other posts?

[Jacqui]

Thanks for the question! 

You can participate by replying to the original topic from @SarahF_Shopify. The reply button is just under her message at the top of the page. Exactly what you would have done to post this question. Matt and Aron will be replying in this thread.

[CandTel88]

Next event that involves this format, make it very clear in the "marketing" component. So, people do not waste half an hour looking for the link. 

- This is what you posted -

Don't miss the chance to attend live and engage with the founders of 2H Media, as well as your fellow Shopify community members.

Especially for the disabled community (visually impaired) hard to navigate this type of format 

[Jacqui]

Thanks for your feedback on this @CandTel88! I have made sure to pass it along to our team. 

We will work to improve our accessibility based on this feedback, for future events and do our best to include video whenever possible. We do hope to do more events like this in the future.

Thanks again for joining us today!

[Jacqui]

Hey @TIMECAPSULES, 

The event is right here in this thread, there is no video to accompany it. You're already in the right place!

Feel free to post any marketing questions you have, and Aron and Matt will be happy to answer them. 

[TRB28]

I'm not seeing any responses though, only questions being asked? Am I missing something?

[Jacqui]

Hey @TRB28, 

Thanks for joining us today! 

Matt and Aron have started answering questions. If you scroll up you can see some of the answers to already submitted questions above. 

Please feel welcome to post any marketing question you have for Matt and Aron to answer. 

[MatthewHerchel]

Let's get started 😀

[Devon15]

I currently run a shopify online furniture business that also includes brick and mortar.  I am trying to manage my marketing budget and make it work the best for me.  Most of our brick and mortar business comes in via Social, but I need to increase the reach of my online business.  What do you think are the best marketing channels for increasing online?

[AronMurch]

Hi Devon15, Great question. We're very familiar with the furniture market. In terms of marketing channels, we always recommend doing more of what works.

Since socials are already pushing most of your traffic into your physical locations, you know which platforms you have an audience on. I'd look at running specific ad campaigns across those socials with messaging and CTAs that encourage people to order online. If you feel you really need to jumpstart this, consider offering an online exclusive. This could be a sale or a free gift with purchase. Once your social channels are doing more consistent work for your online store, you can consider branching into other channels. At that stage, I would look at Google Ads.

Also, since you sell large items (furniture) and you have physical locations, local SEO is massively important to your business. In terms of effort, one of the first things we'd recommend you look at is your Google My Business listing to make sure all of your information is up to date and you have a ton of images uploaded. If you have bar codes and gtins, you can also easily add your products into Google Merchant Centre, and have your products display on Google Shopping, which is wildly popular for furniture.

[MacondoForever]

Hi. I have never planned a marketing budget.  I just got for a target ROAS of 3+.  How do I create a budget that doesn't feel like it can constrain growth? Thanks for any advice.

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Macondo,

Having a target 3+ ROAS (Return on ad spend) is great.

To keep everyone in the loop a ROAS of 3 means that for every $1 spent on advertising, it generates $3 worth of sales.

A ROAS mainly has to do with the profitability of your products and the cost of advertising but it doesn't help you meet your revenue goals. Other factors play a part such as CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). If your products don't have a great margin, you will need a higher ROAS to break even.

If your goal is to generate $100,000 in sales (this is the goal so you aren't constraining growth) and your ROAS is 3, your advertising budget is in the $30,000 range. That $30,000 needs to fit within your overall marketing budget including tradeshows, web development, print media, video and photo production, etc.

A ROAS is just an isolated metric specifically for your ad dollars, and not for your marketing budget as a whole. 

[CandTel88]

Matt, 

Are you seeing TikTok trends declining? 

It seems that all social platforms are "running ads" between influencer partnerships and direct brand ads, how does one push through to be seen and heard? 

Is it best to stick with Google ads? 

[AronMurch]

Hi CandTel88,

I can weigh in on this. We aren't seeing TikTok trends declining but to be honest, TikTok has never really been on our radar. For most businesses, chasing trends is expensive and ineffective so we prefer to invest in more long-term strategies. For social platforms, facebook still dwarfs every other platform in terms of monthly active users and that's where we see more companies having success. With platforms like TikTok, you might luck out with a viral hit but that's hard to manufacture consistently. As you mentioned, sticking with Google ads is great. We're big believers in the platform. For social media, pushing through the ads is pretty challenging. The best thing to do is produce exceptionally good video content but even then, it's a challenge. Paid social media ads work well but organic posting can be hard to translate into new leads. Often organic social media is more of a sales/closing tool than a marketing tool.

[CandTel88]

Thanks for your reply. 

We have a good monthly budget $2500, currently focusing on Google, but still not seeing the results. 

Any suggestions? 

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Candtell88

This is a tough one. There's a lot that can be going wrong.

If you are managing the Google Ads account yourself you should look at the following:

• What locations are your ads displaying
• At what times of day
• Are you getting a bunch of clicks, but no conversions on your store
• Is your landing page optimized
• Are you using all the tools available (rich snippets, location extensions, etc)
• Are your products on Google Shopping

These factors can help you diagnose the problem but the actual solution really depends on your specific situation.

[CandTel88]

Hi Matt,

What AI software do you recommend for creating ads and copywriting for the web? 

[AronMurch]

Hi CandTel88, Good question. We don't specifically recommend any AI software presently. I know the software is getting a lot of attention and is really exciting to some people but a lot of people are using it in ways that we feel are too broad. We use Chat GPT in a limited context for drafting emails and video scripts but it takes quite a lot of massaging to get the messaging right. For any content that has SEO consequences, we still prefer to rely on a human. Presently, ai content can be detected by computers and tends to be lower quality than what a professional copy writer can produce. So far, search engines are not penalizing AI content just for being AI but with how many low quality blog posts are being created by AI, we're not sure how long that's going to be true. Short answer is we have our eye on it but the technology is too new for us to recommend.

[JunebugJewelry]

I am curious about Shopify's Chat Bot. Is it as good as one of the partner solutions? Right now, I'm using Tidio.

[SarahF_Shopify]

Hi @JunebugJewelry, I believe you're referencing Shopify Inbox: https://www.shopify.com/inbox. You're able to set this feature up for free and customize your online store chat via your Shopify admin. Manage your chats via the web or Shopify mobile app and then use the reporting in your admin to understand how it's performing. Tidio is another option with a free plan, and very well rated on the Shopify app store too.

[JunebugJewelry]

What is the best way to upgrade site analytics to Google Analytics 4? Is there an easy way or do I  need to invest in an expert?

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Junebug,

Within your Google Analytics Dashboard you can navigate to Settings. Under the Property column you should see GA4 Setup Assistant. This will direct you here:

Google has a whole process to migrate from UA to GA4. Just follow the steps. If you have a hard time you might need to get some extra support.

You can also find information on GA4 directly in Shopify. If you navigate to your Online Store you can click Preferences where you can find how to enter the Google Analytics Code.

If you haven't migrated to GA4, it will probably look like the screenshot above.

Google Analytics can seem very intimidating so try to work within your strengths and don't be afraid to reach out for help.

[JunebugJewelry]

What is the best way to connect the analytics data when I get sales on my site from Facebook Shop? These sales show up as sales, but not conversions. Is there a way to get that data connected so that I am better able to market to these users outside of Facebook?

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Junebug,

You will need to have a Facebook Pixel installed on your Shopify store.

Shopify has a great guide you can follow here:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/analyze-marketing/facebook-pixel

Shopify won't actually show you Facebook conversions, but if you have your Pixel installed your Facebooks Ads Manager will record conversions made on your store.
The only conversion metrics Shopify provides at a Basic subscription level is overall store conversion rate regardless of where the traffic is coming from.

You can see where your Facebook Pixel is within Shopify by navigating to your Online Store you can click Preferences where you can find where to enter the Facebook Pixel Code.

[rexa28]

How much do I need to spend on Meta ads on average to get a decent traffic to my website? Are there any other "free" alternatives to promote my website? How can I accelerate my sales?

[AronMurch]

Hi Rexa, Those are some really big questions!

There is no hard and fast rule on how much you need to spend to get decent traffic. We typically recommend $1000/mo at the absolute minimum for paid advertising if you are going to use paid ads as part of your marketing strategy. That said, this really comes down to the value you are trying to capture; Your entire marketing budget should be at least 10-15% of your target revenue. 

Regarding "free" options for promoting your website and accelerating your sales, nothing is really free. It's super important to value your time appropriately as a business owner and DIY can cost you a lot in the long run, especially if you are spending a lot of time working on marketing activities that are not really driving sales.

That said, if you have an abundance of time right now and a lack of funds for marketing, start with things you can control yourself:

• Get really good at capturing video content on your phone
• Stay diligent and active on social media
• If you are selling locally, keep your Google My Business up to date
• Look for online groups in your market that allow promotion

[Mussty]

I'd love to ask about marketing strategy for a business focused on local deliveries.

We are a grocery store with 4000+ products and only deliver to about a 4 mile radius. 

Very different to a DTC brand selling nationwide/worldwide.

What should we focus on? Which platform(s) will best? How should we allocate our budgets? We are about to launch our store for home delivery service this week so this is super relevant to us!! 🙂

[AronMurch]

Hi Mussty,

As such a tightly geographically locked business, your situation is very different than a lot of the other merchants in this thread. 

To answer your question, there are a few things you should focus on:

• Google My Business: This is easily the most important tool for geographically locked businesses, and it's free.
• Print Marketing: Print ads still work very well. They're easy to overlook with how popular digital ads are, and can be difficult to track but a strong direct mail campaign to your city's key zip codes can be inexpensive and massively impactful. You can run one a few or even several times a year and make a huge impact. If you include a coupon code, that can be a great way to track performance.
• Google Ads: We're big believers in Google Ads, and your location targeting will be really clear since you don't have to figure out where your customers are.
• Organic social media can also be powerful for local businesses. Make sure to connect with local public figures (politicians, other businesses, etc.) Organic posting is the way to go. Getting mentioned by the right people will go a long way.

[Mussty]

Hi @AronMurch,

Thank you. I really appreciate your feedback. It has reassured me I was on the correct path. 

I am looking at launching ads within Google Maps and already found a leaflet distribution postal service to use. I was thinking of embedding some tags within a QR code link on the leaflets so that I can measure against that maybe? I've not used this before but I believe Google Analytics can measure UTM tags? I've done very minimal reading on this. Would you advise this and if so how should we best set it up? Or is the effort not worth the offline campaign tracking? I can't use coupon codes due to Shopify's native discounting stacking ability. I run promotions on multi-buy products, if I add a coupon it replaces the multi-buy discount as it's usually a better deal. I can only use Gift Cards during checkout not to effect discounting.  So I have a loyalty program that rewards value based Gift Cards and a referral program that again rewards both parties Gift Cards.  

What is your take on Meta with regards to location targeting ads? I've heard it might be more cost effective over google ads to begin with? 

[Megan32]

Hi! I really like this format and your advice/suggestions are incredibly valuable. I am a small business owner and I find myself in the  'throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks', phase of things. I would love to make more data driven decisions with my marketing budget and I am curious to hear how you would recommend getting started. For example in a previous response you mentioned, Measurable Deliverables, do you mind giving some examples of what you mean and how you would measure. For example 1) Instagram Post (Static), measure time/engagement/conversions? 2) Email, measure CTR/conversions/unsubscribed? 

[AronMurch]

Hi Megan32, Thanks so much for the warm feedback. I think we all move in and out of the "throwing spaghetti" phase as our businesses grow. 

To answer your question, I always prefer to focus on hard metrics such as site visits, and conversions.

As Matthew mentioned in another post, I would run the following reports:

• Sessions by referrer
• Sessions attributed to marketing

This will let you know where your traffic is coming from. Google ads manager, facebook pixel, and Google analytics will also be able to provide more information.  

Be careful not to get too caught up in the other metrics. You want your post engagement to be high but high post engagement doesn't help you if those posts don't drive leads so focus on site visits and conversions. For email, CTR is important and so is open rate but unless they're super low (less than 50%, and less than 2.3% respectively), put your effort elsewhere.

If you are managing to drive decent traffic to the site, look at your conversion rate next. If it's less than 3%, it needs work. If it's less than 1%, it needs serious work.

I hope that helps!

[GHETTOFF]

Is is possible to add visual content to sms texting?

How does a small business go about adding their products as a store via shopify with the likes of an instagram.

[SarahF_Shopify]

Hi @GHETTOFF , you can explore the SMS apps in the Shopify App Store for availability around adding visuals: https://apps.shopify.com/collections/sms. And to sell your products on Instagram you'll need the Instagram Shopping feature with Facebook and Instagram by Meta. Here's our quick guide to get you started: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/facebook-instagram-by-meta/quick-guide

[MatthewHerchel]

Hi Ghettoff,

There are 2 types of text messages SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

Through SMS you can send:

• Text
• Symbols
• Emojis

Through MMS you can send:

• Everything in SMS
• GIFS
• Images

We do a fair bit of email and SMS marketing with Klaviyo and they have a great article that explains the differences here.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by your second question but you can add Instagram as an additional sales channel within Shopify and tag your products so they appear within your posts. This is called Instagram shopping and you can find more information here.

[TRB28]

Hi Matt + Aron,

 I currently have being utilizing a 3rd party analytic company called North Beam to help me determine where my ad dollars are best being spent. It has helped me to see more truth into our data rather than solely relying on the reports Meta / Pinterest have to offer.

I own a subscription based business and I am constantly battling to determine if my CPA should be based on initial purchase or LTV? For example our ad manager will generally have us between a CPA of $25-$42 give or take, if I see us creeping over $30 I feel like I am spending too much because a single order cost only $38 + shipping. Our ad manager tells me that I shouldn't be focused on that though because generally our customers stay with us for at least 4 months which gives us an LTV of at least $152 + shipping. What do you think about this?

I have been questioning if I should start moving some of my ad spend off of Meta and onto TikTok even though we don't have a large following on Tik Tok yet. I just feel like Meta is never giving me growth and only giving me consistency but at a higher cost then I would like. What are your thoughts?

Lastly in regards to budgeting I know they say to aim for 10-15% of your Revenue, Do you review your percentage each month and then tweek your marketing from there? I have been trying to focus on that this year but every-time I want to make changes to our ads / budgets our ad manager says it will hurt its performance

[SarahF_Shopify · Accepted solution]

That’s a wrap folks!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our AMA with 2H Media, and BIG thank you to Matt and Aron for taking the time to chat with our community. 

Keep an eye out for our 2H AMA blog recap where we will go over your questions and the answers Matt and Aron provided.