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David Hefter, General Manager at SponsoredLinX, delves into the issue of advertising over the Christmas and New Year holiday break and how Australian SMEs should be approaching this time of year.

You would think by now, that in a digital age where toddlers grow up using Tablets and, being constantly connected, with everyone, all the time, would equal a digital presence from every business out there. The surprising and startling fact is that there are a large quantity of businesses which do not have an online existence at all, perhaps apart from their online listing in the yellow pages. If you’re reading this blog, I sincerely hope you are not one of them, but I’m positive there are actions you could be taking to cement your place in the digital world; am I right?

One area of concern in particular is that of Retail, and especially in the lead up to holiday season, are the number of businesses which solely rely on their bricks and mortar shopfronts. Regardless of whether your retail business does or doesn’t offer an online sales and transaction tool (which it should by the way) your online presence as a business is still crucial for the customer walking in through the front doors. You’ll see why in a minute.

Over the past decade or so, SEO has become increasingly more important. Due to technical advancements with regards to devices like smartphones and tablets, the reach of internet browsing has dramatically extended. This has meant that search engine companies like Google have had to continually improve their algorithms for their search function more frequently, in order to ensure that users can easily access information on these devices. This has also had the effect on making the realm of SEO (natural search) more and more complex and, of course, increases the level of competition as serious marketers fight for optimal visibility on the first page.

When investing in AdWords many businesses are keen to see if their ads are working. We set up our campaigns and make them live, suitably chuffed with ourselves. We open Google in another tab, type in a keyword breathe deep and hit enter fully expecting to be top of the page with the ad copy we wrote shining like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction. Instead we see our competitors and we are enraged!

The hair on the back of your neck bristles with anticipation, your fingertips are electrified, your breathing is deep and fast, your excitement barely contained as your legs shake knowing that this is the beginning of a new AdWords journey.

The latest Australian results for digital advertising expenditure are in, and all roads point to mobile. In the second quarter of 2014, digital advertising saw a 29% growth over the previous year – that’s a whopping extra $72 million, to take the Q2 total to $320 million. How much of this is spent on mobile-targeted advertising?

Marketing used to be a simple affair. Business had limited options when it came to promoting their goods and services – namely print, radio and television. The introduction of the internet and it’s ever-growing popularity has opened up a whole host of new opportunities for business to reach their target audiences, opportunities that are fast becoming essential elements of a holistic marketing campaign.

A General in the trenches, cut off from his sources of intelligence and reconnaissance, is in the same predicament as the grunt soldier, a grueling and grinding psychological torment with no assurance of victory and a likelihood of defeat. A General with full scope of the battlefield, a spy plane gathering intel on enemy position in relation to his own troops and a strategy to identify weaknesses and strengths, once again in relation to his own troops, is a General about to win the war.

Some simple steps that will help you quickly boost your campaign’s Click Through Rate (CTR), which will naturally help improve keyword quality scores and decrease your cost per click.

The further along we get into 2014, we are having to find even more ways to interact with customers digitally. Social media platforms are great for gaining insights into how customers interact with brands & products, now more than ever. These insights often lead to new and exciting ways of engaging with customers and getting them to interact with new products & promotions.