We’ve got one question for company leaders: do you, as a business owner, really own your marketing?
At Magneti, we’re all about freedom. We believe that you should control all the key pieces of your company, from your latest blog post to your next brilliant advertising campaign. And you should do it without being handcuffed to a marketing agency.
That way, your business has room to evolve, expand, and eventually dominate your market.
To that end, here’s how owning the core elements of your marketing will bring long-term prosperity.
Ownership Key #1: Your Website and CMS
If we imagine your company as a Chevy dealership, your website homepage is the glistening, cherry-red Corvette sitting out front.
It captures people’s attention, inspires their curiosity, and — if it’s beautifully and effectively designed — draws them into your company’s world. But what happens when they enter?
That’s where your Content Management System (CMS) comes in.
In short, your CMS is where all of the stuff on your website lives. There are lots of different CMSs to choose from (at Magneti, we use WordPress, and here’s why), but they all serve the same basic function: allowing you to create and modify content on your website.
Whether you build your own website or have someone else do it for you, you need to make sure that you have access to your host login, your domain login, and your CMS login. It can mean the difference between losing a customer to the Ford dealership next door and handing them the keys to their brand-new ‘Vette.
Making Urgent Changes
Markets shift quickly.
So, for a website to be truly successful, it needs to be versatile. And to maintain an attractive (and functional!) website, you need to have quick access to its key features. Your CMS login gives you that power.
Using your CMS login, you can keep pace with the market, adjusting your homepage, blog content, banner ads, and more to meet your customers’ demands. Within 24 hours, you should be able to make meaningful changes to your website, whether you’re:
- A financial services provider offering commission-free trades for Independence Day
- A candy company cutting prices for a Halloween special
- An insurance agency promoting a limited-time “switch and save” deal
- A digital marketing agency unveiling its latest webinar!
And, if your CMS is set up with enough intentionality and planning, you shouldn’t need to call a developer to make that happen.
Mastering your CMS gives your company adaptability. And adaptability comes with some sweet, sweet profits.
The Freedom to Leave
A tale of woe, in two sentences: You hire a digital marketing agency to build you a gorgeous, functional website. Three years later, you part ways with the agency — but the employee who set it up no longer works there and they lost the credentials, or (worse) they refuse to give you a login and leave you with an empty shell of a website.
If you don’t want to be shackled to the creator of your website, you need to guarantee that you have your CMS login, your hosting login, and your domain credentials – and know how to use them.
A tale of joy, in two sentences: You hire Magneti to build you a gorgeous, functional website. We give you access to every login along the way and teach you to manage your content, leaving you with a sublime website — that you actually own — for years to come.
Ownership Key #2: Your Marketing Campaign Assets
These days, most businesses have a good handle on their CMS. What’s less common (and equally important!) is retaining ownership of your campaign assets. Let’s talk about why you need them.
Keeping the Momentum Alive
Imagine you’re the CMO of an insurance company, and you’re looking to revolutionize the industry with an unforgettable advertising campaign. One that will rise above the ranks of the GEICO Gecko, LiMu Emu, and even Jake from State Farm.
You hire a marketing agency, then spend months perfecting your campaign: the ads you’ll use, the personas you’ll target, the channels you’ll leverage, and plenty more. Finally, after countless hours of labor, you launch your campaign. And it’s a huge success.
For the next six months, you enjoy a flood of new business — so much so, that you can afford to round out your team of full-time marketers! The time has come to move on from your partnership with your marketing agency.
Now, wouldn’t you like to keep those valuable campaign assets?
If you didn’t secure ownership of your assets early on, you’re at risk of losing:
- Ad copy
- Design elements
- Targeting strategy
- Algorithmic learning
- Campaign data
- Additional materials, like emails, blog posts, brochures, and sales letters
With these assets, your company is ready to rock n’ roll. Without them, you’ll take a huge hit in the momentum department, charging into the future with the grace and predictability of a deflating balloon.
The Importance of Analytics
Before you embark on your next big campaign, consider these practical questions, courtesy of one of Magneti’s paid advertising experts
- Do you have admin access to your ads and analytics accounts so that you can add and remove users as you please?
- Do you know how to navigate the basics of your ads and analytics accounts? This includes familiarity with account settings, account change history, and payment profiles and billing.
- Do you have access to and ownership of a custom blended report that models your costs and conversion funnels? You’ll want a custom-built dashboard that aligns your key performance indicators (KPIs) with your marketing activity.
If you can answer “yes” to these questions, you’re on the right track. If you can answer “yes” to these questions and you own all of your campaign assets, you’re on your way to marketing glory.
Ownership Key #3: Your Process for Lead Generation
We’ll keep this section short and sweet. If you want to fuel long-term growth for your business, you need to own your traffic-generating operation.
Paying “by the lead” might be tempting (and will likely get you short-term results), but it isn’t the best way to set yourself up for sustainable success.
Strong companies need a strong foundation. Owning the process for initiating, organizing, and cultivating leads will cement your company’s core market share and open the door to healthy expansion.
Perfecting Your Metrics
Though the ways to measure marketing success are nearly numberless, we’ve put together some key questions for you to contemplate:
- What is your target vs. actual acquisition cost for your most profitable audience?
- Which of your conversion funnel steps have the highest and lowest conversion rates?
- If you jumped ship on your marketing agency today, would you know which targeting settings are the most productive? Would you know which advertising platforms and messaging strategies to use?
To keep your conversion flywheel whirring, fine-tune your process for lead generation. And be sure that you own every part of it.
Ownership Key #4: Your Data
We’ve touched on the importance of owning your website, CMS, campaign assets, and traffic-building operation, but we’ve yet to shine a light on the hairy monster in the corner of the room: data.
As your company continues to increase in size, you’ll need to know who owns your data, where it’s stored, and how it’s being managed.
That way, you minimize the chances of a data-related disaster in your business — and you know exactly what to do if something goes wrong.
Ensuring Compliance
If you’re anything like us, you probably wouldn’t walk into Apple’s headquarters and ask them to AirDrop your facial scan to every iPhone in California. Or charge down a busy street on a windy day with an open box of medical records.
You might even cast a suspicious eye on websites that are being a little too aggressive when they ask for your credit card information.
Why? Well, like us, you care about your personal data. And you don’t want it to be mishandled, stolen, or exploited.
Turns out, pretty much everybody else feels the same way. Since nobody wants their information to be abused, a number of rules and regulations have arisen to guide data storage. Here are some major ones to be aware of:
- PCI: Regulates the storage and use of credit card data
- HIPAA: Helps to protect sensitive healthcare information
- PII: Outlines requirements for the storage and use of personal information (for example, your name, SSN, and biometric records)
- GDPR: Regulates the storage and use of personal data for citizens in the EU
Many of these guidelines aren’t just rules — they’re also legal requirements.
If you want to prevent a serious headache (and potential legal penalties), triple-check that your business is treating data with the proper care. In the next section, we’ll cover some tips and tricks for proper data storage.
Implementing Best Practices
Here’s the bottom line: effective data management requires discipline.
Enforcing a company-wide policy that calls for high-strength passwords and two-factor authentication is a fantastic starting place. But top-tier data protection requires a multifaceted approach.
We’ve put together a checklist for the fundamentals:
- Know who owns your data. It could be your company, a marketing agency you’re working with, or a third party. No matter what, you should understand where each type of data is being stored.
- Keep a log of data access. Though it’ll take some extra work, knowing who can access your data will help you track down the source of a data breach.
- Encrypt, encrypt, encrypt. Be aware of which data is and isn’t encrypted, and never ask for sensitive data in a form that isn’t encrypted.
- Stay up-to-date with backups. A comprehensive strategy for short- and long-term backups is crucial for all businesses, big and small.
- Have a plan for when things go wrong. Even if you follow best practices, your company might experience a data breach. Be prepared to communicate this clearly and calmly, both internally and externally.
So, Who Shoulders the Risk?
When data is compromised, a flood of finger-pointing often ensues. To guard against this confusing (and usually, fruitless) outcome, you should know where responsibilities lie beforehand.
Be able to answer simple questions like these:
- If our site goes down today, who’s in charge of fixing it?
- What email should I reach out to with urgent questions about my website, content, or data?
Here at Magneti, one of our core values is to overcommunicate.
Before you join forces with a marketing agency or third party, make sure everybody is on the same page. Keep track of each player’s role in your data strategy. Set expectations accordingly.
Trust us on this one: If you overcommunicate, you’ll avoid a whole lot of hassle in the long run.
Wrapping Up
While we’re on the topic of Magneti’s core values, we’ve got two more for you: nail the details and have fun. Our team works with unwavering focus, and we love collaborating with companies that are eager to grow.
Whether you’re looking for a refreshed website, an innovative email campaign, or a comprehensive brand evolution, we’ll help you reach your goals. And we’ll steamroll any obstacles that stand in the way.
If you’re ready to set your business up for sustainable success — and own every piece of that success — connect with us today.
