The Four Kinds of Digital Marketing, and Which One to Start With

Most small businesses spread a small budget across four channels and get nothing from any of them. Pick one, do it properly, and add the next one when the first one works.

Search: people who already want what you sell

Search engine optimisation puts your pages in front of people typing a problem into Google. The intent is the highest of any channel. Somebody searching "emergency electrician Creston" is not browsing.

Search is slow. It takes months. It also keeps working after you stop paying, which no other channel does.

Start here if you sell a service that people go looking for.

Email: the only audience you own

Your email list is the one channel no platform can take from you. Facebook can change its algorithm. Google can change its rankings. Your list stays your list.

It works best for repeat business, launches, and seasonal offers. It works badly as a way to find new customers.

Start here if you already have customers and want them back.

Paid ads: rented reach, instant results

Google Ads and Facebook Ads put you in front of people today. You pay per click, and the moment you stop paying you disappear.

Ads are a good way to test a message before you commit to it. They are a bad way to build a business that has to survive a slow quarter.

Start here if you need leads this month and you have a page worth sending them to.

Social: proof, not sales

Social media is where people check that you are real. Photos of finished work. Reviews. A person behind the business.

It rarely sells anything directly for a small local business. It closes the sale that search or word of mouth started.

Start here if your work is visual and your customers ask to see it.

The order that works

Fix the website. Then search. Then email. Then ads. Social runs alongside all of it as proof.

Doing one channel well beats doing four badly, every time.

Email jon@delcaromedia.com and I will tell you which one fits your business.