When to Expect Results: Your Guide to Digital Marketing Timelines
Digital marketing can make or break a business. But how long does it take to see results?
Digital marketing has the power to build businesses by driving more traffic, generating more clicks, and generally helping brands capture more than their fair share of attention.
But, like most things, success with digital marketing takes time. The key question is: How much time?
This is the question we get most often when working with private equity firms. Executives believe in the power of digital marketing to boost EBITDA across their portfolio companies. But they want certainty on when they will start seeing ROI.
This article answers that question.
See below for details on when you can expect results from tactics like conversion rate optimization, paid search/media, and search engine optimization. And download our white paper, “The Ultimate Input,” for a roadmap on connecting digital marketing levers to EBITDA in your financial models.
When to Expect Results From Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is a unique beast in the digital marketing landscape because its effectiveness is almost immediately visible. Unlike strategies that require time to mature, like search engine optimization or content marketing, CRO delivers quickly. This immediacy is particularly crucial for businesses looking to rapidly pivot or improve their online performance.
While CRO delivers fast results, those results are not instantaneous. The higher your website’s volume of visitors and purchases, the more quickly you can churn through CRO testing to reach value. For example, a business with fewer, high-value orders might generate substantial revenue but might not have enough data points for fast and effective CRO testing. On the other hand, a business with a higher number of smaller orders can gather test results more rapidly due to the volume of visitor interactions.
CRO Team Members Needed
Implementing CRO is not without its challenges. It requires a mix of technical and marketing expertise. Essential roles include:
Developers: For implementing changes and ensuring website functionality.
Product Managers: Responsible for overseeing website changes and mitigating risks associated with site alterations.
Marketing Specialists: Individuals who understand both product and marketing, capable of designing tests that are practical and likely to yield valuable data.
Professionals needed for CRO programs often command higher salaries — about 30% more than those managing paid ads — due to the specialized nature of their skills.
The CRO Process
The journey from conceptualizing a test to executing it involves several stages:
Identifying Test Elements: This could range from simple color changes to more complex features like product bundles or often-bought-with suggestions.
Choosing the Right Tools: The use of platforms like Unbounce or Optimizely for A/B testing is crucial.
Considering the Funnel Point: The stage of the customer journey being tested can significantly influence the impact of the test. For example, changes at the final checkout step, though affecting fewer users, can have a disproportionately large effect.
Successful CRO is all about strategically testing against best practices and focusing on changes that are most likely to improve key performance indicators (KPIs). This approach ensures that tests are both relevant and likely to produce valuable insights.
When to Expect Results From Paid Search/Media
Paid search and media is when brands put dollars into Google Ads or platforms like Facebook to connect with prospective buyers. Paid search and media present a unique set of challenges and timelines in the digital marketing arena. Unlike organic strategies, paid channels involve a path to achieving results that’s both direct and complex.
The Initial Phase: Training the Algorithm
The initial phase of any paid media campaign revolves around training the algorithm. Platforms like Facebook require a certain number of conversions — typically between 30 to 50 — before a campaign exits the learning phase. This initial phase takes longer with new ad accounts, whereas it moves more quickly for existing accounts that have been running for a while. During this period, the algorithm is essentially in training mode, learning who your customers are and how likely they are to purchase. This phase is pivotal as it sets the foundation for the campaign’s future effectiveness.
It's crucial to understand that during the learning phase, businesses often incur losses. The algorithm is still optimizing, meaning your campaigns are not yet at their peak efficiency. This phase is an investment in data gathering and learning, which is vital for the long-term success of the campaign.
Fine-Tuning Your Paid Campaigns
Once past the learning phase, the focus shifts to fine-tuning your campaign. This involves developing and identifying the most effective creative tactics. The success of paid media relies heavily on the quality and relevance of the creative elements — be it ad copy, imagery, or overall messaging.
An often-overlooked aspect of paid media is the human element — the talent behind the campaigns. This includes channel managers, campaign executors, and creative teams responsible for ad creation. Investing in skilled personnel is essential, especially as the amount spent on a channel increases. The adage “you get what you pay for” rings particularly true here.
The Timeline for Paid Search/Media Results
Typically, you can expect the algorithm to start showing results within 1–2 months, depending on the scale of your campaign. However, developing a robust pipeline of effective strategies and creative elements can take anywhere from 2–5 months. This is the period where you gradually master the nuances of the platform and your specific audience.
A Note on Ad Fatigue
A significant hurdle in paid media, especially on platforms like Facebook, is ad fatigue. Over time, the same audience may become less responsive to repeated ads. In contrast, paid search campaigns, which target specific terms, face a different challenge as they continuously reach new individuals searching for those terms.
When to Expect Results From Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of digital marketing, known for its ability to drive long-term, sustainable traffic growth. That said, its complexity and the time it takes to see tangible results can often be underestimated.
The primary objective of SEO is to increase the flow of traffic to your website. But it’s not just traffic for traffic’s sake. The focus should be on attracting visitors who are genuinely interested in your products or services. For example, creating a blog post on a trendy topic may attract a lot of visitors, but if the content isn’t directly relevant to your product or the visitors’ intent to purchase, it may not contribute effectively to your business goals.
The 2 Categories of SEO
SEO can be broadly divided into two main areas: technical SEO and content SEO.
Technical SEO: This involves ensuring that your website is set up in a way that is easily understandable and indexable by search engines. Factors like website loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and proper indexing play a crucial role. If Google can’t read or navigate your site efficiently, it won’t rank well, regardless of your content quality.
Content SEO: Content SEO focuses on the quality and relevance of the content on your site. It’s about creating content that is not only engaging and informative but also optimized for keywords that your target audience is searching for.
The Timeline to SEO Results
One of the most challenging aspects of SEO is the time it takes to see results. Unlike paid advertising, where results can be seen relatively quickly, SEO is a long game. Typically, it can take anywhere from 6–12 months to start seeing significant results from your SEO efforts. This timeframe can vary based on different factors, including the competitiveness of your industry, the current state of your website, and the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.
Accelerate Your Digital Marketing Efforts
In the digital marketing space, the journey to seeing real value can be complex and varied. For a private equity executive overseeing significant changes, the key question often is: When will these efforts translate into tangible results?
The short answer is around six months, provided the execution is efficient. Efficiency in execution means having a capable, dedicated team that is pushing toward results day after day. Coordinating the many moving parts, from talent acquisition to technology implementation, often extends the 6-month timeframe.
Aux Insights is an accelerator for private equity firms and their portfolio companies, particularly those lacking the internal resources to swiftly and effectively implement digital marketing tactics. We offer the expertise and guidance needed to navigate this complex landscape while achieving results as quickly as possible.
Contact us to schedule a conversation and explore how we can help optimize your digital marketing efforts, ensuring you realize the value of your investments in the shortest time possible.
