It all started by accident. An odd job here, a writing assignment there. Then an acquaintance asked me to build a website for her restaurant.
Sure, I said. Then I quickly had to learn how to build a website.
That was a decade ago. Soon after that, I left the traditional sales and public relations world to start my own consulting firm, specializing in digital marketing.
As my business was growing, I had to constantly learn new skills with each new client. Working on my own was rewarding but also exhausting. Digital marketing evolves so quickly and requires so much expertise that it could sometimes get overwhelming for my small business.
So, when I became digital marketing director of The Press’s Big Surf Media a few months ago, I walked in the door with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by small and mid-size businesses in South Jersey.
Big Surf Media, a new marketing division of The Press, is a one-stop marketing agency designed to help businesses navigate the digital landscape. Rather than simply selling a print or web ad, Big Surf Media offers clients an array of services, including social media management, web design and maintenance, search engine optimization services, video and audio production, even developing graphics for print and web, and more.
One of our earliest clients — Los Amigos restaurant in Atlantic City — hired us to oversee their multiple social media accounts and build a new website. They told us that the amount of time and energy they were spending trying to keep up with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram was preventing them from doing what they loved best: cooking and serving customers.
We can even provide our clients with data about how their customers are engaging with the digital marketing plan, and help advertisers understand how well their efforts are working and to change course, if necessary.
For example, just in the past week, Los Amigos saw a 14 percent increase in page likes on Facebook and a 22 percent hike in post engagement. This means the content we are creating for them on Facebook is reaching more potential customers and driving many of them to interact (and we hope, make a reservation).
We are also working with a YMCA to oversee a grant they received from Google, which supports their search marketing efforts. Other local businesses have hired us to write stories for their websites, run social media contests, and send targeted emails to potential customers.
We recognize that to truly succeed as a business in this current landscape, advertisers need a variety of options to get their message out. While every business is trying to attract new customers, the methods of reaching them have changed dramatically. According to 2017 data released by the analytics firm Flurry, the average person spends nearly five hours per day on his or her phone.
At Big Surf Media, we create custom marketing plans designed to reach potential customers as they go about their increasingly busy days.
As I did when I ran my own consulting business, I make certain that the team at Big Surf Media keeps up with every new trend that is impacting how people find businesses online.
So when a business owner gazes glassy-eyed at the computer screen, wondering what to post next on their Facebook page or how to reach mobile phone users with their latest ad, I can sympathize. This stuff is hard.
That’s why we’re here.
Check out BigSurfMedia.com for more information.
Dan Sher is digital marketing director at Big Surf Media. Reach him at dsher@pressofac.com
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