Digital Marketing has become a buzz word in recent years with the emergence of the internet and Business owners are finally beginning to accept that it’s here to stay whether they like it or not.

Marketing is all about attention, and as attention shifts, the marketing dollars naturally follow.

Think about it, 15 years ago, people would wake up and read the paper with their morning cup of coffee. Then they would drive to work while listening to their favorite radio station. At Lunch, they would read their favorite magazine and would end the day by coming home and watching television.

Where was their attention? It was focused on the newspaper, radio, magazines, and television. Therefore, print ads, radio ads, and television ads were effective.

However, attention has shifted once again. Now when people wake up, they check their phone. When they go to work they listen to Spotify or Apple Music to avoid ads. When they take their mid afternoon break they’re on social media, and when they get home, they watch Netflix or Hulu to navigate around those annoying commercials.

Some say it’s a trend, but I beg to differ as evidenced by the fact we are witnessing a generation of toddlers who are learning how to navigate a smart phone before they learn how to read…

What we are experiencing is not a trend, but rather a massive shift. Business owners are finally starting to accept this as a reality and those who aren’t, are suffering the consequences. Blockbuster and Toys-R-Us are perfect examples. Either you adapt or you die. It’s that simple.

When you’re a multi million dollar corporation with a six figure plus monthly advertising budget the plan of attack isn’t too complicated. Take 20% – 30% of your budget, find a digital marketing agency with a good track record, and pay them them to get the job done.

However, what do you do if you are a small business with less than $2500/m to spend on advertising? This has been a big problem for most small business owners due to their limited resources. Even those who know they need to optimize their digital footprint in order to remain relevant find themselves stuck due to the high cost of most digital agencies.

It’s become an industry standard for digital marketing agencies to charge anywhere from $1000 – $10,000 per month as a retainer for their time and strategy consulting. Not to mention the additional costs for the services themselves.

This poses a problem for traditional small businesses such as Gourmet Express. As a 25 year old business who’s largely relied on print ads, it’s become clear they need needed to “freshen up” their strategies.

“The internet and the social media platforms are here to stay, and when you want a relevant business as the next generation of consumers enter the marketplace, we knew we had to start leaving a digital footprint,” states Laurie Kory, Gourmet Express Catering. “18 months ago we started researching digital marketing companies and found that almost all were out of our budget; and honestly,doing it ourselves was not efficient or easy. When we found Invigor8, we felt like we had a chance in this space. Products, services, affordability and customer relations that have put us front and center and we are no longer concerned about being left behind.”

Invigor8’s mission is to build a better world through better business by proving small businesses with quality digital marketing at an affordable price.

Invigor8 is a unique agency that has attracted hundreds of clients through word of mouth referrals due their unique pricing structure and quality service.

“Rather than charging thousands of dollars for a retainer like the majority of agencies,” states Luke Hessler, Invigor8’s CEO, “we chose to provide as much free value as possible in the form of strategy consulting and only charge for the services themselves, which allows us to serve clients with a budget as low as $500/m.”

The secret to their success lies in their technology which creates an objective digital marketing report card in less 24 hours by collecting and organizing public information across the internet. The technology gives each business an A through F rating in the following six major categories, Listings, Reputation, Social, Website, Campaigns, and SEO, and the final score is based on how they stack up in comparison to the industry average as well as the industry leaders in their space. This helps business owners learn the unique strengths and weaknesses of their current digital footprint.

In closing, As “the shift” in attention continues, we can expect to see more and more business owners reallocate their marketing dollars into digital marketing and those who don’t, are in for a rude awakening in 3-5 years.

Invigor8:

Our story started in a dorm room over 8 years ago. As broke college students with a dollar and a dream, we were introduced to the Industry of Direct Selling, and through trial and error learned the power of social media, digital branding and attraction marketing. Over the course of 3 years, we branded a young professional movement which helped the comapny go from $72 million dollars in yearly revenue to $221 million dollars in yearly revenue inspiring us to dream even bigger.

With a burning desire to support entrepreneurs paired with the knowledge and resources required to help companies optimize their digital footprint we launched Invigor8 with the mission to build a better world through better business by providing quality digital marketing at an affordable price.