We all know that there is a Digital Marketing skills shortage in Ireland and have known this for a long time. The fact that this may be affecting businesses may be a shock, but if it is prepare yourself for this, Michael Jackson is dead. Sorry to have to break that to you.
Yes that bloody Internet has spread like Bird Flu, or more to the point the fear of Bird Flu, and in the land of small businesses that has a skills shortage in Digital Marketing this is a problem! Yes people are purchasing online and if they aren’t then you better believe they are researching your business before going in to make their purchase.
Solutions anyone? The kids, they know all about the Internet, they will save us. Shur Mary’s daughter Sally has almost 3,000 Followers on Twitter we will give her a wee job and that’ll be that whole Internet thing taken care of. No Sally has mastered the Selfie and Photoshop! Some would argue that Digital Marketing is no less important to a small business than accountancy. You wouldn’t hire someone who got an A in Junior Cert Maths to do your accounts. Then you shouldn’t hire Mary’s daughter Sally to do your Online Marketing.
Another solution might be dip into the new pool of slave labour provided by the Fine Gael government, yes you guessed it Jobsbridge. Why pay someone when you can get people to work for free. Excellent, now we’re cooking with gas! But wait according to Ian Dodson over at the Digital Marketing Institute 80% of Digital Marketing Graduates walk straight into employment. Lets hope the other 20%, the runt of the liter, are willing to work for free. Of course this 20% are most likely in London where entry level Digital Marketing job pay as much as £50,000 a year. Yes that is a pound sign not a Euro sign.
So, what then, I hear you Small Business owners ask is the solution? Yes you guessed it pay a professional and get professional results. But not before you research the matter, you should never fork out your cash unless you know what you’re getting in return. According to SEO Ireland, Search Engine Optimisation can increase traffic to your website by 200% to 500% and a correctly run campaign can boost your conversion rate from site visits. Hubspot claim that Email marketing has an ROI of 4,300%, and that a correctly run campaign, can greatly boost your conversion rate. Digital Marketing can allow small companies to compete with large organisations.
We are not trying to insult small business owners here. We have met with many small business owners all over the country and they are highly intelligent and motivated people and do know quite a bit about Digital Marketing. But Digital Marketing is always the one area of their business where they are all too happy to cut corners. With 8 out of 10 new start-ups ultimately failing we feel it is an area that should not be ignored.
Cheers,
Online Marketing Eire 
50k? Really? Wow.
So true! I think that some small business owners do know a decent amount about digital marketing, but many don’t really understand it at all. They may ‘know’ one aspect of it, and over emphasise that, but they don’t seem to grasp how things can change for their business if they try to cover a multitude of angles, digital-wise. For example, recently I launched a new site for a small Irish business, got some good quality SEO and advised them on how to run everything, from content to social interaction, and things doubled for them, overnight. Reason being, their other Irish competitors just didnt try digital marketing – they put zero effort into it! And my clients soon found out that there actually was a demand online, in their key area, with no supply.
Ive come up with a simple but multi-faceted curriculum which is like a basic intro to digital marketing for small Irish businesses, and Im going to publish it online. I did teach one run of it, but Im not a big fan of classrooms, so Ive decided to put it online for free. In the meantime, here’s a useful guide about ON-SITE SEO for small businesses: http://www.solidwebsitedesign.com/basic-seo-guide-for-beginners-the-best-on-site-seo-tips/ It should give small business owners an idea on how to optimise their websites, plus an insight into what search engines want too!
Love the site. This service is a great idea, and much needed. Keep up the great work!