How Much Can Digital Marketing Impact Your Business?
Digital marketing can be a powerful growth driver, but the reality is: it doesn’t impact all businesses equally. Depending on your business model, quality of offering, and overall readiness to grow, your results may range from minimal to transformative.
This guide is designed to help businesses understand where they sit in the digital growth spectrum, assess readiness, and identify the most impactful strategies. It's also a way for us at Optimise Digital to ensure we partner with businesses where we can genuinely make a difference.
1. The Impact Spectrum: Minimal to High
Digital marketing isn't a one-size-fits-all lever. Here are the factors that shape impact:
Type of business
Scale of delivery (local vs. national vs. online)
Business maturity and customer demand
Quality of product or service
Operational capacity and team resourcing
Marketing goals (leads, sales, awareness, loyalty)
2. Business Types & Their Digital Potential
Note: We carefully assess whether a business model is viable for scaled growth before engagement.
3. Common Business Goals Mapped to Digital
Phone call → Local SEO, call extensions, Google ads
Site visit → Google Maps, organic rankings, review management
Trial → Lead gen forms, email flows, retargeting
Lead → Typeform, Meta Lead Ads, LinkedIn
Booking (appointment or job) → Booking flows, remarketing, automation
Purchase → CRO, Search, Social ads, abandoned cart flows
4. Growth Strategies at Every Stage
Stage 1: Free Growth
Reach out to network
Post consistently on personal/business social channels
Research competitors
Direct outreach (cold emails, cold calls)
Stage 2: Foundations Without Paid Spend
Technical SEO audit & fixes
Website usability improvements
Strong content strategy (blogs, landing pages)
Lead magnets (eBooks, quizzes, calculators)
Email Newsletters (dependent on business)
Email automation and segmentation
CRM setup
Google Business Profile optimisation
Referral system
Online marketplace setup
Social content strategy
Performance tracking (GA4, Meta, etc.)
Stage 3: Paid Digital Growth
Google Ads (Search, Shopping, Display)
Meta/Instagram Ads
LinkedIn/TikTok Ads
Video Ads (YouTube)
Affiliate and influencer marketing
Optional Offline Add-ons
PR
Sponsorship
Outdoor advertising
Traditional signage and flyers
5. Before You Invest in Digital Growth, Ask Yourself:
Is advertising right for your model and goals?
Will a website genuinely serve your customers?
What should your website help a user do or learn?
Will digital channels actually drive demand for you?
Will it justify paying the media dollars to drive that new customer?
What is the average customer life-time value? have you worked this out?
Not every business is a perfect match for digital marketing, and that’s okay. At Optimise Digital, we focus our time and resources where we know we can drive real, measurable results. If your business is ready to grow and you want a tailored strategy, let’s talk.
