Three Things Your Business Needs Before Starting Digital Marketing

In today’s fast-paced digital world, digital marketing is essential to the growth and success of any business. Whether you're a small startup or an established brand, marketing your business online is no longer optional, it’s critical. But before you dive into paid ads, SEO strategies, or social media campaigns, there are three foundational tools your business must have in place to set your marketing efforts up for success.

Here’s what you need to get started:

1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most important tools for any business looking to grow through digital marketing. It allows you to track website performance, monitor user behaviour, and understand where your traffic is coming from. These insights are crucial when developing and optimizing your digital marketing strategy.

Here are a few key metrics Google Analytics provides:

• Bounce Rate

  This metric shows the percentage of visitors who land on your site and leave without interacting. A high bounce rate (typically above 30%) may indicate that your site is attracting the wrong audience or that the user experience needs improvement.

• Session Duration

  This tells you how long visitors are spending on your site. If users are only staying for a few seconds, your content or layout may not be engaging enough to keep them there.

• Website Users & Traffic Sources

  You can track how many users visited your site over a specific period and see where they came from, Google, paid ads, direct visits, or referrals. This helps you assess which digital channels are driving the most engagement.

With this data, you can identify what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus your marketing efforts. Without Google Analytics, you’re essentially flying blind.

2. Google Search Console

While Google Analytics focuses on website performance and user behaviour, Google Search Console gives you visibility into how your site is performing on Google Search and how your SEO efforts are impacting your rankings.

Here’s what Search Console can do for your business:

• Keyword Rankings & Google Position

  It shows which keywords your site is ranking for and in what position. This allows you to optimize your content with high-performing keywords to move up in search results.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR)

  You’ll see how many people are clicking on your site from Google Search. If you're ranking well but not getting clicks, it may be time to update your meta titles and descriptions to make them more compelling.

• Page Indexing

  Search Console tells you which of your website pages are currently indexed by Google, meaning they’re eligible to appear in search results. If a page isn’t indexed, it’s invisible to users searching on Google, but you can manually request indexing to fix this.

These SEO insights are vital for improving your visibility and helping potential customers find your business online.

3. Conversion Tracking

You can’t optimize what you can’t measure. That’s why conversion tracking is a non-negotiable before running any digital marketing campaign,

especially paid ads.

A conversion is when a user completes a desired action on your site, like submitting a contact form, booking a consultation, or making a purchase. With conversion tracking, you can see exactly which campaigns or channels are driving results.

Examples of conversion actions:

• Lead Form Submission

  Ideal for service-based businesses looking to generate leads.

• Successful Purchase

  Crucial for e-commerce businesses to track completed checkouts.

Without this in place, it’s impossible to know what’s generating ROI, and your ad spend may be wasted on channels that aren't converting.

There are multiple ways to set up conversion tracking, which all vary depending on your website platform, and the type of conversion you'd like to track. Platforms like Shopify can make it very easy to set up tracking, however, it's not uncommon to run into conversion tracking issues, where other options like setting up Google tags may be more reliable.

Get Started the Right Way

Now that you know what foundational tools you need, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and conversion tracking, you might be wondering, how do I set all this up?

Don’t worry, that’s where we come in.

At GRO Digital, we specialize in helping businesses set up and optimize their digital presence before launching any marketing campaigns. Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale, we’ll make sure your digital foundation is solid before you invest in SEO, ads, or content strategies.

Reach out to us at marketing@grodigital.ca to book a free consultation and get your business set up for success.