So, you've been in your marketing job for almost 20 years now. A lot has changed in that time, but no more rapidly than the last 5 -10 years. In that time, marketers have had to learn to embrace email marketing, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ among others. Add to that blogging (creating remarkable content) along with all the traditional marketing functions they have done for years and and top it off with having to show a ROI and "new tricks" takes on a whole new meaning.
For years in another iteration of Coombs Marketing, we worked with Rich Caldwell, CEO of the Planned Success Institute.The baseline of our work was around knowing what we want, and knowing how to get it. Simple right? Not so much! It's really about having a sound goal and a measureable strategy to reach it.
So, this week alone, I have talked to a couple of clients who really want what inbound marketing and its analytical data have to offer, but are unsure of when they want to commit to closing the deal.
So you have a website and a blog, and you are contributing remarkable content and promoting it on social media. You see a spike in traffic on your site but you aren't getting any new customers or online leads. What to do?
Simple, focus on conversion. Right now you are at the top of your marketing funnel. You need to start moving your visitors down and converting them to qualified sales opportunities.
How do you make this traffic convert to a known prospect?
Who are they? What are their needs? The best way to find out is by posting a compelling offer that your buyer persona would be interested in learning about. Create a call-to-action (CTA) and promote your offer. Launch a landing page with a form for visitors to submit their information and measure the whole process. Easy, right?
Let’s start with my belief: The web, and digital, wins.
Marketing, sales, PR and customer service are increasingly dominated (OK, “influenced”) by email, social, and websites. Customers do research about products/services before they choose a vendor, let alone trust you enough to make contact and ultimately become an online lead or sale.
Information is easy to find. Will you "get found" and become a trusted source of information before the purchase is made?
So sure, you have a website, you use email, you have social media accounts, and maybe you have a blog (you probably should) and/or dabble in Pay Per Click (PPC)?
But, what is your quantifiable return on investment?
Your digital "investments" should WORK TOGETHER to create value for your business. Can you measure it?If you don’t take sales that can be attributed to ...
