What to expect of your web traffic
Many small business owners enter into digital marketing contracts with agencies being unaware of if they have hired a good agency or what reasonable return on investment looks like. They have unreasonable expectations when you look at investment of time and money vs return. Digital marketing is not a short term exercise, but a long term plan with measurable results. A critical component of having a successful plan is identifying goals, how to measure results and understanding changes that need to be made in order to increase results.
Multiple component make up an effective marketing plan: platform development, search and social optimization, content, and marketing automation…the list goes on. The most critical component of an effective marketing plan is identifying when and how to make adjustments to the plan or activities that can have a more effective impact on converting prospects to customers.
Understanding the elements of an effective marketing plan
- Understanding your customer’s online behavior: Most business owners have a defined profile of their optimal customer, but do they understand that customer’s online behavior? Online behavior goes far beyond engaging on social media platforms; it includes understanding the design of your marketing assets. What colors help a woman purchase a new outfit on a website? How does the layout of the menu bar impact a male when he is looking for camping gear on a website?Recently I was talking to my boyfriend about selling his house and what color he should paint the house. He wanted to paint is a dark color on the outside (I know, ladies, but I love him anyways). He loves dark colors, but consistently light colors prove to be a shorter sales cycle in the real estate market. We went back and forth on colors. Finally I asked him “What is more important, having a color you like or getting your house sold?”.Emotionally divorcing yourself from your ideas on what you would like to see or what you THINK your customers would like to see is vital to success. Data driven answers is what should weigh heavily in your mind when you are mapping out and measuring your digital strategy.
- Landing page conversion: Let me get something straight right here and now. A product page on your website is NOT a landing page. A landing page focuses your attention on one product or call to action with zero options to peruse other products or services. Getting your prospect to take action requires focusing a 100% of their attention on the action you want them to take. Landing page conversion depends on the layout and information provided on the product and service you want the prospect buy. What is the hook for them? And is that hook sufficient of an offer to get your prospect to return at some later point in time to shop? Have you communicated clearly on the landing page to your prospect?Landing pages rely on offering a giveaway of some sort to the prospect: a book, a sample of lotion, or maybe a subscription. Pair the giveaway with the traffic needed to get the results and now you have measurable result. Results of traffic (which most likely will require advertising) will tell you if your traffic is “buying” what you are offering. If not, then it is time to investigate why.
- Customer Acquisition & Lifecycle Management: Once you have the prospect primed and ready to be marketed to, then how are you planning to market to them? Are you planning to send out email blast about all of your products or the ones that their online behavior has shown they have an affinity to? Are you re-targeting old customers to new products?More and more companies are incorporating marketing automation (AKA Lifecycle Management) into their marketing plan. Lifecycle management encompasses understanding how each prospect engages with your website and customizing your engagement with them accordingly. Think that marketing automation would get tiresome for prospects? Think again! Check out these stats to understand how automation impacts your return on investment optimization.
Don’t kill your sale before you have it!
Understanding your return on investment conversion rate for your marketing plan is a key to business success. Our team will review your marketing strategy and the data on your current efforts to make sure you are reaching your growth based goals. Let us help you understand your data proven plan.
