A survey was conducted on digital trends and there are some interesting insights. The results confirm that social media has come of age as a marketing tool as both agencies and client businesses use it more regularly than any other digital marketing channel.
It’s great to see insights are emphasising the importance of mobile optimized sites and apps. It also shows how agencies are leading the way in the use of video, s so it’s good to see they’re practicing what they preach! Most of those who responded to the survey still see websites as first and foremost providers of information. This all proves to us how essential social media is to the consumer.
Here are a few of the results:
What businesses do when they receive complaints through social media? Only 5% ring their agency or hire a hit man! 20% surprisingly delete the comments and the other 69% engage in conversation.
So you think you are ready to dip your toe into Inbound Marketing but you might not know where to start. Well, let me share a few straightforward steps that will get you going:
STEP 1: ATTRACT
The first thing you need to do is build your buyer persona – this is an holistic profile of your ideal customer. What are they really like inside and out – their goals, aspirations, motivations and pain points.
Once you know who you want to talk to, you then need to attract them to your website. The best way of doing this:
Targeted Outbound media – unlike many Inbound Marketing specialists, Dialogue passionately believe (and have the case studies to prove) that Outbound Marketing (i.e. Press, Outdoor, TV, Radio) can get your Inbound Marketing strategy kicking with the right tailored content.
Blog – use your blog to speak to the personas you have developed. Answer their burning questions and help them along their journey.
Social Media – share highly relevant content. Create to relate! Put a human face and a personality to your brand.
Keywords – know what your buyer peronas are searching for. Optimise your pages, create content and build links around terms that will appeal to them.
Website – make it easy to find what your prospects are looking for / and what you are looking to sell them.
STEP 2: CONVERT
So your prospects have now noticed you, you’ve struck a chord. Now you need to convert them into leads and customers. It is hugely important; no it is actually vital that you now get their contact info. This is an online marketers most valuable currency! But you will need to offer your prospect something in return for this valuable information, something they will value. Think ebooks, informative / educational short videos, whitepapers etc.
Tools to help you convert:
Calls to Action – make sure your CTA buttons are visible and enticing
Landing pages – this is where they fulfil your offer, the place your potential customer gives their contact details. Once they fill in their information they now become a lead. We like leads!
Forms – make the information gathering as easy as possible. We have tricks and tips to do this really well.
Contacts – keep a central database of your leads. Having all your data in one place helps you make sense out of every interaction you’ve had with your contacts. It is really important you do this.
STEP 3: CLOSE
Now to transform your leads into customers. These marketing tools will help you close the right leads and the right times:
Lead scoring –score your leads on their sales readiness. This is a useful tool for taking the guess work out of the process.
Email & Marketing Automation – this involves sending a series of focused, useful and highly relevant emails. They need to be tailored to the needs and lifecycle stage of each lead. Their job is to build trust and help your leads become ready to buy.
Closed-loop reporting – integration of your marketing efforts with your CRM system / sales team will insure you know which marketing efforts are bringing in the best leads and converting those leads into customers.
STEP 4: DELIGHT
Inbound Marketing is all about providing highly relevant content throughout the customer lifecycle. Existing customers will drive your business if treated the right way. It is so important to continue to engage and delight them once they have become a customer – they will buy more from you and tell others all about you.
To help you delight them you should:
Have smart, personalised call to actions – these are offers that change based on buyer personas and lifecycle stage.
Social Media – use it for delivering real-time brilliant customer service.
Email & Marketing Automation – relevant and useful communications that help your customers achieve their goals and do their job better.
If you would like a hand putting your Inbound Marketing campaign together please give me a call or drop me an email.
Inspiration can come at the strangest times–last Sunday morning to be precise, the day after the media started leaking the story that Martin O’Neil and Roy Keane were rumored to be forming a ‘deadly’ double act and take charge of the Irish soccer team. I say ‘deadly’ as I’m sure you’re all familiar with Mr. Keane’s, let’s say, ‘fierce determination’! So ‘fierce’, in fact, that during his days of managing Sunderland (BOOOOOOOOOO!) he couldn’t get over the fact that his struggling team weren’t as good as he was in his playing days and used to kick merry hell out of his tactics flip charts!
So, back to last Sunday morning. My son plays soccer for Malahide United (where the Irish team train) and during half time, the ‘soccer dads’ were having a chat…
“OK, everyone…” I said to them, “Roy Keane and Martin O’Neil…..discuss”. “Aaaghhh”, was the general response, “It’ll be carnage”, to which I quipped “I hope Malahide United have their flip charts insured!” And so, an advert was born, visualised first thing Monday morning, presented to Jim Leyden at Bizquip, and you’ll see it on page 15 in this weekend’s Sunday Business Post!
‘Back of the net’, I believe the saying goes.
I’ll finish with saying ‘all credit to unexpected double acts’ and wish Martin and Roy, but especially Bizquip and Dialogue the very best of luck.
Let’s clear things up and apologies for sounding like a teacher, but for those who don’t know, a landing page is NOT your web site’s home page. Your landing page (sometimes referred to as lead-capture page) is a single web page that appears when a search engine optimised search result, an online banner ad or a link to a download is clicked.
The general goal of a landing page is to convert site visitors into sales or leads. In fact, it can generate a 5-15% conversion rate on average.
Specifically, the job of a landing page is to tell your visitors exactly what you want them to do. It’s not (as home pages do) to give them free range to meander through your website.
So do you actually have a landing page and does it deserve perfect marks?
Here are the top three top tips of how to increase your landing page conversion rates:
1. Landing pages must contain the following elements
A headline and (optional) sub-headline
A brief description of what is being offered
At least one supporting image or short video
Most importantly, a form on the landing page itself to capture information. If for some reason you can’t include a form on the landing page, use a large call-to-action button to direct visitors to the next step.
2. Remove or limit extra navigation
A landing page is used for one purpose and one purpose alone – to encourage a visitor to take one specific action. When visitors land on a page, we want to keep them there until they perform that action. Don’t encourage them to wander.
3. Keep the objective simple and clear
This is a BIG mistake made by some companies. Don’t try to stuff too much information on your landing page. Make it clear what the page is about and what you want the visitor to do. Limit the amount of copy, images, media, and links to only what’s necessary. It’s especially important that the call-to-action is as crystal clear as possible for the visitor. Remember: the MORE you put in, the LESS they take out!
But these are only three top tips. For the FULL lowdown on how to increase your business leads, simply click below to download Dialogue Marketing’s e-book on ‘The 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks & Ideas’ where you’ll click through to – guess what – the perfect landing page!
