A no-hype break-down of how digital marketing tools like websites, email newsletters and social media help businesses large and small to attract customers and close sales.
Read this and understand how to be awesome. Or go and watch kitten videos on YouTube. The choice is yours
I have been writing lately about some of the harsher realities of digital marketing. For example I wrote about how SEO is a lot harder than it used to be, and I humanely laid to rest 6 digital marketing unicorns (aka myths).
But I don’t want you to think that all is lost when it comes to using digital marketing successfully.
Not at all.
It’s just that I see digital marketing and all the tools of this “trade” i.e. websites, blog posts, Adwords, etc., as being integral parts of a greater marketing strategy system of which not all the parts are “digital” as such.
Why A Quality Website Is Critical To Your Marketing Strategy Success
I think the best way to illustrate what I mean is to spell out a possible marketing path of many that a potential customer (prospect) might follow from first interest to sale:
1. Referral
Somebody says to a friend or work colleague “Hey, I am looking for such and such – know anyone good?” and, because you ARE good, your name is mentioned. This can happen online or offline.
2. Contact Information
The person who refers you may have your details already or they might just say:
“I think they’re called Company X or something”
…to which your prospect might say:
“Ok, I’ll Google them, thanks”.
Alternatively they might paste a link to your website (or Facebook page, etc.) into an email or social media message.
3. Potential Customer Researches You Online
Whether they call you first or not, at some point the prospect is going to go looking online for you to decide whether they want to do business with you or not.
That’s a key point – they will decide, almost instantly, whether or not to do business with you based on your web presence.
Just like you or your staff’s phone manner, this is a critical point in the sales process. I go into this in greater detail in this post about how your website makes or breaks the sale (and how Facebook pages often just break it) but the short version is this:
- first impressions count, so…
- if your website doesn’t show your business in a good light…
- or just isn’t even there…
- the potential customer may simply reject you outright at this point.
On the other hand if you have your digital marketing ducks in a row, then they will rank you higher in their mind and as your phone and email communications continue, the sale can go forth unhindered.
4. You Establish Ongoing Communication With Your Customer
Whether a sale happens now or not, if you get your digital marketing strategy happening, you have the opportunity of opening up a regular channel of communication with your prospect or customer (I’ll just call them customers from now) in the following ways:
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
- Blog (via email or RSS subscription)
- Email list
Social Media
Social media has obviously become a very popular way to communicate with customers, but it has some drawbacks. These include the fact that they appear free or cheap but are actually very resource intensive, either in terms of money or time and usually both. Also they are a bit of a popularity game, so until you get popular they tend to work against you as your customers will unconsciously recoil from you if they perceive you as “unpopular” (sad but true).
However, if you are prepared to invest the money and effort, social media can and does work for many, especially to build rapport with customers, if not directly sell.
Blog
Blogging is a great way to regularly affirm your position as a subject matter expert. Now while I don’t think it is a silver marketing bullet to the stars, if you are prepared to work your blog, it gives you a fantastic way to regularly contact your customers with something new and helpful, something of real value to them.
Of course blogging is also dependent on your ability to write (or talk if you want to podcast) and your commitment of time, money and effort. Like a dead-end social media account, there is nothing sadder than a blog that hasn’t been updated in months.
However if you can commit to it then it really helps the next and greatest digital marketing tool…
Email List
I cannot state strongly enough how powerful a regular email newsletter to a targeted email list can be for your business. I have run them for clients to great success for years but only recently began using it regularly for my own business. It has been a great reminder of the email list’s power. I have seen it generate genuinely valuable sales enquiries from prospects that had gone cool.
I will go into more detail about this later but the short story is: get your customers (and prospects) email addresses and permission to contact them regularly and then create useful, valuable, entertaining newsletters that do not do the hard sell.
This establishes you as an expert in your field and reminds your customers that you exist, without you seeming like an annoying sales-pest.
Short Version: Two critical uses for a website: 1 – help your prospect to decide they want to do business with you (because your site is professional, attractive and informative. 2 – help you build and regularly engage (via regular emailers and a blog) an email list of customers and prospects, so they grow to know, like and trust you enough to buy.
Photo credit: Kevin Miller
Nice post, Seamus.
I like how you broke down all the methods needed to fill the pipeline by leveraging strong web presence and the benefits to a business.
C.J Hayden always wrote about methods in sourcing new clients in her book and I liked how you outlined the digital strategy aspect, in particular highlighting the importance of consistency in blogging/social media activities/email list building.
Thanks Peter. Marketing nerd that I am, I even know who
CJ Hayden is. Get Clients Now
is one of my bibles, got me out
of a hole once or twice when things got too lean for comfort!