There’s no point in implementing an inbound marketing campaign (or any other marketing campaign) unless you have plans for growth. You need to be able to not only track its success but show that it isbringing some sort of return on investment back to the company.
While the generation of leads is a key milestone for inbound marketing, it’s not the end goal. Customer creation is.
Here are a few of my key success factors to Customer Creation:
- Where to start? With your Ideal Customer!
The most critical question you as business owner should ask yourself is – who is my ideal customer? – if you cannot answer that clearly then your digital advertising will fail.
Targeting is the key to make Digital Advertising Work! And you can only target effectively if you can clearly identify your ideal customer, your avatar!
The easiest way to do that is to picture the ideal client as a person with a name – then answer the questions: What age is your customer avatar? Is your ideal customer male or female? Exactly where is your ideal client situated? Where does she work, where does she live? What is the marital status of your client avatar?Does your client have children? How many? What ages? Where do those children go to school?What is your client avatar’s occupation? What industry is she in? What is your avatar’s job title on her business card? What is your avatar’s income? How much does she earn a year? Does she own a home? What is the value of the home?Does your avatar have a formal education? What level of education does she have? Where did she go to school / college / university? What are your avatar’s goals she wants to achieve? What are her ambitions that she is striving towards?What does your avatar value? What is it that excites her?What is it that she wants in her life right now? In dealing with a company like yours, what does she want most? What problems does she want you to solve for her?What are her passions and hobbies and things that make her feel alive?What are your avatar’s biggest fears? What outcomes will she do almost anything to avoid? What is currently keeping her awake at night?What is your avatar’s biggest motivators? What is it that gets her motivated into action? What makes her tick?Who are your avatar’s biggest heroes? Who does she admire? Who does she look up to? Who does she aspire to being like?What direct challenges is your avatar dealing with right now? What does she find the hardest and most difficult right now? What phase of life is she in, and is she moving into?What types of books does your avatar read?What magazines does she read?What websites and blogs does she frequent and subscribe to? Where does she go to find information regarding your topic? Does your avatar attend any trade shows? Which experts does she listen to and take advice from? Are there any experts in your industry she may be following?How does your avatar use the internet? What may be some of her typical online behaviours?What are important life events in your avatar’s life? Recently engaged / married or divorced? Recent relocation or travel? Did she celebrate a birthday with a zero on the end? What else may be going on in her life right now?
You get the picture? Know your ideal customer!
- Be a solution!What problem does your customer want you to solve for them?
People are almost always ready to buy but they are not ready for you to hard-sell. They key insight is to solve a meaningful problem for them, then no hard-sell is required.
By placing your customers’ needs first, you’ll transform your relationship and your own business.
It’s common for businesses to put their own needs first without even thinking about their customers. Identify what your audience needs instead of guessing or putting your interests first.
If you offer content to address client needs and then offer a solution to fulfill those needs, then you’ll achieve greater results.
- Differentiate your business – craft your message – relevance is NB
For success in the online world, you must position your company to differentiate itself from competitors. Why should they choose you?
This is closely linked to what value you bring, what problem you solve for your avatar – the benefits of your product or service.
But this is also closely linked to understanding your buyer’s journey. Offering the most relevant messages at each of the “phases” they find themselves in, is critical!
Quite often you need to build a relationship with your prospective client over time:
- during the pre-awareness phase you will need to make them aware of a “problem”,
- then during the awareness stage you may want to “educate” them on their options (you are also establishing your credibility),
- then let them find YOUR solution to their “problem”
- and only then make them an offer they cannot refuse.
- Dedicate time, resources and budget to Digital Marketing
Digital marketing makes it much easier for small business owners to compete for market share.
And businesses that dedicate time, resources and budget to digital marketing gain significant advantage over those that don’t.
Due to the cost effectiveness of digital marketing, small companies may make their mark and even compete against larger, more established businesses.
- Monitor, Measure, Track
What gets measured gets managed.
Digital Marketing allows you to ultimately measure your Return on your Advertising Spend. Measure every step, know where your results come from and focus your efforts there.
Continue to refine and tweak till you have a success recipe.
With traditional media in the past the conundrum they faced was beautifully summed up in the famous John Wanamaker quote: “Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I do not know which half.” With Digital Marketing those days are over.
And….. your lead time with Digital Marketing is short so you can turn your spend on and off as you see fit.
- Nurture your leads!
The biggest downfall in small businesses is the process of response and follow-up on enquiries. You have spent the money, now treat those leads like gold – nurture them!
So how do you go from leads to customers? You manage them through various areas of your website and marketing automation to help move them through the buyer’s journey.
The key here is automation where possible – an automated email chain that guides your lead to the point where they are ready to purchase often is the best approach.
Leads are great. Qualified leads are even better but sales ready leads? Those are the best. Inbound marketing helps generate these types of leads so that your company spends less time in the selling process.
But that doesn’t mean it can close the deal on its own. Your marketing needs sales just as much as your sales team needs your marketing.
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“According to LinkedIn, there is an overabundance of “Social Media Experts” yet few businesses really seem to be setting the social media world on fire. Social media marketing can be broken down into 3 areas; strategy, publishing and monitoring and engagement. What sets a good social campaign apart from a great one is the amount of time spent in the first area. Above all else, a social media campaign that knows who it’s targeting, the voice and persona it is portraying and what it is sharing will almost always find success.” – HubSpot
If you are ready to grow. If you believe in Digital Marketing. And if you need help in getting your Inbound Digital Marketing done then contact purplefirefish – we are waiting for your call.
Not sure? We offer a FREE (30 min) Strategy Consultation Call where we talk about your business, your goals and the best strategy to generate quality leads for your business. It might very well be the best 30 min you spend time on this week. Click here to set it up.
References:
https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/5-steps-powerful-digital-marketing-strategy
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/12-building-blocks-digital-marketing-campaign
