by 
Are you getting an increase in traffic but still not seeing the lead conversion rate you’re looking for? The problem may be a simple fix for your digital marketing team. If you’re generating traffic, this probably means that your content is more or less relevant to an audience. However, the reason you’re not seeing better conversion rates may mean that your messages and your content aren’t targeted specifically enough.
It’s one thing to attract, but entirely another thing to attract the “ideal customer.” And if you’re not attracting the potential lead then you’ve wasted valuable time and resources. Here are a few of the most important issues to consider when launching or modifying your digital marketing campaign as well as producing more effective content.
Understanding Your Buyer’s Persona
Before you launch into creating multiple pages of content geared towards a particular subject, stop and consider your buyer’s persona. Traditional marketing and advertising devotes as much early research time as they can afford. Talk to your customers. This can be in the form of a questionnaire or quite literally talking one-on-one to your customers. Knowing the specific concerns of the actual, ideal buyer in your niche market will help to form your landing pages and other digital marketing content. Some key demographic and psychographic issues that you might want to consider are:
- Age
- Gender
- Religious Beliefs
- Average Annual Income
- Where they live
- Where they shop
- Level of Internet literacy
Knowing the language and the content that fits these criteria, you’ll be able to create advertising that targets them directly. This analysis is valuable insight into the minds of your customers, and should not be overlooked. Then, when the time comes to pay for click-through advertising, choose the portals where these leads are more likely to gather on the web.
For example, if you are a real estate agent, selling homes in a new development, perhaps prior developments of similar quality and location have appealed only to small families. In this case, cost is one issue, of course. But, smaller families tend to buy with their instincts and their hearts, rather than pocketbooks. Your content may appear to be doing effective digital marketing because you’re answering the question about cost, but is it addressing the questions about lifestyle that your actual buyers are searching for? As such, you’ll want to discuss local parks and green spaces, access to local schools, descriptions of community events and plans for the future.
On the other hand, if the housing development appeals more to retirees, then your content should be more tailored towards that persona. In this case, what is the infrastructure for walking, pathway access and dog parks? Are there restaurants and social clubs nearby that appeal to this particular age bracket. Older residents have more disposable savings, but they are less concerned about the future of the housing development.
Digital Marketing Tips to Finding Your Audience
Yes, doing proper SEO on your landing pages will ensure that customers using certain keyword search terms will allow them to find you. However, when you’re advertising, or targeting your audience more selectively, you need to know where they hang out. Again, if we look at the realtor example, we can determine that young families and retirees hang out in different locations on the web.
Couples with small children are more likely to wander through Facebook and Pinterest to get a “feel” for a certain neighbourhood. They’ll want to see community events being broadcast. They’ll want to hear the voice of their neighbours. Therefore, social media plays a larger role in their lives than retirees, so follow them to their Internet haunts.
Your site, product or service is valuable to a very particular group of Internet searchers. Once you’ve discovered where they hang out, you can then become a presence in that location. Lead existing customers with positive testimonials towards those social media spaces. Your goal is to start relationships with others that mimic the relationship that you already have with your best customers. They are, after all, your best brand advocates. So use them.
More Marketing Isn’t Necessarily Better Marketing
Never assume that spamming or casting a large net will appeal to any of your customers. It’s very rare that your blanket message will be read or appreciated by potential clients. In the long run, you may be doing more harm than good. Your brand persona should be one of trust and information: not exposing an overt digital marketing agenda.
The fact is that less than 5% of your website visitors will end up buying anything simply on their first visit. The key is to provide enough valuable content on your landing page to get your audience engaged. The next step is to engage with them. Follow up with emails or free eBooks that go into detail about the questions that they most likely have.
Again, using the realtor’s example, if you have found a study about links between higher quality education and smaller housing projects, then produce them in an eBook that targets those young families. If you’ve discovered a study that links health to outdoor activities, then target this eBook towards retired people. The key is to be a resource to your specific targeted audience. You need to learn the questions and produce the answers as directly as possible.
Use Analytics to Determine Effectiveness
You’ll need to know what’s working, so make sure that you have analytical data to examine. How long does a person linger on a certain page? How many pages do they visit before they fill out a form? Which blogs are getting read? Which tweets were re-tweeted or shared on social media portals?
These numbers will give an indication as to what digital marketing initiatives are working and which need to be tweaked. The good news in all of this is that it’s not too late to start. Unless you’ve throw away tens of thousands of dollars on printing and sending out costly fliers and direct mail, you haven’t lost that much time or money. Start today by looking at your site to determine which pages have gotten the most views. Then focus on these pages to encourage more flow-through to the more unique pages that do the job of selling.
In the end, the key is research and putting in as much time as you can towards understanding your customer. Just because digital marketing has the mythical reputation of being able to “generate sales with a click of a button,” it’s important to never throw away traditional marketing tactics. The more tailored your approach to reaching your customers, the more benefit you will see in terms of high-quality traffic and better conversion rates.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you seen a shift already in terms of your online content and the response you’ve generated from your audience? Are you satisfied with the amount of traffic and impact your content is having? Please leave a message here to tell us your story or to comment on digital marketing effectiveness.
Leave a Reply