The 4 Pillars
To
create a successful digital marketing plan, you need to be strong in
the following 4 areas:
1. Website Traffic: Getting prospects to your website
2. Website Conversion: Converting website visitors into paying
customers
3. Customer Value: Increasing the lifetime value of your
customers
4. Tracking: Tracking your marketing channels so you
know what’s working and what needs to be improved
You
might want to write those down on a notepad. I call these the 4 Pillars
of digital marketing success because they establish the foundation for
your marketing. If you’re weak in any one of those areas, then you’ll
struggle to create profitable marketing campaigns. There’s no way
around it, you need to focus on all 4.
In
this article, I’m going to address the first Pillar, website traffic.
More specifically, how to determine your best traffic opportunities.
And
there are 2 questions you need to answer…
Question #1. Dude, Where’s My Prospect?
The
first question is where are your ideal prospects hanging out online?
Are they searching in Google and Bing? Are they watching videos on
YouTube? Do they spend a lot of time on Facebook or are they more
active on LinkedIn? Are they reading articles on news sites?
Put
yourself in your ideal prospect’s shoes. What would you do if you were
in need of your particular product or service?
This
is important because not every source of traffic is a good opportunity
for your business. For example, I worked with a medical device
company that sold a product that most people do not know exists. Since
few people know it exists, very few people go to Google to search for
it. Logically, that means search engine optimization (SEO) and search
advertising are not good options for that business. They are simply not
going to drive any sales.
It’s
obvious once you ask this first question, but that’s not often where we
start. I catch myself doing this all the time. I listen to the media
and get caught up in all the hype about a certain tactic and instantly
believe it’s where I need to be focused. Fight that urge! Always ask
first where your ideal prospects are, and make sure the tactic will, in
fact, reach them.
Here’s
the other question you need to answer…
Question #2. Are You Offering Catnip or Cat Food?
Have
you ever seen a cat go crazy after just a few licks of catnip? It’s
hilarious. Reminds me of scenes from Dazed and Confused.
:)
What’s
most interesting about catnip is that it only affects cats. If you have
both dogs and cats and you open up a container of catnip, then your
cats will come scurrying from all corners of your house. Your dogs may
look up curiously, but then they’ll go right back to whatever they were
doing.
In
other words, catnip is the absolute perfect bait if all you want to do
is attract nearby cats. If you compare that to cat food, then you
clearly see the difference. When you open up a can of cat food, then
any hungry animals nearby (cats, dogs, and even rodents) will come to
check it out.
What
does this have to do with marketing? A lot actually. When you’re
considering a source of website traffic, then you need to ask this question:
how can you create a bait like catnip that only attracts your ideal
customer, rather than cat food that could attract a flurry of
unqualified prospects?
For
example, I recently talked to a business owner that caters to parents
of children about to go to college. Her prospects are going to Google
searching for information so search advertising makes sense. However,
there’s a big problem. There is no guarantee the person searching is
the parent — so a lot of the ad budget could be wasted on children
clicking on the ads.
Does
that mean search ads are a bad idea?
Not
necessarily. Sure, advertising a general “cat food” type ad that would
attract both parents and children would be a mistake. But you could
also create a “catnip” ad that speaks directly to parents (and even
repels children) so that you do not waste money on irrelevant clicks.
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