Marketing is and always has been something of a process. Online marketing though is about nothing but process. In other words, marketing has always involved engaging with prospects in the hope that you can nurture them toward buying. That is far easier to do in a traditional face-to-face encounter however, than in a virtual environment.
The phrase you should focus on in the above sentence is “traditional face-to-face encounter”. Why? Because even today, despite a quarter-century of internet marketing, there remains very little that can be thought of as traditional in an online encounter – and even less that’s done face-to-face. (Despite the rise in Zooming!)
Where the Marketing Process Begins
From product development surveys to establishing your ideal client profile and getting to know your competition, the online marketing process begins with research: market research. After all, if you don’t know who your target audience is and what their pain points are, you’ll have no idea what kind of product or service they need, or how to present your targeted solutions to them.
Having said that (repeatedly), here are five critical steps in the online marketing process:
Messaging – Telling people who you are and what you have to offer are the keys to effective messaging. Now, while that may seem obvious, too many marketers struggle to explain the second half of that step – they forget that what they have to offer is benefits. If you can’t communicate how your prospects will benefit from doing business with you, your marketing strategy will fail. That is, ALL of your messaging must be benefits-based.
Bribery – Not to put too fine a point on it (and with tongue firmly planted in cheek), using optin gifts to build your email list and begin the engagement process is nothing less than bribery. However, it’s an accepted form of the practice, and asking for an email address in exchange for a high-value digital “Freebie” is a standard practice among all online marketing experts. In short, if you're not offering at least one optin at your website, you’re not actually marketing your business. Plus, it’s better to have more than one optin because first, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for your audience and second, you're going to need them as a way to nurture your list.
Nurturing – Despite what you may have heard, email marketing is not dead. In fact, it’s easily the best way to cultivate potential customers using a progressive series of freebies. And, according to the subscriber list-building experts at OptinMonster, “With a potential return on investment of up to 4400%, email marketing remains the best way to attract and retain customers.” Why? Well, as a quick example, the engagement rate for social media is less than 1% but for email, which reaches 85% of the people you send it to, it’s closer to 25%.
Engagement – The follow-up to nurturing your list is building relationships. This is particularly difficult in a virtual environment but, it can certainly be done. How can you do this when you're not in a face-to-face situation? Through your messaging, optins, and nurturing. Show empathy. Be compassionate. Display your expertise. Provide understanding. Offer solutions. Build trust. Take our word for it, once they start to trust you, you're more than halfway along the path to conversion.
Conversion – Want to know the Big Secret about why successful salespeople excel above the average? They ask for the sale! Yes, it’s really that simple. Once they’ve done all of the qualifying and presentation, they ask their client if they’re ready to buy. In the world of internet marketing, the equivalent step in the process is known as a Call-to-Action or CTA. With every blog post, with every email, with every product or service page on your website, you must ask your audience to act on something.
It’s important to always remember though that your CTAs do not always have to be about buying. Why? Because conversion is also a process! They can subscribe to your list; they can leave a comment; they can click “Reply”; they can “Click to Contact”; they can “Click to Register” for a webinar; they can “Click here to Buy”. You see, once they start acting as you ask them to, you begin to move them along the path toward buying from you!
We know this is a lot to absorb in a single blog post, and it can be intimidating, which is why Ted is available to help you with more information and consulting about the online marketing process. To learn more… Get in touch with TD Fall today.
In an age of internet marketing and online sales, we sometimes forget the basics of face-to-face encounters with potential clients. Since we experience such interactions almost daily in the design business, it seems a good idea to remember some of the basic business tips for success. As a designer, you can never forget that you're dealing with human beings, not some anonymous online entity.