Where Is Your Next Bit of Business Coming From?
It could be from your latest Digital Marketing email campaign, it could be a LinkedIn article you posted last week, or perhaps it’s your website that’s been getting more hits recently.
Either way, if you don’t know where your last bit of business came from, it’s very difficult to know where your next bit will be coming from!
Of course, it’s never as simple as just looking at the metrics and going from there. Actually, to noticeably make a difference to your sales pipeline, you really need to understand every stage of your customer’s journey; attribution is crucial for knowing where you should be focusing your Digital Marketing efforts.
On top of that, you need to be making sure you get every touchstone right on that customer journey so that at the end of it your customers feel reassured and ready to buy. It’s a lot to think about but get every stage of the process right and the proof will be in the sales.
1. Understand the needs of your customers
Every journey to a sale starts with a customer need – that may be a need for something the customer has already acknowledged, or it may be for a product or service you have persuaded them they need. Before you start investing in any kind of Digital Marketing Services, you need to be clear on what it really is you are offering your potential customers, and who it is that might want your product or service.
It sounds obvious but you’d be surprised at how many businesses jump straight into their marketing without giving this enough thought. Do your research and speak to your potential customers. Identify your target market – there may be several – and plan your marketing accordingly. It may surprise you to find out who is most likely to buy your product or service! Doing the research beforehand may very well open up new markets to target that you hadn’t considered before.
2. Build reassurance at every stage
Knowing who your target market is and getting your product in front of them sadly isn’t enough. Building reassurance with your customers is essential in persuading them to purchase from you. Equally, it isn’t something you can just throw in at the end of the customer journey.
What do we mean by reassurance? It’s really all about providing the product or service you are selling, and delivering what you say you can. Reputation matters but this isn’t everything; you need to be able to provide evidence that your good reputation is justified. After all, companies will always try and tell potential customers how great they are; to feel confident enough to part with their cash they’ll want to see and hear it from other sources too.
So, what’s the best way to build reassurance? Well, there are several, and if you want to be really effective in your endeavours it’s worth investing time in them all.
- Reviews and ratings are a great way to build trust and reassurance quickly and effectively. If customers are browsing online and have stumbled across your product or service for the very first time, a great review can be pivotal in persuading them that yours is a business worth buying from.
- Take your reviews one step further and consider using video testimonials on your website. These are particularly useful if you’re selling a service and allow your customers to simultaneously delve deeper into the buying experience with your company, as well as hearing it (not just being told) direct from previous clients.
- Consider the Digital Marketing Content you are putting out there. How you represent your brand is important and it needs to be consistent at every level from your website content to your social media. Your online content should be able to clearly impart to your customers what your brand is and what you are about. Show your human side; personality is important and customers want to know who it is they are dealing with.
- Nurture your prospects. Often the most valuable contacts are the ones that you have built a relationship with over time; those that already have trust and reassurance in your brand and as a result will continue to buy from you time and time again. Playing the long game really does pay off!
3. Pay attention to your Digital Marketing metrics
Once you’ve planned and launched your latest targeted marketing campaign don’t take a seat and assume your work is done. Keep monitoring those metrics – trends change and buying habits adapt and evolve with seasons and outside influences (Brexit anyone?). It’s important you can identify these changes and react flexibly when they occur to keep your business profitable.
Of course, what you offer as a business may well change over time and as you grow you’ll likely develop new products and services. What worked for one service won’t necessarily work for another so always keep learning from your customer behaviour if you want to keep your sales pipeline in good shape.
For more tips and advice on where to get your next bit of business from, or if you need a bit of help with your Digital Marketing needs, just get in touch – we’d be very happy to help.