85% of digital transformations fail. How can you get digital right in 2018?
According to a study conducted by 3M, the human brain processes visual content and imagery 60,000 times faster than text. In 2018, forward thinking business trends cite sales and marketing alignment as one of the most critical directives this year. What Digital design trends do you need to know? The scope of marketing has changed significantly over the past few years; in our latest webinar, we explain what your tech stack should look like, and what happens when you implement tech in a way that only addresses 50% of your marketing problem. Many companies look toward marketing automation to consolidate new media functions such as email marketing, content publication, lead qualification and measurement. The shortfall occurs because even the most robust software can’t truly measure end-to-end marketing performance.
With that in mind, what should you be doing in 2018 to accomplish all of your goals? Who determines your marketing goals? What is your biggest marketing challenge? These are the questions we tackle in the webinar, and much more.
In the meantime, here are the biggest “marketing challenges” affecting many business owners and marketing teams, and some of our best tips that you can implement right away to address those challenges.
Challenge: Get More Leads
Tip: Tailor Your Message
The acquisition of new leads is not an easy process, but that’s because many times businesses have not focused on a crystal clear message or defined their exact audience. Take the time and effort to identify the correct target audience. When sales and marketing align, lead generation becomes more about fulfilling the need of a consumer and less about demand generation. In 2018, it’s all about being personal.
Challenge: Increase website traffic and ranking on Google
Tip: Utilize a professional for services like this
Getting established digitally can take time, but increasing your site’s pillar content can increase keyword rankings on Google. Online traffic creates brand recognition establishes credibility in your industry. To position yourself as an expert in your space, editorial should be well thought-out and planned, whether online or in print.
Challenge: Everyone is working hard, but the leads aren’t coming in
Tip: Align sales and marketing
Educating the sales team about the process of digital marketing will only benefit the overall operations of the organization, and the same is true about educating the marketing department about the specifics of the deal. When both teams understand one another’s process, each can contribute toward the same goal.
Challenge: Creating sharable content
Tip: It’s worth the time and effort to design & produce valuable business assets
Creating valuable digital information, whether in the form of a free download, guide, ebook, worksheet, or any other document or video that provides a tangible benefit gives potential customers the ability to research whether your product or service is a good fit for them without much commitment. Consider what you find valuable when you’re researching online. Anybody can produce a MS Word document with bullet points, but is that the most effective method of marketing and advertising your business? If you want people to share your business online, you’ve got to give them something worth sharing.
Challenge: Use Social Media more effectively
Tip: Don’t try to use all the networks, focus on just one or two channels where you know your audience is.
The effectivity of social media marketing is based heavily on the ability to target the right audience with the right type of visual content at the right time. Becoming crystal clear about who your intended audience is and precisely what their habits are allows you to identify the type of content that will promote the best engagement.
Challenge: Use marketing automation more effectively
Tip: Focus on a clear topic and the behavior of your recipients, not necessarily all the news you think they might want to hear.
All too often, marketers spend time trying to get their message out without considering the damage that is being done by focusing solely on their agenda and not enough on the people receiving the message. Marketing automation only works when it’s tailored to segmented audiences. Gone are the days of blasting a newsletter to your entire list of customers or prospects. Modern marketing has a purpose, and when automation is set up in a very clear and planned way so that the right audience receives the right message, the entire process becomes much more meaningful and effective. When making a digital transformation, it is crucial that your message is clear and that you provide a solution rather than a suggestion. Campaigns are only effective when your audience raises their hand to indicate interest. In other words, if I didn’t ask for it, don’t send it to me or you risk big consequences.
Challenge: Educate prospects and turn them into leads
Tip: Focus on generating inbound interest and leave old lists behind
Education based marketing creates a sense of trust between a business and their prospects. This sense of trust allows the customer to pick your business out of the pool of unlimited options available to them when they are ready to make a purchase decision. Education-based marketing should focus on the top of the funnel. While buyers are not yet ready to make a purchase, the credibility established through this subtle form of marketing allows your audience to view your business as the expert and educational editorial can help generate legitimate interest which allows you to selectively move people down the funnel.
Challenge: Convert leads to buyers
Tip: Design your buyers journey by putting a lot of thought into your nurturing process
Understanding the nurturing process fully is the key to delighting consumers. When you are able to establish how your product or service can benefit your audience, it becomes evident to them throughout their journey. The process of converting a lead to a buyer is to show them you understand why they need your product or service and then clearly illustrating why yours is the best choice compared to competitors.
Challenge: Increase Marketing ROI
Tip: Be sure your Marketing Director understands the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Increasing a business’s marketing return on investment (ROI) is a huge benefit, and it’s easier than ever to measure modern marketing tactics because everything digital is trackable. However, the key to being successful with marketing is to hire marketing professionals that have the expertise to not only design, implement and track the metrics, but the skills to communicate KPIs to senior leadership to help drive decision making. Not all digital transformations work out if the marketing team has simply evolved through attrition, and this is much more common than people think.
In summary, to accomplish your marketing goals in 2018, all businesses need to provide value to their customer. Instead of competing for attention in an oversaturated advertising landscape, businesses perform best online by showcasing their expertise and providing immediate value to consumers. Focus on engagement, one of the most significant marketing metrics. On a small scale, engagement metrics tell you if you’ve targeted the correct audience on social media, whether your landing page design is effectively, and if you’re using the right CTAs in your blog posts. It’s easy to measure the success of individual pieces of content using engagement.
On a large scale, engagement indicates how well you understand your target market. Looking at trends over time, you can come to a better understanding of what types of content your audience consistently finds engaging.
So how can you measure that engagement?
Engagement metrics range from the visible options like page views, social shares, and comments, to more complex measures such as bounce rates, scrolling time, and cursor movement. The bottom line? Use engagement metrics to continue to create and deliver better content…your audience with thank you for it with the increased conversions you’ve been hoping for!
Want to learn more about how to stay ahead of your competition? Enter your email address to access our free online webinar which speaks to the biggest trend for companies in 2018, aligning sales and marketing teams.
