Hey there!
This month’s TPM Take is all about optimizing your marketing campaigns and creating a future-proof digital strategy for your business.
In our first article, we look at three things you can do to jumpstart your marketing efforts when you’re stuck and spinning your wheels.
The second take explores the ten ways in which blockchain could change the marketing industry this year.
Finally, in the last article, we look at the different ways in which B2B businesses can overcome common obstacles and attract business.
Let’s get started.
3 Ways to Revitalize Your Digital Marketing Program
https://searchengineland.com/3-ways-revitalize-digital-marketing-program-292311
No matter how great your marketing programs are, there will come a time when your performance plateaus and your ROI decreases. This could happen as a result of many factors, ranging from changes in audiences to saturation of your marketing channels. Regardless of the reason, there are three go-to strategies you can always try when you find yourself stuck with wheels spinning in neutral.
1. Test Different Versions of Your UX
Most marketing leaders understand the role that user experience (UX) plays in improving marketing performance. However, it’s often more common to talk about the importance of UX testing than to put it into actual practice.
Even small changes to your UX can make a huge difference. Not only can they boost top-line revenue, but they can also have a significant impact on your bottom line results as well.
2. Rethink Past Approaches
Sometimes the best way to jumpstart your underperforming marketing programs is to improve upon what you did in the past. For example, you can improve your audience targeting on failed search campaigns, or use Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and Customer Match to increase the profitability of your campaigns.
You can also make improvements to your previous bid strategies and ad rotation settings to see if they’ll make a significant impact on your search campaign’s performance.
3. Keep Marketing After the Sale
Focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and retention, rather than just the initial sale is a powerful way to revive your marketing programs after they’ve hit a plateau. By doing so, you also increase the profitability of your existing acquisition efforts, which can extend across multiple marketing channels.
TPM’s Take
One of the most effective ways to prevent your marketing programs from hitting a plateau is to work with a digital agency. Our article, What to Expect When Working with a Digital Marketing Agency, covers everything you need to know about working with one.
10 Ways Blockchain Could Change The Marketing Industry This Year
Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency. Ethereum. You’ve probably heard these buzzwords in just about every business publication lately, and it seems that everyone wants to know how the technology behind the bitcoin decentralized ledger works.
2018 could be another big year for blockchain. The technology is already on its way to changing several industries, and it’s only a matter of time before it changes how businesses approach digital marketing. Below are four key predictions from experts.
1. Brands Will Be Able To Better Target Consumers
“Like many emerging technologies, it is very early to truly understand how blockchain will impact marketing. It has the ability to remove the middleman in digital advertising. However, that may take years to displace Google and Facebook, if ever. Because of blockchain’s transparency, it will initially help brands build trust with consumers.” — Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications
2. Advertising Will Become More Transparent
“Marketers love to publish case studies of their outliers that are getting amazing results. The gradual implementation of blockchain will provide transparency on marketing claims by every journey having the ability to be analyzed and validated. This will even lead to the ability to also negotiate contracts and accept terms based on those results.” — Douglas Karr, DK New Media
3. Influencers Will Become Fewer In Number But Better In Quality
“Influencer marketing campaigns are going to change dramatically. With blockchain, marketers will be able to see if the influencer’s followers are true people or simply bots. Essentially, it will reduce the number of influencers but leave the top influencers at the top.” — Loren Baker, Foundation Digital
4. Publishers Will Become More Accountable
“Technologies like Ethereum make publishers more accountable as transactions become more transparent. Advertisers can see exactly where their traffic is going. Ad data is paramount — it’s shocking how much information we don’t have. Measuring impressions doesn’t cut it. Blockchain technology will unveil everything, decreasing fraud and increasing attribution.” —Michael Weinhouse, Logical Position
TPM’s Take
In the future, blockchain will open the doors for shared economies. Our article, The Access Economy: Making Cloud Economics Work For You, explains how your business can benefit from this trend by offering automatically upgraded, access-from-anywhere, maintenance-free services.
How to Overcome Unique B2B Digital Marketing Challenges
https://marketingland.com/how-to-overcome-unique-b2b-digital-marketing-challenges-234156
Anyone who’s been in the B2B marketing space long enough will tell you that it comes with a unique set of challenges. Sales cycles are often longer, audience markets are smaller, and ticket prices are higher.
On top of all of that, B2B companies often don’t have any products to sell, which means that they have to generate leads first, and then follow up with prospects continually before closing a deal.
These challenges can impact your marketing campaigns, but the good news is that there are a few strategies you can use to make your life a lot easier.
Content Production
Most B2B businesses get stuck on content because it typically takes a long time to create. Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut. The only way to increase the quantity and value of your content is to plan, schedule and put the right people in charge.
Once you have a plan in place, you’ll need to make assignments and stick to deadlines.
Understand Conversion Values
Most B2B businesses don’t sell products directly to customers. Instead, they must nurture leads captured from different conversion points of their site before closing a sale. Common “conversion” points include:
- Contact form being submitted.
- A phone call.
- A question being submitted about your solutions.
- A download of a brochure, whitepaper, or ebook.
- A visit to a particular page on your website.
When looking at your online conversion data, it’s important to assign a value to each conversion point based on the likelihood of it acquiring an actual customer.
Manage Expectations
Creating an effective digital marketing strategy is a long-term game. It takes an average of nine to twelve months before you see your digital marketing strategy paying dividends. This makes it a challenge for many businesses who expect to see quick results.
By managing your expectations appropriately, you’ll give your business the time and resources it needs to build up its digital authority and convert leads into actual customers.
TPM’s Take
If your marketing efforts have been achieving less than ideal returns, you may be unknowingly making one of many lead-killing mistakes. Our article, Avoid These 6 Mistakes When Marketing Your Web Hosting Business, explains what you can do to avoid these mistakes.
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