Marketing Methods that Appeal to Your Audience
This article is part 2 of a 4 part series to make sure you’re getting the most out of your online marketing efforts. Last week we focused on strategy. This week, we discuss user experience and how you can check if your audience’s experience with your business online is generating leads for your company.
To make sure your online marketing is working, you need to evaluate how your audience interacts with your business online. Can they find the information they want quickly, or is your website hard to use? Are you there to answer their questions, or are you MIA when they Google you? You need to make sure both your message and how you package that message facilitate a positive online experience for your customer.
1. Don’t Forget that 30 Percent
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘mobile site’ and you may have heard the word ‘responsive’ kicked around. A mobile site is a stand-alone version of your website formatted for a handheld device. With responsive design, your website is built in a way that automatically adjusts for different handheld devices. Responsive design ensures that your site displays properly on any given one of the 1000 different cell phones and handheld devices out there.
The reason why this is important: At least 30 percent of your customers find you on their phones. Yes, you can track that. If your website isn’t built for mobile, you will lose business to customers who don’t want to zoom in on their phones or click on the wrong link. [Tweet “Make it easy for your customers to find what they’re looking for. “]They will take the path of least resistance. If you aren’t helping them make a purchase or find answers, they will go elsewhere.
Whether you build a separate mobile site or design your site responsively, get a mobile-friendly web site. Provide a positive, easy online experience. Your customers will thank you for it.
2. Pull, don’t Push
When promoting your message online, there is an inherent need to ‘sell’ your company to the viewer. You can 1) Tell them why you are the best, what you can do for them. Or 2) Spam the heck out of your audience with this message.
It’s important to touch base with your content marketing efforts on a regular basis, because if not done right, content marketing will turn off your audience. We talk about content promotion in terms of zigging vs. zagging, or having a quiet conversation in a room full of shouting people. [Tweet “The idea is to capture the Holy Grail of marketing: your viewer’s attention.”]
People online today are ready and willing to connect with what they buy, but it comes at a high cost. This mentality begins to define the line between informing an audience and selling to one. To further complicate things, marketing has to be done across a variety of platforms to reach your audience. Online alone includes media like your website, social media channels, blogs, whitepapers and testimonials, to name a few. It isn’t enough to simply say you’re the best. You need to connect with your customers and show them that you’re the company they should buy from.
3. Ask yourself “So What?”
One tip you can try when reviewing your content is to ask the “so what?” question. In the interest of the 2014 review – read over your content. If you are able to ask the question “so what?” you need to update the message you’re using to attract your customers. [Tweet “Challenge yourself to discover the true value you provide to your customers. “]It can be hard and uncomfortable, but it will yield better online marketing results.
4. Avoid SPAM
I’m not talking about the stuff that comes into your inbox (but it can contribute to it), but the copious amount of content that you need to generate to improve SEO results and get in front of the eyes of your viewers. You do need to create content, but don’t do it like a mindless machine. Think about it in terms of value. What do your clients need to know? How can you make their lives better? Avoid cheap selling tactics and create content with substance and value to your audience. Then, share this content responsibility. Don’t clog people’s inbox or Facebook feed. Even if your intentions are good, when you jam it down their throats without them asking for it, you’re spamming. Once you’ve established yourself online as a trustworthy source of unique and beneficial content, they will start to give you their attention.
Remember, trust is hard to come by, but once won, has exponential value over the lifetime of that relationship. When your audience looks for you online, be there waiting with a smile. Provide a positive online experience and give them valuable information. If you do this, your audience we remember you, trust you and buy from you.
Read part one of this series to re-evaluate your marketing strategy.
Catapult Creative Media Inc. is a digital marketing and design agency serving south Louisiana and headquartered in Baton Rouge. Founded in 2007, Catapult provides digital, social and mobile marketing solutions backed by relevant strategy and measurable results. Catapult works the web to their clients’ advantage, launching them to their next level of success.
