How Do I Improve My Online Marketing Quickly?

Think you know everything there is to know about business-to-business online marketing? Well, tell me…do you think of it as an art form, or as a science? There are certainly aspects of online marketing that require creative genius and an artistic bent, but there is also a science to waging a successful B2B or B2C online marketing campaign. It all boils down to working smarter, not harder. So, how do you I improve my online marketing quickly?

1.) The first step is to have a plan. I know, I know…Custer had a plan, too, and we all know how that worked out for him. Still, there is a good deal of planning and strategy that needs to go into your online marketing efforts. One major reason many CMOs fail is that 64% of them have either an informal or no process at all to manage the marketing program and its automation. You need to research first, do your marketing analysis and determine the buyer persona profiles you’re trying to target, and then develop your campaign around that information.

2.) Next, you have to do your content marketing. This is a magnet for customers, because it helps you get found in search results. These search results drive your inbound traffic, attract prospects, and engage potential customers to convert leads into sales. You can generate blog posts, eBooks, infographics, white papers, and things of that nature, but it’s important to do research (again!) before you get started.

3.) The third step is traffic generation, actually getting found in those search engines and promoting your content through several online channels. Why is this important? Well, the science behind it all says that 43% of companies who blog have acquired a customer from their blog, and 82% of companies who blog on a daily basis have converted at least one lead to a customer from that blog. Blogging gives you 434% more indexed pages, on average, and 97% more inbound links.

4.) The fourth step to your online marketing plan should be lead generation. You might be wondering why you bothered generating content if you didn’t already have leads to consume that content, but stick with me here: the content brings in leads in and of itself, by helping your business’s web page get found in search engine results. This phase of lead generation means converting more of those visitors into customers, by offering them premium services, calls to action, or lead capture forms. Where’s the science here? Well, the numbers speak for themselves: 97% of visitors are not ready to purchase on their first visit to your company website, so you need to get them back.

5.) That takes us to lead management, the 5^th step. We’ll just look at the numbers here:

• 50% of qualified leads are not ready to make a purchase when they hit your site.
• 66% of buyers indicate that a key influence in choosing a solution provider is getting communication from sales and marketing organizations on a consistent basis
• 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.

What this means is that you need to manage your leads, and nurture them by responding quickly and efficiently to their requests for more information!

Finally, you need to apply even more science to your online marketing by doing analytics and measurement, so you can fine-tune your marketing efforts based on what works and what doesn’t work. Keep track of your KPIs, like your lead conversion rates and traffic conversion rates. Maintain a watchful eye on the number of visitors your web page is getting, the subscription rate of your email marketing, and many other metrics. Then, adjust your marketing plan according to what is actually generating sales for you.

Once you get into the science of online marketing, you’ll find it easier to determine what you should and shouldn’t do to make the most of your B2B online marketing budget. You’ll find you generate more leads, close more sales, and reach a wider marketplace than you would if you just played everything by ear. Plan the work, and then work the plan.