As part of the services we offer within InfoMarketer’sZone we are asked quite often to evaluate existing online businesses.
Sometimes the online business we look at is nothing more than a single website, other times it is a fairly complex network of sites, social networking personalities, advertising and email campaigns.
What typically happens though is that we find one or more weak links in the overall, end-to-end marketing process.
Here’s an example…
Let’s say you have a growing Facebook, Twitter or Forum identity that succeeds in bringing potential customer eyeballs back to your site.
Now suppose that when they get back to your site, based on a link to specific content within the context they established when deciding to click your link, they see what you have to offer at your website.
Perhaps it is a blog post…so they naturally take a very quick look around…what do they see?
Have you ever tried playing the role of your customer coming into various parts of your marketing campaign and working through the entire process to where they would be faced with a buy decision on your product?
You can call this a marketing “funnel”, sales “process” or online business “plan” – however you label it…the bottom line is that it will improve tremendously if you walk through each step in the shoes of your potential prospect.
Eliminating The Weak Link Through “End-To-End Marketing”
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you walk through you online marketing process…
1. When you generate a lead or interest a project, does the page they land on give them the promised information – nothing will hurt your marketing process more than making it hard to find the highly relevant content
2. Are you sure your landing page not only gives them the information they want but intrigues them to take the NEXT step…again this must be contextually aligned with the mindset of your customer when they reach your site.
3. Are you sure there are no (or at least minimal) distractions that would disrupt the marketing funnel from taking your prospect on this natural evolution?
4. Where do they go next? One objective is to get them to subscribe (either to your blog RSS feed or email opt-in form) – is that likely to happen given your offer/incentive?
5. What happens next? Do they get more contextually relevant information? Perhaps a case study, example, another relevant tip, personal story of how you achieved the transformation they are looking for?
6. Have you made them an offer? When you have given your prospect relevant and useful information, have you made them a contextually important offer to a great product? Do they trust and believe you?
7. What happens if they don’t buy? What do you send them next? Is it still relevant? Do you allow them to participate by sending you feedback anywhere along the way?
8. If they DO buy...where do they go next so that you can solidify your relationship, build loyalty, enhance their journey toward their desired transformation and help leverage their positive experience toward others through testimonials?
I call this end-to-end marketing and most people are NOT effectively doing this.
Instead, they have separate tactics and tools in their business that do not link together, do not take their prospect on a planned, coherent journey but rather end up losing prospects at each stage of their marketing campaign.
Something to look at…put on “your customer’s eyes” and walk through your marketing funnel to see where you may be losing prospects, sales and profits.
