As the name suggests, this blog post will teach you all about online marketing with the help of an example company, triplepro.com. Let’s get started.
Why Are Online Marketers Different Than Traditional Marketers?
At first glance, you might think that online marketers are just like their traditional counterparts – they go out and meet people, find the leads, and convert them into customers. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are some similarities, the fundamental approach is completely different. Here’s a brief overview of how and why.
They Look At All The Browsers
Whether you’re a marketer for big brands like HubSpot or CRM software, or an entrepreneur in need of some digital marketing advice, you’ll find that online marketers monitor every aspect of a visitor’s experience – from the moment they enter the website, to how they navigate from one page to another, to whether or not they complete a given action (like subscribing to a newsletter or downloading a whitepaper). In other words, they look at everything – not just what happens when a person clicks a button or enters a promo code into a form – which means they can completely personalize their approach, maximize their results, and drive in the right direction even for the most complex of online marketing campaigns.
The Traffic Is Varying
When you’re driving traffic to your website with SEO or social media, you’ll generally see three distinct traffic patterns:
- A steady stream of organic traffic from search engines
- BuzzFeed and other content curators bringing in engaged, long-staying visitors through content curation
- Short-lived, noisy traffic from social media
The first two are generally considered to be better than the third, which you’d typically find on blogs that are specifically designed to drive immediate sales. The reason behind this is simple: the longer a person stays on your website, the more likely they are to become a paying customer, or one who buys your product or service.
Think Long-Term
Traditional marketers have a short-term view of their digital marketing campaigns – they’ll set a goal, such as getting a specific number of people to click a link, and then they’ll analyze the results.
Online marketers, on the other hand, approach their campaigns with a longer-term view – they’ll set up automated email campaigns that will send out monthly or weekly emails to tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and the goal is to create a relationship with these consumers that will lead them to purchase a product or service.
The difference is that a longer-term view allows online marketers to tweak their strategy as needed to meet the particular demands of their digital marketing campaign. If getting people to click a link decreases the amount of people who are visiting their site each month, they’ll adjust their strategy to get more people to arrive. Conversely, if getting people to click a link increases the number of people who are visiting their site each month, they’ll use that as an indicator that their strategy is working and need to be adjusted accordingly.
What Is The Main Website That You’d Point People To?
When people think of digital marketing, they often think of websites – but that’s only part of the equation. Once you’ve established a website with a profitable product or service, you have the option of establishing other online properties that can help to grow your business further. The most profitable websites will have all the necessary inbound marketing and sales funnels already in place, but having additional websites can help to establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche, attract more qualified leads, and create more opportunities for cross‑selling.
How Is The Customer Journey Different?
To understand how to approach customer engagement and conversion (getting your customers to take action and performing up to the expectations you set), you need to consider the customer journey – the path that a prospect takes to becoming a customer. The main difference is that while a traditional customer might contact your company once, maybe even twice, before the purchase, an online customer might be persuaded to become a regular purchaser, and even make a purchase, after just one interaction – be that via email, text message, or live chat.
In other words, while a traditional customer may have to go through several filters (i.e., deciding whether or not to purchase your product, navigating the different pricing structures, etc.) before they reach the point of no return, an online customer may just need to go through one filter (i.e., deciding whether or not they like your product, or service, or both, and then taking action – such as adding your website to their bookmarks, clicking a link, downloading a whitepaper, or filling out a form) to become a customer. Once they’ve taken that initial step, all they need to do is continue to consume more of your product or service, and they’ll assume you have their best interests at heart, and that you understand what they want, and why they’re visiting your website in the first place.
Setting Up Shop
As we mentioned, once you’ve established yourself as an expert in your niche, you have the option of establishing other websites that can help to spread your reach, attract more potential customers, and grow your business further. This is where having multiple websites comes in – each one can have its own unique pricing structure, content, and affiliate commission opportunities, which you can use to generate additional revenue streams. It’s always a good idea to diversify your income sources, and having additional websites is a simple way to do that.
If you decide that establishing a website is the best way to go, remember to set up shop legally – even if it’s a small, personal site, you’ll still need to register it with the local government so that you can legally use the.com domain. In some cases, you’ll need to pay fees to have your website registered. Don’t worry – this isn’t difficult, and it’s worth it in the long run.
Marketing Research
Last but not least, we have marketing research, which is quite literally the process of gathering information about customers, either online or off, to better understand their needs, wants, and behaviors. This is an important step in any marketing plan, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. As a digital marketer, you’ll generally perform market research via email marketing, using tools like Unbounce or HubSpot, or even manually by setting up polls and questionnaires on your website.
Depending on your niche, you might want to start by asking your customers, either directly or via a survey, what they think about the different products and services you sell – or, if you’re a brand seeking to enter a new niche, you could ask prospective customers what they think about your brand, what they like about existing brands in your niche, and what they don’t like about any brands in your niche. This type of research will help you to understand whether or not your product or service fits their needs, and if it does, it will help to establish why they chose to purchase it in the first place.
Hopefully, this article has helped to shed some light on the role of online marketing in corporate America today, as well as given you an idea of what makes for a successful online marketing strategy. With a little bit of planning and research, you’re sure to see positive results from your efforts.