The One Constant in Online Marketing
The ever-changing landscape of Internet marketing.
One of the things you quickly learn to accept (and either love or hate, depending on your perspective) about online marketing is it’s always changing.
What worked before might not be effective now, and different tools, websites, and techniques are always coming in and out of the picture. Our Online Marketing Training Program is a perfect example of this; it’s always being revamped and updated as tools adapt and change.
But while the tactics of Internet marketing might be changing, there is one constant that doesn’t just remain, but becomes more and more true with every passing year: that success and profitability both require focus and precise targeting if they are going to work over time.
In a certain sense, that’s true of every kind of marketing – as new competitors come into business and customers get more savvy, the number of companies that can survive by trying to sell lots of things to lots of people decreases. On the Internet, however, that’s particularly important, as it’s getting easier than ever to find just what you’re looking for with a few different keystrokes.
(MORE: A Blogger’s Checklist)
Is your Internet marketing as targeted as it could be? If it’s not, here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction:
Make an effort to know more about your customers.
This is a constant theme on our blog, and for good reason. The better you understand your customers, along with their budgets, motivations, etc., the better job you can do of coming up with pages that appeal directly to them and inspire buying decisions.
Developing customer personas is an excellent practice for every business. Personas allow your sales and marketing teams to focus their pitches and content to touch on needs and pain points specific to that prospect. One product or service may solve multiple needs, but highlighting the most pressing pain point to a persona could be the difference in making a sale.
Don’t treat web analytics as an afterthought.
The easiest way to get to know those buyers and study their habits is by looking at the analytics from your own business website. While lots of business owners and managers are happy to simply see whether they’re getting more visitors, and which pages are converting, you can learn a lot more by going farther. Get to know your analytics inside and out, and you’ll be well on the path to a more targeted online marketing campaign.
(MORE: 3 Habits of Highly Effective Inbound Marketing)
Think smarter, then bigger.
Although this might sound like a cliche, it’s just the basis for a sound Internet marketing strategy: Identify a small group of customers that are perfect for your business, and then keep looking for ways to do business with more of them. The answer won’t just make your company more targeted, but also more service and customer-oriented. That means you can ultimately keep more of the customers you find.
There isn’t room on the Internet any more for businesses with generic marketing plans. Even Fortune 500 retailers are being forced to think about who their best customers really are, and tailor their messages to higher-margin clients. Shouldn’t your company be doing the same?
At Kayak we use technology to track, understand, and sort online prospects. This allows clients to focus their marketing messages and sales team efforts on the right people with the right material. See how Kayak can help you attract new business by learning about lead generation and marketing automation software.
