Your pirate flag is flying high, showing off who you are and what you’re capable of. Infamy is just around the corner; how terrific it will be to be the target of so many! Your crew has been carrying out your orders, revelling in the adventure. You were confident of the course you charted, your exciting quest for bounty. But it’s been months now, and that bounty seems like an elusive dream. The map you were following seems to be useless, and you’re in the middle of nowhere. Everything is a little less exciting every day. No treasure, not even infamy. You wonder why you have even set sail.
Marketers often find themselves floundering when their most creative campaigns, campaigns they were dead sure of, don’t find traction amongst their audiences. After all, they hired the hottest digital agency on the block, with the smashing creatives and the masterful copy.
I spend a lot of time on the internet, you know, working. And some of the most entertaining media I come across are advertisements. Masterful layouts, sexy graphics and copy that teases and allures. Some video ads are like bite-size movies. Storytelling at its best. Here’s the thing though: a lot of the time, I am not the target audience for these brilliantly creative ads. Heck, I’ll probably never have any reason to buy from Heinz or Lamborghini. So why am I seeing them?
Creativity, great aesthetic, storytelling and content aren’t the only elements at play when it comes to marketing your brand effectively. If you don’t don’t get your trajectory right, you’ll find yourself hurtling through space screaming at everyone to notice you.
So before you unleash your awesomeness on the interwebs, heck before that campaign is even a glimmer in your eye, take the time to work out what your objectives are and how you plan to accomplish them. And don’t stop there. And before you kick off every campaign, make sure you’ve ticked these critical items off your list.
Build out your Buyer Personas
Buyer personas ought to be the most fundamental element of every marketing and sales campaign. But more often than not, they aren’t. Why are they so important? These imaginary customer profiles represent group characteristics of your most ideal customers or target audiences. Knowing who your ideal customer is, their motivations, their pains, how you are uniquely equipped to solve their problems helps you channel marketing actions and responses so much more effectively. You know exactly why Happy Hermione responds to you on Facebook, but never on Twitter. Buyer Personas take time to get used to and to perfect, but they’re so worth the time and effort you put into them.
Be Discoverable
When you understand your customers and their behaviours on the internet, you can show up at their watering holes. Provide them with just the right amount of contextual information at the right time and Keep showing up when it matters and make the decision to purchase from you easy for them. Adception.
Optimise your Landing Pages
Landing pages can make or break your campaigns. One glance should give your audiences the compelling feeling that they have reached their desired destination. They should provide just the right amount of information about what your audiences came looking for and drive them to relevant sections of your website. A well-optimised landing page must include compelling calls to action and a smooth user experience.
Include compelling Calls to Action
Your approach should always be suggestive. Subtle hints or powerful and demanding statements all encouraging your audiences to take action.
Design for your Customers
Web users have 6 seconds worth of patience, and if your page is still loading some complicated div at minute 6.01 poof, they’re gone. Poor usability, unintuitive navigation and performance are not the only culprits though. Most internet users are intimidated by complex website design. It is in your interest to design a website that gives them what they need – simply, effectively and fast. Yeah, your scorching hot UI might leave a lasting impression long after they’ve left your website, but they’ll be more likely to stick around and engage with you if you focus on giving them what they came to you for.
Test everything. Twice.
Implementing a digital marketing campaign is never as simple as it sounds. For a campaign to deliver you have to analyse what’s working. So, A/B testing and Multivariate testing are crucial. Deducing where your customers are dropping off, what calls to action are generating conversions – do whatever it takes to understand what’s working and what’s not. It’s the best way to ensure a successful campaign.
By Harsha HM
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