Marketing success in 2022 will require a little reflection. We can all make sweeping changes and hope for the best, but in order to do it right, you need to ask some key questions about how your marketing is performing.
If you’re here, then you’re probably looking to do this right.
We’ve put together this list of the 4 most important digital marketing questions you should be asking to ensure effective marketing.
What is the definition of marketing effectiveness?
Before we jump into the questions, it’s important to define marketing effectiveness. Effective marketing is all about generating high-quality warm leads over high-quantity cool leads.
It’s incredibly easy to throw everything but the kitchen sink at your marketing, but this scattergun approach often misses the mark.
In order to achieve effective reach, you need to make sure that your marketing efforts are aligned to your target audience. This means targeting the channels they actually use, and speaking in the language that they want to hear.
You can learn a little more about the benefits of effective marketing by clicking here.
Now, let’s talk about the questions you need to ask when planning an effective digital marketing strategy.
1. Is my website converting?
When was the last time you gave your website some love?
If your website’s not effectively converting, there are a few things that might need addressing:
- If your website is new – be patient! It can take a while for your website to become lead generative.
- Have you got a sound SEO strategy consisting of keyword research, content marketing and internal linking in place?
- Are your calls to action doing their job?
- Is your website showing the value of your product/service?
We spend lots of money on our websites; they should deliver an ROI – it’s that simple.
Issues with your website might be big and overarching, or they could be a simple case of auditing your H1 tags, content, meta descriptions, backlinks, etc., and conducting a general core web vitals check-up.
Sometimes small changes can yield substantial results – we recommend making website optimisation a priority this New Year, as the sooner you get it sorted, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits through 2022 and beyond.
If it is a full website redesign that you need, the best time to correct a mistake is right now – don’t keep putting it off. Time spent with a poor website is time where your competitors are getting ahead.
2. Is my lead generation strategy in place?
Leads are the lifeblood of digital marketing, and functional marketing will bring in lots of leads.
But (and it’s a big but), lots of leads doesn’t necessarily mean lots of sales. Effective digital marketing helps in ensuring that the leads that you’re bringing in are high quality.
Quality > quantity when it comes to leads. You don’t want to be wasting loads of time on people who aren’t really interested in what you’re selling.
At Catalyst, we call these vanity metrics – big numbers look great, but aren’t really that useful to the bottom line.
Your lead generation strategy should include a mix of:
- Email automation – Email marketing is still incredibly powerful – a great way to communicate with your current customers and to encourage prospects to interact with your content.
- SEO – As mentioned in our first tip of the day, SEO is what’s going to bring the right eyes to your website.
- Account based marketing (ABM) – ABM is the process of sending out highly targeted marketing messages to key decision makers that you want to work with. Because you’re targeting key players, you can guarantee they’re the right leads for your business.
- Content marketing – Content is king – you can’t escape that. Having keyword rich, genuinely useful content is a fantastic way of bolstering your brand and warming up leads.
- Pay per click (PPC) – Putting yourself at the top of Google using PPC is, perhaps obviously, very powerful. You’ll need to make sure that you’re optimising your landing pages before PPC is ever considered, though.
- PR – Never underestimate the power of a public relations piece detailing some of the good your organisation does. People want to invest in ethical businesses; PR helps you spread this message.
- Social media – Building a social presence is paramount for a modern business. Prospective customers will often visit your social media after visiting your website to get a better perspective into your brand. Keeping your socials well updated and interactive is key.
- Social advertising – Millions of potential customers use social media every day – why wouldn’t you want to advertise to them on their platform of choice?
Naturally, not every facet of lead gen will be applicable to your business, but a healthy combination of methods is incredibly important when looking to meet effective marketing & lead generation requirements.
3. Have I got the right structure to deal with more leads?
It’s all well and good bringing in the leads, but have you got the infrastructure in place to handle, process and sell to them?
Your marketing is not effective if your sales team can’t close the sale, and if your operations team can’t handle the business.
Before you ever start marketing, you must ensure that you can deliver on what your marketing promises.
Many businesses conclude that marketing doesn’t work, but it’s not the marketing that’s failing, it’s your business infrastructure that isn’t working.
A good digital marketing partner will help you to build this infrastructure out before ever beginning a marketing campaign. Remember – the only numbers that matter start with ‘£’.
4. How do I choose the right digital marketing partner?
Choosing the right digital marketing partner can be like walking through a minefield with a blindfold on. Everyone promises the world, the best year ever and a bloody unicorn.
Let’s be realistic for a moment.
Digital marketing is an incredibly powerful tool if used correctly. You need to find a digital marketing partner who aligns with your goals and who you connect with on a personal level.
At the end of the day, business is a personal thing, no matter how hard we try to disconnect from it. We recommend asking any prospective digital marketing agency the following questions:
- ‘How do you define success?’ – The correct answer to this question should revolve around your bottom line, not vanity metrics such as ‘we’ll deliver a 25% increase in website visits’. The right digital marketing partner will work towards improving your revenue.
- ‘How do you achieve results?’ – Remember, no marketing agency can guarantee results. If they promise you the world, that’s a big red flag. Any good digital marketing agency will rely on hard data to assess results, nothing else.
- ‘Why do you think you’re right for us?’ – Digital marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. If we feel that we’re not the right fit for a business, we’ll tell them that. Honesty is important when dealing with a business’ marketing; your prospective digital marketing partner should be able to prove how they’re going to tailor a strategy to your unique needs.
- ‘Can I speak to the team?’ – Many agencies send out the A-Team to close sales. This pitch team are likely to sell you the world (which the ops team often can’t deliver). We prefer to involve the people you’ll be working with throughout the process. After all, rapport is important.
- ‘Can I see examples of previous work?’ – Don’t forget, marketing agencies are usually pretty good at framing something as valuable. You’ll want to see tangible examples of past work, and the results achieved.
Honest, effective digital marketing with Catalyst
At Catalyst, we live and breathe digital marketing. We’re properly passionate about what we do, and we truly believe that honesty is the way forward. That’s why we encourage prospective clients to talk to our current clients to get an honest impression about our work.
In order to achieve effective marketing in 2022, you need to get your sales, marketing and operations processes in order. By asking yourself the above questions, you’re taking the first (and most important) step towards building your business and improving your bottom line.
Get in touch today for an honest conversation about your unique digital marketing needs.
Alternatively, reach out to us using the below details:
E: hello@wearecatalyst.co.uk
T: 0121 296 5275