Are you winning enough leads and customers? Feeling frustrated and annoyed despite all the efforts you’ve put into digital marketing? You may have tried every possible way to drive traffic to your website, but if they are not converting into customers, then something needs to change. There are only two universal truths about digital marketing- 1) Drive Traffic and 2) Convert traffic. So here are 5 steps to not only help you reach and drive your traffic but convert them into your customers.
Step 1. Understand Who Your Ideal Customer Is
Before you do anything, ask yourself “who is my ideal customer?”. Our research shows that this question is often overlooked, but trust me it will revolutionize the way your business operates. This step taps into understanding who your ideal customer is, and building a customer persona that revolves around your ideal customer’s needs, wants and desires, demographics, buying behaviour and purchase patterns.
To understand your ideal customer, first, define who your customer is exactly. Your ideal customer is someone who you love working with, someone who sees the value in your work. From this insight, go and talk to these people, and find common consumer behaviours that they share; ask them about their needs, their interests, their hobbies, their day to day routines, what distresses them, their pains, etc. Once you have this information, you’ll be able to build your customer persona.
Example: 18-24 year old student in Sydney, needs high performing laptop that is light and sleek, enjoys creative work, music and touch interaction, on a tight budget, and commonly socialises on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat on weekends between 11AM – 10PM.
Knowing your customer’s purchase pattern will also be at your advantage. Purchase patterns are what compels your consumers to take action and purchase your product/service. So ask yourself what drives the customer to make a purchase and what factors influence their choices.
Example: Students buying laptops before the semester starts and typically after payday.
No matter how innovative or great your product/ service is, if it does not fulfill the needs of the customer, it simply will not sell. Understanding who your ideal customer will help you connect your product or service to their needs, positively influence their buying behaviour and successfully convert them into your customers. That is why understanding who your ideal customer is so important.
To learn more about your customer persona, read here.
2. Customise Your Products to Your Audience
Once you understand your ideal customer and their needs, you’ll be able to tailor your product or service to them. While you may have multiple great product and service offerings, it is crucial to know which one is most valuable to your ideal customer. So choose the one that connects best to their needs. This will make it easier for you to generate conversions because your offering is the answer to your customer’s problems.
If you don’t have any current offerings or believe your product or service aren’t tailored to your customer’s needs, create an offering that is being demanded. Also, think outside the box – think of a need that is currently underserved in the market. This serves as a great opportunity for you to take and create value. Think of simple things like unique features and attributes that would delight your customers and outperform your competitors.
3. Position Your Product Ahead Of Your Competition – Brand Positioning
Now that you know who your ideal customer is and what products and services you can offer, you can position your brand to your advantage. Beyond a pretty logo and a catchy tagline, brand positioning is how you want to be perceived in your customer’s mind. But most importantly it’s how you distinguish your brand apart from your competitors.
To do this, start with your mission and value proposition; why are you doing what you’re doing? What is your goal? What is your passion? We do what we love right? Customers like to connect with brands who are authentic in their work, and that already will set you apart from all the other competitors because you’re offering is different and genuine. So with this, express it through your brand voice, and just talk human! In no time, you’ll see the conversions.
4. An Efficient Website
To win business online, you need to drive lots of traffic to your website. However, there is no point driving traffic to your website if your website does not convert. Just like a shop, no matter how great your advertising is, if your sales staff are poor, your customers will walk in and leave instantly.
Your website is essentially like a digital brick and mortar business. It’s the first place your customer will find when they hear about your brand. Your website needs good branding because that will create instant trust. Resonate with your customers instantly with the right images, colours, font, language and adopt your brand personality to captivate your audience. This must be done to the right strategy, so if you want to get the right advice, click here.
Once you have built your online branding, consider these features that will make your website look more efficient, credible and professional.
Mobile Friendly Website
The last thing you want is to lose potential customers who can’t navigate your website on their phone. More than 50% of all searches are done through smartphones, so if your website isn’t mobile friendly, you could lose more than half of your potential customers. This will also deliver faster speed and efficiency on your website, and everybody loves that!
Have a clean, uncluttered and professional design that embodies your brand essence: Use landing pages that are clearly labeled and easy to navigate, with consistent colours, fonts, and voice to portray professionalism. Using quality images and videos will definitely take your game up a (or two) notch. Example: Sterling Results Fitness Club has a brilliant home page with a consistent colour theme of white, pink and black and a fun catchy slogan “Fit, Fabulous and Over Fifty”. This helps attract its ideal customers who are women aged over 50 and enjoys fitness and hiking. The landing page is also well-organised and easy to navigate, and not to forget a high-resolution image that delivers professionalism in the website.
Trust Signals and Testimonials
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Your customers come to find you for the first time. What’s the best way to show that you’re the best in the industry and that you’re an authorised retailer? Trust signals and testimonials. You don’t have to win an Aria award to show that you’re the best. Social proof trust signals like testimonials and case studies that convey your customers’ experience with your brand prove your credibility and capabilities. Here are some great ways to show credibility and trust in your brand:
For your product and service offerings, ensure you have a clear and concise list of them. Make sure to have a clear definition of your selling proposition including your business strengths, who your ideal customer is, why they would seek your business and what makes you stand out from your competition. Your homepage should give the basic idea of what you do, yet convincing enough that your business is the right choice for your customer.
Example
If you would like to speak to one of our digital strategists to help you build your online branding, click here.
5. Drive Traffic Through Marketing Channels
Now that you have created a perfectly engineered mobile-friendly website that generates conversions, all you need now is to drive the traffic. Driving traffic can be achieved in various ways, but the ultimate way is through platforms that your customers engage on the most.
From understanding your customers, you should have a clear understanding of which social media platforms they use, on what days and what time. Pay per click ads, Facebook ads, and retargeting ads are also great forms to reach an extensive audience. SEO which is an organic method of driving traffic helps to rank your website on search engines depending on the relevance of your content. Lastly, email marketing which lets you engage closely off-site of your website.
Small business owners typically have very little time and resources for marketing. Our advice here is to pick your best channel to drive traffic to your website from all the options available and do that really well. Talk to one of our advisors to get help to pick the right channel for you. If you would like to know more about driving traffic to your website, read here.
Conclusion
Implementing this 5-step process will help you reach your ideal customer more effectively, drive your traffic to your website more quickly and convert your traffic successfully! Hope this article has helped you gain a better insight on how to win more conversions. If you have any questions, feel welcome to shoot us an email at bc@netstripes.com. Our team will be more than happy to help. All the best!
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