The 11 most valuable lessons we learnt in marketing.

After putting our heads together, my BizGrow co-founder Josh and myself decided that the following are the most important lessons we have learnt throughout our careers in marketing and more specifically in digital media. Hopefully these provides insight for some who are trying to decide which way to go as these techniques have proven themselves in the countless campaigns we have run. This will be a summary of the lessons however we will be going into detail and creating separate article for each of these most important element of digital marketing.

1.Effectively targeting your ideal customer

Before engaging in any marketing activity, identify who your ideal customers are. This will allow you to create campaigns which are targeted, engaging to them and more efficient at getting to your ideal customer with the least resources. Remember, it’s not about having the biggest net when fishing, its picking the right spot to throw the net. The important part is identifying what the most relevant attributes are that you need to learn about your ideal customer that will allow you to target them effectively. We will go into more detail as to how to do this in our upcoming detailed series.

2.Using Analytics to measure success

Google Analytics, if you don’t know what this is or haven’t had this setup for your website, you are doing it wrong, period. Analytics gives you the ability to understand consumer behaviour in the digital world, it allows you to measure the effectiveness of your website and it’s pages, it allows you to run multivariate testing and analyse the data to get inside the head of your customers. We have seen clients campaigns deliver over 300% increase in results by effectively using Analytics without spending a cent extra in marketing. Get to know the capability of Analytics and its components and then implement it for smarter marketing.

3. Calculating Marketing viability before even starting

Have you calculated your average transaction values? Do you know what your customer life-time values are? If you said no to either of these questions then you are making it extremely difficult for yourself to be able to gauge ahead of time the likelihood that a given marketing campaign will generate a positive return. Learn how to use the numbers to give you an informed idea whether a given marketing strategy will yield positive results without having to waste your marketing budget on

4.Web design is best done by those that understand more than just design.

Unfortunately the vast majority of web-designers are just that, they are designers. Remember your aim is to generate revenue for your business and not win the best looking website competition. When developing a great website you need the following, a web-designer that can make your website look good, a web developer that can make your website work well and a digital strategist who can consult between the two to deliver good user experience and intergrate consumer purchase psychology to build a high-converting website

5. Importance of Conversion Rate Optimisation(CRO)

Conversion optimisation is about making the most out of the traffic your website is currently getting to ensure your visitors are becoming bookings, enquiries, sales etc. Best way to make the most of your budget is to increase campaign efficiency through CRO. Want more sales without increasing marketing spend? CRO is the answer. Many things are encompassed in CRO, everything from your font sizes to your pricing strategy. Learn at minimum the basics and when your marketing budget becomes considerable, advanced CRO should be on the top of your to-do-list.

6. Pay Per Click marketing to generate immediate ROI

Want customers tomorrow? Want predictable lead generation? I then recommend PPC marketing due to its immediacy and reliability if done correctly. Pros: Immediate results, guaranteed to work when done right. Cons: One of the more expensive methods to lead generate.

7. Search Engine Optimisation + content = long term authority and ranking

Long gone are the days that you can just attach some random links to your website to build authority for your website and get Google ranking you on page 1. It is now creating quality, keyword impregnated content that is socially shareable. Get the two right and you are onto a winner.

8. Using social Media to influence

Social validation is the name of the game in 2016. Consumers often will resort to checking a businesses social media pages to assess the level of customer service the business provides as well as to gauge whether they are reputable. By crafting engaging social posts businesses can reach out to the social networks of it’s existing customer base (extremely efficient marketing) and position itself as a voice of authority in that industry. The downside though is that building a robust, opt-in and targeted email database takes time and tact.

9. Email Campaigns (cheapest form of marketing possible)

Email marketing received a bad wrap in the earlier days of the internet due to the sheer bulk of spam that was going out, however with all the regulations such as the international CAN-Spam act as well as Australia’s own Anti-spam act, more and more people are again being engaged through email. It is one of the few places that you can have the sole attention of your customer without having to compete with other brands and once hey have opted in . The downside though is that building a robust, opt-in and targeted email database takes time and tact.

10. Display re-marketing to re-engage customers when you fail. 

Quite often visitors will come to your website/landing page, but you don’t do a good enough job of capturing their attention or they are in a different mind space, or they aren’t interested then and there. Now imagine you could track these same people and display an ad to them reminding them of your business and website for a fraction of the cost that it originally cost to get them to your website in the first place. Imagine no longer as that is exactly what display re-marketing is, it allows you to wring out every last opportunity from the traffic your lead generation channels are generating.

11. Digital Strategy, like the guy that waves the stick around guiding an orchestra

Can you imagine what it would sound like if all the instruments, the string, woodwind and percussion all played at their own pace. It would sound like a year 8 music class medley on its first go. The same very much holds true in digital marketing. You can use all the previously mentioned tools to generate interest and traffic, however if not strategically coordinated, over the years we have learnt that inefficiency will run rife. There will be missed opportunities, wasted marketing budget and worst of all you may end up appearing un-professional due to lack of cohesion across your campaigns.

That briefly summarizes the 11 most important lessons we learnt in over 18 years in digital marketing. We will be looking at each lesson in significantly more detail to increase your understanding as well as avoid the pitfalls we went through early on. To receive these detailed articles straight to your inbox as well as other advice on how to succeed on-line, simply sign up to our newsletter on the right.