Twice a year I attend a digital masterminds group conference with CEOs of close to 100 Digital Agencies from across the country. This event provides us all with the opportunity to discuss the latest trends in our field, ask questions, and share tips and best practices. We share the good, the bad, and the ugly together for the benefit of all, and we discuss some amazing topics.
The underlying theme of this winter's meeting was how important it is for any business to have a digital marketing strategy. In fact, a lot of the agencies who attended refuse to do projects without one because they feel they are doomed to fail. They all referred to the classic situation where a company wants to redo their website because it's dated, and they want to add a blog and social media buttons. However, it didn't create the ROI they wanted because they didn't have a strategy or a plan to go with their new and improved website. Given my years of experience with clients such as these, I completely agree with this philosophy.
So how does a company go about creating a digital marketing strategy? John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, and one of our conference attendees, provided some valuable insights.
- Identify an ideal client. Use market research and current client information to develop buyer personas.
- Find out what questions your customers are asking.
- Talk to your customer service or sales department to gain helpful information.
- Choose a value proposition by understanding what makes you unique.
- Develop a customer-driven strategy. Discover exactly what your client wants and needs. ; Ask your client:
- Why did you buy from us? Would you refer a friend to our company
- Why do you stay with us?
- What's one thing you love about us?
- What frustrates you about us?
- What keywords would you Google to look for a company like ours?
A key point to digital marketing is that the website is about the customer, and what they want to see and learn. They are looking for certain information that you need to offer to earn their attention and trust. Once you determine what that information is, you can have a successful new website. Otherwise it will fail.
I highly recommend Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch. His presentation and overview of his text was one of the most enlightening of our conference. I 've even given it to my marketing team as a homework assignment so they can be as inspired as I am to ensure that all of our clients ' websites are a success because of a solid digital marketing strategy.