Posts

5 Marketing Tactics That Can Enhance Your ROI

marketing roi

When it comes to marketing, you want your ROI to be as high as possible. However, you may get to a point where your ROI has stalled. That’s why you need to explore fresh ways to boost the effectiveness and performance of your marketing tactics.

It’s not unusual for ROI to level off at some point. Sometimes, a stable ROI can be a good thing. It’s nice to have steady, dependable numbers. But a consistent ROI doesn’t necessarily equate to an optimized one. You could be leaving many dollars on the table if you’re not testing different techniques to get more out of every campaign.

Increase Your ROI Through These Marketing Tactics

What tactics can help you bump up your marketing ROI? Try these five suggestions that you might not be employing today.

1. Put a premium on developing retention marketing tactics.

It costs about five times less to hold onto your customers than to replace them. This is where focusing on retention marketing efforts can pay off.

There are plenty of methods to retain buyers so they can keep making purchases and maybe become referral sources. One is by encouraging consumers to keep shopping with you through targeted “abandonment recovery” strategies. According to Retention.com, a company that builds email marketing solutions to help e-commerce brands reclaim abandoned cart revenue, re-engaging browsers who may have left your site can produce up to a 10x revenue increase. Why? They are led back to your brand in a personalized way.

Another recipe for reducing customer churn is by creating exclusive communities. Many companies offer opt-in membership opportunities to keep people excited and engaged. Don’t forget that perks like special deals and member-only coupons can rev up retention, too.

2. Stretch the value of every content piece.

You will always spend money to create and publish marketing content. With that being said, your content shouldn’t be “one and done.” The more juice you can squeeze out of each marketing asset, the better.

Take videos as an example. Many marketers don’t utilize their videos to the fullest. Sure, 87% of them know that videos are a surefire road to higher ROI. But they don’t always get innovative when contemplating all the uses for each video. For instance, a single FAQ-style video can be segmented so each FAQ is able to be published separately. Or a video transcript could be converted into a blog post.

Getting tons of mileage out of every piece of collateral you invest in is financially responsible. Don’t be afraid to go back to your existing marketing materials and see if they can become the basis for future emails, articles, etc.

3. Narrow your target audience using the 80-20 rule.

The Pareto principle, though not always perfect, tends to be fairly accurate. It holds that 80% of your income is going to come from 20% of your customers. In that case, you want to identify the 20% and get about 80% of your marketing in front of them.

How can you find your customers who fall into that 20% sweet spot? Check out your KPIs and maybe talk with your sales team. Do your best to construct customer personas for every consumer representing the 20%. Once you have your personas in hand, you can find out how, when, and where to introduce them to your brand through marketing tactics.

Maybe you’re accustomed to setting up marketing vehicles like PPC campaigns that appeal to larger crowds. If so, you may worry that this marketing tactic won’t produce enough leads. It’s true that your overall lead numbers may go down but your qualified lead numbers should go up. The qualified leads are the ones that count because they’re going to be the key to a more substantive ROI.

4. Automate all your repetitive processes.

Most marketing departments have the same problem as other departments: They rely on countless manual processes. Manual processes could include anything from transferring data by hand to working on multiple systems that aren’t integrated. Those repetitive tasks can only serve to affect your ROI because they waste time and resources.

Automation allows you and your team to enjoy the benefits of efficiency at scale. Many AI-bolstered, cloud-based tech stack solutions are capable of handling basic repetitive duties. All you have to do is set them up to run based on specific parameters.

When you’re not bogged down by minutiae like moving information to a database, you’re free to be more innovative. Many marketers complain that they never have a chance to tap into their artistic sides. Automating more of your responsibilities could be the impetus you need to brainstorm your way to successful and profitable campaigns.

5. Get choosy about your preferred social media platforms.

There’s no doubt that you need to engage in social media marketing. Social media is where consumers of all generations connect with each and with companies. Many platforms now allow you to sell directly from social, making them an even more valuable marketing tactic.

Here’s the thing, though: Your company doesn’t necessarily belong on all social media sites. Say you sell mainly to the 50+ crowd. TikTok, while fun and exciting, might steal from your ROI. On the other hand, Facebook or YouTube could give you more bang for every buck.

The real secret to mastering social media marketing is to pick the right platforms based on your audience and what you sell. A good way to evaluate whether you belong on a site is to see if your top 10 competitors (who are otherwise doing well) are there. Low engagement could point to a bad social fit. On the other hand, high engagement could mean they’re gaining ROI—and that means you can as well.

You’re only allotted a certain number of marketing dollars each budget cycle. The stronger your ROI on your marketing tactics, the easier it will be for you to request a bigger budget next time around.

The post 5 Marketing Tactics That Can Enhance Your ROI appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

/by

8 Types of Content Marketing You Should be Using in 2023

types of content marketing

Are you using different types of content marketing to execute your strategy?

If not, it’s time to start. Maintaining a diverse content library boosts the overall ROI you’ll earn on your content. Plus, it makes you more competitive in a crowded online content landscape — HubSpot found at least 7 types of content commonly used by brands in 2021.

Commonly used types of content marketing in 2021 include videos, blogs, infographics, case studies, ebooks, and whitepapers.

Image Source: HubSpot

In the sections that follow, we’ll walk through these types of content and more. We’ll cover how each of them earn unique results for your brand, plus ways to execute them effectively for your business.

Quick Takeaways

  • Blogs increase indexed pages by more than 400% and earn more site visitors and views.
  • Video content will account for 82% of all online traffic by the end of this year.
  • Case studies are a powerful form of social proof because they demonstrate real results.
  • Interactive content is a differentiator — it stands out from the massive amount of static content created by brands.
  • People share infographics 3X more than any other type of content on social media.
  • Ebooks and whitepapers are popular types of content to use as lead magnets.
  • User-generated content comes from brand advocates like customers, employees, and influencers.

Why should you use different types of content marketing?

Content marketing is all about attracting traffic to your website with engaging, high-value content. A diverse content library expands your brand reach through these efforts and aligns with different audience preferences. It enables your content to be shared across a range of channels and engage various customer segments.

It also provides a way to always share information in the most optimized way. Some examples: a large list of statistics made more digestible on a visual infographic, a client success story made more relatable through video interviews, or a blog post made more shareable with social media.

In short: when you publish different types of content, you have more opportunities to connect with your potential customers, which translates to more sales and revenue for your business.

8 Types of Content Marketing to Include in Your Strategy

Blogs

If you’re going to choose one type of content to start with, absolutely make it your company blog. Blogs are the foundation of every good content marketing strategy. They’re a driver of organic traffic and a platform for sharing your various other types of content, too.

Some quick stats that show the huge ROI of blogging: businesses with a blog on their website have, on average, 434% more indexed pages, 55% more visitors, and 97% more inbound links than sites without a blog.

Blogs are most effective when they’re extremely active. Research has found that publishing 11-16 times per month results in 3.5X the organic traffic than blogs that publish less frequently.

Companies that post 11-16 blog articles per month earn 3.5X the organic traffic as those that publish less frequently.

Image Source: Hubspot

You can even capitalize on content diversification within your blog strategy with different types of blog posts. These include:

  • Ultimate guides – cover your foundational topics and serve as evergreen content
  • Listicles – easy-to-read (and write) posts that can cover just about any topic
  • How-to posts – walk through the steps to completing a task or solving a problem
  • Case studies – tell customer success stories and demonstrate brand value
  • News and opinion – provide commentary on current events in your industry

For more on making your blog an effective source of organic traffic for your brand, check out our guides on setting up your company blog and writing the perfect blog post.

Video Content

Video is emerging as the future of online content. Cisco predicts that by the end of this year, 82% of all online traffic will be made up by video. Users prefer it over other types of web content and brands use it for customer engagement across platforms — think YouTube channels, social media posts and stories, videos embedded in blogs, client interviews and more.

Brands often think that video content is beyond their content creation capabilities, but that couldn’t be further from the truth in 2022. While it’s true that some brands outsource video for professional production, many others create content in-house using smartphones and other easy-to-use technology.

Commonly used types of video content include:

  • Webinars – online events around topics that demonstrate brand expertise and feature company leaders
  • Vlogs and social media stories – more casual types of video content that provide a behind-the-scenes look at a brand
  • Customer interviews – showcase real-world customer success stories
  • Product demos – walk through product features, benefits, and operating instructions
  • Viral video – increase brand visibility by participating in popular online video trends
  • Branded video – branded advertisements features on various platforms like your website, email, or social media pages

Case Studies

Qualtrics reports that 93% of customers look for online reviews or other forms of social proof before they buy a product. Case studies that tell customer success stories are a powerful way to provide this assurance for your audiences.

Not only do case studies demonstrate brand value through real-world examples, they provide testimonials directly from your actual customers to boost brand trust.

The good news: B2B research has found that 83% of customers are willing to share the positive experiences they have with brands. This means that to build a library of case studies, all you need to do is ask your happy customers if they’re willing to participate. Best practices for case study content include:

  • Featuring a diverse set of customers to relate to your various customer segments
  • Focusing on the problem solved or need fulfilled
  • Sharing clear, measurable results in the form of numbers or statistics
  • Including quotes and direct testimonials from your customer

Interactive Content

Interactive content stands out from the massive amount of static content that already exists online, and it gives potential customers a chance to interact with your brand directly even before they decide to make a purchase. It includes things like quizzes, polls, games, interactive maps or infographics, surveys, and calculators.

Types of interactive content include quizzes, surveys, ebooks, calculators and more.

Image Source: drumUp

Like video, interactive content often gets an inaccurate reputation as difficult to execute when in fact it exists everywhere online. You likely engage with branded interactive content all the time without even thinking about it — i.e. voting on Twitter polls, using monthly payment calculators, completing customer feedback forms, and more.

Most CMS, social media, and email marketing platforms now have built-in tools for building interactive content without having to code or have any sort of technical experience. Smart brands are also using interactive content for lead generation (by collecting contact information) and to continually improve strategy and offerings (by analyzing the insights users share through their engagement).

Infographics

Infographics visually represent an information set around a particular topic. They’re especially useful for sharing a high volume of and/or complex information in a digestible format. They’re also extremely shareable — they’re shared 3X more than any other type of content on social media.

Infographics may require some assistance from a graphic designer, which are easy to find on sites like Upwork and Fiverr (if you don’t have designers in-house).

Whitepapers and Ebooks

Ebooks and whitepapers are similar types of content — both are developed to showcase brand expertise on a topic — but have slightly different audiences. Ebooks usually cover topics in an introductory way and target more general audiences. Whitepapers, on the other hand, are more academic and in-depth. They’re aimed at audiences that already have some level of knowledge on a topic.

Ebooks and whitepapers are also used at different stages of the buyer journey — ebooks in the beginning stages, and whitepapers in the later decision-making stages.

Both of these types of content lend themselves well to be used as lead magnets, or high-value, downloadable content offered in exchange for user contact information.

Here’s a simple, actionable tutorial on creating lead magnets that convert:

Social Media

Social media can serve a two-fold purpose in your content strategy: first, you can create original content through posts and stories. Second, you can amplify content from other channels by sharing it on your social media platform. Social media content is powerful because it seamlessly fits into natural buyer behavior — nearly two-thirds of American adults are already on social media, and 90% of people buy from brands they follow.

User-Generated Content

Last but definitely not least — you can leverage the power of your audience to become brand advocates and create user-generated content (UGC). UGC comes in the form of social media posts, reviews, social media recommendations, influencer content, and more. Your employees can also be brand ambassadors by creating branded content (like blog posts) and sharing your existing content on their own professional platforms (like LinkedIn profiles).

Over to You

Ready to level up your content marketing strategy? The team of writers and SEO experts at Marketing Insider Group can deliver you optimized, ready-to-publish content every week for a year (or more!).

We can also work with your team to develop a customized content strategy that includes other types of content marketing tailored to your audience, including ebooks, video, infographics, and customer success stories.

Check out our SEO Blog Writing Service or schedule a quick consultation to get started!

The post 8 Types of Content Marketing You Should be Using in 2023 appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

/by

10 Examples of Awesome Landing Pages that Convert

To lead more users to your products, you need to create a showstopping landing page. To do this, you’ll need to consider your audience, your call-to-action, the product or service, and your niche.

Beautifully crafted landing pages focus on giving potential clients the down low on your product quickly. If you can marry this with visually appealing graphics, a clean and organized template, and social proof, then you are well on your way to creating landing pages that convert.

Formstack.com says

Learning to put together a high-converting landing page is no easy feat. Subtle changes in design, layout, or copy could mean the difference between coveted clicks or the dreaded “back” button.

Dreaded is right. Keeping users on your site is the no. 1 goal when crafting your landing page.

Here’s a quick video from Flux Academy talking about what makes a good landing page:

Quick Takeaways:

  • A good landing page will grab the attention of prospects and clients alike, driving up your conversion rate
  • Landing pages need a healthy mix of aesthetic appeal and informative content to get people viewing your content
  • There are tons of online resources designed to make landing page design easier

Here are a few samples of landing pages that just plain work:

  1. Unbounce

Unbounce is the top example of an excellent landing page because it has all of the required elements—from the catchy headline to the simple CTA copy and visually appealing screenshots. These guys make a living from designing landing pages so we can expect their pages to be nothing short of brilliant.

The overall design of Unbounce’s landing page banks on SEO, and there is enough content to keep readers engaged with the site before they complete the next action. On the other hand, the details do not distract visitors at all because they’re all below the fold and only evident upon scrolling.

  1. Wistia

Wistia’s smart contrast of blue and white is visually stimulating. Added to that is the sign-up form, which visitors see the moment the page opens. The form for creating an account is strategically placed on the site, while FAQs to answer a visitor’s queries are placed at the bottom.

External links have been removed, and there is nothing to distract users from their next action.

  1. H.BLOOM

Bloom combines a few important elements of an engaging landing page: beautiful and captivating images and a minimalist template. The white space on the page allows visitors to take in all the images and details, as too many fancy designs on the page can distract users from the main objective.

It has an above-the-fold form and a brief explanation of what happens when you fill it out. The “Submit” button is not to be missed because of its bright color.

  1. American Bullion

American Bullion’s catchy headline tells readers right off the bat what the page is all about. This saves them from having to browse the whole page.

The introductory paragraph gives just enough information to intrigue, but isn’t too long. The site has a simple call-to-action and brightly colored submit button. Testimonials and trust symbols round out the overall look and feel of the page and provide additional information about the company.

  1. HBO Max

HBO Max has the added benefit of selling a really cool service. They have their actual live titles circulating on the landing page, giving users visual aid to help sell the service to them.

This landing page is colorful, gets to the point, and clearly highlights the “sign up now” button for prospects.

  1. Neil Patel

Neil Patel’s official website is another great example of a distraction-free landing page, indicating to visitors that there is only one path for progression. It displays a compelling description of the offer in an aesthetically pleasing presentation.

His CTA copy within a huge orange button helps drive the point home to readers that this offer will teach them how to grow their business.

  1. Bills.com

The clean and refreshing feel of Bills.com is due to the crisp white and blue layout of the landing page. The minimalist feel of the large slider removes all unnecessary distractions from the page and gets straight to the point.

  1. Webprofits

Webprofits has a grainy black background, but the white text contrasts against it nicely. There is a prominent field form for the visitor’s website address and a bright pink CTA button that draws visitors toward their next course of action.

The page offers complete details about Webprofits and its services, plus multiple call-to-action buttons at the bottom of each page (“Talk to Webprofits”).

  1. Basecamp

Basecamp has an info-heavy design that directs reader’s eyes to the 30 day free trial and number of sign ups from the week prior. The highlight of this landing page is the quick information a prospect would want to know immediately.

Many users looking for extra storage space are likely doing research on the best rates for the most data. Presenting this information off the bat eliminates the annoying process of having to click on every single page to try and find that information.

  1. Netflix

Netflix’s landing page is a great example of lean content and a compelling call-to-action. After your visitors read your headlines, they need to know what to do next. In this case, a big red button that’s impossible to miss invites users to “Get Started”.

Netflix (and all streaming services nowadays) have a leg up on landing pages. They don’t have to have a lot of information because you already know what they’re providing.

Wrap Up

With an impressive landing page, you can improve your content marketing conversion rates and directly increase your actual sales. If you’ve already got great content and a compelling offer but aren’t seeing a lead volume that reflects their value, maybe it’s time to start looking at landing page design.

Putting together a high-converting landing page is no easy task. Minor changes in the copy, layout or design can mean the difference between form submissions and the dreaded high bounce rate.

Make sure that you’re A/B testing each aspect of your landing page to discover the combination that works best for your specific audience.

Happy testing!

Do you want to use some of the marketing strategies seen here on MIG’s site but need some help or advice? Marketing Insider Group has a team of 35+ experienced writers ready to produce content for YOUR business. Check out our weekly blog content service or schedule a free consultation. 

The post 10 Examples of Awesome Landing Pages that Convert appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

/by

Account-Based Marketing: Is it Worth the Hassle?

How can you effectively target your ideal consumer? In short, who are the big money-making clients for your business, and how are you marketing to them? Most importantly, how can you improve your customer retention rates and contract value?

There are tons of strategies you could try, but only will check all of these boxes at once. Answer: Account Based Marketing.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategic method where marketers communicate with a defined set of accounts as ‘markets of one’. It’s sometimes called “key account marketing” and is often used by enterprise-level sales teams. It requires the alignment of your sales teams and marketing teams to precisely target your ideal customer.

It’s a tricky strategy that once mastered can yield big results more efficiently than other methods and boost your ROI by targeting the best clients with personalized marketing.

ABM can also cover support for the after-sales customer lifecycle to help improve the overall experience of the customer, leading to better reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations for your business!

Quick Takeaways:

    • Account-Based Marketing is about personalizing your marketing efforts directly toward your most profitable prospects.
    • ABM helps weed out the less-profitable clients to maximize your profit ceiling.
    • Creating systems that focus your time and resources on the accounts that are most likely to close will save you from wasting said time and resources.

Here’s an informational video by Zaryn @ Market & Hustle to get your feet wet:

 

ABM allows teams to effectively deliver:

  • Strategy
  • Planning
  • Goal setting
  • Insights
  • Sales alignment

These are needed to achieve the team’s objectives when it comes to customer growth, loyalty, and retention.

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s a quote from Adobe’s Marketo.com:

“Account-based marketing is not a new concept, but it has recently experienced a resurgence due to evolving technology and a changing landscape. The implementation of an ABM strategy can help improve marketing ROI, drive attributed revenue, generate more conversions and qualified leads, and align sales with marketing.”

But, is account-based marketing worth the hassle of implementation? In this article, we’ve listed a few benefits and challenges to help you make a more informed decision.

Why should I use Account Based Marketing?

1. ABM Provides Huge Windows of Opportunity for Your Sales Team AND Marketing Team

ABM Marketing / Sales

Source: Gartner.com 

There is often a disconnect between marketing and sales departments. ABM seeks to align them so they can work in tandem to deliver results. A benefit of ABM is this team-cooperation that leads to better overall account management and retention.

To make this happen, the sales team must provide marketing with useful feedback, and in return, the marketing team needs to provide relevant resources for qualifying prospects.

For instance, if a prospect (targeted originally by the marketing team) fills out a form on your website, it acts as a trigger for your sales team to start targeting other contacts from that company. This instantaneous trigger ensures that all key stakeholders are always kept up-to-date.

ABM thrives best when your marketing team and your sales team are on the same page. Optimizely.com says:

“Account-based marketing encourages marketing teams and sale organizations to work together, identifying target accounts, crafting customized campaigns for them, and working together to align and move individual accounts through the pipeline, both before and after lead conversion.”

In short, when the sales team and the marketing team sit down to find the best target accounts and create a direct marketing plan for said accounts, the magic begins!

2. ABM Can Increase Your Deal Size (and Revenue!)

ABM identifies the accounts that can generate the most revenue, which helps fuel the sales funnel with similar accounts. By reviewing the sales feedback, purchase history, and even buyer behavior, teams can better identify valuable types of accounts and focus resources on trying to close them.

In 2020 there was a 171% increase in average annual contract value after implementing Account-based Marketing. Considering the fact that ABM targets accounts that are the most likely to generate revenue, increasing is suddenly quite doable with ABM.

3. ABM Makes the Sales Cycle More Efficient and Maximizes Company Resources

Traditional Marketing v ABMSource: Drift.com

ABM’s more targeted approach ensures that fewer resources are wasted. This is especially beneficial to teams with a limited budget like startups or small businesses.

Marketers are well aware of the many stages of the sales funnel. With a more targeted approach, your marketing and sales teams can drop unqualified leads right away to focus on the ones that are more likely to generate the most revenue. This cuts the length of the sales cycle, saving both time and resources.

Almost 85% of marketing professionals said that ABM provided huge benefits in terms of retaining and expanding their current client relationships. The fact that ABM is so focused on customer accounts means that marketing and sales activities are far more customer-driven.

Potential Obstacles and Challenges of ABM

Source: SmallBizDaily.com

Despite the fantastic benefits, you should be informed of the key issues and challenges facing companies using an ABM approach:

1. Issues with Ownership

For ABM to work, you need to assign a leader who will not just be in charge of connecting teams from sales and marketing, but will also act on the engagement opportunities with customers. Assigning accounts to sales people is not enough – there has to be an appointed leader who’s in charge of rallying the troops.

2. Too Big Too Soon

Sure, ABM can be a key driver to success, but it doesn’t mean you should roll out ABM to hundreds of accounts all at the same time. This will not only end up overwhelming your teams, but the lack of control can also result in major errors and potential losses. It’s best to start small and build momentum over time.

3. Sustaining Efforts

ABM is not a one time, big time deal. Like blogging, you need to commit to consistency. You can’t build relationships overnight; you need time and multiple touchpoints. Once you’ve established a momentum, you need to devote resources to sustaining it.

4. Tracking Progress

Like every other campaign, you need metrics to measure the success of your initiatives. For ABM to work, you need to monitor and compare your efforts to calculate its value to the organization. Essentially, you have to develop your own tracking system with your own metrics and goals to benchmark performance.

So, Is It Worth It?

ABM Marketing

Account-Based Marketing is definitely worth implementing in almost any circumstance. The proper alignment of sales and marketing teams alone is a good enough reason to try.

BUT – you have to remember that ABM is not an overnight sensation, and a single massive rollout may not bring the exact results you’re looking for. Setting your expectations low initially and high long-term.

Use of this strategy requires planning, alignment, consistency, and most importantly – time. The key is to start small and monitor ABM success on your test accounts.

Once you’ve determined its value, you can replicate it on a much larger scale.

Do you want to use some of the marketing strategies seen here on MIG’s site but need some help or advice? Check out our weekly blog content service or schedule a free consultation. Get started today and generate more traffic and leads for your business!

The post Account-Based Marketing: Is it Worth the Hassle? appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

/by