Marketing is a lot like farming. A knowledgeable grower knows he or she has to till the fields, fertilize, apply the right amount of water and then wait for the crop to mature. In the case of a grape grower this waiting period is at least two years. Internet marketing has a gestation period of about six months. Like growing grapes Internet (or Inbound) marketing just gets better over time—if you take care to employ the right methods. Here are the five things you must to to make your Internet marketing program pay dividends.
Drive traffic to your site
According to Brian Haligan of Hupspot getting people to come to your site is the step that has the most opportunity for business people who are interested in growing their businesses. The two most common ways to drive traffic to your site are search engine optimization (SEO) and social media optimization (SMO). But there are other effective ways: tradition ad campaigns, joint ventures, and informational webinars are good tools to keep in mind when the right situation presents itself.
Generate leads from your traffic
Once people start coming to your site then what? How will you entice these site visitors to engage with you in ways that will result in them buying your product or service? You must create ways for people to enter into relationship with you. This usually comes in the form of some sort of informational offering that will be of interest to your audience. Most people go online to gather information prior to buying. Make it your mission to provide the information that will help people understand how their problem can be solved. When you do this you will be well on your way to winning their business.
Nurture your leads
Lead nurturing campaigns are based on the idea that people purchase products and services when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell. With this in mind set up a way to keep in touch with your prospects so you will be fresh in their minds when they are ready to pull out their wallets. Using an automated lead nurturing system is the most efficient way to accomplish this task.
Close your leads
A lot of people worry about closing. Usually this is because the leads that they generated ere not fully qualified. If you fail to attract relevant traffic to your site and generate leads based on flimsy client needs you are going to have a problem closing. However, if phases one through three are done right you will find that closing prospects will cease to be a problem as long as the quality of your product or service is demonstrably high.
Track, analyze and adapt
This one of the magic areas that has been made possible by web enabled systems. These systems provide data for decision making that one could only dream of prior to the Internet and will improve your intelligence immeasurably.
If you want a deeper dive into these five subject areas be sure to download the free 72 page report (located on the left side bar) on these 5 proven methodologies that have worked wonders for business around the world and right here in the USA.
