Let’s face it—it does no good to build a funnel and spend zero time optimizing for conversion. That’s a no-brainer, right?

But, how many of you are working closely with your head of sales to ensure that the opportunities you help generate actually convert into paying clients? Ultimately, if you want to be seen as a successful marketer, you’re going to have to show that marketing is driving sales.

Now, the challenge is that in today’s commoditized world, sales teams often struggle to stand out from the crowd. As a result, closed won rates plummet, and organizations find it challenging to demonstrate to prospects how their total value proposition is the clear winner against all of the other competitors.

To make matters worse, many organizations rely on “super hero” sales people or even the founder to close deals. This approach is not sustainable or scalable. You can’t build a successful sales team if you’re constantly relying on a select few individuals to bring in all of the business.

The solution to this problem is a sales process that follows a standardized approach while also creating clear differentiation with prospects at the same time. By implementing a systematic sales process, you can scale your sales efforts beyond just the founders and “super heroes.” This will lead to higher closed won rates and higher gross profit margins, as you’ll be able to win at premium prices.

The benefits of a systematic sales process are clear. You’ll be able to scale the process beyond founders and “super heroes,” achieve higher closed won rates, and enjoy higher gross profit margins as you’re now able to win at premium prices.

When I implemented a systematic sales process in my former agency, I was able to consistently have 60-70% closed won rates, even when I had zero involvement in deals. This is the power of a well-designed sales process. In fact, I standardized this process and called it the Systematic Sales Process.

So, what does a Systematic Sales Process look like? Here are the five stages:

Stage 1: Evaluation

In this stage, you’ll have a 30-45 minute call with your prospect. The goal of this call is to point your prospect in the right direction—it’s not to “make a sale.” The reason we want to take this approach is that many prospects are likely not a good fit for your firm, so let’s not assume that every first call is an “opportunity.” That’s why we call this call the “Evaluation”—you want to evaluate whether or not you can help your prospect, whether or not they align with your requirements, and whether or not they are ready to move forward. We call this “two-way qualification.”

It’s not uncommon to reach the middle-to-end of the call and determine that your prospect, in fact, needs someone or something else other than you!

IMPORTANT: You should NOT move anyone beyond this point unless you have full alignment.

Do this stage right and you will ensure that your pipeline is real.

Stage 2: Discovery

After you have alignment with your prospect from the Evaluation call, you’ll engage them and their team in a 60-120 minute Discovery meeting.

The key in this meeting is to have a strong business conversation and less of a tactical conversation related to what you do. You’re looking to create paradigm shifts with key stakeholders on your prospect’s side. You want them to leave the meeting thinking about their problem in a completely different way and with a sense of excitement about the potential of moving from where they are now to where they want to be.

IMPORTANT: You want to ensure critical stakeholders are present for this meeting, as they’ve agreed-to in the Evaluation call (this is non-negotiable), to whatever degree you require for your process.

Do this stage right and you will sub-consciously win the business.

Stage 3: Plan

In this stage, you’ll collaborate with your main point of contact to develop your plan. That said, be a leader and show them what needs to be done to achieve their desired outcome, then discuss how you can divide and conquer together. Don’t treat this as a “pick from a menu” excercise.

This collaborative approach to developing your plan helps your main point of contact see your plan as their plan, too. This increases the odds that they will be a champion for you.

IMPORTANT: During these dicsussions, be sure to have them help you avoid “land mines”—things that could lose the business for you.

Do this stage right and you will eliminate surprises at the next stage (Presentation).

Stage 4: Presentation

You’re now ready to present and officially win the business during a 60-90 minute meeting. That siad, do not call your plan a “Proposal”! Instead, give it a specific title that speaks to their goals (e.g. “How ACME Corp Can Drive 17% More Revenue Through Conversion Rate Optimization”).

Your presentation should tell a “story” that includes:

• Their Vision
• Their Goals & Objectives
• Their Challenges
• How to Win (Strategy)
• Highlights (Tactics)
• Required Commitments (Their time, money, and resources to make this plan a success)
• Expected Results (ROI!)
• Why Your Firm

After you present, answer any questions they have and when their questions are done, ASK FOR THE SALE.

IMPORTANT: You want to ensure critical stakeholders are present for this meeting, as they’ve agreed-to in the Evaluation call (this is non-negotiable), to whatever degree you require for your process.

Do this stage right and you will differentiate your firm.

Stage 5: Negotiation

Finally, you’re ready to provde the contract and negotiate, but don’t give this until they’ve given you the “verbal” that you have won the business. The reason you do this is to make sure that you’ve wont the business based on the material things before the prospect starts nit-picking your contract scope. That said, be clear about what you will do and what you won’t do.

Additionally, your standard terms and conditions will accompnay the scope. You want to know up-front the terms and conditions you will bend on and the ones you won’t bend on.  You don’t want to make a decision about an important term and/or condition during the emotion of trying to ink a deal. Knowing up-front your points of negotiation will help you make logical decisions in the heat of the moment.

Do this stage right and you will set up your team for success.If you’d like to learn more about how to grow your firm using a Systematic Sales Process, register for Frank’s free Systematic Sales Process training today!

The post How Standardizing Your Sales Process Boosts Overall Conversion appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Imagine a world where Sherlock Holmes has the sharpest mind but no intriguing mysteries to solve. Or Iron Man without his tech-suit. They are simply incomplete without one another. 

In the same way, lead generation is the lifeline of businesses. Without a consistent inflow of customers, even the best business idea will fail to flourish. And you don’t want that, do you? 

This is where we come into the picture. Today, we bring you the top 10 lead-generation strategies that work like a charm in 2024. Each one, when done right, can help you achieve your goal without any difficulty.

So, let’s jump right into it!

1. Content Marketing

7.5 million blogs are published each day. There is a reason why more and more businesses are jumping on the content bandwagon.

This is because the content is just not the king but the entire kingdom! And if you look at it, truly look at it, you will know how true the statement is.

Content is everywhere. From the billboards to radio ads and pop-ups and more, there is no escaping it. But when you have enticing content by your side, that’s a whole other story.

Content marketing goes beyond promoting products. When done right, it helps provide information that solves problems or addresses the needs of your audience. Inclusive content plays a pivotal role here, as it ensures that diverse voices and perspectives are represented, resonating with a broader audience and fostering a sense of belonging.

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When you consistently deliver quality content, you can position yourself as an industry authority. This is super crucial because it helps you stand out and build trust and loyalty among your audience. This trust is a key factor in lead generation.

Why? 

At the end of the day, potential customers are more likely to consider and choose a brand they perceive as knowledgeable and reliable. It is seen that companies that post 15 blog posts a month generate almost 1200 new leads per month on average.

When it comes to content marketing, the sky is the limit. From blog posts to infographics, content marketing serves as a powerful tool.

2. AI and Personalization

Have you ever noticed Amazon telling you when your favorite product is back in stock? Or Maybe you receive an email from your favorite store with a whopping discount just because they miss you.

So, how does this make you feel? It feels incredible, doesn’t it? This is the beauty of personalization. And they leverage AI to run the personalization process.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of an ecommerce store owner who deals with hundreds of consumers every day. Personalization becomes a bit difficult, understandably. But what if AI could help you out?

Unlike putting in manual efforts, AI uses advanced algorithms and data analysis, which intelligently predicts user behavior and customizes your approach to offer your audience a unique and engaging experience.

This personalized approach not only captures attention but also establishes a deeper connection with potential leads. In fact,  89% of marketers say that personalization fetches them positive ROI.

By understanding and responding to each customer’s needs, AI personalization makes conversion an easy possibility.

Whether it’s recommending relevant products, delivering targeted messages, or predicting user intent, AI makes every interaction meaningful.

And 2024 is a tech-savvy era. With so many OpenAI development companies assisting businesses create their own generative AI model, there is no shortage of tools that can be used for personalizing communication throughout the customer journey. So instead of shying away from technology, it’s high time that you embrace it.

3. Social Media Marketing

From the time of its inception, social media has changed the way we humans communicate and consume content. Today, 66% of marketers generate leads from social media by spending only six hours per week on social media marketing.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn hold so much potential. The key is to come up with a well-structured marketing campaign plan and have engaging content that fully resonates with your audience.

When you come up with a consistent and interactive approach, it builds brand awareness and trust where you easily convert social media users into potential leads.

With social media lead generation tactics, you can check how your content plan is fairing with in-depth insights through analytics. It lets you tweak your approach as you go.

4. Free Demo

Picture this. You are looking to explore a new tool. Everything sounds good on paper but something is holding you back. At the same time, the competitor with similar features offers you a free demo. Which is more enticing? The free demo one right?

Offering product or service demos is a potent lead-generation strategy. It offers firsthand experience, which lets potential customers interact with your offering.

You no longer have to go on and on about how great it can be. Instead, your consumers can go through its functionality to see if it aligns with their requirements.

Remember, with free demos, you are engaging prospects in a practical, immersive way. Demos cut through all the noise and make a lasting impression.

5. Email Marketing

Don’t shun email marketing just because it has been around for quite some time now. It is still powerful and going strong in 2024. It generates $42 for every $1 spent.

Email marketing makes use of targeted campaigns to nurture potential customers. However, plain old boring emails won’t cut. This is the era is all about being different. Don’t hesitate to experiment if you must. The end result must be alluring and personalized messages that solve the specific needs and pain points of your audience.

Strategic segmentation is a must to make sure that each email resonates with its intended audience.

Most importantly, don’t forget to implement calls-to-action and exclusive offers to push your audience to take the desired steps to move them through the sales funnel. Consider incorporating engaging email newsletters to regularly deliver valuable content and updates, nurturing your relationship with subscribers. Again, don’t create emails for the sake of it. Analyze metrics and fine-tune your approach as you go.

6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Your website and SEO go hand in hand. When you amplify your website content, meta tags, and backlinks, you are taking care of SEO. These efforts are rewarded by elevating your online visibility. This is the first step to conversion.

This visibility captivates organic traffic and can convert casual browsers into potential sales leads. Keyword optimization is still a strong SEO tactic in 2024 that aligns content with user intent. This is super crucial to strike a connection between your brand and your target audience.

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As your SEO efforts start making a mark, your website ranking starts climbing upward and soon reaches the first page. However, it is important to be patient with SEO as it can take at least six months.

7. Paid Ads

As aforementioned, social media is a powerful lead-generation strategy. However, if you are looking for quick results, paid ads are incredible.

50% of people arriving at a retailer’s site from paid ads are more likely to buy than those who came from an organic link.

Paid ads are like a shortcut that lets you reach specific audiences with precision and in no time. Platforms like Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Instagram Ads, and Facebook Ads offer robust targeting options.

Additionally, tapping into ad networks such as the Google Display Network or Twitter Audience Platform expands your campaign’s reach across a wide array of websites and apps. What does this mean? It’s simple. Your message reaches users interested in your products or services.

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But paid ads are no magic. It is all about the strategy and efforts you put into it. With careful keyword selection and demographic targeting, paid ads maximize visibility.

The beauty of paid campaigns is that they generate likes in its immediacy. It offers quick results, which drives potential leads to your website or landing page. 

The best part is that you can keep an eye on the metrics and adjust campaigns in real time. You can leverage an AI Ads generator to create compelling ads that will get you better results.

8. Chatbots

Chatbots can be your secret weapon when it comes to lead generation. Why? Because they provide instant and personalized interactions on websites.

As mentioned earlier, we live in a tech-savvy world. So, an AI-driven virtual assistant can engage visitors, answering queries, and guiding them through the initial stages of the sales funnel.

Your AI assistant can also collect user data and preferences. The immediate response and 24/7 availability can improve user experience. After all, if someone is there for you whenever you need them, it just makes you feel good!

9. Influencer Marketing

The influencer marketing industry is now at $21.1 billion, and it has only seen upward growth since it became popular in the recent decade. So, in this era when everyone relies on social media, influencers can help you reach your goals quite effortlessly.

Here, you partner with influencers whose ideologies resonate with your brand value. You use the trust and credibility these influencers have built within their niche and tap into their established audiences.

For instance, let’s say you are a skincare product. You can collaborate with a well-known influencer for an authentic endorsement. This type of social proof can do wonders.

By strategically partnering with relevant influencers, you can generate high-quality leads who are already interested in your products or services, making influencer marketing a powerful tool for B2C lead generation.

10. Webinars

When it comes to lead generation, webinars may be the last thing on your mind. But it’s time to give this idea some merit. 89% of marketers say that webinars perform better than other channels when it comes to producing qualified leads.

One of the reasons why it strikes the right cord is because it combines education and engagement. Hosting webinars positions your brand as an industry authority. When the quality of your webinar is high, it helps attract a targeted audience looking for valuable insights.

During your webinar, make sure you address queries in real-time. This instantly creates a direct and personal connection.

Also, attendees willingly provide contact information to access the event. It helps you with a set of engaged prospects for post-webinar follow-ups.

Bonus: Use Q & A Platforms Like “Quora”

Quora has over 300 million monthly visitors. You might have logged in too in search of a solution. We all do. However, the platform is still underestimated in marketing circles.

If you are wondering how Quora can help you, well, it helps businesses understand the audience’s problems by providing a space for users to pose questions and seek answers.

Let’s say, you are an agency. You come across a question about content marketing. Now, avoid fluff and advertisement-like content at all costs. Instead, be genuine and write authentic answers. In the end, direct users to your website. Do it strategically to convert a Quora user into a qualified lead.

Final Words

As a business owner, you already know how crucial lead generation is for you. But the key lies in choosing the right set of strategies that align with your business needs.

Remember, what works for business X may not work the same way for business Y. Lead gen is never a one-size-fits-all solution. That said, when you implement the top tips we have discussed in the above article, you are bound to make a mark.

The post Mastering Lead Generation in 2024: 10 Strategies to Propel Your Business Forward appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

If you’re a store or website owner, one of your biggest goals is likely to increase customer conversions. After all, successful conversion rate optimization can make a world of difference when it comes to growing your business.

What if we say you can take your struggling to store to a successful one by just making some small tweaks?

Yes. There are plenty of proven tactics that can help you increase conversion rate of your store while also boosting profits. And no, you don’t need much technical experience for that.

In this comprehensive guide, we will outline everything from understanding Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to implementing easy-to-understand strategies that will take your store’s results up another level.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

What Is Conversion Rate?

Simply put, the conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website or store who take a desired action. It can be anything from signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, sharing content, or downloading an app.

Most often, though, it’s used to measure how many people are actually buying something on your site.

Conversion rate is a good way to measure the success of your store. The higher the rate, the better it is for you in terms of sales and customer acquisition.

What Is A Good Conversion Rate?

The answer to this question depends on the industry you’re in, as well as factors such as:

• Traffic source
• Your Goals
• Audience profile
• Your Offer
• and a couple of other things

Generally speaking, though, a good conversion rate is anything above 2%.

However, remember that improving your conversion rate is always an ongoing process. If you have a decent conversion rate today, there might be room for improvement tomorrow. That’s why you should continuously track and analyze your data to fine-tune performance.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Conversion rate optimization (also often called CRO Optimization) is the process of improving the performance of a website or store through measures that increase conversions.

In other words, it’s about identifying which elements on your site work best and which need to be improved. CRO can involve testing different design elements, making changes to the user experience, or even running campaigns with special offers and discounts.

The primary goal of CRO is to increase your store’s overall performance by improving customer satisfaction, increasing sales, and driving more traffic to the site. Doing so can make more money and improve your bottom line.

But how do you calculate the conversion rate?

How To Calculate Conversion Rate?

Calculating your conversion rate is fairly simple. All you have to do is take the total number of visitors to your website or store, divide it by the total number of conversions, and multiply by 100. The resulting figure will give you an idea of how effectively your store converts visitors into customers.

For example, if you had 1000 visitors to your site and 24 converted, your conversion rate would be 2.4%.

But remember that you need to define a conversion first. This could be a purchase, sign-up, or download — all of which can be tracked inside your Google Analytics dashboard.

Also, remember to associate your goal with the relevant page. For example, if your goal is to get newsletter sign-ups and the form is on the contact page or a product page, you will only count the website visitors on that specific page, not the home page or others.

That’s how you accurately calculate the conversion rate.

But why do businesses get crazy about conversion optimization? Why are conversion rates important?

What Are The Benefits Of Conversion Rate Optimization?

CRO optimization allows you to maximize the potential of every visitor who comes to your store. This means more sales, leads, and customers – all without spending a dime on advertising.

Besides the numbers, the conversion rate optimization process also helps you understand customers’ psychology. You get to know what motivates people on your site and which channels are the most effective at driving high-quality traffic.

This information can be invaluable when crafting your brand’s digital marketing strategy.

In addition, CRO also helps you identify opportunities to improve user experience, making visitors more likely to trust your brand and add to your website’s conversion rate.

Finally, conversion optimization allows you to maximize your profits, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction –what every brand desires!

Now that you understand what is conversion rate and how to calculate it, let’s walk you through the core elements of an effective CRO process.

The Science Of Ecommerce Conversion Optimization: 6 Critical Elements

The six elements of a successful CRO process can be grouped into two categories:

Here’s how each one of them affects your site’s conversion rate:

Website Speed

Let’s admit it. Slow websites are annoying. This is true to the point that website visitors almost immediately bounce off a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

This not only impacts your conversion rate but also hurts your website’s SEO.

So, make sure your website loads in under 3 seconds, or be prepared to lose more and more prospects.

Design

Looks matter. A Lot!

If you have a professionally designed, eye-pleasing website and landing page, users will automatically feel welcomed and comfortable to navigate.

So, naturally, a good design will drive actions and add to the conversion rate.

Copywriting

The next thing site visitors notice on your product pages or landing pages are the “words.”

Users are more likely to spend time or take a desired action on your website if the copy speaks to their needs and desires.

So, hire an experienced and highly-skilled copywriter who knows how to research your target audience and write compelling copy.

Website Structure

This should be easy to understand.

When shopping online, people don’t stay on a single web page. They often like to check out different items and browse product pages.

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This is where a decent website structure can aid in conversion.

If your website is easy-to-navigate, users are likely to stay on your website and move closer to a conversion.

On the other hand, if the structure is complex, they will most likely bounce off.

CTAs

Next up are your call-to-action buttons. Although they’re part of the website copy, they play a different role. While website copy influences decision-making, CTAs are often the key drivers behind conversion.

Words and phrases like “Order Now For Free Shipping,” “Access Now,” or “Contact Today For A Free Quote” have the power to influence people’s decisions and drive actions.

So, choose your CTAs wisely.

Forms

Finally, your website forms and their optimization are critical to the conversion rate.

If your web form is long (with unnecessary fields) or too complicated (requiring extra steps), it will negatively impact the conversion rate.

The idea is to keep them short, sweet, and simple.

These are some of the core elements of a successful CRO strategy that can help brands get more out of their digital marketing efforts.

Now that you know what makes a successful conversion funnel, here are a few tips to increase the conversion rate of your ecommerce site or store.

Conversion Rate Optimization Tips & Tricks

Tip 1 – Do Some Split testing or A/B testing

Split testing or A/B testing is often used to optimize the website and make it more conversion friendly.

It basically involves creating two versions of a web page with slight variations and testing them out on live audiences to see which one performs better.

Though you can test several things, it’s a nice idea to test variations of:

• Headlines
• Color themes
• Design elements (buttons, banners, etc.)
• Button placement
• Layout
• Website copy
• CTA
• Images
• Videos

However, make sure you don’t change several things together. Why?

Because it will make it almost impossible to figure out which change actually had an impact on the conversion rate.

So, don’t overdo the variations.

Tip 2 – Add A Site Search Feature

A search bar is a must-have for any website or store with plenty of products.

It helps users quickly find what they’re looking for and improves the on-site experience.

This was even confirmed by Forrester Research (a research and consulting company). It found that almost 43% of web users head straight to the search bar. Plus, it increases their chances of conversion by 2-3 times and helps prospects take action.

That’s one way how the search bar helps. But there’s another way.

You can analyze search queries to understand user behavior and tailor your website according to their preferences.

Tip 3 – Set Up Easy Forms

Remember the core elements of CRO optimization?

As already mentioned, forms play an important role when it comes to optimizing the conversion rate.

That’s why it’s important to create simple forms with minimum fields and help users get through the process effortlessly. Also, make sure you add helpful prompts or auto-fill features to reduce friction and expedite the process. These simple tweaks can make a world of difference.

You also need to apply the same logic when creating forms for lead generation or any other purpose. Keep them short and sweet.

Fact: “Using a quiz-like form to capture information has the potential to triple conversions.” (WPForms)

So, get creative with your forms to get more conversions. Use a quiz format, add a lead magnet, or incorporate a chatbot. They will help you get more prospects and conversions.

The idea is to make the process simple and engaging for users.

Tip 4 – Use Better CTAs

The CTAs you use on your website can be a game changer.

Good CTAs are clear and concise and should help users take the desired action without any confusion. How?

Well, you need to come up with CTAs that are:

• persuasive
• descriptive
• benefit-focused

Besides the above, effective CTAs usually invoke a sense of urgency or achievement. For instance, words like “Unlock” or “Get Exclusive Access” play with users’ psychology and make them feel rewarded. It creates a sense of exclusivity and often leads to higher conversions.

Similarly, phrases like “Order Now Before Stock Runs Out” or “Free Shipping For Next 10 Hours” trigger emotions of urgency and encourage prospects to take action quickly.

This is how you can leverage compelling copy to make your CTAs more effective and boost your conversion rates.

Plus, you can also try changing the following CTA elements:

• CTA type (Forms, text, button)
• Placement
• Button Shape
• Button Size
• Colors

Refer back to tip number 1 and do split testing to see what works better.

Tip 5 – Better User Experience

User experience plays a key role when it comes to CRO optimization. That’s why you must ensure your website or store provides a pleasant user experience.

How?

Think from a customer’s perspective – what would make your site more enjoyable for them?

Here are a couple of aspects to focus on:

Navigation: Make sure your website or store has an intuitive navigation system that makes it easy for users to find what they’re looking for.

Content: Create well-structured, organized, and informative content that is both easy to grasp and adds value. Make sure your content is tailored to the readers and resonates with them.

Layout: Design a website or store with clean lines and an organized layout that makes it easy to read and navigate.

Optimization: Optimize your website or store for speed, performance, and mobile devices.

By addressing all the above, you can enhance the user experience and increase conversions.

So, focus on enhancing the user experience to get more sales and leads from your website or store.

Tip 6 – Use Heat Maps For User Testing

A heat map is a powerful tool that helps you determine where users click on your web pages.

For instance, heat maps show which sections or elements of your website or store are getting the most attention and which ones are being neglected.

Yes. You can actually find out if users are paying attention to the navigation bar, CTA buttons, or links that you have carefully placed on your website. Some tools even have an eye-tracking integration to tell you where users look first when they land on your ecommerce website.

This can give you greater insights into user behavior and help you identify:

• effective website sections,
• improvement opportunities,
• and, potential issues and problems.

Overall, heat maps are excellent for ecommerce conversion optimization as they help you understand what elements of your store need more focus and attention.

Tip 7 – Add Pop-ups

Pop-ups are great for boosting conversions. They help you capture customer information such as email address, name, phone number, and more.

You can use pop-ups for a variety of purposes, such as:

• Offering discounts or coupons,
• Inviting people to join a newsletter,
• Introducing new products or services,
• Collecting feedback and ratings,
• Showing important notifications.

Pop-ups are also extremely effective in retargeting customers. You can use them to show special offers or discounts to customers who have already visited your website or store.

However, despite having an excellent conversion rate of 11.09%, you need to be careful when using pop-ups, as too many can annoy customers and drive them away. Also, they must have fast loading speeds and easy-to-spot exit options, otherwise, it could turn off the existing traffic and drive them away.

So, be cautious with pop-ups and use them right!

Tip 8 – Leverage Live Chat or Chatbots

Live chat is a great way to boost conversions. It enables potential customers to chat with you directly and get their queries answered in real time. This helps build trust and customer loyalty, which leads to more conversions.

But if you don’t have the resources for a live chat team, you can use chatbots instead. Chatbots are automated conversational AI systems that can answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) and help customers with their queries.

However, make sure you choose a chatbot that fits your budget, integrates well with your system, and aligns with your business goals.

So, these were some of the most effective conversion rate optimization strategies you can use to increase conversion rate of your store.

Besides the above, you can try:

• adding some social proof
• using targeted lead magnets
• enhancing the checkout experience
• focusing on abandoned carts
• using retargeting

These are all proven techniques that boost website conversion rates by turning website visitors into paying customers!

However, instead of relying only on tricks of the trade, developing strong ecommerce marketing concepts is highly recommended to get ahead in the commerce world.

Master The Fundamentals For Successful Ecommerce Conversion Optimization

While this guide will surely help you get started with your store’s CRO optimization, there’s much more to CRO than just tips and tricks.

Ecommerce success depends on understanding your target audience and developing a suitable marketing strategy for your store.

So, before starting your optimization efforts, you need to focus on the basics, like understanding the core pillars of ecommerce, creating customer avatars, and developing a sales-worthy offer. How can you learn this all?

Our Ecommerce Marketing Mastery Certificate offers advanced ecommerce marketing knowledge so that you start strong and optimize your store from the ground up.

Don’t have time on your hands? Consider hiring a specialized ecommerce agency to take care of ecommerce conversion optimization and marketing for you.

With the right knowledge, tools, and team, you’d be well on your way to building a profitable ecommerce business.

The post Easy Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies: A Practical Guide On How To Optimize Your Store appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Convincing new clients to sign up for your marketing services can be a challenge in a sea of other competitive offers. 

Because marketing is not a tangible service, persuading potential clients that your business is the one to go with requires a tactical strategy that delivers value. 

To do this, you need a solid marketing proposal. 

Perfecting the art of an effective marketing proposal is the key to winning lucrative clients and boosting your business sales. Once you’ve nailed it, you can rinse and repeat – saving you hours of time creating new proposals from scratch. 

Read on to learn how to write a marketing proposal that will drive new clients to your agency like bees to a honeypot. 

What Is a Marketing Proposal?

A marketing proposal is a document that outlines the proposed marketing strategy, tactics, and deliverables for your specific client or project. 

It acts as a convincing method to encourage potential clients to hire your services. You can achieve this via your marketing proposal by demonstrating your understanding of their business, industry, and target audience, and showcasing your expertise and experience in creating effective marketing campaigns. 

A well-crafted marketing proposal can help you win new clients, establish long-term partnerships, and grow your business – all whilst showing why clients should choose to work with your agency instead of the competition.

What Are the Components of a Marketing Proposal?

To win the conversion phase of marketing, your marketing proposal must act as a clear communication method. Demonstrating both why prospects should choose you to work for them, and exactly what you plan to do in order to grow their business. 

To this end, the key components of a marketing proposal include:

• Executive Summary: A brief overview of the proposal, highlighting the key points of your marketing strategy and why it will benefit your prospective client.

• Situation Analysis: A detailed analysis of your client’s business, industry, target audience, and competition. This demonstrates your understanding of your prospect’s needs and challenges.

• Objectives: Clear, measurable goals that the proposed marketing strategy aims to achieve – such as increased brand awareness, lead generation, or sales growth.

• Strategy: A detailed plan outlining the recommended marketing tactics, channels, and messaging that will be used to achieve the stated objectives.

• Pricing and Payment Options: A breakdown of the costs associated with implementing the proposed marketing strategy, including any fees, media costs, and production costs.

• Timeline: A detailed schedule outlining the proposed timeline for the marketing campaign – including key milestones, deliverables, and deadlines.

• Metrics: The set of metrics that you will use to measure the success of the marketing campaign – such as website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement.

• Conclusion: A summary of the proposal, emphasizing the benefits of the proposed marketing strategy and why you are the right choice for the client.  

Some of these components are fairly straightforward and don’t necessarily require a more detailed explanation.

Others we will look at in more granular detail to help you to create the most effective marketing proposal. 

How to Perform a Situation Analysis

As we’ve mentioned, you must demonstrate a thorough understanding of your prospect’s business, industry, target audience, and competition.

To achieve this, you must perform a situation analysis to understand where the business is at right now, and the challenges they’re facing. Start by researching the business – this includes its history, mission, values, and products or services. Identify the client’s unique selling proposition (USP) and competitive advantages.

Next, research the industry and market to understand the current trends, challenges, and opportunities. Identify the target audience, their demographics, psychographics, and their buying behavior.

Identify the prospective client’s main competitors and analyze their marketing strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Identify the gaps in the market that your prospect can fill.

Research and consider your prospect’s pain points. These are the problems within their current marketing strategy that needs fixing. Your prospect will either know that they have these problems, but don’t know how to fix them, or they may be altogether unaware of any issues. 

An example of a pain point could be inconsistent messaging. When the messaging across different marketing channels is inconsistent, this leads to confusion and a lack of brand recognition. Fixing this problem may involve developing a cohesive messaging platform that is aligned with the brand’s mission, values, and value proposition.

You’ll also need to know exactly what you’re currently working with. This involves reviewing the existing marketing efforts – their website, social media profiles, advertising campaigns, and content marketing. Identify what’s working and what’s not. 

How to Set Clear Objectives

Once you’ve completed your research and ascertained the current position, you can begin to set the clear and measurable goals that you’ll include in your marketing proposal. 

Some examples of marketing proposal clear objectives can include:

1. Increase brand awareness within the 20-35 year old female demographic by 20%.
2. Improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts.
3. Generate 20 new leads per month. 

Each of these objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Including clear objectives in a marketing proposal can help to align the marketing strategy with the business’s goals, provide a clear roadmap for success, and track progress and results over time.

How to Create the Marketing Strategies

We’ve looked at the what. Now we’ll explore the how part of the marketing proposal.

This section of your marketing proposal should include concise information about how you plan to improve your prospect’s marketing strategy. Basically, it’s time to show off your skills. 

Let’s use our aforementioned objectives as examples:

1. Increase brand awareness within the 20-35 year old female demographic by 20%.
2. Improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts.
3. Generate 20 new leads per month. 

The marketing strategies you create to achieve these objectives could look like this:

1. To increase brand awareness in this specific demographic, develop a social media strategy that includes regular content updates, engaging visuals, targeted social media ads, and influencer partnerships to increase the brand’s visibility. 

2. To improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts, segment the email list to include more targeted subscribers, optimize email subject lines, personalize emails using automation software, and ensure emails are optimized for mobile devices.

Say your prospect wants 20 new monthly leads for their JPG to PDF software service. The strategy would be to  develop  a lead magnet as an incentive to offer potential leads in exchange for their contact information. Then, plan to optimize the business website with clearer CTAs to direct visitors to the lead magnet.

Remember to add in this section of the marketing proposal that you will include regular monitoring to determine the effectiveness of each of the marketing strategies. 

How to Create Pricing and Payment Options

When it comes to pricing and payment options in your marketing proposal, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

Firstly, always be transparent. Prospects appreciate transparency, so be clear and make sure that your pricing structure is easy to understand. Be upfront about what is included in each package or service, and make sure there are no hidden fees or charges. 

Offering multiple options gives your potential clients flexibility and choice. For example, you might offer different levels of service at different price points, or offer a discount for clients who sign a longer-term contract.

You could also consider an online payment system that accepts multiple forms of payment. This can make it simpler for clients to budget for your services and make payments on time. 

Be sure to highlight the value of your services in relation to the pricing. Clearly explain how your services will help your prospective client to achieve their goals, and why your pricing is reasonable in comparison to the results they can expect to see.

Marketing Proposal Tips 

Focus on the Prospect

Ensure you write the marketing proposal with the prospect at the forefront. It needs to be all about their problems and business, and how you can help. More You, and less We.

Include Visuals

Where relevant, include eye-catching infographics to demonstrate your points. If you’ve got success stories from previous clients that include impressive stats, add them in, too. 

Use Templates

To make life easier, explore Proposify alternatives that will help streamline your marketing proposal creation process. Customize templates to come up with the best one to work with for your business’s needs. 

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Be Clear

Include transparent timelines for marketing campaigns and one-off projects. This looks like specific milestones and key deliverables dates. 

Encourage Action

Include a clear and compelling call to action that encourages your prospect to take the next step. This can include scheduling a call or meeting, signing a contract, or requesting more information.

The Art of Persuasion

Writing a marketing proposal that convinces new clients requires a thorough understanding of your audience’s needs, clear communication of your unique value proposition, and a well-structured plan for delivering your solution. 

By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can create a proposal that effectively differentiates your business from competitors, provides evidence of your effectiveness, and clearly outlines your approach and process. 

With these key elements in place, you can create a persuasive marketing proposal that helps you win new clients and grow your business.

The post Crafting a Winning Marketing Proposal appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

If you’ve been spending a little extra time on YouTube lately (we’re just as guilty as you are), you may have noticed a few really good video ads that made you think, “I kinda want to buy that.”

As business owners and marketers, we’re a hard sell. If one of Superman’s superpowers is X-ray vision—ours is seeing right through lead magnets and funnels. We’ll happily buy products and services that make our life easier… but you’re going to have to really sell it right.

That’s why these video ads that stop us in our tracks (even when all we wanted to do was watch our chosen video) make us extraaa impressed.

What did they do that was so good?

When a video ad can show us what our lives are like before and after we use the product or service, that’s when our ears perk up.

It all comes back to taking us from our Before State (pre-product) to our After State, (post-product).

How to Figure Out Your Audience’s Before State

At DigitalMarketer, we call the state that somebody was in prior to buying your product/service the Before State. This is the state where somebody wants a solution so much that they’re daydreaming all day about it.

This Before State describes the problem that somebody is facing, so you can figure out the solution they’re looking for. When you see a video ad that makes you think—”That’s exactly the problem that I’m having! And wait… that’s also the solution I’m looking for!” This is what the video ad did.

It described your problem and showed you the solution.

And that’s how Billy Gene is creating video ads that sell. In his The Pain Process Worksheet, he figures out who he’s targeting, their 3 greatest paints, and the solution to each of these pain points.

Here’s Billy Gene’s Pain Process Worksheet:

(NOTE: Download the worksheet for FREE here!)

To figure out your audience’s Before State and the problems that they’re facing, you want to ask questions like:

• What problem do they have?
• How does it make them feel?
• What’s their average day look like with this problem?

Once you’ve figured out the problem, then you can figure out the solution to that problem.

How to Figure Out Their After State

Now that we know the problem that our customer avatar is facing without our product or service, we can build the bridge between the problem and the solution. When this problem goes away—how does their life improve?

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For each of the 3 problems that you listed in the left-hand column of Billy Gene’s Pain Process Worksheet, you’ll write the correlating solution in the right-hand column.

This solution is going to be the change this customer wants in their life from buying a product or service. To figure out what this solution looks like, ask yourself questions like:

• What does my customer have now that they’re using my product or service?
• How do they feel now that they don’t have this pain anymore?
• What does their average day look like without this pain point?

And now, we can bring it all together.

When you’re making your video ad, this is the starting point to making sure that your ad relates and interests your customer avatar. By speaking to their pain points you show how well you know the struggle they’re going through. By finding what it would be like to have that pain point relief, you show them why they should take you up on your offer.

For every customer that you have, fill out The Pain Process Worksheet so you know that your video ads are going to sell. Remember, define their problem and connect it to the solution.

That way you can create the video ads that impress even expert marketers.

The post The First Step in Creating Video Ads That Sell appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

As Ryan Deiss pointed out during his opening keynote at Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019, change occurs in a cyclical pattern. Just like the seasons change, the world of marketing is changing in phases.

And right now, we’re at the end of a cycle—which means the opportunity for innovation and disruption is the largest that it’ll be for years.

To learn more about this opportunity and how to make it work for you (and not against you), watch Ryan Deiss’ opening keynote from Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019:

Ryan covers:

• Why it’s the end of marketing as we know it… and why he’s not worried about it
• 3 digital marketing strategies to help you rise above the noise
• A brief history of digital marketing and what the future of digital marketing holds

Don’t have time to watch an hour-long presentation? Read on to learn the highlights from Ryan’s keynote!

The 5 Phases of Technology

History has shown us this cycle over and over again.

In 1801, the first steam engine was unveiled.

In 1830, railroads were opened across the US and UK.

By 1880, there were 2,000+ railroad companies causing a necessary standardization that regulated the industry in 1886.

By 1906, all of the rail lines were owned by just 7 entities.

Alexander Bell patented the first phone in 1876.

His patent expired in 1894, and immediately 6,000 phone companies were launched.

Today, there are only 4 major phone service providers.

We see the same pattern with the newspaper industry and the automobile industry.

The world is moving in cyclical phases which means—technology is too.

There are 5 phases of technology:

Phase 1: Discovery and Invention

In Phase 1, there is a new technology that benefits an industry or is even so large that it changes society.

To succeed during Phase 1, you have to be in the right place, at the right time.

The invention of the steam engine and the phone are examples of Phase 1.

Phase 2: Proliferation

The proliferation phase is the gold rush and becomes the wild west of the new technology.

In an ideal world, our business enters at this stage. Here, we have the first mover advantage.

It’s during this phase that businesses spring up and grow at a rapid pace, like the railroads in the US and UK. And—unfortunately for those like Alexander Bell—patents expire and entrepreneurs rush to launch their own company causing a ton of new companies to start.

Phase 3: Standardization

By Phase 3, there are so many companies selling the new product that the economy, government, or industry itself has to create regulations for the benefit of everybody.

It’s at this stage that a lot of companies fail because they don’t get with the program.

Instead of adapting to standardization, they fight the change and go out of business or get bought up, which leads to the next phase…

Phase 4: Consolidation

During consolidation, companies get gobbled up and the industry becomes consolidated in the hands of only a handful of dominant companies.

For instance, the 2,000+ railroad companies and 6,000+ phone companies of the past merged into 7 railroad companies and 4 phone companies.

This is the phase where the rich get richer.

Phase 5: Innovation Or Disruption

In the final stage, the company that was once on the cusp of the brand new has become so normal, so part of the every day that the companies that own them become comfortable and the level of competition that once existed goes away.

This is a crucial stage because there are only 2 directions to go: avoiding or embracing innovation.

Companies rather become stagnant and will have a harder time competing when a new player comes onto the stage and starts to disrupt the status quo.

Or companies lean into innovation and push the boundaries of the current technology and create a brand new cycle.

The process of discovery and invention begins again.

This cycle has been happening for centuries, and it is happening in the digital marketing world…

The History of Digital Marketing

Discovery: 1994-2000

This is when the first banner ad was displayed (and had a 78% click-through rate!!!)…

…the Dotcom bubble placed the internet in the news and Google AdWords launched.

Proliferation: 2001-2009

During proliferation, the first (of many) mommy blogs were created, WordPress launched, and the major social media players were established (Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter).

Facebooks ads rolled out and the first iPhone was released. 

Standardization: 2010-2014

In 2009, Google introduced its newest ad ranking feature, Quality Score. This forced advertisers to completely change tactics as Google now favored high-quality ads and landing pages. Paired with Panda, this standardization is now referred to as, “ The Google Slap.”

During this time, Facebook started to audit advertisements, banning dating sites and weapons in 2014.

The whole era can be best described as a giant flaming pile of poop for marketers as the rug was ripped out from under them.

And then it got worse…

Consolidation: 2015-2019

The technology wave of consolidation placed Google and Facebook at the top of the advertisement world. They control 84% of the ad space, allowing them to push their prices up.

Facebook’s ad revenue doubled in 2009 and 2018. Think about this… they doubled their revenue without doubling the number of users. And they did this in a very short amount of time… by increasing their prices.

Then came Amazon, who is accountable for nearly 50% of all US ecommerce sales. FIFTY PERCENT!

Startups are currently spending almost 40 cents of every VC dollar on Google, Facebook, and Amazon advertisements.

Why?

Because the average Facebook organic reach is 0.5%.

In 2019, traffic costs are up and conversions and engagement are down. And they have been for some time now.

The question digital marketers are asking themselves today is, do we innovate or disrupt?

Innovation or Disrupt: 2019-?

“Today digital becomes king.” ~Ronan Shields

2019 is the year that US digital ad spend will surpass offline ad spend. Digital marketing is disrupting the world of marketing.

The digital marketers, agencies, entrepreneurs, and founders who don’t want to accept that it’s time to disrupt are going to be left behind.

DigitalMarketer is not one of them. Change is here and Ryan’s strategy to become a disruptor is simple. And it can be applied in your business, too.

Do the opposite of what used to work:

Everything that is fast, needs to be slow.

Everything that is big, needs to be small.

Everything that is small, needs to be big.

What does Ryan mean? Let’s take a look…

Strategy #1: Shifting from Fast to Slow

There are 3 ways to make this shift.

1. Fast to Slow
2. Automation to Conversation
3. Scalable to Unscalable and Untrackable

Let’s start with…

1. Fast to Slow

Funnels need to be shifted into a journey.

I have nothing against funnels, but in 2019, they focus too heavily on value extraction (how do we get customers to buy?) instead of completing the Customer Value Journey (how do we get customers to sell our product without being asked?)

The Journey starts with the customer coming to us in an incomplete and sad state and shifts to them being in a complete, happy state.

This is known as the Before & After.

In the “Before” state, the customer is discontent in some way. They might be in pain, bored, frightened, or unhappy for any number of reasons.

In the “After” state—life is better. They are free of pain, entertained, or unafraid of what previously plagued them. All thanks to your product or service that solved their problem.

And to get them to buy your product, you need to move them through your Customer Value Journey…

The Customer Value Journey

The Customer Value Journey starts at Step 1 with Awareness and moves to Step 8: Promote.

To get customers to sell your product by becoming a promoter, you need them to be successful. You need to help them get to their ideal After state.

Have you mapped your customers’ Journey? You can do it for free (without having to opt-in) here.

2. Automation to Conversation

I’m sure you’ve heard Newton’s famous law that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The action in the past decade has been toward automation, and we are about to see a significant reaction to it.

The reaction is going to come as a solution, talk to your customers.

Chat with them on Facebook, use Drift to automate chat conversations on your website and have bots filter (but not replace) basic human interaction.

Or, here’s a crazy idea, answer the phone.

Here’s an even crazier idea, send emails without links—this feels more like a personal conversation.

Ryan believes the future of digital marketing belongs to companies that are willing to invest in real-time, one-to-one interactions.

Now, there are 2 questions to ask yourself during this time of disruption:

1. Do you know how much it costs you to acquire a conversation?
2. How much is a conversation worth?

Answer those questions to help your company focus and grow.

3. Scalable to Unscalable & Untrackable

If you want to kill any idea, say, “It doesn’t scale.”

What “it doesn’t scale” really means is—we don’t know if it’s working and we don’t know how to track it.

But if you’re not careful, saying something doesn’t scale can hurt you in the long run by killing a good idea.

Here’s a new idea, do the things you cannot track.

Untrackable Idea #1: Send Emails Without Links

Instead of links, ask for replies or ask if your customer has any questions.

The response you get can lead to a conversation that generates a sale.

Or at the very least, can help strengthen your relationship with your customer and continue to move them through your Customer Value Journey.

Untrackable Idea #2: Managed Facebook Groups

Do you have a Facebook group? Assign a team member to manage that community so it becomes a community that delivers value.

Does your community actually make you any money? It’s hard to tell. We’re unsure if our private community does.

But we know it helps retain customers.

So while we may not be able to track how much, we know the DigitalMarketer Engage Community makes us money through retention and happy, successful customers.

Untrackable Idea #3: Post Unrelated Content

At DigitalMarketer, one of our most popular blog posts is, “100 Books Every Marketer Should Read.”

And this post actually helped generate a lot of buzz for Traffic & Conversion.

What does it have to do with selling tickets to the event?

Not a whole lot.

But it was unrelated content that our customers wanted and responded to when we distributed it throughout our channels.

Untrackable Idea #4: Answer Stupid Questions

When you’ve been doing something a while, the easy, intro questions start to sound pretty basic and stupid to you. You may even get tired of answering them because they’re not what you want to talk about.

But that doesn’t matter because they’re the questions your customers want to talk about.

Find ways to answer questions that your customers inevitably have.

For example, you can use Quora to answer questions about your industry or place a “Questions and Answers” section on your homepage, like we do here…

Untrackable Idea #5: One-on-One Onboarding

Assign a team member to onboard each new client.

Give them that special white glove treatment and make them feel special. We do this for the highest level of our membership.

Untrackable Idea #6: Write a Book… or 2

Writing a book is a painful process with absolutely no trackability—do it anyway.

It exposes your brand to new audiences.

Ryan wrote Invisible Selling Machine years ago, and people still ask him to sign it. Since then, he’s worked on Digital Marketing for Dummies and another book is in the works.

Untrackable Idea #7: Publish a Podcast

DigitalMarketer has 2 podcasts, Perpetual Traffic and The DigitalMarketer Podcast, and helped launch Roland Frasier’s Business Lunch, and we have absolutely no idea if these podcasts are helping us acquire more clients.

But the podcasts have helped build the DigitalMarketer brand and expose us to different audiences.

All of these ideas are very hard to track and therefore, hard to scale. But we do them because they feel right. They feel like the right thing to do for our customers.

More businesses should start doing things that feel right for their customers.

If you want to know more about becoming an expert at these techniques, read this book.

Strategy #2: Big to Small

At DigitalMarketer we’ve created a system that segments our customers. And we’ve done this by adding in more fields as a customer signs up for our products—be it for our free membership of Lab or one of our products.

While this longer form has decreased our conversions, it has increased the value we are able to deliver to our customers.

And we’re happy to accept lower conversion rates for better data. We’re able to get better customer segmentation.

And through this customer segmentation, we’re able to…

• Figure out the best products to pair customers to so we can help them reach their ideal After state
• Increase the number of customers in those programs
• And get a better idea of the ROI of a customer

Strategy #3: Small to Big

Fact: No one willingly follows a small idea.

But as companies have niched down, their focus has become so granular that they’ve stopped thinking big. They’ve become kings of tiny, little ant hills.

As marketers, we need to start thinking big again.

Marketers need to define new categories for themselves.

Drift has defined a new category of conversational marketing and entrepreneurs like Sir Richard Branson have defined a new category of celebrity entrepreneurship. These are examples of companies and brands thinking bigger.

Want to get in on this? Ryan suggests reading Play Bigger, the playbook for category creation.

In 2019, marketers need to create movements.

Don’t tell stories about your product—change the stories the customers tell about themselves.

Movements matter and if you want your business to matter, start a movement.

Ask yourself, what do we fundamentally believe to be true about the universe and our place in it?

But despite all that’s changing or will change, in digital marketing, we can be certain that 2 things will never change:

1. The need to generate traffic
2. The need to convert that traffic into revenue

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