“Doing business without marketing is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but no one else does.” - Steuert Henderson Britt

How To Attract Leads, Convert Leads Into Customers, And Retain Customers For Longer Through Digital Marketing

Introduction

Throughout history, businesses have found tried and true ways to sell their products and services. But even in the past few decades, the means of doing business have dramatically changed. With the introduction of the Internet and constant advancements in technology, business owners have had to change how they present their products or services to their potential customers.

There are over 2.1 billion unique online shoppers around the world. The mere number is staggering. It is nearly impossible to market your product or service to an audience of that size. The great news is, you only need to sell to a fraction of a percent of the total number of online shoppers in order to make a ton of money.

Fortunately, modern technology and the Internet gives business owners enormous scale and leverage to use for marketing their business. This is called digital marketing. Digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels, platforms, and technologies to promote and advertise products or services. Furthermore, digital marketing leverages electronic devices to connect with potential customers.The game of digital marketing can be mastered with the right knowledge, tools, and time.

There are many ways to go about digital marketing, but the practice itself increases a brand's reach, allows targeted audience engagement, has measurable results, and is extremely cost-effective. With an effective digital marketing strategy, you can double, triple, and even quadruple your business's revenue.

In this blog post, I will go over how to create an effective digital marketing strategy that will help you attract leads, convert leads into customers, and retain customers for longer while saving time and money.

The Modern Day Consumer And Modern Day Marketing

As of 2020, the modern day consumer spends around seven hours of their day online. In 2022, the average consumer spent two and half hours on social media. 81% of consumers go online to find information about a product or service before making a purchasing decision.

Nowadays, people have learned to rely on their devices to solve the majority of their problems. From finding the quickest route to their desired destination, to tracking their heart rate.

Technology has become so ingrained within modern day society that if you are not receptive to modernizing your business, you will simply be left behind. Like many businesses in the past who have become bankrupt due to refusing to adapt, if you do not innovate, you are guaranteed to sink your business.

Furthermore, as society advances, consumer behavior has shifted from necessity to desire. For example, hundreds of years ago, most people focused their purchasing decisions on buying products and services that they needed in order to survive.

Nowadays, consumers are able to shift a large portion of their purchasing decisions to things that they want. This means that the modern day consumer may not always act rationally and can be influenced by trends, personality, and emotion.

The most successful marketers have perfected their strategy to include emotional elements in order to play to the psychology of the consumer. The Internet is a perfect outlet for the modern day consumer because they are able to satisfy their insatiable hunger for their next cheap dose of dopamine around every corner.

In order to be successful as a modern day business you do not need to be perfect or be the best marketer in the world. The Internet has allowed businesses the opportunity to make mistakes and still thrive.

Due to the sheer amount of people that you are able to target, if you make a mistake with one person, it will not matter as much. However, you need to learn from your mistakes and continue to adapt as time goes on.

Your online strategy should play into the demands and psyche of the modern day consumer. Use the fact that they are now emotional buyers.

Why You Should Have An Online Presence

If you are still unconvinced of the absolute importance of having an online presence as a modern day business, I will try to provide you with a compelling reason to change your mind.

Increased Visibility

• Having an online presence will significantly increase the visibility of your business. The Internet allows people to instantaneously be presented with millions of results for whatever they are searching for. Compared to traditional business, where a local business would primarily receive customers from word of mouth or local advertisements, being online allows your business to be seen whenever and wherever.

• The reliance on technology is so strong that many modern consumers will not even be aware of your business if you do not have an online presence. Furthermore, having an online presence allows you to reach a larger audience.

Increased Trust

• Many people have learned to distrust a business that has no online presence. Put simply, businesses without an online presence tend to be seen as illegitimate or even inferior to those with an established and intricate online presence.

• With some dedication, a business can establish their brand reputation and foster trust between them and their customers. Having some sort of social proof online is one of the most cost effective marketing strategies for new and established businesses around the world.

Improved Customer Service

• Unlike many of your physical assets, your Internet assets work 24/7 365 days a year. The content that you produce on your blog, website, or social media pages will consistently drive traffic to your business and can help answer questions without you having to physically do so.

• Furthermore, as technology continues to advance, AI and automations have allowed the modern day business owner to make sure that their business functions around the clock, whether or not they are present.

• The combined use of automation, AI, and the fact that online assets are present 24/7 365 days a year has allowed online shoppers to have their questions and desires satisfied without much hassle.

Increased Brand Awareness

• Similar to an increase in trust, with an online presence you are able to promote brand awareness. As people continue to see the content that you produce, your brand will become more recognizable.

• As brand awareness increases, so will social engagement, the amount of leads entering into your business, the amount of sales your business does, and the amount of customers you retain.

• Think of the most well known brands in the world and how much money their branding alone makes them.

Cost-Effective Advertising

• Advertising online is extremely cost-effective if you know what you are doing. With the right strategy, you have the potential to market your business to millions of potential customers.

• Furthermore, you can advertise your business completely for free on your own website, blog, or social media pages.

Having an online presence will simply improve the ease of showcasing your products and service for business owners. Furthermore, potential customers are able to discover products or services and learn about them with ease. The easier the customer experience, the more likely they are to buy.

If you are not consistently engaging in activities that help build your online presence, you may be losing out to competitors that are. As previously stated, your online presence does not need to be perfect, it does however, need to be present.

With that said, here are 5 actions you can take to attract leads, convert leads into customers, and retain customers for longer through digital marketing! 👊

1. Get 4-5 Star Reviews On Google To Rank Higher On Search Engines

Businesses on the first page of Google receive 92% of sales, which means that if you are ranking on any other page, you are competing with hundreds or thousands of other businesses for only 8% of customers. Furthermore, customers are reported to spend 31% more on products or services with excellent reviews. This means that without changing a single thing about your product or service, you can ethically charge a premium.

Getting 4-5 star reviews on Google and other search engines is one of the lowest hanging fruit for businesses that want to rank higher on the results page. Although there are many factors that go into the ranking of your business, a high number of excellent reviews have always been important for search engine ranking algorithms.

In order to save time and money, you should have a way to automatically request reviews from past and current customers. This automated sequence should be created in a way in which you will only receive 4-5 star reviews. By doing this, you can automatically ask for reviews at scale without the fear of bad reviews ruining your overall score.

In order to supercharge your review-getting process, you can offer your customers an incentive to leave reviews. These incentives can come in the form of a discount, a free trial, or a special membership. The better the incentive, the better the results.

2. Utilize Email Marketing

Email marketing has a conversion rate of 15.22% and has an expected ROI of $40 for every $1 you spend. Furthermore, 50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once per month.

Email marketing provides a targeted communication method that attracts leads, increases conversion odds, and effectively retains customers for longer. You can tailor your messages to individual lead and customer preferences to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Be sure to use a software that provides data and analytics so you can optimize your emails for open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

For lead generation, you can use an email marketing campaign that sends individually tailored messages to each lead, or hundreds of emails at a time to a list of leads. With a tailored message, your conversion rates will be higher, but it will take longer to generate. With a email blast to a list of leads, your conversion rates will be lower, but it will take a fraction of the time.

For lead conversion, you can place leads into an email nurturing sequence that nurtures the lead with the information they need to make a purchasing decision. According to leading institutions, it takes 5-16 touch points for a lead to convert into a customer and businesses who respond in 5 minutes or less are 100 times more likely to connect and convert opportunities. Having an automated lead nurturing sequence will not only allow you hit the 5-16 touch points, but you can immediately capture and respond to the lead as soon as they enter into your funnel.

For customer retention, you can use email marketing campaigns that send out messages to your existing customer base. There is a 60-70% chance of selling to an existing customer and email marketing can increase retention rates by 25%. By offering special offers, discounts, promos, memberships, and other incentives, you can give yourself a steady revenue stream, lower the acquisition costs for each customer, and increase the lifetime value of each customer.

3. Utilize SMS Marketing

SMS marketing has a conversion rate of 29% and 91% of consumers would opt-in for text messages from brands. Furthermore, 96% of businesses using text messages said it helped them drive revenue.

SMS marketing is very similar to email marketing but is also different in its own way. SMS marketing messages have extremely high open rates of 90%, and close to immediate response times. This means that the text messages you send to your leads and customers have an extremely high chance of being seen and acted upon.

This also means that SMS marketing is perfect for visibility and prompt action from leads and customers. In addition, it is perfect for time-sensitive offers and real-time conversions. Real-time offers or promotions greatly enhances the chance of conversion when using SMS marketing.

SMS marketing offers direct and personal communication, is easily scalable and automatable, and is extremely effective at attracting, nurturing, and retaining leads.

You can use the exact tactics for email marketing with SMS marketing to attract, convert, and retain customers.

4. Optimize Your Website

Around 75% of people judge the credibility of a business through its website. About 38% of people will stop interacting with a poorly designed website and 62% of customers will ignore a business without a web presence.

A website boosts trust, credibility, and online visibility. It acts as an information hub and an outlet for customer engagement. Furthermore, a website gives you 24/7 lead generation.

Some features you should have on your website to increase its effectiveness are having compelling calls to action (CTA), using live/instant chat tools, and using forms to collect contact information.

Having a compelling CTA can convert 42% more visitors. You should position your CTAs strategically on key pages. These CTAs should stand out visually and include compelling copy. This means that your CTA should use language that encourages the user to take the desired action.

Live/instant chat tools can make a visitor 2.8x more likely to purchase a product or service. Incorporating one of these tools onto your website makes it convenient for the user to get their questions answered promptly. The easier you make the buying journey, the more likely the user will buy.

About 50% of business owners say that web forms are the highest converting lead generation tool in their arsenal. These forms are extremely simple and usually only ask for the contact information from the lead. Once you have the lead's contact information, you can place them in a lead nurturing sequence that will exponentially increase the likelihood that they make a purchasing decision.

These tools are just a starting point for ways you can optimize your website and are in no way an exhaustive list. Some other helpful things you can do are add a booking calendar if you are a service based business, improve the speed and security of your website, and include media to appeal to the emotions and psychology of the consumer.

5. Post On Social Media

The average U.S. adult spends 2.25 hours on social media every day. Around 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services. Customers who engage with a business on social media spend up to 40% more with them in the long term. Close to 74% of consumers rely on social media to guide purchasing decisions.

Clearly, social media has changed the game on how businesses market their products and services. Establishing relationships between your customers through social media can exponentially grow your business in the long term.

Having an extensive social media presence increases brand visibility and awareness. Furthermore, a social media presence enables customer engagement and relationship building. Social media is a cost-effective marketing tool and helps build trust and credibility.

You can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry by consistently posting informative and valuable content. Once your position as a thought leader has been established, your audience will look to you for the answers.

In order to have a successful social media strategy, you need knowledge of your audience, a brand identity, a content strategy, analytics, regular activity, and an inbound approach.

Simple 5 Step Strategy For Building A Social Media Presence

Step 1: Set clear objectives and define measurable goals

Step 2: Know your audience and understand your target audience's preferences, behaviors, and pain points

Step 3: Create valuable and engaging content that aligns with your audience's interests

Step 4: Automate posts with social media management software to be able to post consistently

Step 5: Analyze and adjust by tracking key metrics like engagement, reach, and conversion rates

Conclusion And Next Steps

To conclude, the evolution of business, driven by the internet and advances in technology, emphasizes the need for a strong online presence. With over 2.1 billion online shoppers around the world, digital marketing offers vast opportunities for business owners.

The modern consumer spends a significant portion of their day online. They rely on their devices for information and satisfying their needs and desires. Adapting to this shift in consumer behavior is crucial, especially since consumer's have shifted their behavior from necessity towards desire.

Establishing an online presence enhances visibility, builds trust, improves customer service, increases brand awareness, and offers cost-effective advertising.

Utilizing strategies like obtaining positive reviews to rank higher on search engines, email marketing, SMS marketing, website optimization, and an active and extensive social media presence can help your business attract, convert, and retain customers effectively.

These actions leverage technology to meet the demands of the modern consumer, ensuring business success in the modern day.

Here at Pivotalix, we partner with business owners who are looking to supercharge their business by enhancing their digital presence. We make sure that every aspect of our clients' digital presence is perfected so that they are able to attract leads, convert leads into customers, and retain customers for longer while saving time and money.

If you are a business owner that is looking to exponentially increase the revenue of your business by leveraging cutting-edge softwares, systems, and tools, then book a call on our website so we can learn how we can best help you!