The Internet Marketing Optimization Process
The Marketing Optimization Process
- Collect and Analyze Marketing Data
- Refine the Marketing Process
- Identify Automation Opportunities
The Digital Marketing Lifecycle
- Attract Visitors to Your Website
- Convert Visitors Into Leads
- Close New Business
Every Phase Should Be Optimized Individually
Digital marketing optimization has become required for Internet marketers who wish to compete successfully. From website visitor to closed business, and with the right tools, every phase can be optimized to reduce cost and increase sales.
You Need to Use Technology and Data to Your Advantage
Marketing successfully in the digital age relies on data and technology more than every before. Technology is used to gather the data, and the data is consumed by more technology to automate and optimize every phase of the digital marketing lifecycle.
Marketing Optimization is the process of improving the marketing efforts of an organization in an effort to maximize the desired business outcomes. Marketing optimization is performed on each individual marketing tactic employed, as well as optimizing the fit of those tactics into the marketing strategy as a whole.
Step 1. Collect and Analyze Marketing Data
The three-step marketing optimization process begins with the gathering of data. When you have great data, you can use it to make great business decisions. If you are gathering enough of the right data, your marketing decisions should become obvious.
When Data is Generated
Each phase of the Digital Marketing Lifecycle creates its own types of data, and smart marketers employ technology to gather this data so that it can be used during to make smart revisions to their marketing action plan.
Tracking Advertising Campaigns, Response Rates, and Website Traffic
Phase 1 of the DML is about advertising campaigns and the website traffic they generate. As an expert marketer, you want to track your process from the beginning. Typically this includes investments in organic and paid advertising, and the other investments you make to drive traffic to your website.
Key Marketing Data to Track:
- Visitor Browser and Device
- Visitor Behavior and Browsing Path
- Campaign and Referring URL
- Cost per Visit
Turning Visitors into Leads and Tracking Conversion Rates
Converting website visitors into leads requires being able to identify which visitor experieces lead to greater conversions. These visitor experiences include page layout, calls-to-action, landing pages, navigation… Every feature of your website effects conversion rates.
Key Marketing Data to Track:
- Web Form Submitted
- Number Dialed
- Split Test Variation and Landing Page
- Cost per Lead
Turning Your Leads Into Closed Business
Your sales activity directly impacts the number of new customers you will acquire from your existing lead database. You want to capture the information that will let you know how to time and coordinate your sales activity.
Key Marketing Data to Track:
- Email Open Rates
- Time to First Contact
- Time Since Last Contact
- Salesperson Activity and Performance
- Time to Sale
- Revenue, Profit, and ROI
Analyze Your Marketing Data
Most of the time the data should make the marketing process decisions you make in the next phases totally obvious.
You will see campaigns that cost too much and generate too few leads, and you will see campaigns that generate leads that are almost never qualified.
These are the ‘low-hanging-fruit’, and should dictate immediate changes to the way that you market your business.
The Profit is in the Details
Once you have the conspicuous marketing deficiencies handled, it’s time to look more closely at less obvious details. This is what separates great marketers, that have great success, from those that struggle to grow their business.
You need a great tool to help you see these details, and once you have a great tool in place you will be able to connect adverting dollars to website traffic, to revenue…
Every piece of data that you generate should be connected to every other piece of data to clearly present those items that need improvement.
Work Backwards
Remember that when you are analyzing your data you need to look at how the data effects your desired business outcome.
If this is profit, look back at each of the 3 phases of the DML and see which of them can be optimized to increase revenue and decrease costs. This can be ascertained when you have revenue to associate with each marketing activity.
Step 2. Refine Your Marketing Process
Refining your marketing process should result in streamlined goals, communications, and responsibilities.
The data that you have gathered and subsequently analyzed should elucidate where your marketing challenges are, what changes should made, and where you are achieving the most success.
Make the Changes That Really Matter
The most important changes that any Internet marketing manager can make are changes to:
- Advertising Channels
- Landing Pages
- Calls-to-Action
- Marketing Copy
- Lead Nurturing Emails
- Lead Distribution
Step 3. Identify Automation Opportunities
It’s only after you have a clearly defined, and optimized marketing process that you look back and see which items you can automate. This automation increases reliability, responsiveness, and provides your team with more time to close sales.
Automate Your Lead Nurturing
With a well-planned marketing process and a little creative thinking you can create yourself a lead nurturing plan that can be completely automated.
You want to employ software that can identify when a prospect should receive a communication, and what the content of that communication should be. These should be targeted specifically at each prospect.
At a minimum, consider the following factors when targeting your lead nurturing communications:
- Website Behavior
- Time Since Conversion
- Campaign Response
- Conversion Type
- Inbound Communications
- Lead Score
Automate Your Sales Force
This goes beyond just getting the right lead to the right salesperson, you want to increase the close rate of every person on your team. You can improve sales force productivity and efficiency by automating tasks to save time, reduce neglect, and increase brand awareness.
A properly constructed sales force automation process will increase revenue, increase team morale, and increase customer satisfaction.