Digital marketing has evolved and will continue to change for the unforeseeable future. In its infant stages, a business could see a good bit of traction from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) alone. Fast forward to recent times, many companies have had to find creative ways to drive “clicks” to their site in order to win the “Google Game”.

Many businesses have found great success by providing informative content meant to drive clicks to their site. Their hope is to attract readers looking for information about their industry and not necessarily their company. What many companies miss when doing this is the benefits of integrating all of their digital services so the lead can stay informed from conception to close.

THE LEAD

When a company receives a lead, this is when the integration between Customer Relation Management (CRM) software and Email Engine (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc) should start. The status of that lead/contact should always be in sync between the CRM and Email Engine throughout the sales cycle. This allows the reader to receive information relevant to them.

Drip marketing campaigns should start as soon as the lead willing to receive information is entered into your CRM. A drip marketing campaign is a series of emails that are scheduled and can be sent based on actions of the reader (opens, clicks, etc). For leads, emails should be useful information about your/their industry with a sprinkle of information about your company. You can quickly see your unsubscribes go up if the lead continuously feels “sold” to.

There are a few benefits to these emails. The benefit we are covering in this piece are “clicks”. Clicks to your site from external sources (social media, email campaigns, etc) are huge when it comes to Google looking for relevant websites. As users visit your blog, Google identifies the traffic. An active page containing a subject will be ranked higher as prospects search for that subject stored on your blog/site. Combined with pay-per-click (social media post boost and Google Ads), your blog can find a good amount of traffic.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Once the lead expresses interest and a demo/quote has been presented, a conversion in your CRM should update the status in your Email Engine. This starts an entirely new drip marketing campaign. These emails are slightly more forward about your company and should include a call-to-action. It is also helpful to make these emails more personable. For example, it is a good idea to write a few emails directly to the prospect from your personal address on topics they might be interested in (i.e.- “Hey [first name], We just had a new blog post hit today that I thought you might find useful.”)

THE CLOSE

Congratulations! Looks like your hard work paid off. Now it is time to include your new customer in more useful information. A customer no longer needs to be “sold” on your service. A customer is now looking to be nurtured with information on the product/service they purchased. This is when an online knowledge base can be useful for your company. Emails can direct your customers to your site (again, still driving “clicks”) with training or commonly asked questions about your products and service.

The digital marketing process can be a long one. In fact, it is common for it to take 4-6 months before you feel any impact from it. The important thing is to stick with it. When done correctly, the benefits can snowball…quickly.