Using a shotgun approach to attract new prospects just won’t work on the web; it’s too enormous. To be successful there, businesses need to identify their ideal prospects, go to where they gather and then attract them back to the corporate watering hole. Put these five initiatives into practice and success on the web won’t be far behind:
- Know Your Ideal Prospect – Everyone is not your ideal prospect. Let’s get real. Define your prospect in quantifiable terms. Are they young or old, men or women, well off or just starting out, entrepreneurs or working for the Man? Do they like the outdoors, travel by plane or car? Are they educated? Include personality traits of your ideal prospect as well. Are they self-starters, have high energy, their own boss, strong willed, workaholic or compulsively competitive?
- Identify Their Gathering Places – Can you find them on iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter? Do they subscribe to blogs or newsletters? Do they shop online? Are they Four-Square fanatics? Do they get some of their information from podcasts or webinars? Do they attend trade shows? Do they respond well to emails or text messages? Are they online givers?
- Develop a Roadmap – First, put all your venue possibilities in a spreadsheet. Next, answer this question: How much time, money and know-how will you have to expend in order to gain visibility in those venues? If you don’t have enough of one of these three resources, what’s Plan B? Then take a crack at gauging what you think the ROI generated for each effort will be. Don’t get hung up with creating the perfect numbers. Put something down in the ROI column, change it later as things start to develop. Last, and most important, keep good metrics so you can turn up what’s working and turn off what’s not.
- Draw Visitors Back to Your Website – Creating good visibility in the right venues is one thing. Offering compelling content and attractive offers when they arrive there, is quite another. This makes all your efforts worth it. If creating compelling marketing messages and attractive offers are not your strong suit, then it’s time to bring in a hired gun.
Being seen in all the right places on the web will not happen overnight. Vince Lombardi once said: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” Good luck letting people know you’re out there.
John D. Leavy is the founder of InPlainSite Marketing, a leader in developing and delivering digital marketing strategies. John consults and presents to Fortune 100 and 500 companies. He specializes in helping businesses understand and leverage emerging web and social media technologies. He is the author of Outcome-Based Marketing: New Rules for Marketing on the Web (Entrepreneur Press) and a regular presenter and contributor to leading publications and blogs. Learn more about John D. Leavy at www.johnleavy.com.
More Posts - Website - Twitter