Dec 26, 2012
No Comments
CONTENT IS KING?
We have been hearing from the inbound marketers of the world that content is king. Rightfully so… but for most marketers their highest leverage point is –
CONVERSION
Conversion rate is probably the TOUGHEST statistic to monitor, track, improve, and test. For most marketers, it is like watching grass grow and it shouldn’t be. It is most often the highest leverage point in your business. What you say, how you say it, who you say it to, what they do with it, and how you handle it from there, is pretty much the nucleus for where you will make all your money. Guess what… it’s also conversion rate 101 stuff. So lets talk about the key factors to conversion rate in marketing.
No Bullet-proof Blueprint
There is no right or wrong way to do CRO (conversion rate optimization). Some focus on tools, some use tools sparingly. Some continue to hone their voice, and some rarely touch that piece. There is no bullet proof blueprint for this stuff. You just have to take what the principles and apply them as wisely as you know how.
The Basics: What is Conversion Rate?
Image courtesy of siteposition.ca.
My Best Blueprint
1: Target Market
You have to first define and develop the target market that you serve. Its not about how cool your product is at the end of the day. Its about how how cool the market thinks your product is and how much they subsequently purchase it. This post implies that you already understand who your market is or you wouldn’t have developed a product in the first place. However, getting inside the heads of your target audience is the real step here. You have to understand how your potential customer thinks and what drives them to use your product or service to solve their problems. When it comes to conversion rate – this is the queen bee.
2: Brand / Voice
Where conversion starts is understanding who you are and what you want to inspire and motivate others to do. It is about understanding how to communicate your brand story to the world and choosing a clear message that creates a unique message or brand. In content creation, we call this VOICE. Voice is key in content marketing and is even more key in marketing in general. Every ad you place, story you tell, piece you create, banner you setup you are telling the story of your brand. The best indicator for this is to ask yourself if any of your brand messages or advertising looks like any of your competitors. Take that test and see what you come up with. This dovetails into the next key, USP.
3: USP (unique selling proposition)
Now that you understand how to communicate who you are and what your brand story is, your unique value to the market is key in understanding why the market should do business with you. Think of yourself as a lawyer trying to make a case in a court of law to convince a jury that your company is the clear choice when it comes to a product or service. Your case must be bullet-proof and logical but also play the emotions of the market that it is geared toward. This case, is your USP. It must be unique. It must be clear. It must be you.
4: The Right Tools
Now you have developed your brand story and the unique value you bring to the market, it is about defining your tools. My goodness conversion rate tools are important. They nearly define conversion rate optimization for most companies who focus on this discipline – and rightfully so, without tools we wouldn’t be able to really test or track what is going on with everything. However, there is a really big reason that we speak of tools LAST in this article.
Tips on Tools
Where everyone starts when it comes to conversion rate optimization tools is Google Website Optimizer. Convert.com is a fast growing company with a very robust tool.
Analytics
Lots of great conversion rate optimization data can be harvested from Google Analytics. You have to know what to look for and know your way around the software. In addition, you have to learn the lingo of the conversion rate jedi masters of the current day.
Seriously though…
You need to look into this conversion thing if you haven’t. You are likely leaving more money on the table than you would feel comfortable giving anyone. Our team has found that as we have been doing these free strategy sessions for clients over the last few weeks, this is some of their greatest opportunity. For more on conversion rate and implementing the basics, call us.