How to Simplify Your Web Marketing: Are You Fixing the Wrong Things?

Marketing is tricky business. I mean, it’s simple on its face: promote > leads > clients. But knowing how all the moving parts work together is quite an undertaking.

As a result, many companies — large and small — end up not targeting at all, really. They serve whatever clients find them while wondering why the right ones don’t.

How can you fix this? By:

1. Understanding all the “pieces” of a complete marketing machine.
2. Tracking your marketing, collecting data over time.
3. Using that data to uncover which “machine” components need attention.

Once you do that, create a strategic marketing plan.

If you don’t have one, then your plan IS “to NOT plan.”

Make sense?

Choose your marketing very intentionally. Focus on your ideal client, deprioritizing everyone else. Take ALL marketing machine “pieces” into account when determining what needs fixing.

Alert: This guide assumes you already have a thorough understanding of your target client. (And that you’ve decided to choose one.)

If you’re still attracting “everyone,” or lack a solid idea of who your ideal client is, it’s crucial you start there instead.

A Common Myth Most Companies Believe About Marketing

Often, we get hung up on the little pieces “experts” suggest we focus on:

Social media.

Google.

Referrals.

But these singular things don’t mean jack on their own.

The truth is, “marketing” is a MACHINE with a minimum of four pieces. Four pieces into which every campaign or effort can be broken down.

When either of the four is out of whack, leads won’t predictably or consistently convert.

The 4 Inseparable Pieces of a Marketing Machine

Your ads, your marketing, your website, and your offer (service/product) comprise the machine.

That “machine” works like this:

1. The initial advertisement(1)…
2. is placed in some online vehicle or venue(2)…
3. which drives traffic to your website(3)…
4. whose goal is to sell your primary offer(4).

Just as important is this:

All four pieces must deliver what your prospect expects, based on what they saw in other pieces.

Note: You’ll have a good idea of what your prospects expect, prefer, and crave — and what turns them off — after ideal client research.

Again, if you don’t know that data like the back of your hand, build your Perfect Client Profiles first.

Otherwise, your team will always be at some stage of trying to figure out next steps.

How Your Results Break Down When the Machine Does

Ever find yourself in similar situations?

Scenario 1: You have a solid understanding of your market. (Congrats!) So your team creates a relevant ad that really resonates. You post in a relevant venue that they frequent. And it sends well-targeted leads to your website.

Great job.

But your website is unfocused and untargeted. It doesn’t speak specifically to your particular market.

It talks to “everyone.”

So your ideal client feels let down and loses trust in your company. Maybe they contact you with skepticism, but they probably just leave without engaging with you at all.

Your overall lead-to-client conversion rate suffers.

In this situation, an inexperienced or untrained marketer would probably think, first, that the marketing vehicle was too risky (i.e., FB advertising). Or secondly, they’d think the ad itself was the problem.

We rarely suspect the website.

Scenario 2: With a poor idea of who you’re targeting, you create an irrelevant ad. Maybe the right clients are even turned off by it!

As a result, very few people even visit your website. And those that do visit aren’t the right ones.

So, you get a very low number of qualified leads — or zero.

Your overall lead-to-client conversion rate suffers.

In this situation, an inexperienced or untrained marketer would first probably think it was the venue (where you placed the ad). Or maybe they’d suspect it was the type of marketing that caused low results.

But was it a disconnect with your landing page?

What about the ad itself — why don’t we suspect it?

Are you starting to see the connection?

It’s crucial to have a qualified professional read the signs and data to help pinpoint where your breakdown truly lies.

The Reveal: A Solid Marketing Machine Boosts Credibility, Authority, and Sales

Ensuring all pieces of your Web presence FEEL connected (to users) makes marketing so much less work! Then, your brand appears to “have it together.”

And subconsciously, you gain more clout in your market’s eyes.

Conversely, every “disconnect” creates a potential area of breakdown. And the prospects you worked so hard (or paid so faithfully) for fly the coop. (Or never make it into your funnel at all.) And you’ll feel like giving up!

Don’t be that person.

Last tip. Since all parts are connected…

A change you make in one area might not cause a change in that area. (Ex: Maybe you change ad venues, but website leads decrease.)

Having a knowledgeable professional assess what’s going on is invaluable. You’ll avoid a LOT of lost time, profits, and energy otherwise spent fixing things that were never broken.

Speaking of which, consider reading Part 2: 5 Strategic Marketing Moves to Attract More & Better Leads Cheaper & Easier.