But you can spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on SEO, blogging and other traffic-focussed online marketing without a dime of return on that investment if you don’t also think about and invest in what comes next. How do those site visitors become leads for your business?

A Strong Call to Action is Key for Online Lead Generation

The first thing you need in order to convert your visitors into customers is a strong call to action. What’s a strong call to action? It takes 3 things:

Visibility:  People need to see your call to action. It needs to stand out from the rest of your site, and it needs to stand out from the messaging surrounding the call itself.

Clarity: People need to understand what you’re asking them to do and why it benefits them. “Download our eBook now to learn XYZ” has more clarity than “New eBook” or even “Download our new eBook”.

Urgency: Testing shows time and time again that adding an element of urgency to your calls to action improves results.  ”Download our eBook now” works better than just “Download our eBook”.

Then you need a great offer

Even if your calls to action are visible, clear and urgent, they may fall flat if the offers they’re driving people to aren’t relevant or timely.

Many sites now will have a “Contact Us” call to action leading to a page with a contact form. This is basic table stakes for companies looking to win at online marketing right now.

But research shows that most people are only really interested in making contact around a sale during the last 1/3 of the sales process. So your “Contact Us” call to action may not be all that relevant or timely for the majority of your visitors who aren’t in the later stages on making a buying decision.

Offers that educate your prospects and help them get smarter about what they need will speak to the needs of people who are earlier in the buying process. And by providing them with this advice, they will come to understand how your goods or services could potentially fill that need.

eBooks, whitepapers, Webinars and seminars, are all great tools to use in offers. And it’s good, too, to have different offers tied to different stages of your sales process – researching, considering,  buying and post-sales.

If all this feels overwhelming, a digital marketing agency that understands on-demand or inbound marketing can help you create your offers and your calls to action. That can be a worthwhile investment as content-driven, on-demand marketing costs 62% less per lead (according to Hubspot) than traditional advertising or other interruption-based tactics.

Want to learn how to get better business results from your Web site? Download our free whitepaper, 'On-demand Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales From Your Web Site now >>

A big part of our work as a digital marketing agency involves talking to clients and prospective clients about creating quality Web site content on a regular basis, or what a lot of the world calls “blogging.”

And we get challenged on it. A lot. “We don’t have time to write that stuff,” “I hate writing that stuff,” “nobody would  read our blog.” These are all common objections that we hear.

But you should make time – or hire someone who’s good at it who has the time – and people will read it if it’s done right. In fact, according to HubSpot, companies that blog generate 70% to 90% more leads than comparable companies that don’t blog. And I’m going to guess, although I don’t have hard statistically  valid data to back it up, that companies that blog convert those leads into sales at a higher rate, too.

Here’s why…

Hint: It’s about SEO (partly)

On April 24, Google made changes to their search engine (they called it the Penguin Update, which followed hot on the heels of the Panda Update) that sent shockwaves through the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry. Many SEO firms’ clients saw their search engine rankings plummet overnight. More than one Toronto SEO company was forced to close its doors forever.

The reason? Most of these SEO companies focussed exclusively on building links from other sites back to their clients’ sites (in the industry we call this “backlink building” or just plain “link building”) and they sometimes used dodgy tactics to do that.

But for us and our clients, we actually saw our search rankings improve in many cases, with increases in site traffic that go along with that.

That’s because our SEO strategy balances link building with creating great Web site content on a regular basis. Yep, blogging. And we’re not alone. Across the board, companies with over 311 pages on their site (and blogging is the main way you’d do that) get 2, 3, 4 times as many leads (and the sales that go along with that) as companies that update less frequently.

Google loves blogs and they will drive traffic to you if you have one.

It’s also about qualifying your prospects

Your company is in business because it’s good at something. That might be making a product; that may be delivering a service. And your being good at it is a key part of your unique selling proposition – your team’s expertise makes you stand out in the marketplace.

Blogs are a great way to highlight your expert insights on an ongoing basis. When you share those insights, the world may not beat a path to your door, but the people who are interested in your product or service sure will. And, if you’re doing it right, they’ll see their needs and your unique ability to meet those needs reflected there.

That, too, is going to help you generate more leads. And those leads are going to better educated about what you do, and why they need you and they’re going to close at a higher rate.

So the math is simple:

Blog = more traffic + more leads + more sales. It’s the  key to Internet marketing and you really need to be doing it.

Want to learn how to get better business results from your Web site? Download our free whitepaper, 'On-demand Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales From Your Web Site now >>

• getting the most click-throughs to your content
• getting your community to amplify your message through re-tweeting

And for this, as for so many things, timing is key. Download our handy chart to find out when the it’s the best time to send out your message. It’s what we’ve got posted on our walls here at Fruition.

Download PDF: When To Tweet Chart

Want to learn how to get better business results from your Web site? Download our free whitepaper, 'On-demand Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales From Your Web Site now >>

Last time, I wrote about how, as owner of an online marketing company, I get to see first hand how many agencies – and many a digital agency to boot – fail with their campaigns because they fail to understand how the Internet has changed the buying process. (You can read the article here).

Now I want to talk about a new model of marketing that wins by connecting with customers’ new ways of choosing and buying.

I call the old way of thinking “interruption” marketing. It’s the way advertising used to work., where you run an ad – in a magazine, on tv or radio, on a billboard – and you expect that to drive sales. The problem with this model is that you’ll have diminishing return on your investment as audiences become more fragmented and more adept at by-passing and even subverting your messages.

I call the new way of thinking “on-demand marketing”. On-demand marketing is all about being visible at the moment that your potential customers are looking for products or services like yours, supporting them through the consideration process with relevant and useful information and making it easy for them to amplify your message through their networks.

Here are the 5 principles of on-demand marketing.

1. Be easily found – use SEO and more

You need to be where people are looking, when people are looking and how people are looking for products or services like yours. Search Engine Optimization (SEO),  highly targeted Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising (like Google’s AdWords program) are key tool in the on-demand world.

So are being present on product and service review sites and social networking services. These are important not only because they help drive awareness of  your brand, but because they also shape perceptions that will drive the decision-making process.

2. Create great content often. Blog much? You should

Some people call “on-demand marketing,” “content marketing” for one simple reason. Great content drives the whole approach.

Creating content that’s authentic and meaningful to your potential customers not only helps people find you online – search engines like Google LOVE fresh, great content – it feeds their quest for knowledge when they’re researching products or services like yours. And if your content is really good, people will use their channels and networks to promote you.

3. Be ready for your customers to be part of the conversation

Make it easy for people to find and share your content with their networks.  And be ready to talk to them when they start talking back – brands that answer their customers on social media sell more and have more positive ratings with their customers.

4. Nurture your leads

What happens after someone expresses interest in your product or service. Do you have a system for reaching out to them on a regular basis to remind them stay top of mind with them and to support them through their decision making cycle?  If you have a system like this, you can use the content you create to close a higher percentage of your sales and you don’t need to invest as much time and money generating new awareness of your brand.

5. Measure and optimize like crazy

How many leads did your Web site generate last month? How much of that turned into new business? Which campaigns, search terms, social networks, pages and traffic sources were most effective in generating new business for you?

You need to know these answers and you need to be regularly adjusting your approach to improve those results. If you’re not, you’re throwing money down the drain.

Want to learn how to get better business results from your Web site? Download our free whitepaper, 'On-demand Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales From Your Web Site now >>

It’s not surprising – these things have been marketing agencies’ bread and butter since before Don Draper strapped on his first Brooks Brothers’ suit.

But it is less and less convincing.

The way people buy is changing, marketing needs to change with it

People are changing the way they buy. They’re changing their whole relationship with the purchasing process. Here’s how:

• It’s an on-demand world now. People – your customers ­– are getting what they want, when they want it from thousands of media channels. They’re skipping and ignoring ads that don’t speak to their specific needs.
• People are content creators, not just consumers and their channels are often more powerful than yours. Even people who wouldn’t consider themselves “online media publishers” are posting to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ all the time, often about their experiences with companies and products.
• People are changing the way they buy. They’re researching online more before they ever talk to you. They’re reaching out to friends and colleagues for referrals and recommendations like never before. The average consumer now checks 10.4 sources of info – mostly online – before making a purchase.

Spectacular marketing agency fails

Marketing needs to keep up with these new realities. The old way of reaching people just isn’t working anymore. And most marketing agencies Just. Don’t. Get. It. Heck, most online marketing companies don’t get it.

That’s why we get spectacular fails like the recent Belvedere Vodka rape joke Facebook ad fiasco.

The marketing agency  in this case – and in too many cases – was applying old ways of thinking to the new realities (and this was supposedly a specialist digital marketing agency).

Belvedere and their agency are not alone. There are thousands of marketing fails every year – yours may be one of them – and most of them come from overlooking the driving principles of marketing in an on-demand world.

The last drops of juice from a sad old lemon

Instead, they use the same recipe of creating a bold concept, pushing it on a mass audience to try to drive sales. But to squeeze the last drops of juice out of that sad old lemon, marketers are having to go to more and more extreme tactics to get noticed.

Well, they got noticed all right.

People lit up their social networks talking about how terrible Belvedere Vodka is.  Now when you search on Belvedere Vodka, half the top results are about how terrible Belvedere Vodka is (and that, to be sure, after Belvedere has spent a pantload of money trying to push those negative pages down in the results).

Not exactly what you’d call brand equity.

Next time: Online marketing that really works.

Want to learn how to get better business results from your Web site? Download our free whitepaper, 'On-demand Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Get More Leads and Sales From Your Web Site now >>

The certification is your assurance that our AdWords work for you will meet the highest standards.

(Not that we needed Google to tell us that. But, still, it’s nice to hear.)

It’s my great pleasure to announce that Fruition Interactive’s Mitch Fanning will be presenting at this year’s Mesh Conference.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise (and, frankly, we’re still working out the details) but I can say that he’ll be talking about marketing strategies that work in the on-demand world. Now that potential buyers have more control than ever about what messages they consume when, sellers — agencies and their clients — have to think differently about how to reach them. Mitch will be sharing his insights about how to do that (hint: it’s about the content).

The Mesh Conference takes place May 23 and 24 at the Allstream Centre in Toronto.

Mesh explores how the Internet is changing how we live, work and play. The mesh team gather together leading thinkers and talented innovators who have earned their stripes doing great digital work. Mesh creates a platform for us to connect with others who are interested what’s next, share ideas and be inspired.

To attend, visit the mesh web site.

I’ve been thinking about email a lot lately.

Partly, how I use it, but more about how it relates to building an audience.

But, first, a short story.

Over the years, I’ve become somewhat of an email nazi (see link for Seinfeld reference).  When it comes to personal email habits, I’m a big believer in attempting to process your inbox to zero on a regular basis.

As a result, my inbox has become my own little save haven. These days, most of the emails I receive are not junk. (My @gmail account, which is a catch-all account is another story).

Okay, here’s my point.

Recently, an individual I trust and follow as a thought-leader launched a new online venture.  At any given time, I limit the amount of people or blogs I follow to a maximum of 20.

This individual falls in my “top 20.”

Upon launching the initiative, this person did something refreshingly unusual; They provided just two options for receiving future updates: Email subscription and Twitter.

Not ten ways.

Not five.

Not three, just two.

Simple and elegant.

It was like breathing in fresh air after being stuck inside all day.

So I became an email subscriber (using my primary email).

Before going any further, I’d like to make a few things clear.  First, I became an email subscriber because I trust the person, not because of the user experience (although it did help).

Over the years, this individual has provided consistent value to their niche audience in the form of good content and high-quality product offerings.

Bottom line, their stuff rocks and they’ve helped a lot of people.  That said, because their marketing approach is smart, I’m sure complete strangers have become subscribers based on perceived value and social proof.

Why Is This Important?

These days, too many of us put email marketing efforts on the back burner in favour of the new, hot social network.

However, converting website visitors, fans and followers into email subscribers should not be an afterthought. In my opinion, the benefits of a strong email list far outweigh those found in social media.

Besides, what would happen if Facebook or Twitter disappeared? In the beginning, MySpace didn’t take Facebook seriously in the beginning and we all know how that ended up.

No, social media is not evil, but it’s also not a silver bullet either.  Just remember, you don’t own your follower’s contact information and, therefore, you’re at the mercy of the social network.

Build Your Own Platform (with a solid Email Strategy)

Rather than waiting for the inevitable, make sure you’ve protected your social media (or search marketing) investment.

Also, keep in mind, it’s about more than just getting email addresses; it is about delivering tremendous value so you get the right email address.

“Your email marketing database is like gold. It has tremendous value and better yet, you own it. You don’t own Facebook or Twitter or Google+. If those social media sites change their permissions or disappear altogether, you’ll likely lose access to your list of friends/followers/fans you’ve grown over the years. But not email addresses. Those are yours to keep, yours to take with you from platform to platform.” – Matt Grant from MarketingProfs

For me, I don’t give my primary email to just anyone. When I do, it’s because I truly value (and read) the information I receive in my inbox.

How about you?

Photo credit: Micky.!

The gist? Old-school agencies, be warned: your clients want you to put your money where your mouth is.

The article argued that the shift to performance pricing is inevitable.

Business leaders and their marketing heads expect more from their marketing dollars. They want partners who truly understand marketing’s responsibility beyond just impressions. Those who can build a brand by directly building revenue and market-share are the agencies that will endure in the 21st century.

Building True Client Partnerships Is Critical

I agree with the above statements, but I also believe that for this to work, businesses must view their digital marketing agency as a true partner and not just some external vendor. I don’t say this to be coy or selfish, but for very practical reasons.

If clients expect performance pricing then they must be willing to open their kimono or at least listen to the agency’s holistic recommendations.

For instance, a client who expects performance pricing from a search engine marketing (SEM) provider, yet does not give them a say when it comes to improving the landing page for conversion, is not, in my opinion, creating an environment that is conducive for a true partnership or achieving optimal results.

I realize this example is fairly simplistic. Also, it should go without saying that trust needs to be earned, but I do think it illustrates the very nature of my point.

At Fruition Interactive, we expect to have long-term partnerships with our clients. Nothing makes us happier than fast-tracking a client’s business growth from the work we’ve done together.

We Continue To Improve and Evolve…

We’re also fanatical about having the right metrics in place for tracking results. In some cases, we have even moved some of our services to more of a Pay for Performance or Guaranteed model.

It’s just one more thing we’re doing to be fully accountable to our clients. As results tracking evolves, we’ll continue to evolve along side it as an agency.

In the meantime, businesses should realize that in today’s digital world X effects Y, which impacts Z (results). Therefore, if a true partnership is to co-exist, business leaders can’t expect their agency to work from the outside in or in silos. They must allow them to work from the inside out or at the very least give them a seat at the table when considering overall strategy and optimization.

The 21st Century is an 11 Year Old Kid

As of 2012, 11 years of the 21st century have passed. Both the online marketing and new media industry is still in its infancy. However, moving forward, if both clients and modern agencies can co-exist under the terms of this new partnership, then perhaps a performance pricing model will arrive sooner than later.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to create true long-term partnerships with our clients because that’s when great things happen.

Click here to view the embedded video.