No one can underestimate the power of marketing when done correctly, and it’s essential you have a solid marketing strategy always in place. “Marketing” is the continuous engagement of current or even potential customers until they become loyal customers. In the end, I believe the ones which can market their products or service strategically will enjoy higher ROI compared to their competition. However, it’s important to note something…
It’s all about the testing what works so you can optimize your marketing going forward. For example, the title of this article is “marketing strategies” which means incorporating those strategies that give you a huge ROI so you meet your bottom line. I can’t believe the amount of people who waste time on strategies which produce no results going forward. It’s amazing because they waste both time, and money which would have been used somewhere else to produce results.
Today, I’m going to talk about some strategies used by myself and others which helped grow our blog by at least 150%. The cool thing is these strategies are NOT rocket science, but understanding how to tap into the human mind a bit better. Let’s get started and your feedback will be appreciated. Let us know if you agree with these or if you have some other ones which have worked well for you going forward.
Increase Their Curiosity
One of the best ways to get people to do what you want or, in other words, convert your visitors is by evoking their curiosity. By doing this you are forcing people to take a specific action which will eventually achieve your desired action. This has worked very well for me, and I had learned this strategy from Neil Patel while I was reading his blog. He uses the following as an example,
Neil Patel created a search engine analytical tool which would provide people with errors on their blog. Once the visitor types in their URL the tool will scan the site, and produce a list of errors which can be improved. However, in order for people to find out what the errors are present, they will have to provide their name, email address and even phone number. Why did this work so well?
For two reasons:
First, you are evoking curiosity by telling them there is something wrong with their website, and the issues should be fixed in order to improve your ranking ability. Next, you are giving them a way to fix them by providing their email address for the report, and a personal consultation. By getting their email address you are increasing the likelihood of being able to engage them at a later time. This will help you build a relationship, and increase your ROI at a later time.
Try and add a tool to your website, and see what kind of ROI it helps bring. You’ll be surprised at what you can do with a simple tool.
Twist The Funnel
Another cool thing Neil Patel did was twist the funnel around so people were able to use his tool first before going any further. This engaged them right away which is amazing because it hooked them as soon as they arrived on the site, and showed them the value instead of trying to manipulate them.
Neil Patel stated that by getting people to use the product first, and checking out the quality they were able to increase their sign-ups by 52%. Some people have a negative vibe when it comes to providing their name and email address, but when you let them use a product, and show them the value then it’s a great way to change their mind.
Here’s what you should be doing right now…
You should find a way to present your product or service in a way where the visitor gets to use them first. Make sure it provides value so it’s worth them inputting the desired information later on. If you want a great example, head over to QuickSprout.com, and give his tool a try so you can understand how the funnel works.
- Analyze how this tool works and why people find it so attractive
- Analyze the funnel and how Neil grabs use information
- Analyze why people would want to provide email address and other personal information
When you can understand how this reverse funnel works, you’ll be able to create something similar for your visitors when they arrive on your blog.
The Follow-Up Sequence is Important
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made is delaying my first follow-up sequence, and adding a form to get new subscribers. I waited a few months until I had something valuable, and by the time my first message went out my subscribers had forgot they signed up. This meant they thought they were receiving a SPAM message which increased the amount of people who unsubscribed from my newsletter. One of the biggest regrets I have since I invested enormous money trying to get them on my list in the first place. If you visit other blogs, you’ll read how other authority bloggers encourage you to keep your subscribers in the loop so they don’t forget about your value and/or product.
Here’s something to keep in mind,
Just because you don’t have value in the form of content to provide your subscribers doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send them a message. Many bloggers do great simply sending out quizzes or even homework assignments to their list which allows them to stay engaged and loyal. You just have to make sure everything is relevant so it makes sense that people open, and click the link WITHIN the newsletter.
Make The Entire Process Easy
Think about how many times you arrived on a site and didn’t complete the signup form because it was lengthy. You have to ensure the entire process is easy because this will increase the chances of someone actually signing up. I remember when I first started adding forms on my pages, I would ask for name, address, email, and phone number, however I really only need their name and email to accomplish my objective. The point is, don’t ask for information you don’t need because it will deter the visitor from filling in your form. This means you have lost a valuable subscriber, and we all know the importance of creating a huge list. It can work wonders when marketing now, and in the future.
Keep these few things in mind going forward…
- Ask yourself what information is truly necessary for you to achieve your objective
- Does the form look fun and easy to fill?
- Is my form cluttered and can I do anything to improve the appearance?
- What can I do going forward to keep improving my form?
A cool trick which I’ve used several times is to visit the blogs of others within your niche and see what they are doing. You can learn a lot from your competition. I would sign up to their newsletters, and see what type of subject lines and newsletter bodies they use to attract their subscribers to click-through.
Optimize Your Email Performance
Once you have a solid email form embedded into your pages, and your done testing the performance you should have increased you’re opt-ins. However, this is NOT the end of your journey because it’s important you find ways to improve your email performance. You’re going to be sending enormous follow-ups, and the last thing you want is them ending up in the SPAM box. The good news is many email ESP’s will provide you with a split testing feature so you can test what’s working and what’s not. They give you the ability to test both the form, and the messages which go out in your follow-up sequence. So, what do I mean about email performance?
It’s important you test the following:
Open rates – you want to make sure your subject line motivates people to open your message. No point in sending out messages which don’t get opened because they won’t convert.
Click-rate – You want to make sure the body of the message is very enticing because this will improve your CTR. Many times you’re going to have a link within your message so it’s important that gets clicked. Your ESP has an interface in place to track the clicks you’ve received from your messages.
Subject Line – It’s important you keep a close eye on the subject lines especially the ones which get the highest CTR. You’ll want to use the same ones going forward because of their high conversion rate.
Final Thoughts
When blogging it’s very important to keep pushing forward, and to find ways which allow you to grow your blog continuously. It’s important to keep finding, and testing strategies which work so you can continue to implement them within your blogging over the next couple of months. However, keep in mind “marketing” is something you have to keep doing, and it’s important to keep trying new things all the time. There are new networks popping up which can be awesome opportunities for all of you. However, here’s the secret…
It’s important to learn from those who are already in the industry for years. Read their blogs and start implementing their strategies right away because they are proven techniques. When I first started, I skimmed through the internet finding top blogs within my niche, and created a list of the marketing strategies they used. On my list I have about 4-5 solid blogs which are continuously growing, and read over them every day looking for the changing trends. For example,
- I’ll look at new trends within my niche
- I’ll look at the new marketing strategies
- I’ll pay close attention to how people engage, and the comments they are leaving within the boxes. Why? Readers will ask precise questions which are awesome especially for new content idea’s. This allows me to write content people actually want to read going forward.
- I’ll use this opportunity to network with authority bloggers because going forward it’s a great way to build relationships, and guest blogging opportunities.
Here’s what you should do going forward,
First, start by reading over the content again, and write out the important points outlined because this will help you quickly find the information you are looking for. If you need to read it more than once then do it, but make sure you write out the MOST important points discussed above. Next,
Start from the top and start implementing the strategies, and make sure you have a solid way to track the results. You’ll only know what’s working when you can track the results. In about 30-60 days, you’ll have some solid data which will tell you EXACTLY what marketing methods work better than others. You might be able to implement 1-2 strategies at once especially when setting up an email campaign.
Third, in order for you to have ultimate results you have to know where to put your energy. No need wasting time implementing strategies which have little CTR or conversions…right? Once you have the data, make sure you stick with the methods that work so you can start converting your readers. I also encourage all of you to keep reading the blogs of influential bloggers because they are always sharing cool new tricks, and trends useful to you.
Always remember your bottom line which is to make money in your business. You’ll have an easier time doing this when you can understand your readers, and learn to respect the type of information they are looking for.
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