Archive for Content Creation

Posted by Carrie Smith on
 February 12, 2019

Avoid a Crash Landing: Targeting Your Landing Pages

We’re pleased to offer a free digital marketing consultation. Call today, (303) 357-5757, or e-mail dbc@dbcdigital.com.

Do you know what a ‘landing page‘ is and have you implemented one yet? If you haven’t, let’s explore what landing pages are, how they work, and what your options are for getting started. After all, landing pages are a valuable tool for lead generation and one that ~68% of medium-size companies regularly use to acquire leads. (source: Marketo, 2018)

What is a landing page?
Often the term, ‘landing page’ refers to any page where website visitors land when initially coming to your site. This is the type of landing page to which Google Analytics reports are referring. Yet, there is another use for the term — a landing page can also be a web page created for the sole purpose of converting visitors into leads by capturing a person’s contact information. This blog will be discussing the version of a landing page that is used for inbound marketing and lead generation.

How does a landing page work?
A website is a set of interconnected pages detailing your business. Business websites define who the business is, what it does, and explain products and services. Websites also may incorporate aspects such as a blog or login page. A landing page, on the other hand, is designed to explain an offer like a free trial, coupon, or ebook. Then in order to claim the offer, a visitor must provide personal information (name, email, phone number). Landing pages are solely focused on capturing leads to drive sales. Most often a landing page doesn’t even have navigation buttons or other links.

Landing page example

Landing Page Example

Testing, 1, 2, 3

So now let’s say you’ve got your marketing landing page and it is receiving a ton of traffic, yet are you converting those visitors into leads? A landing page with low conversion rates can be super frustrating, especially when it is hard to determine what the cause is. That’s where testing comes in.

Aspects you should consider testing:

  • Copy: Text on landing pages is normally brief, but what is there should be carefully crafted. Make sure your page’s copy has maximum impact by keeping things concise and action-oriented.
  • Tone: This is related to copy, of course. Keep your audience top-of-mind when selecting your tone. Having your page more casual or professional, light-hearted or serious, detailed or general, can have a big impact on your results.
  • Media: Add or change a picture or video for improving conversion rates. According to Wordstream: Using videos on landing pages will increase conversions by 86%. (Wordstream, 2018)
  • Keywords: SEO is always important, and selecting the right keywords can make a difference in who sees your page and whether the landing page is relevant. It’s a good idea to test multiple keywords in ads or on-page SEO and then assess the traffic and conversions.

Here are a few other common issues beleaguering your landing page conversion rates

1. Slow loading landing page

Website loading speed makes a huge difference in who stays and who moves along. Several factors can slow down your landing pages. The most common offender is having oversized images. In an analysis of 18,639 landing pages, pages without oversized images led to an average conversion rate of 11.4%, compared to 9.8% for pages with oversized images (source: Unbounce Marketing).

2. You have multiple CTAs

Competing CTAs create confusion among visitors which results in fewer leads. Each landing page should include one direct call-to-action that directs visitors as to what their next step should be. Research shows that landing pages with one link led to an average conversion rate of 13.5%, while pages with two to four links led to an average conversion of 11.9%. For five or more links, conversions dropped even lower to 10.5%. (source: Unbounce Marketing)

4. Your landing page is just plain boring

It only takes a few seconds for a visitor to determine whether they’ll remain on a particular page or not. Because of this, it is vital to include multimedia elements to liven things up — but don’t over do it. Opt for a simple, clean design over flashy with too many bells and whistles.

5. Not mobile-friendly

If your landing page is not optimized for mobile users, you will likely miss out on a significant portion of traffic. Also, keep in mind the different ways users interact with your site on mobile vs desktop. For example, mobile pages should include shorter, multiple-choice sign-up forms that are easy to complete on a mobile device.

6. Your landing page contains too much text

Most web users scan pages rather than read them entirely. As a result, landing pages with a high word count may receive fewer conversions. For this reason, we recommend that you cut down your word count and only include essential information within your copy. Also, consider text formatting. Use bullets, headers, and spacing to break up large blocks of text.

Attract Different Customers

Landing page, customer diversity

Keep in mind that while your website generally stays the same, you can appeal to certain market segments by creating custom landing pages. Know that the content, offer, page style, and advertising you choose will determine how impactful the page is on the new market.

  • Demographic: Age, interests, education and other factors can influence what products or services customers look for and what types of landing pages they will respond to.
  • Location: Make it easier for customers in an area to find you by creating landing pages dedicated to that specific location
  • Price: Some customers shop by price alone, while conversely others may be looking for quality, no matter the cost. The correct landing page can assist you in targeting either group and direct them to the right products, services, or content.

In conclusion

As you build your digital marketing toolbox, including landing pages is now a must, and both you and your customers will reap the benefits. Landing pages help increase your conversion rates and lower your cost of acquiring a lead or sale.

How are landing pages a part of your business’ marketing strategy?

DBC Digital is a full-service digital marketing company that provides everything you need to run successful content marketing campaigns. We’re located in the Denver metro area, just south of the Denver Tech Center, near I-25 and Dry Creek Road. We provide marketing services for businesses and organizations throughout the United States.

Categories : Content Creation, Digital Marketing, INTERNET MARKETING, Marketing, STRATEGY
Tags :
Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 August 6, 2018

3 Multi-Channel Marketing Essentials for Real Estate Pros

For more information about real estate marketing, or to schedule a free marketing consultation, please call (303) 357-5757, or e-mail dbc@dbcdigital.com.

 

Curvy Road Ahead
As we all know, the Denver housing market has been cruising along at high speed with steady increases in residential market values over the past few years. Yet with the newest housing market report, it’s looking like the market may be coming into balance.  With this market trend predicted to continue, along with the influx of newer real estate agents over the past few years — now is the perfect time for Denver-area agents to evaluate their multi-channel marketing strategy.

What is Multi-Channel Marketing?

Multi-channel marketing is the practice of using multiple approaches to reach your prospects.  Multi-channel marketing allows your prospects decide how they want to interact with you, giving them a choice that works best for them. Agents who wisely invest time in these three channels will achieve better and longer-lasting results.

These three channels are:

  1. Social Media
  2. Direct Mail
  3. Email

Let’s dive deeper into each channel …

Social Media Marketing

  1. Social media

Social media marketing is crucial for successful real estate agents. Around two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) use Facebook, according to a survey conducted in January 2018 by Pew Research.  That’s about 2.19 billion users!  More than 700 million users are on Instagram, and half of all online adults use more than one of the five main social media platforms.

The most effective sites for real estate agents’ content include: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

A smart social strategy for real estate agents, as with all content marketing, starts with quality content. Agents should create and post articles and videos on what they know best. An authentic voice will resonate with your local market and demonstrate your confidence and expertise.

We suggest following the 80/20 rule with social media content updates. Eighty percent of your posts and other content should focus on your prospects and your client’s main interests, while twenty percent should be aimed at expanding your business (offers, ads, etc.).

Also, effective content includes posting your listings, talking about what’s happening in the area (like community events or school activities), as well as including client testimonials. Agents must be sure to interact with anyone who likes or comments on your posts, and always (always) respond to any messages as soon as possible.

Once agents open their business social media accounts and are posting quality content, the next vital step is to post consistently and strategically.

By the way, to improve your SEO, you should be writing blog and video posts on your website and then sharing the blog links on social media with intros to “read more” (or watch) versus posting an article directly to Facebook.

Direct Mail Marketing

  1. Direct Mail

Print is alive and well. Postcards and other types of mailings are excellent direct marketing tools for multi-channel content marketing since they provide a touchpoint for branding and information.

Even Google uses direct mail.

According to Data and Marketing Association’s 2017 Response Rate report, direct mail response rates outperform digital marketing by more than 700 percent.  In fact, the overall response rate from physical mail has increased by 3.7 percent in the last couple of years.

Direct mail is even more powerful when you combine it with the other two channels. You can create a Facebook campaign that targets the same neighbors and will be seen at the same time they receive your direct mail piece, increasing your response rates on both channels.

Given the strong success of direct-mail marketing, it becomes the perfect way to advertise your digital presence.   Whether you’re reaching out to current clients or looking for new leads, direct mail is an important pillar.

Success boils down to two key components: top quality content and consistency. We advise our clients that your prospects and sphere receive direct mail from you each month, year-after-year. Postcards are perfect for driving prospects to your website, announcing recently listed and sold homes, or fun items such as sports schedules or event calendars keeping your name always in front of your prospects.

Email Marketing Strategy

  1. Email

Email is fundamental to any smart marketing strategy for real estate agents. Agents can really shine by providing useful updates to prospects and their sphere. Top quality emails can differentiate the savvy agents from the less experienced.

By using platforms like MailChimp, real estate agents can easily create cost-friendly and highly personalized email campaigns.

Agents should remember to leverage their social media and direct mail programs to grow their email lists. They should entice prospects to sign up with you by promoting meaningful content that is only available by subscribing to your emails. Additionally, agents should always include “Subscribe” buttons or links with any social media or blog posts.

“Quality over quantity” especially applies to emails. This means agents should avoid sending out full-length articles in their emails. Instead, provide links to your blogs and encourage readers to click over to your site by including compelling images along with brief descriptions of what your readers will gain if they do.

Email was the leading digital channel for ROI in 2016, according to DMA’s 2017 report. This is why email marketing must be included in your marketing mix.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, your success with multi-channel content marketing is about creating top-quality content— content that relates to your prospects, buyers and sellers.  Content that demonstrates your expertise and shows that you are there to help. Through multi-channel marketing, agents can be sure they are most visible to their sphere and always tell their prospects, “As market patterns change, we’re here to help you find the best route to your new home.”

Need help with this?
Do you need some help in getting all the pieces working together?  Give us a call and we’ll help you prioritize the most important parts as well as give you support on what you don’t have time to do yourself. You can call us at (303) 357-5757 or email us at dbc@dbcdigirtal.com

About the Author:

greg-sherwood-ceo-dbcdigital-marketingGreg Sherwood is President and Chief Executive Officer of DBC Digital, a strategic marketing firm with expertise in helping companies build stronger marketing campaigns, brand awareness, customer engagement and revenue.
Greg was previously National Executive Vice President of a global B2B firm. Prior to that, he was its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). DBC Digital is the only marketing company in the Denver area with a former Chief Marketing Officer as its CEO. 
He is a featured writer, speaker and panelist on topics that include strategic marketing, content marketing, social marketing and innovation.

 

 

Please note: Since 2004, we’ve been helping small and medium-sized businesses with all of their marketing needs. We specialize in the real estate, mortgage, financial, and insurance industries. Located in Centennial, Colorado (just south of Denver), we work with clients throughout the U.S.

Categories : Content Creation, EMAIL CAMPAIGNS, Marketing, PRINTING SERVICES, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Tags : , , , , , ,
Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 March 29, 2016

How to Use Surveys to Fuel Business Growth

DBC-Digital--marketing-surveys img

Even though most marketers know surveys can be a powerful way to engage and inform their customers and prospects, surveys are often overlooked in a content marketer’s toolbox. The right type of survey can spark ideas for new content, help companies fine-tune their marketing message, and iron out businesses processes that might be frustrating their customers. According to Harvard Business Review, surveys even offer the possibility to influence customer behavior.

Can Surveys Influence Customer Behavior?

A few years ago, two researchers published an article in Harvard Business Review where they conducted a survey on behalf of a large U. S.-based financial services company. They used a control group that wasn’t surveyed and another group that was. Neither group received any direct marketing from the financial services company for a year after the survey, and the surveyed group was only contacted with this 10-minute survey one time.

Here is what happened with the surveyed group vs. the control group:

  • Surveyed customers were three times more likely to open up a new account.
  • The surveyed group was 50 percent less likely to defect to a competitor.
  • The surveyed group was more profitable over the long term for the financial services company.
  • The positive results from the surveyed group peaked immediately after the survey, but the surveyed group continued to be more profitable than the control group even after the year-long test ended.

It’s reasonable to assume that the surveyed group became more engaged with the company because they were asked for their opinions which were clearly valued. However, by asking about specific products during the survey, it’s also possible that customers learned more about how the company might serve them. The conclusion is that well-crafted surveys can not only help companies gain information about customers; they can also be a great way to provide information to customers and potential customers.

Ways to Use Surveys to Market to Prospects and Customers

Here are some ways you can use surveys in your marketing:

  • Generate content ideas: Use the information gathered from surveys to create effective articles, videos, or infographics.
  • Find out what consumers like or don’t like about your company: Learn which processes you need to improve to increase satisfaction.
  • Learn what else customers want to see from your brand: Learn new ideas about additional products or services or if your customers have any interest in a new idea.
  • Improve marketing tools: Fine tune your content by learning what your prospects find most valuable.

Digital Survey Tools

You can find plenty of helpful online survey tools. If you want to run a survey on your website, for example, look for plugins that work with your content management system.  You can also find survey tools that interface with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

PC Magazine has a list of their top picks for the best online survey tools for 2016. For example, two favorite tools are SurveyGizmo for small and medium businesses and WorldApp for enterprise-size companies.

Grow Your Business With Surveys Done Right

Surveys provide you with a way to learn more about your customers and prospects. Crafted correctly, they can help customers and prospects learn more about your company too. At DBC Digital, we help small and large companies grow their businesses with inbound digital marketing. Contact us today, so we can learn more about each other.

Greg-Sherwood-DBC Digital-Marketing

 

Categories : Content Creation, Marketing
Tags : , ,
Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 March 22, 2016

7 Ways to Increase Your Content Marketing ROI

content marketing, dbc digital

Smart marketers know they can achieve a positive ROI from investing in quality content. The problem is that content production can get expensive (copywriting, videos, editing, etc.) and it’s not always possible to predict which content will give you the best returns, especially for marketers who are just beginning new campaigns or are new to content marketing in general.

These seven tips will help you maximize the return on your investment in content marketing.

7 Ways to Maximize the ROI of Content Marketing

  1. Stack content to save money. Recycling your existing content can help you squeeze more profits out of your investment. For example, you can combine a handful of similar blog posts into an eBook and use that as an offer or call-to-action. Conversely, you can take sections of a previously written white paper and create individual posts or graphics as well as create calls-to-action for visitors to exchange their email address to receive the complete white paper.
  2. Use analytics to learn what works. The more you know, the better you’ll do. Use tools like Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to learn what content is performing the best (clicks, page views, etc.) and create more of that.
  3. “News-Jacking.”Some businesses can hitch a ride on trending news articles and popular content to gain more exposure with search engines and on their social media sites. For example, a lawyer might discuss a trending personal injury topic on his or her blog and talk about it in their social media feeds. An SEO company can provide insights into a recent algorithm change that is causing search rankings for businesses to change. Trendsmap is a useful tool that can help you find popular Twitter hashtags by location.  Also, Google Trends is a good source to see what is catching the public’s attention.
  4. Publish a survey to gain feedback and find topics for future content. Surveys are great tools for a lot of reasons. They make getting feedback easy so marketers can serve their customers better. They also provide great information to base your future content creation on. PC Magazine published a recent review of the best online survey tools that make this two-way communication easy.
  5. Test different types of content to learn what works best. Each type of content you create (articles, videos, and graphics) will all appeal to different kinds of people.  Different content work best for different topics, and each will open up different distribution channels for you. You can stack your content to produce a variety of content types and then watch what mix works best for your type of customers.
  6. Test distribution channels to learn where your potential customers hang out. One of the most challenging parts of inbound marketing is finding the right places to distribute content. If you have gone through the process of creating “personas” for your best prospects, you probably have a general idea of where your customers and prospects are going to check out new ideas or new products and services. Some examples may be blogs, video sites, social networking websites (LinkedIn, etc.) video sites, and so on. See our previous article on Content Mapping for some additional tips on where to post your content.
  7. Stay the course to enjoy the best results. It’s intuitively obvious that a consistent stream of content will perform better than irregular and infrequent content. This is also backed up by statistics, such as a Hubspot report that bloggers that post frequently tend to see much more site traffic than infrequent bloggers do. Of course, with the avalanche of low-quality content being published daily, customers and prospects only pay attention to content they find valuable.  In the long run, it’s better to take your time to build high-quality content rather than post mediocre content more often.

Our Clients Love Content Marketing

When it’s done right, content marketing becomes the type of marketing that both customers and marketers love. At DBC Digital, we begin with a proprietary assessment and plan to help our clients build a more successful strategy in the marketing and digital worlds. Let us help you enjoy a better inbound marketing ROI by contacting us today.

Greg Sherwood DBC Digital Marketing

 

Categories : Content Creation, Marketing
Tags :
marketing message
Posted by DBC Digital on
 March 31, 2015

Is Your Marketing Message Getting Lost?

Categories : BLOGGING, BRANDING, Content Creation, MESSAGING AND DESIGN, SEO, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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