It’s not easy to achieve business success in pretty well any market nowadays, because every company seems to be battling every other. Economic volatility, rapid technological shifts and disruptions, the challenges of finding and retaining talent, and changing customer demands are just a few of the most pressing challenges. And all companies face them, irrespective of their size and market sector. Keeping up with competitors who may have more resources is never easy, either, which is why those of us who want to make sure they thrive need to invest time, funds, and effort into finding the best solutions and game plans for their marketing.
And because getting new customers and keeping those you already have is the best way to ensure long-term returns, it goes without saying that you need to pay attention to the ways in which you plan – and execute – your marketing strategy.
What Is a Marketing Strategy?
The concept of marketing strategies refers to a comprehensive plan that covers products, prices, places, and promotion (often referred to as the “Four Ps of marketing”) as a means of reaching new customers. The idea is to get customers to buy particular goods or services, but plans often become incredibly complex with a real mix of ideas for product lines and ways to promote them. The best strategy needs to be perfectly clear and prioritize the specific needs of your business.
The best value propositions allow marketing teams to have templates that sell the whole range of goods and services, with the ultimate goal to have a strong competitive advantage over their competitors. And of course, understanding the needs of customers is central to this approach. And while there are many different methods you could use, there is one that stands out as simple, incredibly effective, and – surprisingly you may imagine – under-used.
It’s the landing page.
What’s a Landing Page?
Landing pages are standalone web pages that often operate as independent feeds into the main site. They are designed specifically to focus on a single action, and drive conversion rates. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter or advertising a new product, these pages must be as good as they can be to yield results. And many business owners have begun using
landing page creator tools to ensure their pages are professional and efficient.
These solutions are designed to monitor performance rates and make improvements based on actual data, optimizing procedures based on what resonates most with your audience. The use of SEO tools is common, too, as a means of increasing visibility organically, while live chat functions are integrated to enhance real-time engagement. Apart from their use in advertising, landing pages are also utilized as a means of growing your email list, typically by creating a lead magnet – that’s a free tool or resource that’s available in exchange for a customer entering their email address.
The Impact and Benefits
The first and most obvious benefit of a carefully-crafted landing page is that it significantly improves interaction and effectiveness in driving sales. Navigation menus are minimized (sometimes removed altogether) and extraneous information is kept to a minimum. This reduces distractions, which in turn focuses people on completing the desired action.
But just because the general ideas behind a successful landing page are standardized, this doesn’t mean that you should limit yourself.
For example, you can design your landing page to reflect the image – and values – of your brand. The colors used, the layout featured and the content included should all be aimed at giving the right impression – and in a way that motivates people to respond positively. As we all know, people have different interests, and in order to appeal to them you’ll need to consider their needs, and their preferences. This means that having a good idea of what your customers want to see is the first step in this direction. And to this end, your market research activity should also be heavily focused on understanding what’s needed. This will then direct how you set up your landing page as well, so everything is put together professionally.
Having landing pages that are consistent with what customers see elsewhere is another crucial aspect. This means the ads that send customers to the page must match the page's design, content and tone. This creates a level of seamlessness and cohesion that will be noticed, and valued – perhaps only subliminably, but all these things work together to produce “best outcomes”. These kinds of landing pages often lead to higher quality scores and ad rankings, as well as lower costs across platforms. And adding social proof such as reviews and testimonials, increases trust – another ley element in the mix..
Lastly, good landing pages can provide incentives as well, depending on the specifics of the company involved. This is done in exchange for contact information and means that anonymous visitors instantantly become nurture-ready leads.
What to Look Out For
There are many ways to ensure that a landing page is the best that it can be, but are there things you should be mindful of when creating one? Well, the simple answer is yes!
There are several things that could end up harming your page. One of them is that your website is loading too slowly. It’s generally considered, for example, that if it takes more than four seconds for a page to load completely, you’ve most likely already lost about a quarter of your visitors. And if the time increases further, the reduction in people who’ll stick around will be even more significant. So
fixing speed issues can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
And make sure that your headlines are good! Don’t be vague: provide as many details as you can. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes so you can decide what they’d like to hear. Avoiding cliches is a must, because you don’t want your customers rolling their eyes behind their screens! And make sure there’s not too much text either, and that what you have is concise, positive and structured well within the page.
As you can see, creating the perfect landing page can never be a one-size-fits-all endeavor. You need to determine what works for you, depending on your business goals and the needs of your customers. And if you find the best combination of these features, you’ll be a whole lot closer to success.
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