The moment you hear the following phrases, a product immediately comes to mind:
- Just Do It (Nike)
- Got Milk? (California Milk Processor Board)
- Gives You Wings (Red Bull)
This brand awareness is the result of clever, well-planned marketing campaigns that took off, driving sales across the country and around the world. Of course, this sort of success doesn’t happen by accident. Strong marketing campaigns require strategic planning to connect with target consumers, generate leads, and convert leads to sales. Fortunately, the digital transformation has put advanced tools in the hands of entrepreneurs in every industry, leveling the playing field. Today, startups have access to affordable, effective digital marketing features on popular site building platforms such as WordPress.
Secrets to Marketing Campaigns that Flow
Turning consumers into clients has several well-defined steps, which sales and marketing experts refer to as the Sales Funnel or the Customer Journey. These titles refer to the path that individuals take from being completely unaware of the brand to placing an order – and in some cases, returning to place additional orders again and again.
The first step in the Sales Funnel is creating brand awareness. Here, consumers who had no idea your company exists begin to develop an understanding of who you are and what you do. They discover that there is a solution out there for the problems they are facing. Some say this piece is the biggest hurdle for any marketing campaign because it takes research and planning to get your message in front of the right people.
Next, consumers go through the interest phase, as they move from understanding that a solution exists and your company can provide it to actively doing some research. Most choose to learn more online, but depending on the type of product and your distribution channels, some may conduct research in person or over the phone.
The next phase of the Sales Funnel is the pivotal moment of decision. After completing their research, potential customers determine whether or not they will move forward with a purchase. Finally, there is the actual purchase, when prospective customers become buyers.
As consumers go from awareness to purchase, your marketing campaign plays an important role. Your presence and promotion of your solution at each critical touchpoint makes the difference between a sale going to you or your competition. As your prospective customers move through the Sales Funnel, your marketing efforts through social media, email, paid searches, traditional advertising, user-friendly landing pages and follow-up analysis create new clients and keep them coming back.
WordPress Marketing Tools That Work
As you start to plan your marketing campaign, understanding the digital marketing tools available to your business ensures you can take advantage of every possible opportunity. These are a few of the most effective options you can access in WordPress:
- Constant Contact – If you have a Constant Contact account, the Constant Contact Plugin for WordPress simplifies and automates a wide variety of tasks. Connect with current and prospective customers with a robust email list, made possible with a simple Constant Contact checkbox on your site. You can also edit and add to your contact lists without visiting the full Constant Contact site, build forms, gain thorough understanding of your reach through built-in Google Analytics visualization, and permit users to subscribe to specific newsletters and mailing lists.
- OptinMonster – Many users rate OptinMonster as the number one lead generation plugin for WordPress. This tool makes creating forms fast and easy, with amazing results that are sure to impress your target audience.
- Google Tag Manager – Tracking data from all of your advertising sources, such as Facebook and Google, is a complex technological process. Google Tag Manager simplifies this task by making it easy to implement tracking pixels and more on your website without having to hire a developer.
- Google Analytics – If you aren’t already using Google Analytics, you are in the minority. This is one of the most popular data measuring tools available. Get in-depth visibility into how your site’s visitors find you, as well as which parts of your site interest them most. Best of all, there is no charge to use Google Analytics.
- Google Optimize – Gaining insight from Google Analytics won’t help your business if you are unable to take action on your results. Google Optimize is designed to make it easier for you to experiment with changes to your site because it offers detailed insight into the impact of every change you make. You can easily run A/B tests for copy, designs, and other strategic details.
- WP Form Builder Plugin – Once upon a time, you needed at least basic coding skills to create a functional online form for your site. Fortunately, those days are gone thanks to the WP Form Builder Plugin. You don’t need to write any code at all to create the fields you need, require answers for certain questions and send automated confirmation emails.
- Visual Composer Plugin – Building an attractive, user-friendly website can be intimidating. With the Visual Composer Plugin, you can move forward with confidence. This tool offers you drag-and-drop editing capabilities, along with an array of additional features to ensure your site meets your exact specifications.
Installing WordPress Plugins is easy to do, and the impact on your marketing campaign is extraordinary. Go from good to great with the help of these simple and affordable tools.
