On April 4, we sat in on a webinar hosted by the American Marketing Association and sponsored by Act-On Software (two industry names you should know!). The topic was “Effective Messaging Throughout the Purchase Process,” presented by Marc Weisinger, the Director of Marketing for Elite Search Engine Marketing.
Click here to download the recording of this archived meeting.
Weisinger talked about every marketer’s top
priority: understanding your consumer. Until you
do that, your marketing won’t be effective.
You have to identify your consumer’s main points
of interest and make sure your marketing
messages match those interests.
The keys for successful marketing, according to Weisinger, are:
- 1. Answer the specific question searchers are asking.
- 2. Remove any barriers that prevent searchers from taking the action you want them to.
For instance, if you want to target consumers who smoke and are looking to buy life insurance, brainstorm the kinds of search queries that consumer might use. An example might be, “Can I get life insurance if I smoke?” or “life insurance for smokers.” Google’s auto-complete function can be very helpful for identifying popular searches around your target subject.
Once you’ve identified the search query you want to target, create a page on your website that answers the specific question those searchers are asking. Explain how you can solve their problem, being as specific and direct as you can. This is a “best practices” SEO guideline, whether or not you plan on buying pay-per-click ads through Google AdWords. If you do plan on using AdWords, the landing page attached to your ads must be relevant—that’s a big part of how your ad’s quality score gets assigned. In other words, avoid sending an interested consumer to your home page—the content there probably isn’t specific enough.
Having landing page copy that answers a specific consumer question removes the barrier Weisinger mentioned in point #2, above. If you’re targeting consumers who smoke but your landing page is about high-risk life insurance in general, you’re putting up a barrier. You’re telling that consumer, “I don’t really know what you want, so I’m going to lump you in with pilots, mountain climbers, and people with chronic illnesses, just in case.” Is that the message you want to send to prospects?
Keep your marketing messages laser-focused on the answer to a specific search query, and you have a better shot at converting browsers into buyers.
Interested in building your online presence? LinkedIn is a great place to start.
