Over the years as a digital marketing and social media agency, we have designed, implemented and successfully run many campaigns for corporate brands across industries that have driven high ROI in the form of actual sales, lead / enquiry, high page ranking SEO, increased footfalls at restaurants and events and so many more…..but it was only few weeks ago when one of my campaign managers asked me, “Ananth, what defines a successful digital marketing campaign that drives sales and other ROI for most of our clients?”
I loved this question because, we have over the years shared our latest NEWS and so many case studies (Link here) that showcase many of our services, but never had I shared an article or write-up about this.
So, after scanning through scores of our emails, chats, phone messages, campaign ideas, strategies, final delivery results from campaigns etc exchanged between so many of our clients in the past 4-5 years with us and after weeks of this research and study, I put together a simple pattern that emerged across every social media digital marketing campaign that was very successful especially even in generating sales, lead enquiry etc as compared to the others. The observation put forth very simple formal sales tracking pipeline plans and support as mentioned under:
– Firstly, every campaign that was successful has had a formal sales process in place prior to driving the said campaign
– Clearly communicating the said FORMAL sales process with the entire team (Both in-house and the agency that was us who were hired to deliver the digital campaigns)
– Clearly communicating specific responsibilities, targets, mutual processes that go with the said campaign
– Setting clear and defined goals based on the organization’s sales results and not something that was random or simply put to look or seem over ambitious in the digital marketing venture.
– Having reports that share insightful information on how consumers respond to the content and links shared by the company online and ensuring there are feedback’s, timely replies given to the digital marketing agency team on ‘What worked and what could work better?’ We found that every time a company responded back to the reports shared from our end with valuable feedback, our campaign strategy and ideas were delivering better results each month for the said company.
– Having a dedicated person to manage all communications between the brand/company and the digital agency at all times. In the field of “DIGITAL marketing and social media” failure to respond especially to a genuine query/concern or an irate customer of time lag of more than 8-10 working hours could mean losing that customer and at times those connected or influenced by that customer for life. In the same manner, responding or resolving an irate customer’s query on time could mean winning a brand ambassador and loyal customer for life.
– Using consumer research reports from your digital team to “truly understand” how your end users actually make purchases and the reasons they pull-out at the last moment.
– Utilize the reports, meetings to discuss and plan your sales and digital agency’s selling pipelines and on actually working on “how they can focus towards more enquiries and sales” rather than just stating “OK, I want x sales next month or X% + enquiries next month.”etc. Clearly defined sales pipeline channels and process had much better impact and results.
– Working together: For eg. If your digital agency is running an offer from their end (Which is approved by your management) do not make any other agency or even your in-house team run another offer that is even better using another channel. For eg. Many times due to lack of communication or disconnect between the third party digital agency team and the in-house marketing and sales team, the two end up competing with each other by sharing campaign offers that hurt both. As in, if your digital agency is running an offer of 15% OFF for your brand across say, Google Adwords or Facebook Ads or any other ad campaigns, your brand should not run a counter offer across a traditional media like print/magazine/ or any other form offering 20% OFF for the same product.
Believe me, these things happen when there is issue in communication or distrust between agency and in-house teams and it can never benefit either of the companies.
– Going beyond CRM management and sales tools management. Rather ensure that your agency and in-house teams are on the same page and trained to understand at which stage of the SALES Process should they add or engage into a specific interaction or offer with their prospects. That is, ensuring that the sales pipeline process is well managed and the training for the same is well understood by the teams involved. This includes understanding what forms of communication can the prospects be offered and how can they be tracked. Should you share a phone number or an email etc and at what stage of the enquiry or marketing process should it be introduced. For eg, If your blog has SUBSCRIBED users, how have you made use of it? Have you reached them or are you checking on which posts engage the most responses?
All said and done, your sales and marketing activities pipeline process management is the most crucial of all. Get these in place and rest assured you can expect to deliver beyond what you thought digital could do for your brand.
There are so many factors that go into designing, planning a digital marketing campaign, feel free to reach me for more information and details.
– Social media marketing
– SEO
– Viral Marketing
– Consumer research insights
– ROI metrics (Leads, Sales, etc)
Social media or Digital marketing is not about websites. It was, is and will always be about People. People buy from People they trust. HUMANIZE Your BRAND ~ Ananth V
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