We at Opus Communication believe that any seasoned marketer knows that the digital marketing industry is constantly going through a state of change; it was only a few months ago that Google released the Pigeon update, for example. It’s the sort of stuff that we, as marketers, are supposed to know. Every Google algorithmic update, content viral and successful PR stunt, it’s our job to keep our finger on the pulse.
But what does all of this mean to a potential client?
With an inflow of contradictory articles with the aid of authors claiming to be specialists, the net can show to be a tough sea of information to navigate through. Business owners and administrators are often left frustrated by way of the blended indicators and ‘theories’.
Whilst you’re presented with a potential customer that has been misled or thinks marketing is all approximately hyperlinks! Links! Links! Then it’s time to educate them, and right here’s how.
First of all, cut the jargon. You would possibly suppose you sound brilliant throwing round search engine optimization terms like they may be going out of fashion, however I can tell you now, it won’t win you any advertising contracts. That’s no longer to say enterprise proprietors and company heads don’t recognize their stuff, but consider it like this, it’s like turning up to a person’s house for dinner without informing them – it’s rude and terrible manners. Speak plain English and give an explanation for your pitch in a way that makes sense to your target market and their corporation dreams.
Glaringly, to recognize your potential clients’ goals you’re going to have to do your research, and I don’t just suggest googling the internet site. Investigate their modern-day weblog posts, familiarize yourself with their competitors, screen their social hobby and usually test for technical problems. Consider the pitch as a primary date, there’s lots of promise and pleasure on each sides and the closing component you want to do is leave the potential client feeling disappointed and in want of a chocolate bar!
So the pitch goes well and you suspect that is a closed deal – you couldn’t be more wrong. So many marketers will promise a client the world and deliver very little. Like in any relationship there has got to be compromise and understanding from both parties. Be realistic and manage expectations. If you fail to do this in the initial meeting, nothing you deliver month on month is ever going to be good enough. A client has to understand that the industry has changed, it’s not all about links anymore. Audience engagement and appealing to the right people is the key in 2015.
Neglect what you think you know and go back to the drawing board. Too many marketers put together client campaigns with a pure consciousness on generating links, at the same time as some marketers nonetheless have set link goals every month. There’s no faster way of touchdown your client a google penalty than constructing up a one way link profile plagued by 10 guest posts each month, it screams ‘unnatural’ and we all know google isn’t stupid!
Now I’m not saying clients are easy to educate but what does make it slightly more manageable is to back up your research. Show clients simply how unfavorable black and grey hat search engine optimization strategies/ tacticts can be to a website’s rankings and conversions, let’s face it there are lots of examples on the web.
To show what sets your agency aside from others is to present a potential client with case studies, existing client testimonials and improved client conversion rates. These are the visuals that companies need to see. Many potential clients may say they want links but is that what any business really wants? Of course not. They want more sales, an increased return customer rate and a healthy brand image.
If you manage to land the contract, it’s time to get creative and ensure you’re clear on their kpis. Just always remember to keep the line of communication open between you and your client.