7 Steps to Maximizing ROI in a New Marketing Era

Traditional marketing techniques have fallen by the wayside as the Internet becomes the platform of choice for marketers.

People no longer respond to direct advertisements. They demand value from their brands; something more than just a sales pitch.

In other words, they’re demanding content that informs and helps to solve problems.

It’s this desire that forms the basis of the content marketing boom that’s unfolded over the past few years.

Internet marketers are increasingly turning to blogs, videos, infographics, pictures, and other content to boost brand images.

We’re not terribly surprised by this. After all, content marketing does cost 62 percent less than outbound marketing, while generating three times as many leads.

That’s less money spent and more money earned. What’s not to love? What’s more, you can create even more efficient content if you know a few tricks.

So today, we’re bringing you our seven steps to maximizing ROI in a new marketing era.

1. Social Media

Social media is absolutely crucial to anyone looking to see real online marketing success.

Go by the numbers. Seventy-eight percent of the U.S. utilizes at least one social platform. That’s an enormous market you can’t afford to miss out on.

Start sharing your content to your social media followers. Get on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., and push that content.

Any conversions gained on social media come with very little overhead. The platforms are free, meaning you only have to pay for a social media manager.

Additionally, social media does wonders for brand exposure.

Put out content that people enjoy, watch them use social media to share it with their friends, and reap the rewards of free exposure.

2. Follow Your Users

You can produce the world’s best content, but it won’t amount to anything if you can’t position it in front of the people who matter.

Take advantage Google’s generosity and download its free Webmaster tools (also known as search console) application.

With Webmaster tools, you can narrow where your website traffic comes from. If you’re seeing lots of links from Twitter, start sharing content on Twitter.

The idea is to hone in on where you consumers are “hanging out,” so you won’t waste money producing content no one will appreciate.

3. Target Your Demographics

Once you know where your traffic comes from, it’s time to narrow your targeting even further.

Maximizing ROI is all about finding what demographics consume your content.

You know you’re getting links from Facebook, great, but who are those users? What do they like?

There are several ways to go about identifying exactly who your content should specifically target.

First, use your own knowledge of your brand’s foundation. Who buys your products and who are you trying to target?

An easy way to start gathering this information is with simple surveys posted across social media, or on your website. Surveys are content too, so make them interesting.

Another way to find your demographics is through Facebook’s excellent Insights tool.

‘Insights‘ break down the people who’ve liked your page into custom categories. You can sort by age, location, income level, job sector, etc.

4. Utilize Influencers

Influencers are a new trend in content marketing that’s saving people money. If you’re unsure what we’re referring to, let us explain.

These are the people on the Internet who have large followings. Bloggers, YouTubers, social media advocates; they’re all influencers.

Influencer marketing refers to having those individuals promote your brand to their followers.

People listen to the “impartial influencer,” and associate your brand with success, quality, etc.

If you aren’t already, you need to utilize influencer marketing now. The ROI for the average influencer campaign is $6.50 for every dollar spent.

These people hold a lot of sway over public opinion.

5. Effective Landing Pages

Once you have people engaging with your content, you’ll eventually need to convert them into sales. This is where a high-quality landing page comes into play.

Since your landing pages are the first thing people will see when linking from your content, they need to make an impression.

Focus on providing visually pleasing pages, with well-written content that calls to action. Make it easy to purchase your product.

It’s also wise to give customers many different landing pages to hit.

Studies show that sites with 40 or more landing pages get 12 times the leads as those with less than 5 landing pages.

Keep your pages varied so that every visit to your website is exciting (however do make sure to keep the same voice across landing pages).

6. Email Marketing

Some people think the days of email marketing are gone. Those people are entirely wrong.

Email marketing provides an easy and cheap avenue to set up return customers ripe for retargeting.

Include with your content calls-to-action that encourage signing up for an email list with a purpose. You can entice people with more content, discounts, etc.

7. Set Goals For Maximizing ROI

Maximizing ROI is impossible if you aren’t setting measurable goals. We’re talking tracking your ROI over a set period of time.

Before you start your new content marketing campaign, figure out your current marketing ROI.

Now break down that ROI into different “sections” of your marketing. One section could be social media, while another is influencer marketing.

The idea is to track specifically what your ROI is across different marketing techniques. This will help you determine what’s working and what isn’t.

You can also eliminate poor performing marketing strategies if you know exactly what they’re costing your business.

Cut the fat and reinvest the money into a strategy that is providing results while maximizing ROI.

Content marketing is tailor-made to maximizing ROI. Producing content is inexpensive and an effective way to endear people to your brand.

If you can earn people who follow your brand for your content as much as the product, you’re golden.

These are the people who sing your praises and help promote your brand far beyond what your marketing team could accomplish.

Now that you’ve learned all about maximizing ROI, it’s time to put these suggestions into play and start making more money for your business!