While optimizing your website for search engines is an essential part of a digital marketing strategy, it doesn’t do enough. SEO must be paired with other essential elements to successfully attract ideal customers to your website and keep them engaged while they consider available options and make a buying decision. Let’s look at how persona development, channel distribution, and lead nurturing contribute to the effectiveness of an inbound digital marketing strategy.
"Today it's not about 'get the traffic' -- it's about 'get the targeted and relevant traffic.'"
Adam Audette, Chief Knowledge Officer, RKG
Persona Development
Selecting keywords to include in website content depends not just on who you are and what you offer, but also on who needs it. For example, a 60-year-old professional man and a 32-year-old mother may both go to Google to find a place to get their motor oil changed. The service they need is the same but their thought processes are different. The language they use to search and the specific benefits that appeal to each of them will also be different.
In order to achieve optimal results, an SEO strategy must be centered around personas. When you develop a fictitious character that represents the demographic and professional embodiment of your ideal customer, you will be able to develop highly-targeted campaigns that are extremely effective by creating personal connections with qualified leads.
"The key is to present the right content to the users at the time they need it in an engaging manner, across all channels they visit."
Jim Yu, CEO, BrightEdge
Channel Distribution
When selecting channels for engagement activities, ideal customer personas are indispensable. Although social media is popular for sharing content, you are not likely to catch the eye of our 60-year-old professional man on Pinterest, although it would be an ideal channel for reaching out to our 32-year-old mother. Each distribution channel has a specific target audience. Choose channels that appeal to target audiences that include your ideal customer personas.
While your website SEO will not be directly impacted by the language used in your distribution channels, using the same keyword strategy in all messaging platforms increases your exposure among your ideal customers, making them more likely to consider your brand.
“It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic.”
Jeff Eisenberg, CEO, Buyer Legends
Lead Nurturing
Optimizing your website content with keywords that appeal to your ideal customers will attract visitors to your website, but guiding those visitors from the home page to “buy now” requires a process, one that usually involves an automated lead workflow. A potential buyer becomes aware of a product or service and then considers available options before making a decision.
Effective SEO will help attract a visitor to your website, but the quality of content paired with the effectiveness and timing of calls-to-action contribute significantly to your ability to retain the attention of a qualified lead as they progress through the buyer’s journey.
Inbound Digital Marketing
While SEO is very important, it will not be useful for generating leads, increasing sales, and producing greater ROI unless it is part of an inbound digital marketing strategy. If you would like a personalized, 30-minute consultation about increasing revenue with inbound digital marketing, contact Patty Cisco by phone at 419.629.0080, email or website.
