While there is plenty of conversation around digital marketing and how it is done, sometimes a key step gets overlooked: the pre-planning needed to get ready for a campaign.
It’s critical to pause and ensure that your brand is well-prepared for a digital marketing campaign before getting started.
If you’re ready to embark on a marketing campaign and spend money to bring new eyes to your business, you have to be prepared to take on new work and possibly new challenges.
There are a number of questions you should ask yourself before getting started on your next great campaign.
Ask Yourself These Questions
Your company, staff, and inventory should be carefully prepared before you begin to market your business online. First impressions are made during these campaigns and build trust between your brand and potential clients, so it’s crucial to make sure you are prepared.
Here are some questions to ask before getting started with digital marketing:
- Is your website functional, and capable of handling new traffic? Do you currently need any technical support?
- Are your products or services clearly defined? Do their descriptions on your website and other resources answer common questions a prospect would ask?
- Do you have enough salespeople to handle incoming phone calls and emails from prospects? Is your customer service department prepared for more work as well?
- Do you have the right technology in place to keep track of your new clients’ information?
- Is your company prepared on a technical level? Do you have company files backed up? Do you have the right software to benefit productivity, communicate with clients, log your sales/accounting information, and stay on top of other technical business?
If your marketing campaign is successful, you want to be able to take all of those interested prospects and convert them into clients – but if you don’t have enough resources to deal with an increase in clients, you’ll fall flat. When your first priority is to make sure every customer is satisfied, this is something you can’t overlook.
1. Set Realistic Goals for Your Company
Before you even prepare your marketing strategy, you should have clearly set business goals and targets for your company. These goals will help you figure out what steps to take next.
Some good starting points for goals include those related to revenue, prospects gained, phone calls or website visits, conversions from ads, or number of sales made – to name a few.
2. Get Your Website Ready
Make sure your website is functional and prepared to take on more traffic than it is used to.
Unfortunately, your marketing campaign plans will be ultimately unsuccessful if the website crashes the first time a potential client clicks the link. If the site doesn’t load quickly, has security issues, or crashes when your potential customers attempt to navigate it, they will click off your site immediately.
Managed website hosting and support can help keep your website running smoothly.
3. Prepare Your Staff by Training and Hiring
Sales and customer service are probably the most important teams that you should work on training. Make sure they are prepared to handle new leads and answer any questions those leads may have.
It may even be a good idea to hire more staff members so that you can make sure all prospects and clients get the attention and service they deserve. After all, if your employees are overwhelmed, important details can be forgotten, and productivity starts to suffer.
4. Invest in a CRM
Demographic information will be a great driving force in any digital marketing campaign, and the earlier you start gathering data on your customers and prospects, the better it will be for your brand.
Investing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software will help your employees keep track of prospects and clients, and can easily store and generate reports on key demographics like phone numbers, location, emails, and more.
If you’re launching a marketing campaign, you want to have the right target audience and create the type of ads that would draw in that particular audience.
5. Update Information on the Web
Make sure before you start a campaign that directory listings, such as your Google Business Profile, are correct, and that your listings on these directory sites are fully optimized.
Checking that the right address, phone number, website, and contact information comes up when your company is searched on the web is a good starting point, and a digital marketing agency can help you with the more detailed parts of getting your directory listings in order.
Get Help With Your Digital Marketing
Contact Advanté-BCS at (804) 788-0048 or get in touch online to start a unique digital marketing campaign that can help you convert potential customers and attract a host of new ones. Our team will be with you every step of the way and can even assist in the pre-planning needed before starting a digital marketing campaign.
