Are you practicing always-on marketing, and if not, why not?

In the pre-digital era, marketing activities were planned in campaign ‘bursts’ around new product launches and promotions. My belief is that to be effective, digital marketing needs a change in mindset so businesses invest sufficient time and budget into continuously  optimizing ‘always-on’ activities which can be used in an integrated way to maximise visibility and conversion through the customer lifecycle.

What is always-on marketing?

Always-on marketing: A working definition

Always-on marketing means a planned approach to scheduling and optimizing continuous marketing activities which support customer acquisition and retention throughout the customer lifecycle. Consider the main types of digital marketing. Think about these key digital media I define in my Digital Marketing: Strategy and Implementation book. If you operate in a market where your potential customers are continuously searching for new products and services that you offer then you can't be competitive unless you continuously…

A Roadmap for Your Google Optimize Alternatives Assessment

As Google’s long-standing A/B testing tool recently rode off into the sunset (9/30/23), the online marketing world is buzzing with activity as a multitude of marketers seek the Google Optimize alternative that’s right for them. For many teams, such an unexpected and obligatory transition is bringing up a flurry of questions, such as: What exactly do we need in an A/B testing solution, really? Should our focus be replicating Google Optimize’s specific functionality? Is a paid solution in our budget, if we were using the free version of Optimize? Could this situation be leveraged as an opportunity to upgrade? How much value can we get without stressing our budget? What other options have free versions comparable to Optimize? Should we just hit the pause button on A/B testing until the dust settles? The goal of this article is to provide a realistic…

Depending on what business you’re in, typically anywhere from 2%-15% of your online visitors convert into customers. That means 85%-98% don’t. So, wouldn’t you like to know why?

You can, by gathering some critical customer feedback with some very affordable methods and tools. Best of all, all of these analyses can be done for less than $1000 (USD).

I call this ‘taking the pulse’ of your prospects and customers — from two angles, and using multiple methods. By two angles I mean doing both quantitative and qualitative analysis. And the methods include:

Reviewing your analytics data Reviewing your visitor clickstream data Gathering ‘voice of customer’ data Running an eye-tracking study Launching a one-question poll Getting expert conversion review [si_monthly_campaign_blog_cta_banner id="150538"]

Why so many methods? Well, your medical doctor doesn’t just check your blood pressure, then say, ‘OK, we’re done,’ and send you on your…

You need landing pages - great, high-performing landing pages that convert a high percentage of visitors.

You need to capture leads. You need customers. In other words: you need landing pages. Great, high-performing landing pages that convert a high percentage of visitors. But consider this: The average conversion rate of landing pages is 2.35%. How can you create your landing page to exceed this average and convert at a far higher conversion rate? For instance, how can you be in the top 10 achieving 11.45% and above? To start with, you need to follow landing page best practices to make sure you’re starting with great a design – that’s one of the most important steps in developing a high-converting page. [si_guide_block id="5690" title="Download our Individual Member Resource – 7 steps to creating high-converting landing pages" description="The guide has over…

Conversions can be tricky things to keep on top of, and all businesses are different, so how will you know where to set the bar?

Failing to prepare means you're preparing to fail. Even if things are going well, it’s still important to carry some form of preparation, otherwise, how will you know when you’ve hit your targets? When it comes to the wide world of driving conversions, most websites will agree that the more they leverage, the better. While this is, of course, completely true, marketing strategies are complex and often expensive entities that require constant monitoring and plenty of funding. Due to this, it’s important to set goals and targets as you go, so you’re fully aware of when you’ve achieved everything you’ve set out to do and can successfully close your campaign. [si_monthly_campaign_blog_cta_banner id="150538"] Conversions can be tricky things to keep on top of, and all businesses…

Landing pictures are arguably the most important elements of any digital marketing campaign and building a high converting landing page requires extensive testing

There are countless resources on the science behind conducting split tests. However, the problem most marketers face doesn’t seem to be with knowing how to run a split test. It seems to be with split testing the right variables. It is easy to exhaust your testing budget by focusing on the wrong elements. Here are some of the elements that will have the biggest impact on your campaign. After running a number of split tests, you will determine which landing page elements have the strongest impact on your ROI. However, keep in mind that the elements that affect your campaign the most may be different. Make sure to adjust your testing hierarchy accordingly.

Length of your copy

The written content on your landing page plays an important role in your conversion…

Learn how we updated and improved our key membership pages to increase conversion and improve the quality of leads with simple customer-centric copy changes

To stay ahead of the competition, you need to keep monitoring and reviewing your key sales pages - are they converting, how much is it costing per user to convert and how can you improve conversions? At Smart Insights, we'll hold our hands up and admit our key Business Membership sales pages were due an update and so we started work on these at the beginning of the year. Here's how it went...

The problem

We had four landing pages that were designed to describe the value proposition of Business Membership and direct users to relevant pages to find out more: The overall generic filter page that is used to capture leads who would like to learn more about the different types of Business Membership, without delving too deep into…

While WordPress makes it easy to create a blog or website for everyone for free, it’s not always that easy and often webmasters end up making several mistakes

WordPress is one of the most trusted platforms for creating a website. Many people prefer this CMS when it comes to creating different types of websites, whether it's a blog, Q&A website, portfolio website, or an e-commerce website. WordPress offers good features for building and customizing websites, making it an easy-to-use option. While WordPress makes it easy to create a blog or website for everyone for free, it’s not always that easy and often webmasters end up making several mistakes. Due to these WordPress website mistakes, you can fail to get the desired results with your site. Even savvy WordPress users, who have been using it for years can make mistakes. [si_guide_block id="117353" title=“Access our Quick Win – How to create a successful blogging strategy…

Google changes search results, Instagram has fastest growing brand value, video is most engaging in-app ad format, Facebook meeting with anti-censorship groups, YouTube cracks down on white supremacist content, TikTok testing new ad targeting tools

One of the biggest updates recently - besides Google's algorithm update - is the news that the search engine will be changing how search results are displayed, which could drastically affect traffic numbers. Other stories have seen Instagram be announced at the fastest growing brand in terms of value, topping Amazon. When it comes to in-app ads, video has been found to be the most engaging in a new study. Facebook has faced more protests about its censorship of female nipples but the platform has now agreed to meet anti-censorship groups to discuss the issue. YouTube has followed in Facebook's steps to take a harsher stance on white supremacist and Holocaust denier content. Finally, TikTok is reportedly testing new tools that…

Discover how AWA digital defied "best practice" to drive up conversion rates for a global car rental company

Discover Cars, a fast-growing car rental comparison and booking site, came to conversion rate optimization (CRO) agency AWA digital for help with increasing the profitability of their website. To Discover Cars, "profitability" meant an increase to both conversion rates and average revenue per session (RPS). Car rental sales are always important, but most of the RPS boost came from their highly profitable upsells, so maximizing uptake of these was key to getting the best ROI. Using their proven methodology, AWA started the deep research that defines its process before creating a roadmap of hypotheses and split tests. [si_guide_block id="27373" title="Website conversion optimization planner" description="Stop losing valuable leads and sales. Use our website conversion optimization planner to map out your next project and ensure you're getting the most of our your site…