Technology, as Wikipedia describes it, is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/output relation or perform a specific function. In other words, technology is supposed to HELP us and IMPROVE our lives. Then why do we fall victim to technology so much? We invest an enormous amount of resources into in, let it consume us, allow it to control us on occasion, and we fear it because we don’t fully understand it.
Most agencies have the best intentions when it comes to technology, especially marketing technology; however, they are typically missing the mark. Below are five ways to get marketing technology to work for you; not the other way around.
Consistent
When looking at technology from a marketing perspective, there should be two main goals:
- Brand Awareness
- Lead Generation
In order to maximize your brand awareness, you have to keep you brand consistent across any platform or media. The user needs to have the same experience, see the same imagery and hear the same message regardless of where they encounter your brand. For example, a lot of agencies just throw their logo in the profile image on social media and think that they are done. You have to make sure that the colors, imagery, and words all match across all platforms, whether they are on your website or social media, if they see a commercial, or even down to things like receiving an email.
Consistency matters.
Appropriate
Your technology needs to be appropriate. What does that mean? It means understanding your buyer personas and understanding the way that they want to interact and consume their content. Most agency owners like new/flashy things, so they implement without really thinking it through. One example is having someone walk out on your screen and start talking to the visitor, or having auto-play videos. This may work for some markets, but not necessarily insurance. If you are looking to attract mid-market and sophisticated clients that value risk management, then this example will most likely turn them away. Do they want videos and interactive information? Yes, but they want to navigate your site on their own and play the videos they want to play.
User-centric
Mobile. Everyone is mobile. The number of agencies that still have a non-responsive website amazes me. Your clients and potential clients are on the go! If they can’t view your site correctly on a phone, tablet, laptop, etc. then you are missing opportunities. We run a free marketing grader and this is almost always one of the big red flags. We usually find that well over 35% of an agency’s traffic is coming to their site via a mobile device.
If 35% of your traffic comes to your site, is unhappy with the user experience and bounces quickly, what does that equate to in potential lost new revenue?
Automated
The common misconception is that inbound marketing and social media take too much time, and that it is hard to prove ROI. That is simply not the case. There are several amazing tools that can make your life so much easier.
There are plenty of tools available that allow you to create workflows, monitor and publish to social media, provide in-depth analytics and more. This will save you time, give you insights to make your strategy better and provide real ROI stats.
You don’t need to hire a full-time person or spend an extra ten hours a day doing marketing. You just need to find the right automation to assist you with your plan.
Inbound marketing is the way B2B marketing works. By using technology to assist you in your efforts, you will save time, get better information, and generate more leads.