Remember when websites first came into the marketing scene? They were nothing more than an online brochure.
Now more than ever, you must transition your website from that outdated brochure style to a living, breathing entity that will drive your sales success. I like to say all roads to sales come through your website at some point.
And this applies to every industry. You may be correct in saying that some industries are slower to adapt — but the tidal wave of changing buyer habits will sneak up and bite you in the proverbial posterior if you’re not careful.
So what’s the rush? What will you experience if you don’t make the mindset shift now Frankly, some serious pain: eroding website visitors, harder to get sales, competitors outpacing you, and decreasing margins from sub-optimal accounts.
I get that you have a lot of marketing functions going on, but you should be focusing the majority of your time, efforts, and budget on these 3 essential functions for sales success. (Yes, even if you are still getting some results from your old marketing habits.)
Why? Your website is the heart of your business, or should be.
Forbes contributor Scott Gillum reports that many customers will go through 70% of the buying process before making initial contact with your sales people. After all, what’s the easiest way to make purchase decisions now? Hop on a plane, fly across the country, and visit a potential vendor or stay in your comfy office, do a Google search, and have hundreds of search results right at your fingertips? From there you can view their website, read their blog, download a whitepaper, and still make your 6:00 dinner reservation.
Meet your website’s three new BFFs for sales success:
- Your blog
- Social media
- SEO
Your website alone is not enough — you need to introduce it to its new best friend, the blog. Together, they will make beautiful music together. Your blog can make the static pages of your website come to life with activity while fueling your other digital efforts.
23% of Internet usage time is devoted to social networks or blogs — it’s where all of your business peeps are hanging out. But you need fresh content to engage the right audience on social media. Without it, it’s hard to leverage your social channels in a way that leads to sales success. The idea is to get all of those targeted people from social media and bring them to your blog and website.
SEO efforts used to be totally separate from your marketing applications. The whole function could be done by a SEO company in a vacuum. Now, Google is making everyone work harder to win their affection. Think of them like a library: If you went to your local library and only found a bunch of advertisements, you would probably not go again. Google and other search engines know this, and compete to serve users the most relevant, fresh, and helpful content.
We are facing the fastest changing business environment ever: more competition, more technology, and more sophisticated marketers in the B2B world. Waiting too long to make these changes puts your company in jeopardy of losing out on valuable opportunities. These changes are not quick fixes — which is why you should get started now. Having a website is not good enough anymore. Add these 3 marketing functions as your website’s new BFFs for sales success that will last into the future.
