No More One Size Fits All
First there was word of mouth. One caveman would tell the other cavemen he has eggs to sell in exchange for a new bear hide blanket. The deals were direct and fast back then but finding a buyer was a formidable obstacle. Then society progressed to print advertising to increase sales. Businesses would announce items for sale in the town newspaper. The audience was a bit larger but not necessarily a targeted audience. Next came radio and even larger audiences were reached to increase sales. Again though, the audience wasn’t necessarily a targeted audience. In 1991 the World Wide Web became the newest platform through which to sell our wares and services. Today all businesses utilize the web as an advertising and sales channel.
The web’s reach is global; it expands business owners list of potential customers and clients across all nations, borders and continents.
But how do you ensure you are driving the right traffic to your website rather than a general audience of people that have zero chance of buying your product or service?
DemandBase is a company that identifies who’s visiting your website by industry, company size, market sector and a host of other dimensions. Marketers and publishers use this information to tailor their message and services to each individual or business. The idea behind it all is that customers who feel catered to will be more compelled to spend.
In this economy it’s important to turn every lead into a sale. Imagine if your business could identify who checked out your website but didn’t buy or contact you. You could find out everything about the prospect after their initial visit and use that new information to go at them for a second time to try to gain their business in a more targeted way.
Finding out who isn’t buying your services or products can be just as useful as finding out who is buying from you! When your ad copy and website usability is driving people to download or sign up for an account but you’re just not getting sales like you should, you need information on those lost sales. You can guess and hypothesize all you want about why you’re not converting leads into sales but unless you have the data to back it up all your guessing could be for naught.
These people are what I like to call “low-hanging fruit.” An easy sale is another way to put it. These people have found your website, read your copy, clicked on your pages, downloaded or signed up but not bought. They are the people who are in your grasp…your clutches, who should be buying, but aren’t. Having data on the one’s that didn’t buy is the key to increasing sales.
If most of your clients come from one specific industry you can examine why other industries aren’t buying. It could be that your message inadvertently dismisses one segment or another. You can test and try out new techniques to broaden your appeal across industries and audience segments.
You can also use the information provided by DemandBase to find out how visitors are using your website. Are they searching for information on you specifically or on products or services you sell? Find out how you’re being found and through which channels! DemandBase’s analytics tools allow users to measure the quantity and quality of website traffic generated by online advertisements, paid search, social media and other channels. This information can help you determine where to funnel future advertising dollars to and help you stop wasting money on the stuff that doesn’t work.
DemandBase is a great tool for business owners that want to learn more about their customers and increase sales. The more you know, the more you can grow!
Until Next Time…
Ethan Warrick
Editor & CE
