Digital marketing can get you in front of potential customers, while the right strategy can get them to convert.
Here, you’ll find:
- How search results affect customer acquisition
- The organic efforts that can help acquire new leads
- Effective paid marketing strategies for your business
- How to ensure your site is set up for optimal acquisition
Marketing pros who aren’t new to the game likely know all about the customer journey. It’s comprised of the stages we base our content, campaigns, and gameplans on: awareness, consideration, and decision. (With as the bonus step.) And the customer journey is a crucial element when it comes to acquisition.
Customer acquisition is the process of going from a generated lead to a converted customer — it’s basically the whole funnel (or journey) combined. At the end of the day, marketing is about attracting new customers, and keeping customer acquisition top of mind is how marketers can make that happen.
While there’s no one way to pinpoint and acquire qualified leads that are sure to become customers, there are a handful of digital marketing strategies you can implement with customer acquisition in mind. Here, we’ve mapped out six of our favorites.
Companies that use paid search for successful customer acquisition know it’s not only about the ad. (Image via Unsplash)
1. Paid search
Also known as , paid search is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies when it comes to customer acquisition. That’s because it allows companies to target their specific audience with the right keywords at the right time.
Paid search ads appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) on sites like Google and Bing. If someone’s searching for “women’s black cycling shoes,” for example, and you’re an e-commerce brand selling cycling products (including women’s black cycling shoes), you want your targeted ad to be the one they see. The same goes for brands selling services and other products.
The companies that use paid search for successful customer acquisition know it’s not only about the ad, though. Rather, it’s crucial to pair eye-catching, appealing ad copy with an that boasts consistent verbiage, clean design, and a clear call to action (CTA).
2. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Along with a paid search strategy, having helps your website be more easily recognized by search engines. This helps improve your rankings and, ideally, grow your reach for better customer acquisition.
Proper SEO on your site means having elements including:
- Unique title tags on your pages
- High-quality content marketing
- Internal links and external links (to authoritative sites)
- A site map
- Meta descriptions
- Images with alt tags
Ensuring your site is optimized for search engines won’t automatically get you in the first position (or even the first page) on the SERPs. The search algorithm that determines the best content for each search query is constantly changing, and the details about how search engines determine the best content to show searchers isn’t always clear.
However, by keeping your site up to date, easy to navigate, and educational for prospects and clients, you can position your brand as a thought leader and your site as a valuable resource of information.
3. Social media
When it comes to , you’ve got the option to leverage both organic and paid avenues. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that each path can be leveraged in the same way or achieve the same results.
Let’s start with organic social media. The practice of regularly creating social media posts can spread the word about new business offerings or updates, increase your exposure, and even help you go viral (in the good way, ideally).
While organic social posts likely won’t directly result in customer acquisition, they can aid in brand awareness, content sharing, and allow you to .
Paid social, on the other hand, can be a powerful tool if wielded properly. When choosing which platforms to advertise on, you should first consider your and the platforms they use most.
From there, you should take advantage of the audience targeting tools most of these platforms have in place, so you can get your content delivered straight to those who need to see it most. Paid social is a great way to meet people where they are in a way that’s nearly seamless.
When done right, remarketing is one of the best ways to get past visitors back to your site. (Image via Unsplash)
4. Remarketing
As we’ve touched on before, in numerous ways. Not only does it keep you top of mind when someone visits your site without making a purchase or requesting a consultation or demo, but it allows you to hyper-focus your ads and ups your chances of turning a lead into a conversion.
Remarketing (also called retargeting) works by leveraging display ads to connect your business with people who have already visited your site or mobile app. The most successful remarketing campaigns aren’t one size fits all, of course — a brand-new site visitor shouldn’t be remarketed the same way as a returning visitor. When done right, it’s one of the best ways to get past visitors back to your site. Bonus: it’s one of the most cost-effective ad strategies around.
5. Content marketing
When people hear “,” they may automatically think of blogs. And while blogging is a great medium for businesses when it comes to customer acquisition, it can encompass much more. Content can be:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Guides and e-books
- Infographics
- Checklists
- Downloadable templates
- Product descriptions
- Case studies
No matter the content you create, you want to make sure it’s accurate, helpful, and targeted. The more content you create, the more industry topics you can cover, and the more likely you are to be found on SERPs by those in search of what you have to offer.
You can even take things a step further by partnering with another brand on a piece of content, such as an infographic, webinar, or guest blog. This expands your reach, helps you build a professional network, and boosts your credibility as a reliable source.
6. Email newsletters
As Digital Marketing Institute , you’re six times more likely to get a click-through from an email campaign than from a tweet. Newsletters can be a powerful acquisition channel if you follow a few key strategies. The most successful newsletters:
- Include only one main CTA
- Offer a tactical takeaway (like a pro tip, discount, or statistic)
- Feature an attention-grabbing subject line
- Have an easy-to-read template
- Are optimized for mobile
When you’re looking to build your non-client subscriber list, get creative! You can add exit-intent pop-ups to your site, or include a subscription box in your site’s footer. Offline, you can give people the option to sign up if your brand is posted up in a booth at an industry conference or networking event — a particularly effective strategy if you’re doing a giveaway or contest.
Pro tip: Let your readers help you spread the word! Include social share links as well as forwarding options in your email newsletter to make sharing a breeze.
You’re six times more likely to get a click-through from an email campaign than from a tweet. (Image via Unsplash)
The takeaway
Customers are the bread and butter of any business, and digital marketing is one of the most direct ways to connect with your desired prospects.
By knowing your audience, meeting them where they are, and analyzing the data behind your campaigns, you’ll have the tools you need to not only attract more customers, but keep them loyal and happy as well.
We know a thing or two about successful digital marketing here at HawkSEM. Wondering how we can take your ROI to the next level?
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