Category: Sales & Marketing

One of the most important things tied to high conversion rates is making an effective call-to-action (CTA) on your website. Engaging your audience and visitors in this way may be exactly what you need to boost your business and see your business flourish.

There are some tactics you should keep in mind when approaching CTA implementation to your website and we’ve summarized some of them for your better understanding of the process. Making a compelling CTA can be tricky, u don’t want to be too aggressive, yet, you don’t want your CTA to seem like something visitors would rather avoid than click on it. Here are some things to keep in mind when making an effective call-to-action on your site.

What is CTA?

Basically, CTA is a button on your page that helps you make leads out of your visitors, by filling out a form on your landing page. CTA button takes your potential customers to your higher-value offers page – the landing page.

The conversion process from visitors to leads can even lead to getting more paying customers, so it’s important to address it in the proper way. CTAs are the first step in the conversion process. They are what starts the conversion as they promote an offer and links which take to your landing page, where the conversion process takes place.

CTA Sequencing

There are many various examples of CTAs, as they are a part of the majority of websites with any interest in the conversion process. Luckily, learning from those examples showed us general practices, which can help us define the best applications for the successful conversion process.

Generally, here are some examples, and only one of those is really able to give the wanted results.

• CTA > Blog Post > Landing Page
• Landing Page > CTA > Thank You Page
• CTA > Landing Page > Thank You Page
• Blog Post > CTA > Landing Page

As you can see, some of these examples include CTAs with blog posts, which, in practice, don’t really affect conversion rates that much. The second and the third examples include the landing page, but that’s where you need to take your visitors, so the choice is obvious.

The ideal sequencing for a good CTA strategy is to have a call-to-action that takes your visitors to the Landing page, and after they’ve filled out the form, they are taken to the Thank You page to collect the offer.

Best CTA Practices

There are some great practices that have proven to be quite successful in elevating conversion rates. There are 5 major things to keep in mind as noted by Only SEO Gold Coast:

• Standing out – the more your CTA grabs your visitors’ attention, higher conversion rates are imminent. Make sure your CTA is consistent with your website, but it should be quite visible or stand out in best possible way.
• Action orientation – take care of your wording. If the visitors have to think hard about their next step, then something is wrong. Tell them what to do and aim them in the right direction.
• On-Page placement – CTAs should stand out, but they should also seem like they are the part of the page. You don’t want CTA buttons to seem like they don’t belong, for it may throw off your visitors from clicking on it.
• Consistent keywords – if you use the same keywords and phrases for the full conversion process, your visitors understand what to do and where are they going to get. Look at the entire process as a whole and you can get great results.
• Test changes (A/B testing), analyze results – when experimenting with CTA changes start small. Implement a small change and watch it perform. Changes like color, font style or the wording should all be tried on its own, in order to see what the true results are.

Great goals to have in mind when analyzing your CTA are 1 – 2% click-through-rate and 10% for click-to-submission rates. When your CTA has these numbers, you know you’re doing something right.

Great CTA Examples

We’ve selected a few of the best CTAs that we think do their job great. You can see the different design techniques used to achieve amazing conversion rates.

• Dropbox – Always simple with a lot of negative space, Dropbox is always aiming at the subtle and simple approach. Thanks to this, their CTAs stand out by merely using the same color as the logo, making their page consistent, and visitors clear of what they should do next.
• Netflix – Biggest fear when it comes to signing in, for most visitors is – will I be able to cancel my subscription later on? Netflix solved this in a neat way. They have simple, yet quite noticeable CTAs stand out, but the content and the text around it indicate that users are free to “Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime”. This has helped their conversion rates grow significantly.

Conclusion

Creating an enticing CTA can really help any website’s conversion rates expansion, and they can help your business evolve. Using proper techniques and strategies, you can adapt your CTAs in best possible way, and maximize the full potential of your website.

Not-So-News Flash: Paid Traffic costs money… sometimes lots of it. So, the last thing you want to do is drain your marketing budget to paying for low-quality, unengaged traffic.

To help you make the most of your marketing dollars, here are some key questions to think about before you begin your next paid traffic campaign.

1. Who’s your target audience?

This is a simple question, but fundamental. If you’re selling designer fitness wear, then you may want to define your target more narrowly than ‘Men and Women between ages 18 and 24.” Otherwise, you’ll end up paying for whole swathes of people who don’t know the difference between Lululemon and citrus fruit.

Put your thinking cap on and figure out who you expect to buy your product. Who’s your ideal customer? Break out a white board and write down everything you come up with. Take that information and boil it down into a customer avatar.

As an example, here’s a customer avatar we created for Drop Ship Lifestyle.

Basic Info

Name: Jacob

Age: 34

Relationship Status: Married

Household: 2 KidsEducation: Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

Employment: Information Technology Specialist

Household Income: $130,000/yr

Interests: Technology, Golf, and Travel

Religion: Non-practicing Catholic

Favorite Brands: Apple, Under Armour, Nike, Chipotle

Favorite Websites: Facebook, Reddit

Personal Goals: Improve his handicap (golf) and find meaning at work

Business Goals: Build a second source of income alongside his day job

Family Goals: Secure finances, spend more time with the kids, and take more vacations

What problems is Jacob currently experiencing?

Jacob’s hit a ceiling at work. Dissatisfied with his position and income, he wants to go into business for himself. With a wife and two kids, however, he can’t give up his day job. He’s investigated different side businesses, but everything seems too expensive or time intensive.

What’s the worst that could happen if I don’t help Jacob?

Since Jacob is unhappy at work, his performance may suffer. He could potentially lose his job. He’ll have to drain his savings account to support his family. Eager to take the first job that comes along, he may find himself in an even more worse job situation than before. With such a hit to his finances and ego, he may never find the confidence to start a business.

What keeps Jacob up at night?

Jacob is plagued by the thought that he could spend his entire life toiling away at a job he doesn’t love and still not be able to put his kids through school or buy his wife a new car.

What does Jacob want more than anything else?

To supplement his income so that he could bring in a few thousand dollars a month without having to leave his day job.

What would he be willing to drain his bank account for?

Jacob would gladly pay someone to show him how they were able to build their own side business without investing a ton of their own money or leaving their day job.

How does my product match up with Jacob’s situation?

Right now, Jacob doesn’t know what he needs. He wants to become an entrepreneur, but reading hundreds of articles on Entrepreneur.com has only left him confused. With DSL’s coaching program, we can introduce him to eCommerce and show him how to build a lucrative, scalable business with a minimum of time and money invested.

2. Where does my target audience spend their time?

Of course, you’re not going to look for Jacob specifically—we made him up out of thin air, remember? Still, you’re going to want to find people just like Jacob. To do that, you need to know where those types of people hang out.

Are they on social media? Can you find them on Facebook or Reddit? Twitter or Youtube? If so, then those would be great options for your paid traffic campaign.

On the other hand, maybe they’re members of that rare breed who choose not to use social media. Perhaps they’re more into browsing “serious” outlets like CNN or NPR. In that case, either you can advertise directly on those sites or use Google Adsense to retarget those users.

The basic principle is what matters here: think hard about where your target audience spends their time on the web and tailor your ad campaigns to hit them where they already are.

3. How do I get my target audience to notice and respond?

Whether you’re optimizing an ad itself or its corresponding landing page, you absolutely must speak in a way that resonates with your target audience and convinces them you’re worth engaging with.

If for example, your paid traffic is pointed at a lead magnet of some sort, you need to convince people that it’ll tangibly improve their lives. Make sure your copy clearly answers this question: why should they fork over their private contact information to download your content?

Here are a few ways we like to do that:

• Make sure your audience knows exactly what they’re getting.
• Capture their emotions by painting a picture of how your content will benefit them.
• Clearly explain to your audience how they can use your content to succeed in life.
• Provide examples of real people who’ve succeeded with this specific piece of content.

Remember to treat your audience as you would a friend. Put yourself in their place and ask, “what would I need to hear to be convinced that this product is what I need?”

Conclusion

Take the time to answer these three questions honestly and comprehensively. Think hard about who your ideal customers are. Then, find out where they hang out and how your ads can meet them there and to compel them to act.

If you can line up your answers to these three questions, you’ll never again let your paid traffic dollars go to waste.

About the Author

Caitlin is an Austin-based digital marketer with a passion for content and social media marketing. She is the newest member of the Performance Marketer team and brings years of writing and marketing experience.

Figuring out a market go-to strategy can be a challenging task. Add to this the complexity of culture and economics from across the world and it is clear why few businesses successfully make the transition from being a domestic player to an international corporation. Take McDonald’s for example. The extremely successful quick service chain is positioned as a cheap fast food option for customers in countries like the US. At the same time, the company markets itself as an urban fast food joint for customers in developing economies.

As an entrepreneur, it is important to understand how your product fits each of the demographics that you target. This is true not only while working on the positioning of your product in a specific geography, but also in deciding whether or not you must enter a specific market or not. Here are a few factors you will need to take care of while marketing your product in different countries across the world.

Understand your market 

Your go-to strategy and positioning depend a great deal on the level of saturation and competitor profile in the market. Take dishwashers, for example. The product is quite ubiquitous in countries like the United States where the market is saturated and is dominated by the likes of Bosch, Samsung, GE, Frigidaire and Whirlpool. At the same time, dishwashers are not really a thing in a number of emerging markets including the likes of China and India. A brand entering countries such as these would not only be required to position themselves as the best in business, but also educate the customer on the need for such a product.

Chart your competitor profile 

How your customers view your product vary across markets and a major contributor to this is the prevailing competitor profile. ECommerce is a terrific example of this. In many countries in the developed world, eCommerce is a mainstream reality and your market positioning should be based on creating a streamlined process and differentiating yourself from existing players in the market. On the other hand, eCommerce in smaller and poorer countries could still be in its infancy. As a result, a lot of your marketing should be about establishing credibility and trust in the market. Customers who are not exposed to eCommerce may not really prefer purchasing a product without the ‘touch and feel’ that they are used to with conventional retail.

Acknowledge cultural and linguistic differences 

Marketers routinely make the mistake of crafting a universal positioning statement that is then translated into the various native languages that the product is marketed in. This is not only ineffective, but also extremely risky. KFC, for instance, launched their “finger-lickin’ good” campaign in China with a Mandarin translation that literally meant “we’ll eat your fingers off”. Such campaigns can cast a negative light on your brand and can potentially be viewed as culturally insensitive, ultimately hurting your customer acquisition efforts.

Prepare a pricing strategy 

Pricing plays a major role in determining the success or failure of your product in a market. Startup businesses seldom have local manufacturing or assembly plants and instead rely on global distribution from their warehouse or supplier. This can affect your success in a number of ways. Competitors who source and manufacture locally in emerging economies will often have a price advantage over your product. This is especially true if it is exported to the market, as the international shipping costs can add as much as $10-$20 per product for even small scale shipments. Your marketing strategy should identify a price point and this should help you work out the strategies for procurement, manufacturing, assembly and distribution.

Catering to a global customer base can be quite challenging. But we are living in an extremely globalized world that has made such transactions simpler and seamless. By understanding your market and your customers, you can pave the way to building a solid go-to strategy that is the first step towards succeeding at a global scale.

Article Contributed by Kumar Venkatesiah

Launching a business in a saturated market can be an overwhelming experience. Depending on the industry you are in, you may have competitors that have high brand equity and those who have existed in the business for several decades. Establishing credibility and trustworthiness in a market overrun by such competitors is no easy task. But it can be done. Here are a few ways a startup entrepreneur can take on competitors with high reputation in a saturated market.

Carve a niche 

Why do customers go to Toys “R” Us stores when you can buy toys at a Walmart or Target store? The answer lies in the fact that Toys “R” Us has managed to carve a niche for itself in this category. A customer looking to buy toys would prefer a niche store over a generic one for two reasons – one, a specialized store is more likely to have a larger depth of products to pick and choose from, and two, positioning your business as a specialist in a category helps with a higher ‘top of the mind’ recall.

Entrepreneurs should look at carving a niche in their industry of choice. For instance, someone looking at launching an apparel business could focus on something really niche – like formal wear for women, or cotton shirts for men. This brings down the number of direct competitors quite significantly and helps you gain a foothold in the market that you may expand at a later stage when you have a loyal clientele.

Personalize/Customize 

Personalization of products is an industry that is often under-served in many product categories. If your industry does not yet have a popular provider of personalized products, it could probably be an opportunity for you to jump in. You could personalize anything from beer, cigar, t-shirts, water bottles to even placemats and candy labels.

Personalization may not suit all product categories though. In such cases, entrepreneurs could look at customization. Market leaders in most product categories sustain their leadership through economies of scale. This is only possible through the manufacture and distribution of high volumes of a limited number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). With customization, entrepreneurs could serve business requirements that are not fulfilled by a ‘one size fits all’ product that market leaders offer. Such a strategy works through a ‘high margin, low volume’ that helps startup entrepreneurs quickly get a foothold in the market.

Create a unique experience 

Carving a niche or personalizing the product cannot always work across industries. In other segments, the most effective and sustainable way to gain market share in a saturated market is by creating an experience that existing providers do not offer. For instance, Uber penetrated the monopolistic taxi market by offering a pickup and drop service that traditional taxis could not offer. Smartphone maker OnePlus penetrated the Android phone market by providing high-end features to mid-range customers. Creating an experience that does not exist today is a fantastic way to penetrate the market and gain market share.

Listening to the customer helps entrepreneurs identify such differentiating factors in business. You could, for instance, check out the publicly accessible customer support forums and product message boards online to identify the common pain points that customers face with the current products in the market. Alternately, entrepreneurs could conduct targeted surveys of people in your demographic to understand what they like and do not like with the current offerings. These strategies help entrepreneurs identify factors that could help you differentiate and thus create a unique experience for the customer.

Starting a business is never easy and launching in an industry that is saturated is extremely tough. But if history is anything to go by, it has been done time and again and it is up to the persevering entrepreneur to devise a strategy that can help them penetrate the market and beat the competition in their industry.

Article Contributed by Christina White

In this fast-paced tech-oriented world, more and more people are focusing their advertising efforts towards online and mobile marketing practices. This is perfectly understandable; as more than half of all internet traffic is now coming from a mobile device. However, when it comes to grabbing the people attention, it may be sometimes better to use an old-fashioned, well-thought-out graphic sign. And the design that goes into making a sign can have a substantial influence on the number of new customers your company could potentially acquire. That said, here are 5 signage tips you can use to help better promote your business.

1.      Keep it legible and visible

You’ve probably already heard the old “less is more” saying. It is an integral part of sign design process, as keeping the message clear and short makes the sign easier to see and read its content with a single glance.  Although signs come in many different shapes and sizes, choosing the appropriate one becomes fairly important once you realize that not every sign size is appropriate for every viewing distance. This is why you have to consider the location where your sign will be placed and remove any obstacles that might interfere with the sign’s visibility.

Another factor to consider when it comes to visibility is clutter. A good sign has to communicate the message concisely and efficiently. Overstuffing your sign with too much text not only makes it harder for people to read it from a distance but also moves the reader’s attention away from the message you’re trying to convey. Marketers tend to fill up any blank space on a sign in order to get the most out of their investment. What they don’t realize is that this “blank space” around words and graphics is equally important for conveying the message as the text itself.

2.      Choose the right color scheme

The right color scheme is crucial for any well-designed sign. Not only does it grab the reader’s attention, it can also be used to convey the brand’s identity. Think Coca-Cola red or Starbucks green for example. Trademark recognition has more to do with the choice of color than the actual logo representing it. Avoid using background colors which make reading the message difficult. Choose a color which contrasts well with other colors, such as black on white or black on yellow. This allows for an easier reading experience, even when viewed from a distance.

3.      Add contrast for better readability

It’s not the color scheme that determines the sign’s readability. Sure, it does play a great part, but if you wish to increase the readability, you have to think about the contrast. Most signs these days’ place graphics and text in the foreground, with the background being filled with a single, continuous color. This creates a contrast between the background and the foreground, allowing the reader to focus on the content more quickly and with ease. The bigger the contrast, the easier it is to view the text from a distance.

4.      Find the right font type

The best fonts are the ones that are clean and easy to read. And there’s a big misconception that as capital letters are “bigger” than the lower case ones, they are easier for reading from a certain distance. This is simply not true, as capital letters produce quite the opposite effect then, let’s say, using both capital and lower case letters. As nothing is ever written using only capital letters, it’s only natural to keep the text as “normal” as possible.

You can, however, use bold, italic and extended text, in order to shift the focus towards a specific part of the message. Finally, avoid using extremely small fonts for the contact information and if you insist on using two different fonts in the same design, make sure that they complement each other and make the message really stand out.

5.      Don’t forget to illuminate you sign

Whether you’re using a banner, poster, billboard or even corflute sign, don’t forget to check if they are properly illuminated, especially during the nighttime. A well-placed light source can be used to accent the sign and draw the reader’s eyes towards it. Not only does it result in a controlled and in turn, more attractive visual, but illumination increases the chance of your sign remaining effective even beyond the regular business hours.

No matter how good you make the sign look, it’s basically a pretty, but empty shell without good copywriting. The message you’re trying to convey is a direct representation of your brand and business, so make sure to write a compelling and engaging message. If you don’t have the necessary writing skills, then hiring a professional writer might be your best choice. Fortunately, they are easy to find online and usually don’t cost that much. The same can be said about graphic designers, but their services tend to be a tad more expensive when compared to hiring a writer. Never go for the cheapest option, but at the same time avoid spending your entire marketing budget on a single sign.

About the Author

Christina White is a marketing consultant from Sydney. She’s been working with different companies for 6 years now. When taking a break from making new marketing slogans, you can find her hiking with her furry four legged companion or just sharing positivity among her friends.