Do you really tie all of your marketing activities together as much as you could?

Cuisinart ran print ads targeting 20-somethings, featuring good-looking guys and babes having a party. The headline was “When the burgers and ‘ritas are as good as the gossip!” No landing page was listed, just “cuisinart.com for great recipes.”

When you got to Cuisinart.com, there was no mention of the 20-somethings, no “burgers and ‘ritas” tie-in. And you really had to search to find the recipes on the site (think the 20-something target spent a lot of time looking for them?). Clearly no integration between this print ad campaign and a relevant landing page.

How integrated are your marketing activities?  Answer these 9 questions to find out . . .

How well do you integrate your website with your marketing activities?

1.  Do you set up a landing page for everything?

Every time you launch a new campaign — whether email alone, direct mail alone, print ad alone, PPC or banner ads alone, some other vehicle alone – or a combination of advertising vehicles — do you set up a landing page for that campaign?  (If not, you should.)

2.  Does your landing page repeat the messaging and images from the campaign? 

Using the same headline on your landing page as you use in your advertising campaign is a proven way to get better response.  Be sure the landing page looks like the email, direct mail, print ad, or banner ad that sent me to the page.

3.  Can landing page visitors easily locate your Offer?

Have you placed the Offer you promised in the campaign — and how to get it — high up on the page, so I can easily locate it without scrolling?

Landing pages should be focused on the promised Offer — so place the response button high up on the page so the visitor notices it as soon as they arrive.

4.  Is your campaign messaging also featured on your home page?

Will visitors who don’t enter your site via the landing page still see your campaign messaging, Offer, and images?

You may not want it to be the main feature, but visitors should still easily be able to find information on the campaign on your home page.

5.  Can I find information on your campaign from your other web pages?

What if I enter your site on an interior page from the organic (non-paid) search listings?  Do you have an easy-to-find link to the key action from the campaign on every page of your site?

Don’t make the visitor search around for your campaign Offer to avoid losing them.

It’s still true that about 98% of your web visitors take no trackable action on your website.  (Just take your leads and sales divided by total visitors on your site for a period of time to find your conversion number.  It could be even lower than the 2% often cited.)

Why?  You haven’t presented a prominent, valuable Offer that motivates your range of visitors to take an action — or you promised something, but then didn’t deliver on the website (like Cuisinart’s recipes that we can’t find).

How well do you integrate your campaigns with pay-per-click?

1.  Do you modify your pay-per-click ads and keywords to tie in with your other campaigns?

When you launch a new campaign with print ads, direct mail, or other media, do you consider using in your PPC campaign similar headlines and benefits mentioned in the ads or mailers? Think no one will be searching on your ad wording? Think again . . .

When Loreal ran a television campaign using the word “redensified”, I blogged about this strange choice of term. I actually got comments from others who had searched on the term “redensified”!

How well do you integrate email into your other marketing activities?

1.  Do you use email to boost results from your direct mail?

Especially when mailing to customers or past responders, an email sent to arrive around the same time as a direct mail offer can greatly improve results. Be sure to use the same messaging, look, and offer in the email as in the direct mail.

2.  Do you advise your customers by email of special sales or promotions before the general public?

Take a page out of the Nordstrom book and build loyalty among your customers with advance notice.

3.  Have you considered using email to support a limited time offer in newspaper inserts?

Target Marketing magazine reported that JC Penney includes a link in its emails to a “This week’s store ad” web page that replicates the offers made in that week’s newspaper insert.

How did your marketing activities measure up in terms of integration?  Are there additional ways to improve marketing integration that I missed?

Excerpted from our new book, “The Results Obsession: ROI-Focused Digital Strategies to Transform Your Marketing”, now available on Amazon!

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