What are some of the most common Marketing questions that businesses ask when transitioning into Digital Marketing? Keep on reading to discover the answers!
As the world is becoming increasingly digital, especially following the global pandemic in 2020, it is no surprise that companies across all sectors are looking for ways to transition from traditional into Digital Marketing.
However, this transition can often be very confusing, and is full of many questions that have the annoying answer “it depends“. Which, in all honesty, doesn’t really help anyone. On top of that, companies just don’t know what to begin with.
Today, we will look at some of the most common marketing questions businesses ask when creating marketing corporate training programs to upskill their employees and set up strong marketing campaigns.
Of course, I am not saying that your Marketing strategy will not depend on hundreds of factors. After all, companies are different, and each industry and product will have its peculiarities. So yes, in a way, the answer to all questions cannot be too straightforward.
However, I do believe that certain strategies will be successful for most companies. Just because, as opposed to traditional Marketing, Digital Marketing doesn’t only have to do with psychology and customer behavior, but also because of algorithms and artificial intelligence.
Answering the most common Marketing questions
And now, enough with the introduction! Let’s jump right into the most common Marketing questions that companies ask – and their answers:
1. What is the best channel for generating quality leads?
Undoubtedly, one of the most common Marketing questions that businesses are concerned with is the generation of high-quality leads. After all, without leads there will be no customers – and the company wouldn’t be able to survive for long.
The problem with answering this question is that the Internet is a huge place, and it is impossible to know for sure where you can find your potential customers.
They could be “living” on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or spending most of their time browsing Google. Having said this, companies have a variety of Marketing channels to choose from when it comes to generating quality leads, including:
- Email Marketing;
- Organic Social Media;
- Paid Social Media;
- Programmatic;
- Search Engine Optimization;
- Search Engine Marketing;
- PPC;
And so on. The point is – there are a lot of channels, and it could be confusing to know where to start from. Fortunately, I think I have the answer for you!
From my experience, the best Marketing channel for generating qualified leads is Google, and most specifically, Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Why?
Because Google is the only channel that allows you to get in front of your audience at the right moment that they are searching for a product like yours.
This happens with keywords that the user types in the search bar, and get matched with the best results according to Google:
In contrast, any other channel – such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram – gets you in front of an audience that is not actively searching for something in specific. They simply get ads while browsing through their feed.
To get even more specific with the answer, let’s say that you are a business that is just starting with Digital Marketing. And you want leads right away. In this case, I would recommend starting with SEM instead of SEO.
The reason why is because Search Engine Optimization may take months to start bringing you results, while SEM can get you leads in the matter of days or even hours. In any case, if you want to start with one of them or even both, I recommend the following articles:
- Search Engine Marketing for Beginners: The Complete Guide
- The Simple Introduction to SEO for Beginners
2. How can I improve the performance of my campaigns?
Next on our list of common Marketing questions is performance, and more specifically, how to improve it. Many companies are already investing in different channels, but are not seeing the expected return on investment.
And they want to see better results with their campaigns.
Of course, any channel has its own peculiarities, but there are 2 main strategies that are always applicable no matter the channel:
A/B testing
Put simply, this term refers to the controlled testing of two different versions of the same thing.
For example, you could be testing two different landing pages, multiple banners for your campaigns, or slightly different ad texts to see which one performs better.
A/B testing is absolutely essential for better performance because it allows users to “vote” for what draws their attention the most.
For example, if you decide to try two distinctive banners and one of them gets more clicks than the other, it is a clear sign that it resonates more with your audience.
Analytics
The next essential component for better performance is making use of your data. Understanding how your campaigns and A/B tests are performing is key for making the right business and Marketing decisions.
Usually, advertising platforms come with their own Analytics dashboards that you can use to evaluate your campaign performance. However, you also need a Google Analytics account to get a better overview of your website data.
Once you get your free account up and running, you will need to observe and track the right metrics. You can learn more in my article 15 Essential Google Analytics Metrics You Need to Track.
3. Do I really need a blog?
The next on our list of common Marketing questions has to do with something that, despite all the arguments in favour, still doesn’t convince companies for some reason – blogging.
And I don’t really understand why.
The answer to this question is: Yes, I truly believe that every company needs to have a blog in their niche. I can’t even think of an industry that wouldn’t need one (although there are always exceptions, of course).
Here are some of the reasons why having a blog is essential for any business:
Search Engine Optimization
Having a blog with content optimized for search engines is an extremely powerful way for getting qualified traffic. And I put a strong emphasis on qualified – remember that people coming from search engines are actively looking for content that is related to your products or services – not just any content.
Authenticity and trustworthiness
A blog is also a great way to showcase your expertise within your industry. Providing insightful content that is helpful and valuable for your audience will not only attract them, but will also make them stay on your website to learn more about your business.
Brand visibility
Another important reason to have a blog is to increase your brand awareness. Getting your content in front of an audience of potential customers is a very efficient strategy that may bring great results in the long run.
After all, even if your reader doesn’t purchase from you right after reading your blog post, you are adding one more impact that may bring them back again later, this time with an intention to purchase.
4. Should I post on social media?
Our list of common Marketing questions continues with social media. Many businesses, especially those who are still transitioning to a Digital Marketing strategy, have their doubts on whether they should be investing time and efforts on it.
The straightforward answer is yes, most sectors should definitely be posting on social media.
In fact, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are a great tool for reaching your target audience. According to the latest digital reports, January 2020 registered a total number of 3.80 billion social media users – and this number is yet to rise.
For most niches, this means that you have really high chances of finding your target audience on one (or more) of the available social channels. In this case, the challenge is finding the right social channel for your industry.
For example, LinkedIn could be a great platform for B2B businesses because it allows them to reach a high quality audience of experienced professionals. However, it may not be as good for some B2C companies or those focused on consumer goods.
How can you choose the right social channel for your business? You can read more on that here.
5. How can I get more traffic to my website?
One of the most common Marketing questions that many businesses want to know the answer to is how to get more traffic to their website.
Getting consistent traffic is key to getting more leads, acquiring new customers, and increasing your brand visibility. But it’s not easy to do, and many companies use a combination of paid channels to reach the amount of web visitors that they desire.
The problem on relying exclusively on paid channels for getting traffic is that, in the moment that you stop spending money on them, the traffic stops as well.
For this reason, I truly believe that the best way to get consistent traffic to your website is through Search Engine Optimization, which means:
- Using relevant, long-tail keywords in your content;
- Increasingthe loading speedof your pages;
- Improving the navigation of your website;
- Paying attention to internal and external link building;
And so on! You can learn everything that you need to know about SEO here.
6. How can I transform more leads into customers?
Undoubtedly, no list of common Marketing questions can be complete without this question. In Marketing, you will see a lot of content that talks about generating leads – but no leads are worth it if they never convert to customers.
For this reason, the end goal of lead generation is almost always to convert leads into customers at some point of their journey. And here are some things that you can do to achieve this goal:
Generate quality leads
Of course, leads of better quality are more likely to become your customers later. So, instead of focusing on the number of leads, invest your efforts in finding the right channels to allocate the target audience that could actually buy from you. And, as we already mentioned, Google Ads and search campaigns with the right keywords is a great start.
Leverage customer feedback
Ask your existing customers to share their experience with your product. What convinced them to purchase from you? What is the level of satisfaction that they currently have? What are some of the areas in which you can improve your offering? Paying attention to both positive and negative feedback is absolutely essential for acquiring more customers.
Make use of your data
We already discussed this previously, but I can’t stress enough on the importance of using data for better Marketing performance. Pay close attention to your metrics to discover the exact channels and campaigns that are bringing you the most leads, and the highest conversion rate from leads to customers.
7. Is Content Marketing effective?
The short and straightforward answer to one of the really common Marketing questions that businesses ask is yes. Content Marketing can be a really effective tool for generating more quality leads and increasing your brand visibility. It is one of the best long-term strategies for providing value to your audience.
Besides, delivering great pieces of content is an excellent way to get your audience to talk about your brand, and share your content around the Internet voluntarily. And completely for free!
Anything from blog articles to ebooks, guides, infographics, whitepapers and other informative pieces is a great addition to your Content Marketing strategy.
8. Should I do active link building?
Another one from the list of most common Marketing questions that businesses ask is about external link building. Link building is the process of getting third-party websites pointing to your own website, and it is a strategy for improving your domain authority.
The general idea of link building is to get more people to talk about you. The more websites put a link pointing to yours, the more signals this sends to Google that your website is authoritative and trustworthy.
And one popular practice that many companies have been using is to spend a lot of time actively reaching out to other companies, and asking them to place a link within their content. And although this practice is perfectly legal and can work if done correctly, I personally don’t recommend it.
The reason why is because it requires a lot of time to discover and reach out to websites, most of which won’t really bother placing your link within their blog posts. I think that this time could be better spent generating more quality content for your own blog.
If you create great content that people would love to share, your links will increase naturally anyway. And without any extra effort on your side! For example, I never did anything to actively improve my link building, and I am getting a lot of new links every month.
9. How can I decrease my advertising costs?
When it comes to common Marketing questions, many companies are particularly concerned with decreasing their advertising costs. And that is a very valid concern, considering that Digital Marketing can consume a lot of budget if not done correctly.
The answer to this question isn’t very easy. And of course, it will depend on your industry, sector, and the channel that you are investing in. However, there is one thing that you should focus on for every channel – the quality of your ads.
For most channels, the higher your ad quality is, the lower your Cost per Click (CPC) is going to be. And the lower your CPC, the lower your cost per lead as well, which means that you can decrease your overall advertising costsand still get the same results.
To ensure a good quality ad, you need to make sure that all of the following elements are aligned:
- Campaign – banner, copy, headline, etc.;
- Segmentation – how you plan to reach your target audience;
- Landing page – where your audience will land after clicking on your ad.
In other words, does your campaign resonate with your audience? Are you selling the right product to the right person? For example, promoting dog food to users that don’t have any pets is not going to be very efficient.
Does your landing page meet the expectations set by your campaign? Sometimes, we can overpromise something in our ads just to disappoint the users when they arrive at the landing page. And we don’t want to do that!
Everything must be aligned to ensure a consistent message across the whole campaign, at all times.
10. Should I care about Mobile?
Yes, you definitely should! According Inmobi, people spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes on their mobile devices every single day. And the global penetration of mobile devices has reached the whopping 41% across the whole globe!
All this means that providing a great mobile experience from start to finish is an absolute must for any business.
Additionally, statistics show that many people start researching on mobile but end up converting on desktop, which means that mobile is a strategic part of their buying journey. And mobile Marketing should be a strategic part of your Marketing strategy, too!
And that was all from me for today! Thank you for taking the time to read my article on the most common Marketing questions for businesses, and I hope to see you around again! If there are any other common Marketing questions that I missed, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below.
