As we approach 2025, the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace. It’s a world full of shiny new tools, AI-driven tactics, and the latest buzzwords—but succeeding in this ever-changing environment requires more than just chasing trends. True success comes from having a clear, adaptable strategy that aligns with your goals.

That’s why we’ve tapped into the expertise of our Elite Marketing Program coaches. These are not just industry experts; they’re leaders who have guided countless businesses to real, measurable results. Learn more about their work and explore their expertise:

• Lauren Petrullo: https://mongoosemedia.us/
• Monique Morrison: https://www.moniquemorrison.ca/
• Amara Omoregie: https://amarareps.com/
• Dave Albano: http://jozamarketing.com/
• Scott Cunningham: https://merchantmastery.io/
• Renée Boudakian: rubiconfranchisepartners.com

Their insights offer not just predictions but actionable strategies for navigating the challenges and opportunities of 2025. This isn’t about jumping on the next bandwagon. It’s about focusing on what truly matters—building a solid marketing foundation, embracing personalization, and leveraging AI and automation in a way that deepens your connection with your audience.

These answers capture the heart of what the Elite Program is all about—helping businesses cut through the noise with clear strategies, proven systems, and the latest insights to drive sustainable growth.

Read on to discover how our Elite coaches are helping businesses prepare for 2025—and how you can too.

1. What’s the Most Important Trend You Believe Will Define Digital Marketing in 2025, and How Can Businesses Start Preparing Now?

Lauren Petrullo

Content will curate your audience. This answer is going to be drastically different depending on the size of the business, but in general, you need to have better content and lead with personalization whenever possible. The more I sound like one of the many you’re talking to, the more I’m gonna ignore you as one of the many I don’t care about. With AI and emerging tech, it’s easier than ever to provide personalization in your marketing.

Monique Morrison

I think with the onset of AI and how quickly it’s transforming and its capabilities, we will see that as the biggest trend. It allows smaller companies to implement predictive and personalized customer journeys, especially in the retail and eCommerce space, and I believe that will be an important trend to jump on in 2025.

Amara Omoregie

I think there’s a difference between what’s trending and what needs to trend. What will trend in 2025 will be the shiny object that is AI and all of the cool things that you can do with it… that’s a given. We’ll see more tools rise, and old ones fall. During all of this ebb and flow as marketing technology continues to hockey stick, the ability to connect with humans on a deeper level will be what people will resonate with. What needs to trend is knowing our customers better and using technology to build deeper relationships with customers.

Dave Albano

Without a doubt, it’s AI. This should come as no surprise. You’ve been living under a rock if you haven’t realized the importance of this, but it’s shocking how many small businesses are ignoring it when it’s going to radically change the face of how we do business.

How to start preparing? If you haven’t already:

1. Dedicate at LEAST 1 hour a week to explore ChatGPT (upgrade to the paid version for $20/month to unlock its “current” potential—it’s only going to get better from here).
2. Subscribe to a reputable source for regular AI news and updates (e.g., Matt Wolfe’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow).

Scott Cunningham

• Coaching businesses: Throughout 2024, we saw a big shift from high-ticket, one-call-close coaching offers back to low-ticket front-end programs that allow coaches to first build trust with their audience before committing to high-ticket programs. The buzzword of the year was that we are in a “trust recession,” and we need to allow people to experience our value before committing big. I predict that businesses who made this pivot will thrive in 2025, and those who didn’t will struggle to compete.
• eCommerce ads: AI is becoming more of a factor in building meta audiences, and I predict that people won’t be frantically testing new audiences so often. From what I’ve seen, and from what I’ve been told by high-level Meta reps, letting ads run gives AI more time/insights to adapt, instead of constantly changing things and causing it to re-learn.

Renée Boudakian

AI-powered personalization is going to fundamentally change digital marketing and transform the customer journey experience.

The big opportunity lies in building AI-powered dynamic, hyper-personalized systems that:

• Adapt messaging based on actual performance.
• Learn from real-time customer behavior.
• Optimize for individual preferences at scale.

How can businesses start preparing now?

1. Conduct an audit of your first-party data—understand what customer signals you’re capturing and where the gaps are. Focus on collecting quality behavioral signals and ensure your data is organized and accessible.
2. Perform an audit of your tech stack—most current marketing tools don’t talk to each other well enough to support real AI personalization. Now’s the time to fix those gaps and build connections between your platforms to prevent future headaches as AI capabilities expand.

The companies that win won’t be the ones with the biggest AI budgets—they’ll be the ones who build smart, scalable systems while staying focused on actual customer value.

2. If You Had to Pick One Growth Strategy to Double Down on in 2025, What Would It Be and Why?

Lauren Petrullo

Long-form video content. People will consume before they convert. With long-form content, they’re getting to know you before they even talk to you, putting you in a place where calls are with pre-sold prospects. Also, as AI evolves, video still has a year or so before it’s as competitive as blogs. Content written with AI has exploded over the last 3 years, making it more competitive than before as the barrier to entry and opportunity to compete is at its lowest. With long-form videos, you can then bring in the multi-lingual aspect and compete in a blue ocean while your competitors are struggling in crowded waters.

Monique Morrison

We’re doubling down on our loyalty systems and predictive AI strategies for our retail and eCommerce clients. For service-based businesses, back-end AI systems that automate clerical work and time-consuming tasks are essential, especially for those tasks that are not done efficiently but are necessary for the sales process. We’re implementing systems from Buy Back Your Time that allow our clients to focus on revenue-generating tasks rather than being bogged down by low-value but necessary operations.

Amara Omoregie

Organic. Period.
On a few different levels:

• SEO → GEO: Creating content strategies to not only appear in organic search but to have responses shared from your brand and cited in generative/AI search experiences (e.g., Search GPT, Perplexity).
• Social SEO: Positioning your social content for discoverability on the platforms and in organic search when possible, while building backlinks and shares to boost your brand.
• Forums and Communities: Reddit and Quora are dominating search. People want help, and like-minded people want to discover new things. These areas are ripe for innovation.

I’d triple down in these areas. If you do, you’ll build a moat around your business.

Dave Albano

Robotic Process Automation—it’s going to transform businesses. When you can build automated “bots” that have agency to replace humans and hours and hours… even DAYS of research, repetitive tasks, content production & distribution, voice call handling—you name it—your competitors will leave you in the dust if you don’t jump on board.

Scott Cunningham

• Live events: These have been our highest ROI activity for filling sales calendars and bringing in deals.
• Low-ticket community: We are doubling down on our low-ticket community and using webinars to fill it. Following our insights into how to navigate the trust economy, we’ve also learned that webinars are a great way to fill low-ticket communities because people first get to spend time with you on the webinar before committing to your low-ticket community.
• The Trust Tri-Fecta: Webinar or event → Low-ticket community → High-ticket community.

Renée Boudakian

Double down on building automated marketing and sales systems. Map and automate your customer journey, from first touch to repeat buyer. This creates predictable revenue that scales without draining your team’s bandwidth.

In 2025, your most valuable asset won’t be your content or products—it will be your automated acquisition system that converts while you sleep.

3. How Do You See Customer Behavior Evolving in 2025, and What Steps Should Businesses Take Now to Meet Those Changing Expectations?

Lauren Petrullo

Customers want to know more than ever and get frustrated if you miss out on sharing critical answers they need. You NEED better conversation starters and an outlet for the person to ask their questions rather than assuming you’ve provided the answers they need. If you’re letting customers struggle to find answers, you’ll lose them as customers.

Set up phone numbers and chatbots to answer questions WHEN they have them. STOP ASSUMING. People crave connection, and with “Prime’s same-day delivery” mentality, every minute a customer waits for a critical answer drastically affects your conversion rate.

Monique Morrison

AI really took off in 2024, and many have adopted chatbots and other AI communication tools. In 2025, I believe customers will become more aware of AI interactions and gravitate toward companies that can provide truly human or human-like experiences.

This will be a critical time for companies to balance the power of AI with the expectation for authentic human interactions.

Amara Omoregie

Customers are sick of funnels. They hate being forced to get on a rollercoaster and not being able to get off until the ride is done.

Meaning, they want to learn about what is out there without having to talk to a sales rep, download an ebook, or watch an hour-long webinar. They want to be empowered to make their own decisions. Whoever gives their customer the most agency to make decisions will win.

Dave Albano

BECAUSE of the rise of AI, trust is going to be at an all-time LOW and inauthenticity will be at an all-time HIGH. Businesses will need to go ALL-IN in cultivating authentic, transparent relationships with their prospects and customers and provide even more value by giving more in delivery than they receive in return financially.

Scott Cunningham

I believe that 2024 was the year of the trust recession, and I expect this behavior to continue in 2025. I think we need to show more empathy in our marketing towards our customers and their lack of trust, rather than ignore it.

I also think we need to work harder, and listen better, to earn that trust.

Renée Boudakian

The market is shifting from “wait and see” to “show me now”—businesses need to adapt their delivery speed and accessibility accordingly.

• Fast Wins Beat Big Promises: 2025’s customers are done with “it takes time” excuses. They’ll pick the company that delivers a 20% improvement now over promises of 100% in six months. If you’re a marketing agency, start by fixing one leaky funnel stage this week. Small, concrete victories build more trust than grand transformations.
• Break Your Solution Into “Now, Next, Later”: Give them something they can implement today (template), something for this week (quick process fix), and then your bigger transformation. When they see results from the quick wins, they’ll trust you with the longer journey.

4: What are the most effective ways to build trust with cold audiences in a crowded digital landscape?

Lauren Petrullo

The best way to build trust with cold audiences is through authenticity and upfront value. SHOW me. PROVE your deserved attention. Gen Alpha grew up on YouTube subscriptions, and they’ll be incredibly powerful purchasers in the coming years, with many already self-made millionaires. Gen Z grew up with influencers and #ad controversies—no one’s getting fooled. If you’re providing value in a gated capacity or pretending it’s valuable but really just advertising, they’ll know. So lead with authenticity. No one is perfect, especially not your customers. Be raw, vulnerable, and valuable. Don’t just talk about it; show how you walk it, and you’ll gain attention. By providing actionable ideas, you’ll command loyalty.

Monique Morrison

Getting out and being in front of cold audiences is crucial. Showing you’re a real person and listening to followers creates immediate trust with new audiences encountering your brand.
One tactic that has worked well is running contests for email subscribers, with bonus entries for commenting on an Instagram reel with a question. We then reply to those questions with another reel, which has boosted organic reach, engagement, and comments outside of contestants. When people see that you’re listening and responding, they’re more likely to engage. This has been a winning tactic this year.

Amara Omoregie

Shift their state of awareness almost immediately. And I don’t mean bragging about your company/brand. I mean, if they are unaware, make them problem-aware. Problem to solution. Solution to product. Product to brand/most.
Why?
If you can solve an unsolvable problem.
If you can treat a group of customers better.
If you can end people’s suffering.
If you can make people aware of solutions that didn’t exist.
If you can change the status quo.
You’ll get the right kind of attention, from the right people, at the right time, and they’ll trust you.

Dave Albano

Strip away big “productionalized” content pieces, especially in video, and shoot your reels, stories, video ads, etc., in your day-to-day element (e.g., walking down your neighborhood street) on your phone. While technology has evolved, what has NOT is PEOPLE… we still connect best through face-to-face eye contact, and the best way to do that in digital is through close-up videos in selfie view.

Scott Cunningham

We’ve been running ads to a webinar, where we offer a free $1500 gift to those who attend. Then at the end of the webinar, we give everyone a $1500 ticket to a three-day live virtual bootcamp, where all they need to get the ticket is join our $39/month community. This has been working very well for us.

Renée Boudakian

Demonstrate proof. Feature concrete results, verifiable case studies, and authentic customer stories—let real outcomes speak for themselves.

5: Many business owners feel their growth plateaus because they’re constantly in ‘reactive’ mode. How can they step back and create a scalable system that can handle growth without constant intervention?

Lauren Petrullo

Most of the time, business owners need to fire themselves from the operation side. HIRE someone who has done it not once, but at least twice before.

Often, it’s ego stopping you from reaching your potential. You assume because you got your business to where it is today that you’re the solution to get it to where it’s going tomorrow. That’s absurd.

If you’re afraid to invest in quality talent, then you don’t truly believe in your growth. Most people aren’t great at being entrepreneurs and business owners—it’s like 1% of the 1% that are successful.

There are MANY who could be intrapreneurs or strong supporting roles to get you out of reactive mode and back into your zone of genius.

Monique Morrison

In addition to what’s taught in ELITE and Scalable, most business owners would benefit from a strong executive admin to manage their time.

Also, AI and automation can handle many tasks that often distract from revenue-generating work.

The reactive mode often comes from not having time for high-value tasks due to a lack of systems to handle lower-value ones. This imbalance leads to a pattern of either a great marketing month or a great fulfillment month but rarely a balanced approach to both.

Amara Omoregie

Business owners need to quit collecting shiny objects and piecing together makeshift solutions. Your tech stack isn’t meant to be a bird’s nest of mismatched tools and trendy platforms.

Think about a lemonade stand. The fundamentals are dead simple: Go where your customers are. Put up a sign. Stock your product. Open for business. This is all foundational.

From there, you test everything. Your pricing. Your location. Your recipe. You watch the data – which spots bring the most traffic, what times drive the most sales. Then you adapt and improve.

Digital marketing has made it dangerously easy to skip the fundamentals. To shoot from the hip without a plan. That advantage becomes your burden when your systems turn into a tangled mess.

RevOps (revenue operations) brings back that simple lemonade stand clarity to your digital operations. One integrated system. Every component working together. Clear metrics. Real feedback. Continuous improvement.

Don’t be afraid to make educated guesses about your future. Just make sure you’re testing against a plan and using that data to get better. That’s how you build a resilient, scalable business instead of another bird’s nest.

Stop chasing trends. Start building systems that solve for your customer. RevOS keeps it simple, measurable, and scalable.

Dave Albano

Well Duh… that cues up ELITE and the Growth OS nicely now doesn’t it ;).

I’ll bite. Join a program with trusted advisors and experts that have already done what you’re trying to do, and implement the proven frameworks & systems they provide to scale predictably.

Scott Cunningham

You need a KPI tracking tool for every stage of the customer journey, and you need to actually use it.

Our team has been using DM’s Growth Scorecard for years, and it is our holy bible of accountability. It can be overwhelming/intimidating thinking we need to be insanely proactive at all times.

Our scorecard allows us to move small things forward bit by bit that creates a big impact. (AND, there was a period where we stopped using it, and things fell off. So I think we need to prioritize the basics).

Renée Boudakian

• Document & Systematize Core Operations: Map and create clear workflows for the critical 20% of tasks driving 80% of results.
• Automate → Delegate → Eliminate: Start by automating repetitive tasks, then delegate remaining processes to capable team members, and ruthlessly eliminate activities that don’t drive growth.

6: How can businesses leverage AI and automation to scale their efforts while maintaining a personal connection with customers?

Lauren Petrullo

My favorite way of leveraging AI right now is through personalized AI chatbots, where the chatbots even call prospects.

Start personal conversations with leads to discover their true questions rather than guessing what they’re looking for.

With AI and personalized connections, you position yourself to care about your customers as if they’re in a 1:1 conversation with you—at scale.

Monique Morrison

It’s essential to train any AI interacting with customers to be conversational and engaging, making it as human as possible.

There are many back-end tasks AI can manage that usually consume time. When those are automated, it frees up space for more one-on-one conversations and personal connections.

We’ve used AI to analyze customer actions and purchases, allowing us to use predictive marketing. For example, integrating our Shopify database with Airtable lets the AI analyze the data, which we then use to guide our communications with customers.

Amara Omoregie

Automate what works. Set that baseline, and make sure that AI can produce the same quality or better when it comes to its outputs.

Never settle with AI. It has the capabilities to take the best of what we do and make it even better if we provide enough context.

Dave Albano

Do the “Handoff”… Use AI & Automation to INITIATE conversations in “triage” sessions to find out what they really need, then pass prospects/leads/customers off to a real person via calendar scheduling, direct phone transfers, etc.

Scott Cunningham

Never ask AI to do all the heavy lifting.

Feed it your own frameworks, processes, and case studies so it’s not telling stories that anyone can tell. It needs to tell stories unique to you.

Also challenge AI responses, or give it options to vote on, and get it to explain why it chose what it chose.

Renée Boudakian

• Automate the Routine, Personalize the Meaningful: Use AI for repetitive tasks (scheduling, basic support, data entry) but keep high-value touchpoints human (strategy calls, problem resolution, relationship building). This lets your team focus on conversations that matter.
• Create Smart, Adaptive Workflows: Build systems that recognize customer patterns and trigger appropriate human intervention. For example: Have AI handle initial support inquiries, but flag emotional or complex issues that require human attention.

7: What’s the best approach for creating content that resonates with audiences in 2025? How should brands be adapting their content strategies now?

Lauren Petrullo

When creating content in 2025, start by crawling into your ad comments, emails, and customer service FAQs.

Begin by creating content to answer questions they’re already asking.

Yes, you can focus on SEO, but if you want to resonate, don’t focus solely on the algorithm—focus on quality.

Answer your current customers’ questions. They’ll share your content.

Decentralization of SEO is coming, and the focus needs to be on directly answering, quickly, and with quality to win the content game in 2025.

Monique Morrison

See my answer to question four.

In addition to creating short-form content based on audience questions, we also turn those questions into longer-form content and email content.

Open rates have been strong for emails where the subject line hints at solving a customer’s problem directly.

Amara Omoregie

Helpful.

Creating content to rank is so 2010.

Create content that people will come back to over and over for reference.

Writers need to learn how to write again.

Do actual research—not just SEO research, but topical research. We need topical authority and information.

SMEs need their brains picked clean of the good stuff.

Google is getting sick of crawling hundreds of variations of the same exact content, so pretty soon, pages are going to get deindexed for not being helpful.

The more web pages there are on the internet, the more it affects our carbon footprint, so it’s up to us as marketers to stop the proliferation of low-value content.

Dave Albano

Trends and market tastes will always evolve.

It’s your job as the content creator to have your finger on the pulse of what’s trending, what people are asking, on what they’re searching, on what their wants/needs/fears/aspirations are.

Turn to AI for research (ChatGPT can search the web now) and the age-old favorite: AnswerThePublic.

Then where possible (platform-dependent) serve up your content dynamically to target your various avatars and audiences by segment.

Scott Cunningham

In our eCommerce world, I’ve been teaching brands to write long-form origin story ads that have been working better than anything else lately.

Show that you are the biggest nerd in your category, and people will look at you as the expert you are.

Renée Boudakian

Share Real Stories.

“I was drowning in client emails last year” creates more intrigue and connection than “Here’s how to manage your inbox.”

When you share your honest struggles and unexpected wins, people see themselves in your story instead of seeing another expert talking down to them.

8: What are the most effective ways to increase customer retention and loyalty in 2025, especially as competition intensifies?

Lauren Petrullo

Personalized interactions while leveraging AI.

You need more touchpoints and effective communication based on where they are in their buyer’s journey with you, addressing their needs—not where you are in relation to them paying you.

Monique Morrison

One big shift in 2024 has been automatically enrolling customers in loyalty programs instead of making it an optional step.

We’re also enhancing our indoctrination series to offer additional bonuses and free gifts with each new purchase.

The welcome email typically has the highest open rates, as customers are most excited then, so we leverage this moment.

Part of our approach includes a survey to identify the customer’s pain points, which AI analyzes for product fit and to create customized email content that addresses their biggest concerns.

We use two separate processes for leads and customers.

Amara Omoregie

Over-serve your customers.

Over-educate them.

Have them be a part of your journey.

Give them access to new products without having to pay (e.g., samples, GWPs).

Recognize your VIPs with great perks that have mutual benefit.

Right your wrongs, especially in public.

Be honest.

Share your roadmap for improvement.

Celebrate the wins of your customers.

Empathize—like Chewy when subscriptions end when a pet crosses the rainbow bridge. They send flowers and a card, and they donate the last bag of food to the local shelter.

Dave Albano

Same as #3.

Further, if you look at THE best companies in the world with the best retention (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Apple Music, HBO Max, Disney+, etc.), they target their pricing by being 1% of the average Social Security check in the U.S., which is $1787 as of Oct 2024 (Source).

1% of that is $17.87, or that $15-$20 range such that ANYONE can afford them.

Scott Cunningham

Keep adding more value when customers are up for renewal.

We do it in our coaching program, offering renewal bonuses.

Just this year we offered our mastermind members new quarterly review meetings to keep them on track with big goals.

This is something we constantly brainstorm as a team to ensure we keep leveling up the customers’ experiences.

The same goes for eCommerce.

Renée Boudakian

Make Customer Problems Your North Star.

Every dollar you’ll make in 2025 is hiding in a customer problem you haven’t fully solved yet.

The best product roadmap is your customer’s list of frustrations.

When you become obsessed with their challenges, customer retention & loyalty is a byproduct.

Design Your Offer Ladder Around “New Levels, New Devils.”

Success creates new challenges.

Your offer stack should solve each new problem that emerges from conquering the last.

When you guide customers through their entire journey, solving each evolution of their problems, they never need to look elsewhere.

The key to retention is being their trusted solution provider at every level.

9: With so many marketing tools and tactics out there, how do you prioritize which strategies to implement? How can business owners avoid ‘shiny object syndrome’ and focus on what truly moves the needle?

Lauren Petrullo

I prioritize what can work with my existing systems and tools first.

Learning a new product or tool is exhausting.

I need it to yield atypical returns with minimal additional effort.

To avoid shiny objects, ask yourself: if you adopt this new tool or tactic, are you okay with zero returns for the next 6 months?

If yes, because the return in 6 months is worth the investment, go for it!

Otherwise, focus on optimizing existing resources and avoid adopting new ones.

Monique Morrison

The growth lever canvas is key here.

Having someone empowered to say “no” when new, shiny tools and programs could derail progress is also essential.

We use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) method, which, combined with the growth lever canvas, keeps us focused on what truly matters.

Amara Omoregie

If it doesn’t align with a growth initiative already in play or improve the customer experience, put it on the back burner for another time.

When a business has its customer acquisition engine dialed in and is hitting targets consistently, then experiment.

Not when the stakes are high and there isn’t much room for error.

Commit to being methodical and disciplined until you have the runway to be experimental with shiny objects.

Most shiny objects are just that—and not worth anything.

Digital snake oil and hype.

Dave Albano

You must have the correct STRATEGY first, and plug in the tactics INTO the strategy, not the other way around.

See #5

Scott Cunningham

Never scrap something completely if it’s working.

I think it’s ok to allocate 5-10% of your resources/focus testing new experiments to see if you could do better.

But keep most of your focus on the things that are producing.

For example, before pivoting ad budget from our VSL funnel to our low-ticket community funnel, we allocated a small fraction of our total spend to see if we could fill the community, and also to see if we could ascend the community to our core offer.

It turns out we could, so we allocated more spend to the low-ticket community funnel.

The takeaway is, don’t tackle too many ideas at once where you are spread thin on focus.

Choose one thing to test against your main thing.

Get proof of concept.

Then pivot some focus to the new thing that’s working.

Renée Boudakian

Build a Customer Journey Scorecard.

Use a simple traffic light system (red/yellow/green) to visualize each stage of your journey.

If lead generation is red but your sales conversion rate is green, you don’t need another sales tool—you need better lead generation.

Focus resources where the actual bottlenecks are.

Double Down on What’s Already Working.

Before chasing new tactics, look at your current wins.

If LinkedIn is driving real sales conversations, invest more there before testing TikTok.

Scale what works before exploring what’s new.

The key is letting your scorecard guide your priorities—turn reds to yellows, yellows to greens, one stage at a time.

Closing Thoughts: Strategy Over Tactics for 2025

If there’s one lesson to take away from our Elite coaches, it’s this: strategy always trumps tactics. While shiny new tools and tactics can grab attention, they won’t deliver sustainable growth without a solid foundation. The businesses that succeed in 2025 will be the ones that focus on their customers, leverage personalization and AI strategically, and implement systems that scale.

The insights from our Elite coaches aren’t just theories—they’re real-world strategies proven to drive results. And that’s what sets the Elite Marketing Program apart. We’re here to guide you, to help you focus on what matters, and to build a marketing engine that drives growth predictably.

Don’t just adapt to 2025. Lead the way.

Join the Elite Marketing Program today and start building your strategy for sustainable growth.

Click here to learn more and apply.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing in 2025: Predictions from Our Elite Coaches appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

There’s something comforting and enjoyable about creating a routine where people know you, whether that’s a favorite coffee shop or place to walk or a local beer store where they call your dog by name.

Many businesses can create this personalized shopping experience to convert more browsers into buyers. But, it can be tough to do that online where you can’t look into a customer’s eyes or easily ask what they need as they browse digital shelves. Still, we regularly hear about the need for eCommerce personalization.

To tackle that opportunity, let’s define personalization, the best way to start implementing it, and methods to optimize your efforts.

Defining “Personalization” in ECommerce

Personalization and customization can feel like the same thing, but some important distinctions exist. Breaking these out makes it easier to understand personalization and how it can apply in eCommerce operations.

For your website and sales efforts, personalization uses data and customer insights to craft a specific shopping experience for every customer. These efforts may include showing relevant products, serving recommendations, and adjusting content based on the customer’s past behavior.

Companies may also try personalizing service levels or selecting specific pop-ups and overlays based on customer status. 

Customization, on the other hand, generally refers to customer-driven choices. These range from the obvious (selection or sorting by size, color, price, etc.) to detailed efforts specific to the individual (a customer chooses not to see certain types of products). When you think of customization as something helmed by the customer, you’ll start identifying ways to use their selections to craft personalized experiences.

How Personalization Creates a Better Shopping Experience

To create a personalized shopping experience, eCommerce businesses need to invest in audience research. By understanding your customers and what they want, you can create an individualized experience that will convert browsers into buyers.

You’ll want to create as complete a picture of the shopper as possible. Ask core experience questions, including:

• What are their needs that you can and can’t address? 
• What are their wants or things that tip them over the edge to make a purchase? 
• What motivates them to make this purchase at this time?
• Why should they choose you to meet their specific needs and wants?

Once you understand your customers well, you can start creating a shopping experience tailored to them. Take learning about their immediate needs and wants. I

t’s easier to suggest the right products when you know what they’ve recently viewed or what ad they clicked on to get to your site. You’re building based on their tastes and refining suggestions based on what gets that second purchase.

Understanding why someone values your brand can also help you create personalized discounts or special deals that gain shoppers. If you’re known for customer service, you might leverage this for an ad tagline: “World-class customer service meets free shipping on every order over $20.”

It’s more than just a deal; it’s one couched in the language you know they appreciate. Tying it back to shipping and order support also reinforces your brand as one that cares about the customer.

Finally, it is important to ensure the customer feels valued and appreciated. Thank them for their business and promptly take care of any issues they may have. Creating a positive relationship with your customers ensures they keep returning for more.

3 Steps to Take to Get Started with Personalization 

To get started with personalization, businesses need to take three steps: collecting data, analyzing data, and implementing personalization.

1. Collect Data 

The first step is to collect data about your customers. This could include information such as their demographics, location, what devices they use, what pages they visit on your site, and what products they are interested in. There are a number of ways businesses can collect this data, such as through website cookies, surveys, and customer loyalty programs.

2. Analyze Data 

Once you have collected data about your customers, it is important to analyze it to understand their needs and preferences. This will help you determine how to best personalize their shopping experience. Several tools are available to help with this analysis, such as analytics software and customer segmentation tools.

3. Implement Personalization 

The final step is to implement personalization into your eCommerce store. This could include creating a personalized homepage, recommending similar products, using data to segment customers into different groups, or offering discounts. By personalizing the shopping experience, businesses can increase conversion rates and average order value.

The Top 5 Ways to Personalize the Shopping Experience

Personalization can be an incredibly complex experience or a simpler operation based on your tech stack and the amount of data you use. To get started, there are some core efforts to implement that can start with minimal, current-session data and then move to longer-term tracking and utilization.

1. Use Data to Recommend Products

One of the most effective ways to personalize the shopping experience is to use data to recommend products. This could include data from past purchases, browsing history, and social media activity.

By understanding what customers have bought in the past, businesses can make recommendations for similar or complementary products. This helps customers find what they’re looking for more easily and allows businesses to upsell and cross-sell effectively.

2. Create a Personalized Homepage

Another way to personalize the shopping experience is to create a personalized homepage. This could include features such as recommended products, recently viewed items, and even a custom welcome message.

By creating a personalized homepage, businesses can make sure that each customer feels valued and that they can easily find what they’re looking for — reinforcing your brand identity as helpful and in-the-know.

Consider tying homepages to traffic and referral sources so that someone looking at your Instagram account hits a page filled with both products and the videos you create. It’s an easy way to start the fruitful process of understanding customer behavior across channels.

3. Use Data to Create Targeted Marketing Campaigns

Another effective way to personalize the shopping experience is to use data to create targeted marketing campaigns. This involves using customer data to segment customers into different groups and then creating marketing messages that are tailored to each group. This could include offering discounts or special promotions to specific groups of customers. 

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Don’t neglect small lifts here. Greet customers directly by name. Adjust messages based on user region. Adapt to local events and other broader experiences that keep your content from feeling too general, even if it isn’t hyper-personalized.

4. Use Data to Segment Your Email List

You can also personalize the shopping experience by segmenting your email list. This involves grouping customers together based on their interests, demographics, or purchase history. Most email marketing tools track detailed customer information you can leverage.

For example, monitoring when customers last visited allows you to email people about how “it’s been a while”. 

By segmenting your email list, you can send more targeted and relevant messages to each group of customers. This can lead to higher open and click-through rates, as well as increased sales and revenue.

5. Personalized Product Pages By Creating Variants

The final way to personalize the shopping experience is to use data to create a personalized product page. Or, at least create a page that feels catered to the individual based on broader context and information.

When you can get very detailed, this involves using customer data such as purchase history and browsing behavior to recommend similar or complementary products. You’ll need a dynamic site that can adapt to their history and habits in real-time.

If you don’t have a robust site, consider building blocks for each section of your landing pages or product pages for each SKU. Then, you can create groupings that feel customized because the pre-existing blocks you use match what people see in broader marketing campaigns. As you get more sophisticated, these blocks can then be what you dynamically insert into different elements as the customer shops around your site.

By creating a personalized product page, businesses can enhance conversion rates and have a better chance for higher order values because of the relevance of up-sell and cross-sell promotions.

The Benefits of Personalization for Businesses

There are many benefits of personalization for businesses. By creating a personalized shopping experience, businesses can increase conversion rates, average order value, and customer loyalty.

Conversion rates improve because customers are more likely to buy from a store that recognizes them and offers products they are interested in. If you’re marketing to the same people, small efforts like using someone’s first name in an email can increase conversion rates.

Companies that personalize offers also tend to see average order values increase in multiple ways. These incentives help push people to make more impulse purchases and reach higher overall orders — a benefit you can compound when making traditional online offers like free shipping on orders of a certain value.

Finally, studies also show that personalization can improve customer loyalty. Studies have found that more than half of people are open to receiving personalized experiences, and 72% who get these end up spending more or buying more often. This is because customers feel appreciated and valued when they are recognized and offered products they look at or follow.

Overall, personalization is a powerful tool that can help businesses improve conversion rates, average order value, and customer loyalty. When used correctly, it can be a key driver of success for eCommerce businesses.

Create an Experience You’d Enjoy

When it comes to personalizing the shopping experience, businesses must take a few steps to ensure they are doing it correctly.

First and foremost, they need to collect data about their customers so they can understand their needs and preferences. Once they have this data, they need to analyze it to determine how best to personalize the shopping experience for each customer.

Then, they need to implement personalization into their eCommerce store, which could include creating a personalized homepage, recommending similar products, using data to segment customers into different groups, or offering discounts. 

The final piece, however, is reviewing the effort and ensuring that it adds value to the shopping experience. Ask if it is something you’d enjoy or if the elements and personalization get in the way. You don’t want to be overly burdensome or overly creepy. The aim is to show people what they want to see without them feeling like you’re crunching a lot of data behind the scenes.

The post Crucial Steps to Converting Browsers into Buyers appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Convincing new clients to sign up for your marketing services can be a challenge in a sea of other competitive offers. 

Because marketing is not a tangible service, persuading potential clients that your business is the one to go with requires a tactical strategy that delivers value. 

To do this, you need a solid marketing proposal. 

Perfecting the art of an effective marketing proposal is the key to winning lucrative clients and boosting your business sales. Once you’ve nailed it, you can rinse and repeat – saving you hours of time creating new proposals from scratch. 

Read on to learn how to write a marketing proposal that will drive new clients to your agency like bees to a honeypot. 

What Is a Marketing Proposal?

A marketing proposal is a document that outlines the proposed marketing strategy, tactics, and deliverables for your specific client or project. 

It acts as a convincing method to encourage potential clients to hire your services. You can achieve this via your marketing proposal by demonstrating your understanding of their business, industry, and target audience, and showcasing your expertise and experience in creating effective marketing campaigns. 

A well-crafted marketing proposal can help you win new clients, establish long-term partnerships, and grow your business – all whilst showing why clients should choose to work with your agency instead of the competition.

What Are the Components of a Marketing Proposal?

To win the conversion phase of marketing, your marketing proposal must act as a clear communication method. Demonstrating both why prospects should choose you to work for them, and exactly what you plan to do in order to grow their business. 

To this end, the key components of a marketing proposal include:

• Executive Summary: A brief overview of the proposal, highlighting the key points of your marketing strategy and why it will benefit your prospective client.

• Situation Analysis: A detailed analysis of your client’s business, industry, target audience, and competition. This demonstrates your understanding of your prospect’s needs and challenges.

• Objectives: Clear, measurable goals that the proposed marketing strategy aims to achieve – such as increased brand awareness, lead generation, or sales growth.

• Strategy: A detailed plan outlining the recommended marketing tactics, channels, and messaging that will be used to achieve the stated objectives.

• Pricing and Payment Options: A breakdown of the costs associated with implementing the proposed marketing strategy, including any fees, media costs, and production costs.

• Timeline: A detailed schedule outlining the proposed timeline for the marketing campaign – including key milestones, deliverables, and deadlines.

• Metrics: The set of metrics that you will use to measure the success of the marketing campaign – such as website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement.

• Conclusion: A summary of the proposal, emphasizing the benefits of the proposed marketing strategy and why you are the right choice for the client.  

Some of these components are fairly straightforward and don’t necessarily require a more detailed explanation.

Others we will look at in more granular detail to help you to create the most effective marketing proposal. 

How to Perform a Situation Analysis

As we’ve mentioned, you must demonstrate a thorough understanding of your prospect’s business, industry, target audience, and competition.

To achieve this, you must perform a situation analysis to understand where the business is at right now, and the challenges they’re facing. Start by researching the business – this includes its history, mission, values, and products or services. Identify the client’s unique selling proposition (USP) and competitive advantages.

Next, research the industry and market to understand the current trends, challenges, and opportunities. Identify the target audience, their demographics, psychographics, and their buying behavior.

Identify the prospective client’s main competitors and analyze their marketing strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Identify the gaps in the market that your prospect can fill.

Research and consider your prospect’s pain points. These are the problems within their current marketing strategy that needs fixing. Your prospect will either know that they have these problems, but don’t know how to fix them, or they may be altogether unaware of any issues. 

An example of a pain point could be inconsistent messaging. When the messaging across different marketing channels is inconsistent, this leads to confusion and a lack of brand recognition. Fixing this problem may involve developing a cohesive messaging platform that is aligned with the brand’s mission, values, and value proposition.

You’ll also need to know exactly what you’re currently working with. This involves reviewing the existing marketing efforts – their website, social media profiles, advertising campaigns, and content marketing. Identify what’s working and what’s not. 

How to Set Clear Objectives

Once you’ve completed your research and ascertained the current position, you can begin to set the clear and measurable goals that you’ll include in your marketing proposal. 

Some examples of marketing proposal clear objectives can include:

1. Increase brand awareness within the 20-35 year old female demographic by 20%.
2. Improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts.
3. Generate 20 new leads per month. 

Each of these objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Including clear objectives in a marketing proposal can help to align the marketing strategy with the business’s goals, provide a clear roadmap for success, and track progress and results over time.

How to Create the Marketing Strategies

We’ve looked at the what. Now we’ll explore the how part of the marketing proposal.

This section of your marketing proposal should include concise information about how you plan to improve your prospect’s marketing strategy. Basically, it’s time to show off your skills. 

Let’s use our aforementioned objectives as examples:

1. Increase brand awareness within the 20-35 year old female demographic by 20%.
2. Improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts.
3. Generate 20 new leads per month. 

The marketing strategies you create to achieve these objectives could look like this:

1. To increase brand awareness in this specific demographic, develop a social media strategy that includes regular content updates, engaging visuals, targeted social media ads, and influencer partnerships to increase the brand’s visibility. 

2. To improve open rates by 10% through email marketing efforts, segment the email list to include more targeted subscribers, optimize email subject lines, personalize emails using automation software, and ensure emails are optimized for mobile devices.

Say your prospect wants 20 new monthly leads for their JPG to PDF software service. The strategy would be to  develop  a lead magnet as an incentive to offer potential leads in exchange for their contact information. Then, plan to optimize the business website with clearer CTAs to direct visitors to the lead magnet.

Remember to add in this section of the marketing proposal that you will include regular monitoring to determine the effectiveness of each of the marketing strategies. 

How to Create Pricing and Payment Options

When it comes to pricing and payment options in your marketing proposal, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

Firstly, always be transparent. Prospects appreciate transparency, so be clear and make sure that your pricing structure is easy to understand. Be upfront about what is included in each package or service, and make sure there are no hidden fees or charges. 

Offering multiple options gives your potential clients flexibility and choice. For example, you might offer different levels of service at different price points, or offer a discount for clients who sign a longer-term contract.

You could also consider an online payment system that accepts multiple forms of payment. This can make it simpler for clients to budget for your services and make payments on time. 

Be sure to highlight the value of your services in relation to the pricing. Clearly explain how your services will help your prospective client to achieve their goals, and why your pricing is reasonable in comparison to the results they can expect to see.

Marketing Proposal Tips 

Focus on the Prospect

Ensure you write the marketing proposal with the prospect at the forefront. It needs to be all about their problems and business, and how you can help. More You, and less We.

Include Visuals

Where relevant, include eye-catching infographics to demonstrate your points. If you’ve got success stories from previous clients that include impressive stats, add them in, too. 

Use Templates

To make life easier, explore Proposify alternatives that will help streamline your marketing proposal creation process. Customize templates to come up with the best one to work with for your business’s needs. 

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Be Clear

Include transparent timelines for marketing campaigns and one-off projects. This looks like specific milestones and key deliverables dates. 

Encourage Action

Include a clear and compelling call to action that encourages your prospect to take the next step. This can include scheduling a call or meeting, signing a contract, or requesting more information.

The Art of Persuasion

Writing a marketing proposal that convinces new clients requires a thorough understanding of your audience’s needs, clear communication of your unique value proposition, and a well-structured plan for delivering your solution. 

By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can create a proposal that effectively differentiates your business from competitors, provides evidence of your effectiveness, and clearly outlines your approach and process. 

With these key elements in place, you can create a persuasive marketing proposal that helps you win new clients and grow your business.

The post Crafting a Winning Marketing Proposal appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Conversions are your bottom line. You can have the best SEO, the best relationships, and more social shares than you’d ever thought possible, but it all won’t mean much if no one is converting. 

For many companies, conversions mean making a purchase, but the term can go far beyond just monetary value. The term “converting” to you may mean completing a form, becoming a lead, calling your team, and more. 

Whatever your end conversion goal may be, it’s crucial you get there if you want to continue to grow and evolve.

1. Work on Those CTAs

A call-to-action is what drives people down your sales funnel. Make sure you take them seriously.

There are hundreds of different ways that a company can create a call to action. Consider some of these tips as you create your own call to action on your website:

1. Size: You want your call to action button to be easy to see, but not overwhelming. Websites with large call-to-action messages and links can seem like spam to many site visitors, but small calls to action can get lost (and potentially confuse a reader looking to follow through).
2. Frequency: It’s important to have your call-to-action buttons and messages dispersed throughout the page. Many first-timers only include one call to action section, but it’s best to give site visitors ample opportunity to follow through on your website. Do not be overbearing, but have at least three different ways someone can make a purchase or become active in your company.
3. Location: Make sure you put at least one call to action above the fold. This will ensure that people see the next steps they can take (especially if they don’t read the content).
4. Images: Images always make content more exciting. This is where a reader’s eyes are typically drawn, so you absolutely want to incorporate an image into your call to action. The image can be small and next to the text or be part of the text, just make sure it isn’t too overbearing and visitors can still read the page content.
5. Color: The most important thing to remember about color is that the text can still be read. Make sure the background is in direct contrast with the text of the call to action button. Also, make sure that this button is a different color than the rest of your website (while still matching). This will help draw attention to your call to action.
6. Linking: You ideally want people to click on your call to action button, but there will always be people who click on an image or your logo. Make sure that these aspects of your website also send site visitors to your call to action page.
7. Voice: Try to avoid passive voice. Tell your site visitors what you want them to do in a clear and straightforward manner. If you have a deal that won’t be around forever, let your site visitors know. Give as much information as possible in as few words as possible and you’re sure to get more clicks.
8. Mobile Considerations: You should always consider that your website or email marketing message might be viewed through a mobile phone. Make sure that your call to action button is large enough for those clicking with their fingers, and make sure that your images can be loaded quickly and clearly on a mobile phone. There are quite a few CTA plugins to make this step easier for you.
9.  Secondary Call to Action Buttons: Many site visitors are not ready to buy right away, so it’s a good idea to have another option for these people. If there is a change that someone would need more information, have a “more information” type button and put your primary call to action button on that page.
10. Use your CTAs across all your channels. Consistency is key when it comes to conversions. People see the same colors and wording in two or three places, and they feel much more confident taking an action. Use your CTAs as end screens on Youtube, on your social media, and, of course, in your reps’ email signatures when they reach out to your prospects. Have your salesperson create an email signature including your main CTA and branding, and you will notice your company’s emails convert much better.

You can also use AI-powered tools to come up with some ideas for creative CTAs if you feel stuck:

2. Shorten Your Sales Funnels

Do you know why you lose most of your site visitors or prospects?

Your conversion funnel is too long.

Email back-and-forth, waiting time spent waiting for a reply, manual invoicing, conflicting schedules – all of that can get lots of people to give up on your brand.

The solution: Shorten your sales funnel.

Automate what you can automate and let your site visitors convert instantly.

Here are a few ways to do that:

• Scale your phone support using technology like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) which would interact with your prospects, collect information about customer inquiries, and even help them make a purchase right away
• Use instant appointment scheduling option: Let your site visitors set up a meeting with you right away by clicking a link and choosing a day and time that works for them. There is online booking technology you can use for it, and it will even manage payments and reminders for you to immediately convert your site visitors into clients.
• Automate your invoicing process allowing your site visitors to pay instantly without waiting for your team to get back to them with an invoice. Depending on the nature of your business, tools like Quickbooks or PayKickstart can help you do that.

Something that can be considered an umbrella for many of the things we have already discussed is that your checkout process should be optimized. This extends beyond length and speed –  it should appear secure, be intuitive, easy to use, and require as little information on their end as possible while also giving you the data you need for future marketing.

Optimize checkout in every way possible! Make it easy for people to make a purchase with you.

2. Use Youtube Remarketing

While there are several powerful remarketing channels available to businesses these days, Youtube is often overlooked. And that is unfortunate. YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine with billions of active users each month. Perfecting your marketing strategy for such a large platform can have enormous benefits for companies, and what many are realizing is that the remarketing aspect of YouTube has huge potential.

Youtube presence is a great way to generate more quality leads to help you drive your business growth forward.

The reason YouTube is so great for remarketing is not only the fact that they have a large audience, but the platform (or search engine) itself allows you to create remarketing lists of target audiences based on the type of content a viewer generally watches – even if that content isn’t yours. This offers you several different benefits, many of which are either weaker or simply don’t exist when thinking about remarketing on Google:

• Better ROI. Remarketing almost always has better results than simply putting out an advertisement to hook new consumers. You can also optimize for cost-per-view as opposed to using impressions or the number of times your video displays in order to yield a higher ROI.
• Longer ads. Unlike social media where you only have a few sentences to get someone’s attention or an ad where you have a character limit, Youtube gives you 30 seconds to make your case in a video as opposed to a static ad and image.
• Better engagement. The average Internet user spends more time on a website with video. With more and more people interested in watching videos over reading articles, there is a good chance you’ll reach an entirely new and relevant group of people (in addition to the large number of visitors discussed earlier).
• Location targeting. YouTube is very helpful when it comes to location targeting, much like other remarketing campaigns you may run on other platforms.
• Brand Awareness. In other words, traditional remarketing benefits. This includes staying on a viewer’s radar and capturing their attention frequently. It helps build brand awareness and gives targeted users more repeated options to engage with your brand, YouTube or otherwise.

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So what does this have to do with leads? For starters, all of the points mentioned above will help bring people back to your page and hopefully help people engage with your page. Because of the nature of YouTube and the enhanced features of AdWords remarketing, you can remarket to anyone who shares your video.

Don’t Forget Your Existing Customers!

Obtaining new customers tends to remain a top priority for many e-commerce companies. While this is important, it is really critical that you don’t forget about your current and returning customers. These consumers are much more likely to make another purchase from your site than a new consumer is likely to make a first transaction.

Offer incentives to returning customers at the time of check-out or send emails with rewards after purchase. Always remember the importance of returning customers.

The post Three Ways to Turn Prospects into Instant Clients or Leads appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

We’re here to nip that right in the bud. We’ll show you how to avoid disappointing clients by maintaining healthy marketing relationships. These relationships are key to retaining clients and growing your marketing business. 

→ Your clients won’t stick around if they have a bad relationship with you.

→ And they certainly won’t refer their friends if they don’t feel confident in your business.

Let’s break down how you can maintain healthy marketing client relationships, so you can avoid the dreaded ping of disappointment. 

#1: Take Your Communication Skills Seriously

Communication is key in every relationship in your life. When it comes to your client relationships, it’s crucial because people are trusting you with their time and money. Those are two valuable resources that they can’t get back if you mess up. You wouldn’t want to spend 6 months on a subpar strategy just to realize you set the money on fire and have to start with a brand new strategy. Neither do your clients.

That’s where communication comes in. Each client wants to feel like they fully understand what’s going on with their campaigns—even if they don’t know every tiny detail. Communication is the difference between clients feeling frustrated with you and clients tweeting about how much they love working with you as a freelancer or agency. 

Communicate regularly with your clients so they feel confident that they’re spending their time and money wisely.

#2: Set Expectations Ahead of Time

This is where things can get awkward, fast. If you don’t set expectations at the start of your relationship, your clients will be wondering where their traffic is and questioning if they made a good choice by hiring you. This is the type of mess-up that leads to emails like, “What’s going on with this strategy, it’s not working,” and “We need to talk before I pay my next invoice.”

Neither of these are emails you should ever receive. That’s where expectations come into play. Be overly clear about what clients can expect from working with you and write it down in your contract and send them an email reminding them of how long to expect to see results, what you require from them, and what your relationship will look like. This is a great time to add in your working hours and any retainer terms like a 30-day notice before leaving their contract.

Setting expectations ahead of time saves you awkward conversations down the line.

#3: Keep Them Updated on Any/All Progress

People want to know what’s going on with their business—and they deserve to know. If your agency takes a week to respond to client messages, expect to create an unhealthy client relationship. That client will lose their trust in working with you, realizing that you don’t prioritize responding to them (even if it’s just to let them know you’ll need a few days to put together a response).

Instead of keeping them on read or in the dark about what’s going on, send them weekly updates about their strategy. Tell them what work your team did on their content, Facebook Ad Manager, or customer avatar research if you don’t have statistics to show them. It’s the small things that can add up to a healthy client relationship, and keeping clients updated is one of them.

Keep your clients updated with their onboarding progress, what your team is working on, and what results you’ve gotten weekly.

#4: Create a Monthly Check-In to Meet Over Video Chat

Touching base with your clients can change the game. Sending emails or Slack messages back-and-forth works for the day-to-day operations, but every month you need to meet with them face-to-face (or Zoom-to-Zoom). These calls will run on a schedule like: Update on what your agency has been working on, answering questions from the client, action items from each party of what’s needed to move forward.

Monthly check-ins will take time, but they’ll be worth it. Meeting your clients face-to-face reassures them that you’re more than just minions getting them views and conversions. You’re real people working hard on their business. They’ll appreciate you more for what you do and you’ll build a better relationship with them (leading to long-term contracts and referrals!).

Every client wants a monthly check-in to know that their time and money was spent wisely.

#5: Celebrate Their Wins with Them

Clients hired you to get them results. As marketers, it’s our job to drive traffic and conversions. We’re lucky to have a tangible result to point our efforts towards…and an exciting one! When the traffic roles in and the conversions start to add up, send an exciting email to your client. Celebrate with them!

This is your chance to show them that you’re just as excited about their sales as they are. With this excitement, you prove that this is more than a monetary relationship. It’s a relationship based on wanting the best for them, which we can confidently say leads to loyalty and LTV. Your clients are people who want to feel supported and excited when they win. Be the people they get to celebrate those exciting moments with.

Celebrate your client wins to show them it’s not just about the money. You genuinely care about their long-term business success.

Clients Are Just People Looking to Fulfill Their Aspirations

It’s easy to get caught up in the business side of marketing. They give you money. You make them more money. The reality is that your clients are people who have a dream. They dream of being their own boss, building a successful business, and having something to pass down to their kids one day.

And with these aspirations come basic human needs that you can fulfill as a freelancer or agency. Maintain healthy client relationships by being aware of:

#1: The client’s need to regularly hear from you or your team

#2: The client knowing what to expect from their investment in you and your team

#3: The client finding comfort in staying up-to-date with their investment

#4: The client wanting to see the people behind the Slack messages

#5: The client’s desire to celebrate the wins they once dreamt of

Maintaining healthy client relationships has been templated by the many marketers who have made the mistakes you get to avoid. Inside of DigitalMarketer Lab, you’ll get access to The Perfect Client Proposal Template, Client Intake Form, and Fulfilling Your Client’s Needs from your Agency Insider Training that will help you seamlessly build great relationships with your clients.

The post How to Maintain Healthy Marketing Client Relationships appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

You’re used to creating campaigns that drive awareness and conversions (hello Customer Value Journey!). Sometimes it’s challenging to create these relationships, but for the most part, you’re able to get the job done.

As a marketer, we know you’ve peered over at the influencer side of digital marketing and wondered—“Should I be doing that?”

That question always leads to… but how? 

You’re used to building relationships with your customer avatar. What you’re not used to is creating them with influencers. That’s an entirely different ball game, especially if you want to create a long-term relationship.

This is where Jamie Lieberman, founder of Hashtag-Legal lends us her marketing brain. In a recent Insider Training shared with our Lab members, Jamie explained how to maximize influencer marketing relationships beyond sponsored posts. We reached out to Jamie to wrap that Insider Training into a few key pieces that could help our audience (that’s you reading this!) create those long-term influencer relationships that lead to conversions.

If you’re struggling with getting your influencer marketing strategy off the ground… we have a feeling we know exactly why.

Is This Why You Haven’t Tried Influencer Marketing Yet?

Influencer marketing is maturing, but it’s not perfect yet. Digital marketing has taken over, and we don’t even think we need to add the digital anymore, but there are still so many unknowns when it comes to approaching new strategies.

How do you start without messing it up?

As Jamie explains, “When a business owner or marketer considers creating relationships with influencers, many experience feelings of overwhelm about where to start. Business owners often need information about how to start relationships, how to even contact an influencer and what to say, what to offer the influencer, and how to structure a deal.  Because there are so few standards in influencer marketing relationships, many feel as if they don’t have many resources to educate themselves.”

It’s a classic case of Analysis Paralysis. You don’t want to make a move because if it’s the wrong move, you’ll let your team down. But, if you don’t make a move you’re stuck with the voice in your head asking you, “What if…?” every time you scroll social and see an influencer promoting a similar product.

Let’s turn that “What if…” into “I did it” by showing you the two most common mistakes to avoid so you can be confident in starting your influencer marketing.

Jamie sees brands make two major mistakes when they reach out to influencers. 

The first is to only see a transaction. “Failing to view the relationship as any other advertising and marketing relationship by keeping the arrangement too casual (i.e. no terms and no contract). All influencer marketing deals should be memorialized, even when only the product is offered as compensation. “

The second is choosing vanity metrics over engagement. “Business owners and marketers often try to connect with influencers with the largest following, without taking the time to confirm engagement rates and that the influencer’s audience aligns with the brand’s consumer.”

If you avoid these two potholes on the road of influencer marketing, you’ve made it past two of the most treacherous parts of this facet of marketing. Your focus can now shift to creating those long-term relationships with influencers.

3 Strategies for Creating Long-Term Relationships with Influencers

People want to buy products their friends, family, peers, and others they follow on social media actually use. As influencer marketing has matured, it’s inevitable that the consumer mind has followed suit. It’s easier to spot an influencer showing off a product because they got a great paycheck out of it these days. These are usually the products that they rave about for a post and you never see them mentioned again.

That’s not the kind of influencer marketing we’re focusing on here. We’re looking for the long-term relationships brands can build with influencers that continue to show their audience this influencer loves this product.

Here are 3 strategies to bypass surface-level influencer marketing and go straight into the deep end.

Strategy #1:  Spend the time learning about the influencer and creating a real relationship.   

As Jamie explains, “Get on the phone and really talk to each other. Relationships are formed by asking questions and spending time listening (on both sides). Brands can ask influencers about the demographics of their audience, the content that is most popular with their audience, and about past case studies.”

Don’t be afraid to ask influencers for this information. As someone with their wallet out ready to pay them, you’re allowed to ask what their weekly impressions are, how many profiles they’re reaching, and other metrics behind their posts.

The same applies to the influencer as well. Ideally, you’re working with professionals who are looking for more than a paycheck. “Influencers can ask brands about their goals for the relationship, the brand’s ideal customer, and for examples of past successes. A professional influencer will know detailed information about their audience and will be able to confirm the influencer’s audience is aligned with the brands,” says Jamie.

Creating long-term relationships with influencers requires an ROI. These questions ensure you’re setting your campaign up for success and not throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing which influencer is able to get you a solid ROAS.

“These conversations save money so brands can avoid relationships that may not be effective,” Jamie explains.

Strategy #2: Empower the influencer to have control over the content by working together to create the strategy for the campaign.

It’s tempting to walk into an influencer campaign with creative ideas in your back pocket. You know your audience, so shouldn’t you have a say in how your product is presented?

The answer is yes…but also no. When you chose the influencers to work with, you decided how your product would be presented. By looking at their past promotional campaigns, you can get an idea of what yours will look like. But now that the influencer is hired, it’s time to let them do their thing. They know their audience better than you and giving them creative control ensures you’re getting the highest chance of an ROI.

Here’s how Jamie sees it. “Influencers know what resonates with their audience. Working collaboratively with an influencer on the angle of the content will not only get the influencer excited about creating but will also make the content more effective.”

Strategy #3: Be transparent about expectations and respond to communications in a timely manner.

You have a business and so does the influencer. Jamie reminds us that these relationships are professional—and they should be treated as such. “Influencers often experience long pauses in communications, especially when asking for information from brands. This can lead to frustration and a feeling that the relationship is not valued.”

As a marketer, you’re a pro at building relationships. You know the first way to erode a relationship is through bad communication. If you want influencers to be excited to work together again, you have to treat this relationship with the professionalism you bring to your client’s work. 

Here’s Jamie’s advice, “Providing clear creative briefs and providing timely feedback for drafts goes a long way to maintaining a long relationship.” 

Once you’ve hired influencers and are ready to hit publish, go over what success means for each relationship. “To track metrics, the brand or marketer should set trackable goals before engaging with an influencer. Once the brand or marketer decides on the KPIs, it is a good practice to communicate them to the influencer so they are able to create content that will maximize the KPI,” Jamie explains.

Communication is key. But your marketing mind already knew this.

If you’ve been thinking the grass over in the influencer marketing lawn looks really green, it’s time to hop over and test out what it’s like over there. Start simple with a few practice campaigns and work your way up as you get data that can predict how your other campaigns will perform.

Use Jamie Lieberman’s 3 strategies for cultivating long-term influencer relationships to get it right the first time.

The post 3 Strategies For Creating Long-Term Relationships with Influencers appeared first on DigitalMarketer.