digital strategy

With marketers gathering more and more data, the tsunami of information might tend to be overwhelming.  That’s certainly understandable. How to deal with and maximize this flood of information can be challenging.

One solution is to follow what famed Roman emperor Julius Caesar said, “Divide et Impera” or divide and rule.  That’s also been more popularly interpreted as “divide and conquer.” Either way, the philosophy is still relevant in today’s digital world.

Divide and Rule

All kinds of metrics abound and marketers first need to recognize the most important ones.  There are three that can best be applied in a digital strategy: 1. Reach, 2. Conversion, and 3. Revenue.

Reach

Marketers first need to understand the people who visit their sites.  This includes the number of unique visitors, where visitors came from, and what brought them there;  e.g., keywords, SEO, etc. What are the top referral sites? If competitors are drawing customers from other sites, might these be sites worth checking out as well?

Also worth investigating are the company’s click-through rates.  CTR-influenced high scores could bring the company discounts from search engines like Google Adwords and help lower a company’s pay-per-click costs.

Conversion

Key to maximizing a company’s content is awareness of its bounce rates.  SEO companies like GoRocketFuel and Moz say an acceptable bounce rate is about 50%.

For companies with higher bounce rates, this could mean uninteresting content, too many ads, unattractive design and/or an absence of what a visitor was searching for.  These are issues that should be investigated where bounce rates are higher than the norm.

See also  Workplace Benefits Have Never Been More Important: Here's Why

On the other hand, lower bounce rates are the mirror opposite of high rates.  In addition, they could also signify that the company is appealing and marketing to the right target audience and displaying a distinct application of its website.

An awareness and adoption of better practices can only help to improve average page views, average site times, and conversion rates.

Revenue

The obvious bottom line in any commercial venture is revenue and critical to getting there is having the right tools to measure the company’s return on investment and costs to acquire customers.  Every department that’s part of a company’s digital strategy must have a say in determining what software best meets everyone’s needs. There are a lot of programs out there.

In addition to acquiring the appropriate software, other actions should include: 1. Enhancing the check-out procedure; 2. Employing third-party trust signs to improve visitor confidence; 3. Extending more active assistance offers like “live” chat and co-browsing; 4. Helping guide more users through the conversion funnel by utilizing AIDA – attention, interest, desire and action; 5. Removing dated data; 6. Cultivating and publishing more user reviews; and 7. Establishing baselines for user actions, major comments and objections, and metrics for key areas like conversion, bounce rates, and retention.

The last recommendation should also result in regular interdepartmental reviews to tweak or even discard certain action plans based on recognition of an ever-changing environment.

SHARE
Previous articleAI is the Answer
Next articleHow to Generate Engagement
Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently owned PR firms in the United States. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth and vision, with the agency earning accolades including being named a Top 50 Global PR Agency by PRovoke Media, a top three NYC PR agency by O'Dwyers, one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and being awarded multiple American Business Awards, including a Stevie Award for PR Agency of the Year. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected public relations executives. Throughout his career he has advised leading and high-growth businesses, organizations, leaders and boards across corporate, technology and consumer industries. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications. He has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly in the media and has authored two editions of his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations," which is an industry best-seller. Torossian's strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, a Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a recipient of Crain's New York Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Outside of 5W, Torossian serves as a business advisor to and investor in multiple early stage businesses across the media, B2B and B2C landscape. Torossian is the proud father of two daughters. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member of multiple not for profit organizations.