Over the last few months I’ve had numerous conversations with my colleague, Howard Graham, who heads up our Digital Services function. We've been talking about how our clients can better optimize and measure their digital ROI, especially as the online landscape changes so rapidly.
Regardless of your industry sector, but especially for insurance and healthcare companies, consumers expect brands to speak to them in a single, knowledgeable voice, across all channels - regardless of the channel they are using right now. Why? Because most customers use more than one channel, and their preferences change over time.
The rapidly expanding digital landscape (see resources below) makes managing a marketing budget a moving target. You must constantly reevaluate programs to see what works best. Since most digital marketing strategies include multiple channels - from paid search and SEO, to microsites and landing pages, to registrations and emails - each requires its own optimization efforts.
Given all of the different variables within the digital landscape, we thought it would be great to summarize just how to manage, measure and respond to this ever-changing medium. Here’s a link to a White Paper "Optimizing Digital Marketing ROI" where our team addresses specific tactics in essential channels based on our observations of significant trends in the digital world:
- Dominance and value of paid search
- Changing SEO and content
- Social media for lead generation
- Dynamic content to personalize landing pages
- Mobile accessibility as a mainstream channel
- Integrated customer engagement
- Structured approach to testing
How do today’s successful marketers consistently manage all these moving parts? The key is to view each channel in the broader context of overall marketing goals. It helps to visualize your customers as they progress through the digital sales funnel from prospect to purchaser to loyal customer. Then, optimize each individual channel all the way through the funnel - not only across its respective layer - but also against Key Performance Indicators.
Finally, here’s a six additional resources as you navigate today’s digital landscape –
Digital disruption - http://goo.gl/oMao3
Social politics - http://goo.gl/lNO9U
Digital data- http://goo.gl/kECzy
Always-on brands - http://goo.gl/QcYQ6
Digital connectivity - http://goo.gl/zDNZs
eSenior healthcare - http://goo.gl/6ihVs