In the modern-day world of digital marketing, clicks mean a lot. But what means even more is the right kind of clicks.

We can all bump up our engagement rates with 'clickbait'- style content designed to encourage web users to do just that—click. But is that creating a customer journey? These 'superficial' clicks might look good on a Google Analytics graph. Still, for businesses encouraging customers to make considered and potentially expensive purchases, there seems little chance that a click will become a conversion.

In this blog, we look at four methods to attract the right visitors to your website - ones that can be converted into sales-qualified leads.


1. Create buyer personas

Before you begin targeting your target audience, you must know precisely who your 'ideal customer' or buyer persona is. This isn't about taking a wild stab in the dark; you should use all the available market research to see which demographics in which locations are most likely to be interested in your product or service. If you collate this information when designing the product or service, you might already have much of this information.

But how can you come closer to your target customers from data alone? Getting creative and producing buyer personas based on this data can help you to get 'up close and personal' with the people you are targeting in your campaigns. Start with three different demographics and try to get under the skin of the persona - what are their pet hates? What do they want? What can help them? Don't be shy about details - cover their job, type of home, relationship status and hobbies.

 

2. Create relevant content with context

Once you have your personas ready, you can begin basing your campaign content around them, identifying their pain points and problems as a starting point from which to present solutions. By identifying common issues, you can create empathy with them, and the top-line messaging of your campaign can really benefit from text or audiovisual content that goes straight to the heart of these pain points, wants, and needs.
Don't be afraid to be direct in the language you use in your campaigns, especially when space is at a premium. Speak directly to your target audience by addressing a common problem or want: 'Where Do You Want to Travel to?' or 'Are You Sure That Your Dream Home Isn't Affordable?'

 

3. Create calls to action

Calls to action are essential to transfer points in the customer journey. With them, you can build on the engagement you have already achieved with your top-line messaging. Now, you are providing an opportunity for your personas to learn more and perhaps identify solutions to the problems identified.

With strategically placed, enticing calls to action, you can up the stakes and facilitate another level of engagement: clicking through to your website, filling in a contact form or actioning a download. You have created empathy or interest and built trust, and now it is time to expand on your proposition. Remember - you don't always have to opt for a 'route one' sales pitch. To attract the right visitors and nurture them to quality leads takes time. So, your call to action might take a potential customer to a helpful, entertaining or informative piece of content more often than it does to the point of sale for your product or service. By engaging with your content, the web user has already registered their interest and can now be considered a quality lead to be managed with care.

 

4. Create an offer in the form of a solution

There is such a wide range of content available for you to use on digital platforms to attract the right visitors to your website. From guides to eBooks and bitesize videos, your call to action has the opportunity to provide your target customer base with something of real value that they won't simply click, consume, and forget.

Put time into creating content that is well-presented and simple to use. If you are a motorhome manufacturer, for instance, it could be a video which takes the viewer around '5 Dream Driving Holiday Destinations', or when it comes to property firms, perhaps a downloadable app which lists, locates and rates all the green spaces in a local area - as long as the subject is related to your product or service, and fits with your brand, there is no right or wrong piece of content, as long as it is well produced.

The digital era might have sped things up considerably regarding communication, but in business, specifically inbound marketing, it still pays to be patient. That means getting to know your ideal buyers and nurturing your leads with care using high-quality and relevant content.