In this post we will find out how Marketing Automation and Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution can answer today’s critical business questions…
- How much does closing a sale cost?
- How much time?
- What level of effort?
- Do our customers even care about our product while they are in crisis mode?
During a robust economy, we don’t ask those questions often. We are busy filling orders, trying to increase our supply chain, and launching new products. Our sales plan includes a mix of digital resources, in-store marketing, and even launch events.
In the Spring of 2020, the economy changed overnight, and so did the method of sale. Our customers are Sheltering in Place, at home. Efforts swiftly changed to all-digital marketing. Every dollar, every lead, and every idea now counts.
Another question also emerged. What is going to capture the attention of our customers during the time of a crisis? Here’s a quote from Forbes Magazine and a link to a story about marketing during a crisis.
“Will your message relate to the crisis and offer assistance in dealing with it? Will it provide a welcome distraction and help your audience think about something else for a period of time? Or will it be ignored because it simply isn’t seen as important enough to even warrant their attention at the moment?”—Forbes Magazine
How much does closing a sale cost? Are our customers still out there? Marketing Automation can help answer your questions.
A Marketing Automation Story
To show an example of Marketing Automation and answer the question, let me use my own story as an example.
In April 2020, I was at home and dreaming about a Summer adventure. A welcome distraction. While scrolling through Facebook, I notice a sponsored post by a regional outdoor adventure store, East Coast Adventures (name changed). I could win a kayak if I post an adventure photo, tag them, add a friend, and follow their page. OK, I have time. I do it.
A week later, East Coast Adventures again captures my attention. An offer to download a free eBook appears in my Facebook feed. I would love to have the trail maps included in the free digital book, so I click on the link and am transported to a landing page on their website. While there, I go ahead and provide my email and opt-in to the adventure company’s monthly newsletter.
The eBook is well-crafted and full of content that I find helpful; so, I keep it. Included in the stories, I find links to products for sale on their website. I click through a few of those and browse some products. I am looking for a new pair of trail shoes, but I am just browsing today.
The next week, the monthly newsletter appears in my email. It is also well written and even includes a story about the trail shoes. I click on the link, and this time I do purchase the trail shoes.
Three weeks. I browsed and consumed this store’s content for three weeks before I decided to purchase those trail shoes. Three weeks is a long time, and I can say that my decision time is directly tied to today’s economy. I did purchase from East Coast Adventures, and this is an example of the power of Marketing Automation.
How much did this sale cost? East Coast Adventure did a great job moving me through their content to achieve a sale. I am wondering if they are tracking the effort. I am also wondering if they have noticed the behavior change within their customer base. Last year, I would have followed a Facebook ad to their website and purchased the shoes. This year, I browsed their content for three weeks…It is a new world.
Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution
It is time to introduce you to a feature of Marketing Automation that was not in everyone’s spotlight last year. Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution has always been just behind the scenes. Now, it is poised to move to the forefront in the digital marketing segment.
If you think that you will close a sale with one touch in the current economy, you are wrong. One social media ad, one email, one newsletter story is not going to close a sale. You need a multi-touch plan. Shift your budget and your marketing plan to a multi-touch digital plan. (You can find some funds for the shift by re-working your marketing plan and pulling or scaling back on ideas that do not work in today’s COVID-19 environment)
You Need to Use Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution
To explain, I am again going to use my story with East Coast Adventure. They know that they sold a pair of trails shoes, but do they know who purchased the shoes and my path to purchase? Do they know that I posted a photo on Facebook and downloaded their eBook? Do they realize that it was a long-content story about trail shoes in the newsletter that ultimately lead to my purchase?
Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution provides the stats. How many purchased from the first Facebook ad, and how many waited to be touched three times before they purchased? What content pushed the purchase?
Today, entrepreneurs and business leaders are joining Zoom meetings to discuss the cost of a sale. How to rebuild a sales pipeline and the cost is the cornerstone of every discussion. Everyone is looking for a new idea, and they want to base the decision on statistics. If this is you, then I suggest you consider a multi-touch digital plan, and you insist that it includes Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution. It is time for you to have a robust plan, facts, and reliable statistics.
It is time to put Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution into the bright spotlight.
Recently, Kim Chappell posted another blog to the Wellspring Digital website. Read that blog to and see how Kim moved a print food and beverage magazine to all-digital, with a Marketing Automation, multi-touch plan.
