The Marketing Matters Podcast

Domains, email and hosting are critically important elements of the digital business world but are often forgotten because, when they work well, you never need to think about Them: But they are the glue holding an business together if they fail, everything falls apart!

In this episode, we discuss these elements of the digital world that are often taken for granted, but that are actually at the centre of our work!

Building a website can seem like technical barrier for many people and take focus away from the real challenge of building a business. But given the right tools and working with the right partners, designing and hosting a website should simply be a part of running & building a business rather than a technical hurdle to overcome.

Over the years, we've identified two key tools in website development and management that we have come to rely on: WordPress (an open source web builder) and Elementor a tool for building WordPress templates. 

In todays podcast we talk about these two tools and why we use them.

In this new season, we’re taking a glimpse “behind the curtain” at the tools used in web marketing. In most instances, you cannot run a business these days without the technical tools and support, so what do we use for websites, e-mail and even, looking beyond marketing, accounting and telephone systems?

As we’re surrounded by technology, a key thing to remember is the tool only aids in running your business: it isn’t the be-all and end-all. For the right tools, you need to understand both why you want it and what you hope to gain.

On the back of our recent e-business series, we’ve had some real world examples of situations where a joined-up approach would have been useful. Legitimate suppliers selling legitimate products, but their lack of cohesion and poor communication led to a less than ideal customer experience, costing them potential further business.

What were the big mistakes made and how should they avoid it in future?

Regardless of whether your business is conducted primarily on or offline, a solid digital presence is key to the way you interact with your market and customers. 

Different businesses operate in slightly different ways but fundamentally they need to effectively engage with their marketplace and digital platforms are now a critical part of this process.

In our final episode on e-business, we pull things together and discuss how a joined up approach to managing the digital elements of your business is vital to long term success.

Once you’ve had somebody sign on the dotted line, your relationship with them changes. They know you better, are more interested in what you have to say and, according to marketing wisdom, should be your most profitable customers. But do you make the most of this opportunity?

Finding and converting new customers is expensive, but many companies focus their energy almost exclusively on this. Ignoring the potential opportunities from current clients. Many businesses fail to recognise the value of building on existing relationships even though it doing this can often make or break the success of a business.

After an enquiry is made, What next? Do you have a process to make the most of them and where appropriate, convert them?

With a service-led business, a website is about building confidence and trust. The buying decision might take longer and need a little more help. Rushing to seal a deal may be tempting, but is rarely helpful: What's more, seem too keen, and it could make them question your motives. Different enquiries will move at different rates and you need a process to deal with these in the most appropriate way.

In this weeks podcast, we discuss this and introduce the concept of the Boomerang e-mail - Trust me its worth a listen just for that!

The main marketing focus of many businesses is getting people to their website, with the priority on things like improving Google search rankings Whilst this is important, what happens when they arrive on your site is equally important. If your website doesn't deliver, then attracting people in the first place is a pointless endeavour.

The more competitive a market is the more important it is to hold someone’s attention. If it’s not easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for, they’ll look elsewhere. In this episode we look at what you need in place to ensure their experience goes smoothly and delivers results?

The next step of our series on e-business looks at the visibility and effectiveness of your website. While getting people to your site is important, it's only worthwhile if they are interested in what you do and that you can convert them into customers. Having the right approach to attracting people, by knowing who it is you're appealing to and making sure the message is right, is imperative.

You don't want to attract just anybody. One of the biggest mistakes made by marketers is not effectively defining the target audience, and casting the net too wide. Just thinking of gross numbers instead of narrowing the field means you're going to waste resources and struggle to convert people. You cannot and will not make a customer out of everyone.

With the odd exception, every business has some sort of online presence. Whilst this may not involve a full e-commerce offering, the web is critical to all businesses these days.  As a critical element in communicating with your target audience your use of technology needs to be a fully integrated part of your business rather than simply a technical issue.

In this episode, we talk about the difference between e-Commerce & e-Business, and the importance of a joint up approach to technology throughout the sales & marketing process.