Kristen Buzzaird — July 21, 2017 — July 21, 2017
Digital marketing is a powerful tool in any company’s arsenal of sales techniques. Unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to convince executives of the value of digital marketing. Whether you’re trying to convince your executive management to start using digital marketing or are showing executives what benefits have been derived from the last campaign, you’ll need to demonstrate some or all of the following points.
- Well-defined goals: Executives might not understand where digital marketing can help improve lead generation, customer conversions, and overall sales. For this reason, you must establish well-defined and reachable goals for your company’s digital marketing efforts before getting started. You may be looking to increase the number of leads from inbound marketing, or bring more visitors to your website, for example. Make goals as clear as possible to increase chances of acquiring or continuing executive support.
- Measurable results: Once your digital marketing begins, executives will want to see measurable results. The data from a digital marketing campaign should clearly set out what was accomplished and whether the goals of the campaign were met. Ongoing digital marketing efforts should be reported on regularly to show what is being done and what results are being derived at daily, weekly, monthly, or longer intervals. Reporting numbers from digital marketing efforts will give executive management hard data to use for making better decisions.
- Proof of effectiveness: Apart from data showing results from digital marketing, executives will also want to see proof that those data are generating results. Have the numbers of website visitors gone up, and are the results of a website visit–information request, or sign-up for a mailing list, for example–actually happened to prove it? Are more leads being found, and more leads being converted into customers, because of the company’s digital marketing? When observed results match the data, executives are going to be pleased with the results.
- Ease of implementation: A company-wide digital marketing program, or even an individual marketing campaign, should be relatively easy to implement without causing great disruption to the company’s operations. Small-scale or trial runs at digital marketing should cause very little trouble. A program of digital marketing that is intended to largely replace existing marketing methods should be implemented gradually. The easier it is to put a digital marketing program in place, the more likely it is executives will support it.
- Focus on customers: Executives and upper management do not want to worry that the move to digital marketing will in any way lead to a loss of focus on customers and sales. Executives may not trust digital methods if it seems that those methods are likely to be of more interest to the marketing department than serving the company’s customers. Show executives how digital marketing can improve customer engagement and focus while boosting efficiency and revenue.
- Return on investment: Executives want to see a return on investment for the time, effort, and money the company will put into establishing and maintaining a digital marketing process. They want to know that the salaries paid to digital marketing experts and new staff are justified and that the money spent on equipment, software, and training will pay off significantly in the shortest amount of time. Make a clear financial case to help convince executives of the value of digital marketing initiatives.
Digital marketing works, but sometimes its benefits and results have to be clearly shown to executives to convince them to keep it in the company’s toolbox of techniques.
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