Digital marketing’s goal is to bring in leads or sales so it’s important to know how you are collecting that data. However, it’s common for trainers, consultants and professional coaches to put little thought into how their marketing data is collected let alone have a strategy behind it.

Sales and lead data can be collected in a lot of ways but they boil down to one of three categories:

Direct Data

Direct data takes information from a lead (it’s very rare to see this done with direct sales anymore) and provides it directly to the marketer. This is usually done via email through a simple form processor like formmail.

• Pro: It’s a simple setup and can usually be modified to meet individual needs.
• Con: It will limit what data is collected and how it’s reported. It also limits retention to a manual process because if the data is deleted, it’s not stored elsewhere. Security can also come into question if the data is sensitive.
• Best use: Simple responses that will be used for a simple interaction and does not need any automated tools.

Third Party App

This is the most varied category as third party apps are available for almost every business process under the sun and there are more and more each day. Third party apps typically function in this way: they collect the data, offer one or several automated features to manipulate the data, and store it in the app.

• Pro: Third party apps can be selected for a particular business need like event management, inventory and delivery management, or automated document delivery. Typically the apps are quite good at the particular thing they are designed for.
• Con: There is almost always an ongoing cost to use a third party app. Additionally, the data is collected on the apps platform which means that data can only be manipulated with the tools they make available or needs exported (if exporting is allowed) and manipulated separately. Perhaps the biggest potential problem with third party apps is that in complex marketing processes one tool may not be suitable. A combination of several can make for a disjointed user experience.
• Best use: If there is a single process that needs additional functions and a third party app offers solutions for that functionality at a reasonable price then it’s often simpler to use the app out of the box

Database

A database driven solution gathers lead and sales data and stores it. While third party apps almost always function from a database, the difference is that they own the database rather than the marketer having direct access to it.

• Pro: Personalized database solutions offer unlimited customization and functionality. Direct access to the database also makes the data available for customized data manipulation and reporting.
• Con: A database solution is often the most complex, requiring the most time, energy, and/or money to set up.
• Best use: If a marketing process is so complex that configuring third party apps becomes cumbersome then a personalized database with custom tools is often the only secure option.

Image courtesy of  Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Google image search and other image tools have made it very easy to find amazing illustrations and photographs online for your marketing. However, the tools should come with a warning, most of those images are not free for the taking.

Many trainers, consultants, and professional coaches use images in correlation with blogs or social media posts. But if you don’t know where the image came from, it’s likely that you’re violating a copyright. A good tool for checking is www.tineye.com. If you paste the URL of an image into their search function it will display stock photo sites that offer the image. If your image shows up in a stock image collection and you haven’t paid for it, then it should not be used in your marketing. If you really like the photo, purchase it from the stock collection, otherwise keep looking.

There are many good stock image sites with reasonable prices but even if you have no budget for images that doesn’t preclude you from attaining them appropriately. We prefer www.freedigitalphotos.net. Their license allows for free downloads of small low resolution images perfect for blogs or social media as long as their site and original creator is credited.

Be diligent about the images you use. It’s the ethical thing to do and will protect you from receiving a cease and desist letter if the stock photo company discovers their property used inappropriately.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Things move quickly on the internet, that’s no great revelation for most people. In an effort to keep up with email marketing campaigns, social media posts, and blog articles it’s easy to produce something and then forget about it. For email and social this often doesn’t create a problem but on a website, relics of the past can cause confusion.

Trainers, consultants, and professional coaches often work on a project and move on or have it transition to a new initiative. If project information is on the website it’s important that it reflects the current state rather than a past state.

A company we recently met with was experiencing a problem where their users were regularly complaining that project information shared with them was dated or inaccurate. This company was frustrated because they had instituted a custom email campaign specifically to keep users up to date. The person responsible for the communications said, “Honestly, I’m spoon feeding them the information at this point. What more can I do?”

After doing a review of the communication plan, we realized that the emails were actually highlighting the problem. The emails would link back to the website that had a project specific section. While the new content was there, dated content from the project’s inception was also prevalent. There was no clear definition of what information was current and much of it was outdated and no longer relevant.

After redesigning the structure of the project section and archiving old information, the complaints abated.

Websites tend to grow organically but there isn’t always a system for review and retirement of outdated information. If you find that users are struggling to understand your messages, perhaps a review and trim down of the website might clear up the misunderstandings.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net