Landing pages have become part of the digital marketing vernacular. You’ll hear them discussed at length in webinars, whitepapers, and blog posts. Most of that content focuses on just how you can optimize your landing pages for conversion. But that begs the question: why do you need them in the first place?
We’ve already discussed just what makes a landing page, and how it fits into your overall marketing strategy. Let’s dig into that second part. If you’re still on the fence on whether or not you need to structure your website with this element at the forefront, consider these undeniable benefits of your landing pages.
Landing pages connect ads to content
Digital ads have become a crucial part of the modern marketing mix. They help you gain brand awareness with target audiences, and are especially valuable considering the in-depth targeting options a network like Facebook offers to focus your message.
Too often, though, these ads are isolated. They show a great picture or video, but don’t offer a next step. Even those linking to your website might go to your homepage or another general information page.
Now, consider the difference if you can build in that next step instead. An ad can now lead to an in-depth whitepaper on the subject or an upcoming webinar. Connecting your digital ads to landing pages makes that connection, and allows you to gain more than just brand awareness.
Landing pages drive the buyer’s journey
The modern buyer’s journey is complex. Most of it takes place online, where your audience searches for general information, narrows that information to specific pain points, and chooses from various solutions to these pain points. Through your landing pages, you can connect to and even steer that buyer’s journey in your direction.
Above all, and as discussed previously, landing pages offer ‘more’. More content, more relevance, more solutions. If you truly integrate them into your marketing efforts, you can ensure that this ‘more’ actually connects to the various stages in the buyer’s journey:
- Offer gated content with general information for the awareness stage.
- Present how-to guides to solve pain points.
- Showcase comparisons within your industry to help with the choice.
Each of this can be premium content behind a sign up page. As your audience converts, you learn about their current stage, and can adjust your messaging accordingly. In other words, you can help your audience drive the buyer’s journey through the entire process.
Landing pages gather valuable information
Let’s not underestimate a crucial part of landing pages: through the integrated form, you can gather information about your audience that becomes invaluable for your future marketing efforts.
Sign up forms in the early stages of the funnel are typically short, and only ask for basic information. More advanced content, though, can invite more specific information. The exact information, of course, depends on what you’re asking for.
Many B2B marketers ask for company size, which informs future messaging depending on the segmentation. B2C companies may prefer information like age range or location. This type of information also builds market intelligence on which members of your audience looks for what type of content, and when.
Landing pages track your marketing success
Return on investment is a crucial part of any modern marketing initiative. When you invest significant part of your budget into a paid campaign, or even when you invest your time in an unpaid effort, you need to make sure that’s it’s actually worth that investment.
Traditional metrics don’t always get you there. Facebook and Google supply information about engagement and clicks, but you don’t know how many of those clicks actually convert to customers. Landing pages, set up the right way, bridge that gap.
Through tracking pixels and Google Analytics, you can better understand how your ads are performing. You can see exactly how many leads a message or channel source generated, and even track your leads through the funnel. In other words, you can track your marketing success to make more informed, more strategic decisions.
Landing pages increase your lead generation
Finally, but certainly not least importantly, let’s end with the most basic but also most important benefit of any well-functioning landing page. They help you generate leads, both directly from your paid and unpaid marketing efforts and through more circumstantial conversions.
You might recall from our earlier article that the core purpose of a landing page is to generate leads. Naturally, then, integrating these elements into your larger marketing strategy helps you accomplish one of your most fundamental goals. You capture interest both early and throughout the funnel, and can address and convert that interest into actual revenue through strategic nurturing after the sign up.
Over the past few years, lead generation has climbed the ranks as one of the most important marketing goals across industries. Once a potential customer enters your system, you can build a more targeted marketing effort to convert them to a customer. By connecting your brand awareness efforts to your landing pages, you can create a steady stream of leads that fuel your sales and business.
Converting landing page benefits to actual marketing results
Of course, all of the above is hypothetical. Put simply, a landing page has to be built right to actually produce these types of results. Without that strategic emphasis and skill, you risk spending significant time adjusting your entire marketing strategy, with diminishing results.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The elements of successful landing pages range from social proof to a streamlined sign up form. To go into depth goes beyond the scope of this post. One core truth remains: if you want to leverage the benefits of landing pages, you need to build them the right way.
That means taking time, and finding best practices that help your audience convert. It also means making sure that your landing pages match your digital campaigns, and vice versa. It’s a complex process, but one that comes with significant benefits in the from of actual marketing results in the end.
