I hear it often: "All we need are some Facebook or Google ads and a simple shopping cart or donation page and our digital campaign should be set."   

That's a lie. A big lie.

Sales funnels and digital campaigns that convert often take a long time to get there. Just because your campaign or product might be digital (i.e., courses, messages, videos) doesn't mean you can skip foundational steps and go straight into tactics.

Don't skip your foundation

Your messaging, brand promise and landing page/website are the digital equivalent of building your storefront if you were opening a store or restaurant. It's an investment in your brand and essential to engage with your customer. 

When people skip this step, tactics like ads seldom work. And even if they work for a while, they'll stop working once they start reaching audiences that are not familiar with your brand or product. 

Your ads might be clever and get even get many click-throughs, but they won't convert. People waste a lot of ad dollars because they don't think through the entire process. And they underestimate the amount of engagement a cold audience (someone who doesn't know anything about you) needs before they take action. 

The more involved or expensive your offer, the longer your customer journey is. 

The foundational tenets

Foundations are not sexy, but they are critical. No one who builds a house likes to spend money on infrastructure: excavation, retaining walls, footers, etc. But without them, the house wouldn't stand for long. Your digital campaign is the same. Creating videos and ads is fun, but without a strong foundation, they will fall apart. 

All these tactics are built upon foundational tenets such as a clear brand or product promise, messaging that resonates with your target audience and takes them into a journey, a value proposition that is clear and compelling and a call to action that makes sense for where the customer is in their journey through your digital campaign. 

Before you start creating ads and driving people to your website, make sure you have your foundation in place. Ask these questions: 

• What problem is this ad solving? 
• Who is my target audience? 
• Is the solution evident on my landing page? 
• Is there enough compelling information for someone to take action? 
• Is there enough social proof that makes people comfortable with my claims? 
• What is the call to action? And how appropriate is it for a first-time person? (Don't ask someone to marry you on their first date.)
• If they don't fill out my form or buy my product or sign up for my nonprofit, what happens next? 
• If they give me their name and email, what happens then? 

These are the type of questions you should ask every time before you launch a digital campaign. When you do, you'll find out that a solid foundation will help you build several successful campaigns instead of creating one that will probably cost a lot and produce little fruit. 

If you want help creating an integrated marketing plan, sign up for my FREE training here. You can also contact us here for a free consultation on your digital campaigns.