Milks, eggs, flour, butter, onions, stock… these universally known ingredients which form the base of a ton of recipes (thanks Food Network). Marketing recipes are similar: messaging, ad copy, offers, sense of urgency, and compelling visuals are the base ingredients of marketing campaigns.
But the most overlooked, especially among digital marketing efforts: landings pages (a.k.a. “the website”).
“No kidding, everyone knows that” is what the more seasoned digital marketers are saying right now. Sorry, marketers, but this article isn’t for you because you know this. This article is for those less seasoned or completed salt-free.
Why Landing Pages are Key to Building Engagement
Landing pages are the most important ingredient. Everything that happens before the landing page (ad copy, messaging, offers, creative, channel) happens only get people TO THE WEBSITE! If those visitors don’t take the desired action you want them to take (provided you’ve made what you want them to do VERY CLEAR TO THEM), then it’s on the website and not everything before the website.
Not providing what was promised or expected by the ads or giving visitors a bad/overwhelming experience on landing pages is why bounce rates are a thing (and hover around 80-95% for paid search, display, and paid social efforts).
Sure, there are marketers trying to capture weak intent or create awareness, but even in those efforts you can still be useful to the website visitor by giving them a great experience, being genuinely helpful, and fulfilling the promise of the effective ad that they clicked on.
