As originally published on LinkedIn…
Successful marketing campaigns are like a chain. Every element links to the next, leading your prospect from the first contact to conversion. Like a chain, one weak link derails the entire effort. As a copywriter and content strategist, I’ve observed many campaigns share the same weak link.
Oddly, it’s rarely the first element discussed when evaluating a campaign’s success and/or flaws. Ads and lead generation elements get a lot of attention. Copy quality and the big idea behind the campaign get scrutinized.
Yet, we overlook the one link in the overall chain that can cause the campaign to falter, trashing great ideas, stellar copy, and a solid strategy.
What is this weak link?
It’s the landing page.
Every Campaign Needs a Unique Landing Page
In a post on landing page statistics, Techjury cites that only 48% of marketers create unique (new) landing pages for each campaign.
At first, this stat may seem like no big deal, but put yourself in the eyes of your audience…
There you are – inspired by the ad, email, TV/radio commercial, or even print mailing. You click the link or enter the URL, only to arrive on a landing page with copy that:
1. Doesn’t match the hook of the ad; or
2. Introduces new and unrelated or not clearly related ideas.
In the first instance, you lose credibility and your prospect loses interest.
In the second, your user is faced with work sorting out the new information and ideas that expand rather than build and support the original idea. Your prospect must think about it, understand it, and draw their own conclusions.
Making your audience work like this translates to a wrecked campaign.
Now, using an old landing page can work if the idea and language of new campaign points to the content of that landing page, ie., the campaign was designed around the current landing page.
If it doesn’t, that old landing page introduces a point of incongruity and ruins much more than the campaign.
The Three-fold Impact of Not Using Unique Landing Pages for Every Campaign
Clearly, campaign results suffer when a landing page breaks the chain and campaign flow. The impacts aren’t limited to the single campaign either.
- The great idea behind the campaign is lost. You might have had a blockbuster but dropping the user on that old landing page (or worse, homepage!) defused its impact. You move on to find new ideas, write new copy, and plan the next campaign.
- A disconnect forms between marketer and the audience. Ideas that go live do so because they’re viewed as likely to resonate. When they don’t, marketers and copywriters continue to search for the mind of the audience.
- A lot of resources, specifically time and money, are lost. There are lost sales revenues. There’s the increased cost of creating new campaigns. You might also lose good talent.
The landing page is just so important! Not creating one is like doing a direct mail campaign without updating the envelope, lift note, or filler copy to fit with the sales letter.
In fact, I always recommend every client take a wider view of their digital marketing campaigns, looking at them as a direct mail piece. Every element needs copy unique to the campaign presented in a way that flows from one step to the next, right through to conversion.
For example, the envelope copy (like an ad or email), needs to get your prospect to the sales letter. Every section of the letter from headline to order device must keep your prospect reading.
It’s funny…having written for digital marketers for many years now, there’s always talk about how today there are more on- and off-ramps for prospects. This isn’t true. Direct marketers have known about the many potential on-and-off ramps for years.
Direct mail packages have used inserts, lift notes, and other devices for decades to recapture a prospect’s attention. Like online prospects, many people who receive a direct mail piece never read the full sales letter, an off-ramp. To overcome this, direct marketers include lift-notes (or another device) to provide an on-ramp. It’s a lot like today’s programmatic campaigns aimed at re-engaging audiences.
Like those direct mail campaigns, digital campaigns achieve the greatest success when every element seamlessly connects, supports, and leads a prospect with a consistent idea, message, and tone. It’s as much about flow as it is about creating a clear, simple path for your prospect to say, “Yes!”
For digital campaigns, this means each campaign must have a unique landing page (or pages!).
Now, I understand landing pages may not be easy to create. Technical elements often require resources outside of marketing to make them happen.
The thing is, how accurate is copy evaluation, A/B testing, and campaign metrics if an incongruous landing page delivers inconsistent messaging?
How to Make Unique Landing Pages a Simple Add to Every Campaign
Strategically speaking, all you need to do is have a unique landing page(s) for each campaign. Here are two approaches I recommend for simplifying the effort:
For new campaigns…create a landing page template to reduce technical team engagement. Then, have your copywriter write the copy for the entire campaign.
For example, a search engine marketing campaign would require copy for the ad, the landing page, order device (if it’s more than an “Enter Email Here”), and the autoresponder email that presumably goes out immediately after conversion.
For preexisting campaigns…I recommend a content audit. Why create a whole-new campaign when all it might need is an updated landing page to start churning our big conversion rates? Do a content audit to identify the potential return and then, as appropriate, rewrite the landing page. It’s a cost-effective and fast way to jump-start your conversions.
By eliminating the common weak link of a “blah” landing page, you’ll drive conversions, revenue, and your business success. You also might just find your ideas are substantially better and need less effort to create winning campaigns!
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Updated: September 25, 2019