In software development, there is this notion of design patterns. It’s a template, a reusable solution to common problems that occur in developing software. 

A software engineer study, collect and use these design frameworks to build new software and craft more complex applications quickly.

Digital marketing lends itself well to using design patterns. 

A digital marketing pattern is a concept of finding a solution or process that works and then repeating it. 

These are a couple of digital marketing patterns that I use over and over again to build larger brand awareness and revenue growth campaign strategies.

Let’s talk about strategies for your business.

Audience Development

Most businesses need a larger audience unless you’re a 129-year-old brand like Coca-Cola. This is why advertising is often purchased on an impressions (CPM–cost per thousand impressions) basis.

On the web, the process of developing a larger audience is the process of getting impressions in front of someone else’s audience in hopes that you can convince them to pay attention to your interests.

This is a typical pattern for audience development:

1. Community – Identify one or more communities that are likely to have people that want or need your content, product, or service. Determine an appropriate way to access those communities for impressions. This access can be organic or paid, which can impact the way you apply your marketing strategy.
2. Audience – Carefully study the communities that you’re targeting. Look for characteristics and behaviors that indicate the audience you want to acquire.
3. Content or Offer – Craft content and calls to action that specifically talk to your desired audience.
4. Value Proposition – Your content or offer must have some immediate and long-term benefit to the audience. You’re asking them to follow you. That’s going to take some convincing and leadership.
5. Capture – Getting an audience’s attention is only the first step. You need to have a mechanism to capture them into a relationship-building strategy.
6. Nurturing and Retention Strategy – Capture should funnel directly into a strategy for nurturing and retaining your new audience.

While all of the above is important, pay special attention to the content that you create. You can do all the work that revolves around your content, but if you don’t do this right you’ll find yourself treading water. 

Create industry-leading content within your digital marketing patterns.

Build a foundation based on past results

Don’t guess as to what type of content has performed best to date. Make this decision based on past results. Review analytics data such as page visits, time on page, and bounce rate. This should lead you toward a better understanding of which patterns to use as your foundation.

Use lead magnets

Different types of content elicit different responses. Don’t create content because you think it’s the right thing to do. Create content with the goal of using it to generate leads, which can turn into sales. 

Lead magnets are best defined as free items or services given away in exchange for a prospect’s contact details. For example, you can give away an ebook or industry whitepaper. Not only is this information valuable to your audience, but you get something in return — contact details — that allows you to engage with new prospects. 

Position your business as a thought leader

You want your business to come to mind anytime someone thinks of your industry. For example, if you own a content marketing agency, create unique and powerful content around this subject matter. Don’t deviate. 

Here are some of the best ways to establish yourself as a thought leader:

• Develop original research, such as an industry study.
• Take a unique stance on topics that are applicable to your audience.
• Consistently share advice and guidance on social media and your company blog. 

No matter what approach you take, make it a consistent one. 

Talk to Kaleidico about creating content for your website.

User Acquisition

A logical extension of the audience development pattern is user acquisition. 

In this design pattern, you leverage the elements of the community, audience, content, and offers to bring people in for a slightly different purpose. In this case, you’re intending to encourage people to become actual users or consumers of a product or service.

This is a typical pattern for a user acquisition campaign:

1. Audience Development Pattern: A common precursor to most marketing campaigns, regardless of the objective(s).
2. Tour, Trial, or Demo: Short of the actual capture, the user acquisition pattern often needs a specialized form of value proposition and credibility building. This is where an interactive tour, free trial, or personal demonstration can help your audience to take the next step to become a user of your product or service.
3. Account Signup – The desired outcome of the user acquisition pattern is an account registration or sign-up.

Now, for the million-dollar question: What type of user acquisition method makes the most sense for your business?

There’s no shortage of options:

• Content marketing
• Email marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Social media
• Paid advertising

No matter how you generate leads, don’t expect to immediately close a deal. It could take several contacts over the course of many months to finally reach the end of the sales cycle. This is why lead nurturing is so important.

The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relationship with a prospect at every step of their journey. Email marketing is the most efficient way of doing so, as you can automate the process through the use of marketing software such as Active Campaign, Constant Contact, HubSpot, and MailChimp.

All you have to do is load up your messages, set the date and time for them to be delivered, and let the software do the rest. 

Lead Generation

Most businesses rely on a sales process that is relatively complex in order to sell their products or services. On the web, this necessitates a business development process that efficiently turns curious visitors into eager inquirers of your business.

Lead generation is the marketing pattern that can create a sufficient lead path from your website to your sales force.

The following is a standard pattern for a lead generation campaign:

1. Audience Development Pattern – Again, we begin with research into communities and actual audiences that we can leverage for impressions. In the lead generation design pattern, we are looking to turn those impressions into curiosity about how our product or service might solve specific pain points in their lives or businesses.
2. Tour, Demo, Portfolio, or other Proofing – In the case of lead generation, the products and services are typical of a high price point. This requires a little more proofing and trust-building around your product or service offering, like a demo of the product or a portfolio of past work.
3. Capture – Like most marketing patterns, there is a point of capture that brings interested individuals into your fold, in this case as a lead.
4. Lead Management Strategy – Capturing the lead is just the beginning of the lead generation process. This particular pattern is unique in its treatment of the new lead and the sales process to manage it into revenue, as a new purchase and customer.

Download Kaleidico’s Lead Generation Framework.

Kaleidico’s approach to lead generation

Lead generation is the magic bullet. If you master it, if you can consistently generate leads, you’re in a much stronger position than 99 percent of your competitors. 

At Kaleidico, we have a tried and true framework for lead generation. 

1. Strategy – Collaborate to discuss business objectives and tactics. 
2. Quarterly plan – Outline and finalize specific lead generation plan.
3. SEO – Competitor analysis, keyword selection, and site audit.
4. Content – Develop engaging, audience-building content. 
5. PPC – Use PPC bidding and positioning strategies to minimize costs and maximize conversions. 
6. Analysis – Collaborate to analyze results and discuss the path forward. 
7. Reporting – The use of KPIs to measure performance and guide future decisions. 

There’s no guesswork involved. This is the framework for digital marketing that’s worked time after time for our clients. And by using a defined and closed-loop collaboration framework, we can guarantee results. 

Try our proven framework for digital marketing

Design patterns are great ways to template your marketing strategies. Using models, like the ones above, will help you to pull proven frameworks off the shelf to deliver predictable and consistent marketing outcomes.

At Kaleidico, we have many years of experience helping clients build their own framework for digital marketing. We know what works, what doesn’t, and how to help you take your business to the next level. 

Don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel. Find patterns that generate results, rinse, and repeat.

Set up an appointment with Kaleidico here.