The ABCs of Digital Marketing: Always Be Converting

Always Be Closing is classic sales advice.

The ABCs of selling were popularized by Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. Baldwin's character, Blake, is my favorite. He's such an ass :)Blake shouts at the sales team,

A, B, C. A, always. B, be. C, closing. Always be closing. Always be closing! A, I, D, A. Attention, interest, decision, action. Attention. Do I have your attention? Interest. Are you interested? I know you are, “cause it's [bleep] or walk.” You close or you hit the bricks. Decision. Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action. A, I, D, A.

ABC and AIDA are almost folklore for salespeople. But Alec Baldwin's ABCs are wrong.

Always be closing may have worked in the good ol' days of belly-to-belly and knee-to-knee selling, but in the era of social media and search engines it's a surefire way of driving customers away.

The ABCs of Digital Marketing

The anxiety of the ABCs are the same, but the meaning has shifted. Instead of always be closing it's always be converting.Converting is the name of the game:

• Convert followers into engagement
• Visitors into friends
• Readers into subscribers
• Prospects into customers

Closing is definitive, but converting is fluid. Think of conversions like steps in a relationship. You are converting strangers into friends and ultimately customers.

Always Be Converting on your Website

The first place to focus on the ABCs is your website.On every page ask one question, “What do we want the visitor to do next?”

• Ask a question
• Share the content
• Request more information
• Visit another page
• Download a white paper

There are lots of choices, but each page should have one logical next step.Too often websites are cluttered with multiple calls to action, but that dilutes the impact. The ABCs focus on one conversion at a time.

Start With the Ask

Salespeople are trained to close every meeting by asking for next steps. The ABCs of digital marketing follow a similar mantra.What's the next step?