I used to do a lot of fishing with my dad up in Vermont. I well remember feeling the line tighten when a largemouth bass hit the lure. I recall feeling the strain in the rod – and then watching as the beautiful fish broke water, shaking his head vigorously … and sending the hook flying out of his mouth. As he splashed back into the water, I swear he scoffed at me.
I hooked him – but I didn’t land him.
Companies hook prospects and fail to land them all the time, especially in the deep waters of online advertising. For instance, suppose a company creates a great online ad campaign. The ads are creative and compelling. The offer is enticing. But either because the company is in a rush to launch the campaign or because they are unwilling to spend additional funds, they don’t create landing pages to complement the ads.
Instead, when a person clicks on an ad, he or she is sent directly to the company website’s home page. A general page that contains no language to specifically follow up on the ad. A page that doesn’t show the offer that piqued the person’s interest.
Do you really think prospects are going to wend their way through the website to find what they are looking for? They won’t. They will shake that hook from their mouth and swim away. The marketing campaign hooked them, but didn’t land them. Landing pages aren’t simply where prospects “land” after clicking on an ad. They are also where companies “land” prospects.
When you consider your next marketing campaign, think about the fish story you want to tell afterward: would you rather brag about “the one that got away” … or about how many you hooked and landed?
Author: Paula Marolewski