A warm welcome to those of you brave enough to accept that your website isn't living up to its potential.

One of the biggest misconceptions many business owners have is that their website is a virtual business card, or a virtual storefront. It's very common to hold this viewpoint, especially if you don't know how to use a website to make money.

It's not your fault. We create businesses to fuel our passions and show the world we are experts in a particular area.

Since when is everyone supposed to be a digital expert in addition?

That's why I'm here, and why Alpha Alias exists.

Your website is a business-critical asset responsible for convincing your audience of your credibility and value, and facilitating contact or conversions in a variety of ways.

Your website is your most trusted and reliable salesperson. It doesn't take breaks, eat or sleep. Your website caters to every need your audience may have.

Your business website represents the very best communication and quality standards anyone can expect from your brand.

Are you concerned that your website doesn't match that description?

Welcome to The Paperweight Challenge, where we transform websites into your best salesperson.

You should be worried if your website doesn't provide the value of your greatest salesperson, and that's the reason for this article.

The content below is designed to provide you with the insights and inspiration to evolve websites that are better off as paperweights into the greatest salesperson in your company.

The challenge is clear: the competitive digital arena is teeming with businesses shouting at your audience to buy their crap. You need to present your brand as the beacon of hope that guides them through the noise, and to the value they need.

So, how does your business become this guiding light?

It's done in three steps.

1. Identify your real target audience.
2. Understand your real target audience.
3. Speak the language of your real target audience.

The first step is the hardest because it's a challenge none of us get right the first time around.

In the nearly two decades I've been working in the competitive digital arena, the number of businesses I've helped that could identify their real target audience can be counted on one hand.

To be fair, it's not their fault. We all want our businesses to reap the rewards of global success from millions of buyers who rave about our thing!

As emotional beings, it's hard to detach ourselves from that mission. It just doesn't sit right with us. 

The real way to identify your real target audience is by asking yourself three questions: (relax branding experts, you'll still make your money from people who don't read this article.)

1. Who benefits from my product or service the absolute most? (not a little, the most)
2. Of the group you just identified, what subset of people are most likely to become fans of your brand? (by fans, I mean people willing to tell their friends & colleagues about you)
3. Now, of the subset of fans you've outlined, who is the single person (that's right, just one) who is most likely to become an evangelist for your brand? (we're talking crazy fanatical)

This will rub some people the wrong way, so bear with me: The person you identify in step three is your real target audience, and every other detail or person you thought of before you got to that conclusion is irrelevant. 🤯

This sentence is here to give the riff-raff time to exit the room.

Still with me? Every single thing you do to market your business, from the colour of your branding to the slang you tolerate to position your business as fresh, must be done with the singular mission of convincing this one person to become your fanatical evangelist. 

Why?

Because, behind this one person, some will become fans. Behind those fans, some will reap exceptional value from your product or service. Behind the value reapers are those who will appreciate certain aspects of your offer.

The way to convince everyone is to convince one- the rest will fall in line.

In step one you identified who they might be, but you only know a little about them. The second step to becoming the beacon of hope is to understand your target audience.

Understanding your audience on a deep level is vital for effective communication. If you understand your audience, you will be lightyears ahead of your competition- those who just yell about how great they are instead of trying to connect with their audience.

To understand your target audience, you need to find them and talk to them. In many of the modern marketing books I read, I find these gurus talking about how to find your target audience online so you can creatively sell to them.

I agree with some, but not with others- but the point here is that regardless of the source, we all agree that you need to find this person and talk to them.

I apologise if you thought this article would have a magic button to solve your paperweight website problem. The reality is that you need to put in some leg work.

In exchange for that dose of reality, I'll give you some incentives:

Do you like to make money? Do you want success?

Good. Now, it's time to roll up your sleeves and find the only people who can make those happen for you.

Once you find your target, learn everything you can about them. You need to know them better than they know themselves. Learn their habits, the way they present themselves, their hobbies, their lifestyle, their mating preferences (yes, I'm serious!), their personal and professional desires, their life aspirations, their politics, and any other detail about them you can possibly document.

Write it all down. It all matters.

Once you have enough information, present your assessment to people who have no idea about the target audience but aren't shy about asking critical questions. Let these people ask you nuanced details about the target.

Can you answer all of their questions with direct knowledge?
Can you answer all of their questions with a combination of direct knowledge and predictions you're willing to bet your entire business on?
What questions can't you answer?

If you can't answer these questions, you don't understand your target well enough.

If you can predict the answers and you're willing to bet your business on your prediction, or if you can answer all of their questions with direct knowledge, you understand your real target audience well enough to move on to the third and final step.

So, you've identified your real target audience and understand them on an uncanny level. You know more about them than you ever thought you needed, and for what? 

"When do I get to convert this knowledge into money, Sam?"

You've made it to the final stage of the process; congratulations! To answer the question on everyone's mind: now is the time we exchange powerful knowledge for actual money.

Let's get started.

I'll admit: step three is much more difficult than steps one and two. But, I promise that if you take the time to understand the process and technology involved, you will become an incredible force to be reckoned with in the digital space.

Here's how step three brings it all together:

1. You're going to identify your real target audience's characteristics in the context of neuromarketing (definition coming), and organise them into 2-3 groups based on their cognitive differences (explanation soon). You'll also document the characteristics that are similar across all groups. 
2. Create a marketing and sales strategy in two parts:
3. Part 1: An evergreen strategy that leverages the common characteristics you found across all groups
4. Part 2: Segmented strategies for the segments you've identified by outlining cognitive differences
5. Finally, you will deploy your evergreen strategy as the baseline, and use the segments to power technology that will hyper-personalise the experience on your website.
   

Warning: I'm about to dig into neuromarketing, cognitive concepts, and content personalisation automation. It's heavy reading. If it starts to get overwhelming, skip ahead to where I discuss creating your strategy. Come back later when you've had a fresh cup of coffee and are ready to conquer the world!

Neuromarketing is the process of influencing human behaviour by carefully incorporating stimuli meant to trigger a desired cognitive response. Or, as I like to put it, "Neuromarketing is getting people to do what you want."

Neuromarketing taps into the subconscious mind of your audience to communicate information that breaks down metaphysical barriers to ensure they will be receptive to your message. (see why it's so important to understand your real target audience on a deep level?)

If you don't understand it yet, you will certainly grasp the core concept after this quick mental exercise:

Picture this:

1. Think of a commercial where a couple wants to buy a car.
2. They find a car.
3. They buy the car. 
4. They feel good.

Even though I provided almost zero context, you've probably assigned certain details that reveal a lot aboutyou. Let's see how many of these questions you can answer:

• How old is the couple?
• Are they a man and a woman?
• What race are the couple?
• What is the colour of the car they purchased?
• Is it a fast car, or something family-friendly?
• Does the good feeling line up with the type and colour of the car?
• What brand is the car?
• Was the commercial on TV or a YouTube ad?
• Did you, at any point, think about their budget for the car?
• Did you get annoyed thinking about a car commercial?

Now, let's see what you've just learnt about yourself.

1. The age of the couple represents how you view your financial standing. If they were older than you, then you're probably not financially stable- or you worry a lot about money. If they're the same age, you're likely financially stable or perceive yourself to be.
2. The gender (or lack thereof) and sexual preferences of the couple represents the way your subconscious mind defines a "couple." Moreover, it shows what your subconscious expects from a financially stable couple making big financial decisions.
3. Here's a practical example: The format in which you viewed the commercial revelas where your subconscious mind expects to evaluate a purchase of this type. You may watch YouTube videos all day long, but you might still think of a commercial like this during a prime-time TV break.

We're only scratching the surface.

What you know about your target audience's neuromarketing characteristics can be the difference between a bounced visitor, or a lifelong evangelist.

If I know that my target audience consists of couples in need of a car, I am guaranteed to sell more cars if I make a commercial that airs on the platform where their brain feels positive about stimulation, the age of the actors is relatable to their financial perception, their views on gender are reinforced, the colour of the car matches the colour their brain feels excited about, and so on.

More simply: A commercial with a middle-aged white family buying a beige mini-van and smiling at each other lovingly that airs on TV just before the evening news is not going to get a young, bisexual black SaaS startup founder to buy the vehicle. 

The startup founder won't buy it even if they are on the market for a minivan. 

They won't buy it even if it has better features than another vehicle they've considered.

Random pop-quiz: Those of you who cringe every time I bring up gender or sexual orientation, without reading back, what gender is the entrepreneur I just talked about? It tells me a lot about you...

Let's flip the commercial on its head.

• Who is it for?
• What is the target audience for such a commercial?
• Who is the content going to resonate with the most? 

If you think about the commercial objectively, you can reverse-engineer it to reveal the neuromarketing details that tell you far more than the surface-level opinion you might have right now.

I'll end my whirlwind of brain-teasers here. Instead, I've provided some light reading that will shed light on some of the cognitive concepts I find useful when incorporating neuromarketing activity into strategic planning.

After the list, I will go into the technology and process of enabling content personalisation automation on your website. (That's when your website goes from paperweight to printing paper money.)

The following short-list contains a few cognitive concepts I believe are most relevant in the context of digital marketing, content personalisation and neuromarketing for B2B and B2C websites. If you're curious about these (or other) neuromarketing concepts, feel free to email me your questions at sam@alphaalias.com.

• Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic (VAK): whether visual, audio or physical awareness resonates most with them
• for example:
• Lateralisation of Brain Function: whether practical or creative approaches will resonate with them more (also known as left-brained or right-brained)
• Cross-Cultural Neuroscience: how cultural differences impact the perception and buying behaviour of your audience
• Emotion and Memory: how emotional content in marketing can influence memory and decision-making
• Cognitive Biases: how confirmation bias, anchoring effect, and availability heuristics can impact consumer perceptions and choices
• Reward Pathways: how the brain's reward system operates and how marketers can tap into it to create rewarding experiences for customers
• Neurochemicals: how to influence the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin to influence the subconscious

Content personalisation automation is a programmatic process of identifying audience segments and presenting each group with a tailored experience across a variety of media.

In other words, content personalisation automation is a way to completely change what a person experiences by telling a system to automatically switch content based on what it learns about them.

Perhaps it's best to take you through an example that will help you understand content personalisation automation in a practical context.



I wrote two examples to explain content personalisation automation. The first focuses on B2C ecommerce websites, and the second on B2B lead-generation websites. The story I tell in each is different, but the explanation contains similar information for those who have little-to-no knowledge about content personalisation automation.

Select the example that is most relevant to your needs:

So, what does content personalisation, powered by HubSpot, look like in action? Here's a glimpse:

• We automate personalisation technology, integrated with HubSpot, that adapts to every audience segment.
• We adapt content presentation according to your visitor's industry or economic background, effectively harnessing the capabilities of HubSpot's CRM.
• Our personalised recommendations for products and services deeply connect with specific segments, motivating them to take action, with HubSpot's Sales Hub playing a pivotal role.
• With instant chat services, we keep visitors engaged, preventing them from leaving while awaiting a salesperson's response, all efficiently managed through HubSpot's Service Hub.
• We employ follow-up emails, delivering comprehensive product or service explanations to drive conversions, thanks to HubSpot's marketing automation features.
• Our notification triggers work to re-engage visitors who might otherwise leave without converting, a feature readily available in HubSpot.

These scenarios demonstrate how intent-based marketing, enriched by content personalisation and seamlessly integrated with HubSpot, transforms the way you connect with your audience. It's about treating your customers as unique individuals, not just entries in your database.

Crafting Your Intent-Based Strategy with Alpha Alias and HubSpot

Beginning with Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is the cornerstone of intent-based marketing. But it's not enough to know them on the surface. Alpha Alias, in collaboration with HubSpot, goes deep into audience research, ensuring that we truly understand your audience's intent.

Our comprehensive approach includes user testing, collaboration, and in-depth analysis. We answer critical questions:

• What are your visitors trying to achieve when they land on your website?
• What language and terminology do they employ to articulate their needs?
• How can we effectively engage with them, ensuring a seamless and relatable experience that forges connections between visitors and your website?

These insights become the foundation of your intent-based marketing strategy. They guide every update, every tweak, and every decision we make to ensure your website speaks directly to your audience's intent.

Constructing an intent-based website isn't a quick solution; it's a journey that demands time, commitment, and dedication. However, by comprehending your audience's intent from the outset, you lay the foundation for meaningful and profitable connections.

Alpha Alias and HubSpot: Your Expert Team for Intent-Based Projects

Specialised Web Development

Now that you're sold on the power of intent-based marketing, you may be wondering how to bring your vision to life. Here's where Alpha Alias, in partnership with HubSpot, steps in.

Creating and maintaining an intent-based website requires a unique blend of skills. It's not just about understanding your audience; it's about executing your strategy effectively. That's where our specialised web development team shines, especially when working seamlessly with HubSpot's website builder.

At Alpha Alias, we're more than just web developers; we're intent-based marketing experts. We have the knowledge, skills, and experience to plan, design, build, and operate intent-based websites with precision. With HubSpot's capabilities, our partnership ensures your website is not only engaging but also fully integrated with your CRM and marketing automation platforms.

Our team comprehends the intricacies of content personalisation and user-centric design. We ensure your website harmonises with your audience's intent, creating an online environment that seamlessly resonates with your visitors.

By partnering with Alpha Alias and harnessing HubSpot, you can focus on cultivating meaningful customer relationships, while we bring your intent-based marketing vision to life.

Content Personalisation Expertise with HubSpot

When selecting a team for your intent-based project, expertise in content personalisation is paramount. Effective personalisation isn't just about automation; it's about understanding user intent, segmentation, and the fine art of tailoring content to meet specific needs.

Alpha Alias, in conjunction with HubSpot, brings this expertise to the table. We know how to translate your intent-based marketing strategy into a website that doesn't just look good but also engages visitors on a personal level. It's more than design; it's about delivering tangible value through content.

Our team's expertise in content personalisation ensures that your website directly addresses your audience's intent, a critical element in retaining and converting visitors.

Whether you're working with Alpha Alias and HubSpot or another agency, choose professionals who understand the nuances of intent-based websites and content personalisation. It's the secret to crafting a website that truly connects.

Visual Design for Impactful Engagement with HubSpot

Prioritising User Experience through Design

In the realm of intent-based marketing, user experience takes centre stage. Alpha Alias, in collaboration with HubSpot, designs websites that understand your audience deeply and engage with them intuitively.

Imagine a scenario where a visitor lands on your site, and the design not only appeals to their visual senses but also aligns seamlessly with their intent. This synergy between design and intent creates an experience that's not just pleasant but profoundly effective.

Understanding Audience Preferences

To craft an intent-based website that aligns with your audience's intent, you must discern their preferences and expectations. It's not solely about colours and fonts; it involves designing a layout that effortlessly guides visitors towards their objectives.

The right visual design simplifies navigation, ensuring visitors find what they seek swiftly. It's an opportunity to convey your brand's personality and values, forging a deeper connection with your audience.

Optimising for Impactful Engagement

Intent-based websites focus on meaningful engagement. They recognise the intent behind each visitor's journey and use design to amplify that engagement. This might involve tailoring layouts to suit different segments or presenting content in formats that align precisely with the visitor's objectives.

Visual design, in synergy with HubSpot's features, plays a pivotal role in captivating and retaining your audience's attention. When your website seamlessly aligns with their intent, it becomes a valuable resource that sustains visitor engagement.

Elements such as intuitive navigation, compelling visuals, and user-friendly interfaces, all enhanced with HubSpot's capabilities, work harmoniously to create a seamless and engaging user experience. This not only captures attention but also directly addresses user intent.

Design as a Key Element of Success

In the competitive digital landscape, every interaction matters. Visual design is more than aesthetics; it's a strategic tool that showcases your understanding of user intent and your dedication to meeting those needs.

Testing, Monitoring, and Sustaining Success with HubSpot

Adapting to the Ever-Changing Digital Landscape

Intent-based marketing isn't just about building a website that aligns with user intent; it's about staying ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape. The online world is dynamic, with trends, technologies, and user behaviours constantly in flux.

To maintain your competitive edge, agility and adaptability are imperative. Stagnation can result in obscurity, underscoring the importance of testing, monitoring, and maintaining your intent-based strategy for long-term success.

Continuous Testing for Enhanced Performance

Testing isn't a one-off endeavour; it's an ongoing process. Regularly assessing your intent-based website's performance is crucial for identifying areas that need improvement. A/B testing, usability testing, and user feedback provide valuable insights into what works and what requires adjustment.

With HubSpot's features, including CRM integration and marketing automation, we can delve into user behaviour and conversion rates, allowing you to fine-tune your website's content and design. This iterative approach ensures your website continues to deliver personalised experiences that resonate with user intent.

Monitoring Trends and Evolving User Behaviour

The digital landscape is in constant flux, with new technologies emerging and user preferences evolving. Staying relevant means closely monitoring these shifts.

By vigilantly tracking trends and utilising HubSpot's tools, you can anticipate shifts in user behaviour. This enables you to adjust your content and strategies accordingly, ensuring your website meets the current needs and expectations of your audience.

Sustaining Success Through Adaptation

In the world of intent-based marketing, success isn't a one-time achievement; it's an ongoing journey. Your website should never remain static. Instead, it should evolve in response to shifting user intent and the ever-changing digital landscape.

Regular updates and refinements, facilitated by HubSpot's functionalities, are essential for preserving the effectiveness of your intent-based strategy. This may encompass content updates, design enhancements, or the integration of new personalisation technologies.

The key is to ensure your website perpetually aligns with your audience's intent.

Conclusion: Unlocking the Potential of Intent-Based Marketing with Alpha Alias and HubSpot

Intent-based marketing is more than a passing trend; it signifies a fundamental shift in how businesses connect with their online audience. Understanding user intent and tailoring your digital presence to meet those needs creates a potent tool for nurturing long-term relationships and driving conversions.

At Alpha Alias, we're dedicated to helping businesses harness the power of intent-based marketing, especially with the comprehensive capabilities of HubSpot. Our expertise in content personalisation, web development, and strategy ensures your journey towards a more personalised and user-centric digital business landscape is both seamless and successful.

If you're ready to explore how intent-based marketing, coupled with HubSpot's capabilities, can elevate your business, we invite you to connect with us.

Together, we can embark on a transformative journey to elevate your digital presence, broaden your reach, and excel in the fiercely competitive realm of digital business.

Contact Alpha Alias to embark on your intent-based marketing journey today.

About the Author

My name is Sam Roon, and I'm the founder of Alpha Alias. 

After working for 17 years at digital agencies in New York City, Berlin and Helsinki, I reached a point where selling websites like packaged products felt dirty. 

I learned all the tricks, and I was really good at my job. But, it takes its tole.

I had to separate myself from the predatory nature inherent in digital agencies if I had any intention of getting my humanity back.

That's how Alpha Alias was born.

Traditional digital agencies are transactional, offering one-size fits all products and services that ensure they make money from you more efficiently.

That approach only helps generic businesses and the salesperson peddling the offer. I know this, because I did it.

Alpha Alias is not transactional, it's consultative. It's a web consultancy aimed at helping startups and SMEs achieve success online that puts fear into the hearts of their competition. (Yeah, it's a little heavy, but it accurately represents how I feel about my work.)