“I’m a data junkie and have three analytics packages running on our site and a number of our client sites. So I get to dig into that, see what people are doing, determine what’s working and what’s not, make changes, see the effects, and so on.”

The problem many marketers have with social media is the difficulty to measure response and return on investment. Robert Dempsey, Founder and CEO of Dempsey Marketing, has a solution to this problem. Dempsey Marketing specializes in direct response social media marketing. They create lead and sales-generating websites and campaigns for their clients that integrate direct response marketing with social media and search engine optimization.

Robert is proud of the fact that they have extremely happy customers that continue to refer more and more businesses to them. This return business and referrals shows that their business is truly valued.

MO: How do you integrate direct response marketing into your campaigns?

Robert: There are two components to using direct response marketing in the campaigns: 1) having a call to action on everything, and 2) capturing leads. What we do is first optimize a website for lead capture, which entails placing forms on as many pages as possible. We call these “red light” pages. Then we ensure that every other page on the website links to one of these pages using a call to action.

An example of a red light page would be a landing page where you can enter your information into a form in exchange for a free video, case study or other offer.

Blog posts can also be red light pages. At the bottom of each post you have two options: 1) have a form that allows someone to subscribe to the blog using email, or 2) add a graphic that when clicked sends the visitor to a landing page (with an opt-in form).

MO: What distinguishes you from other “social media expert” marketing companies?

Robert: We don’t consider ourselves a “social media marketing” company but rather an online marketing company. Social media is one component of what we do, albeit a major component. But at the end of the day what makes us different is our fanatical focus on doing three things for our clients:

1. Positioning them as the authority in their industry
2. Attracting their ideal customers to their website and showing the visitors to their website that they are the authority
3. Converting their website visitors into leads and customers.

Once a visitor is converted into a customer our clients fulfill the promise and deliver.

MO: Many people contend that you can’t measure ROI for social media efforts. Do you believe you can? If so, how?

Robert: You can completely measure ROI on social media. For instance when using Twitter, you can use a site like Twittercounter.com to find out:

 Number of followers gained
 Number of mentions
 Number of retweets

What you need first is historical data to see if these metrics went up more than usual. The same kind of thing goes for Facebook with page likes.

At the end of the day though we prefer to use leads and sales generated from the campaign as the ultimate measure. All of this requires that that we have measurable goals in place and a way to measure all of them.

MO: You mention putting systems in place that allows for scalable marketing, can you speak further on this?

Robert: One area that many businesses fall down on is keeping in touch with leads until they are ready to buy. This is called lead nurturing. The best way to do lead nurturing is using email marketing. As an example, if you opt-in on our site for our Google SEO case study you will be put into an autoresponder – a pre-written and scheduled sequence of emails – that will send you additional how-to SEO information on a weekly basis. We have many of these autoresponder series. However once you set one up using an email marketing solution you can create many more and deliver only the content that your leads are interested in.

MO: What in your background led you to creating Dempsey Marketing?

Robert: Dempsey Marketing is my third business in 11 years. My first business was an IT services company, and my second was a web development firm. For both businesses I did all of the marketing, but it was during the building of the second that I dug into online marketing in earnest.

After having great success with the web development firm, I decided to close down the shop and sell our online applications. For one year I built a site called Life Of The Freelancer, but tabled that and shifted into Dempsey Marketing.

Online marketing is fascinating to me. I get to combine many of my interests including psychology and technology. I’m a data junkie and have three analytics packages running on our site and a number of our client sites. So I get to dig into that, see what people are doing, determine what’s working and what’s not, make changes, see the effects, and so on. It’s a job that never ends and I hope it doesn’t. There is always more to learn about people and new ways in which I can help our clients succeed with their businesses.

MO: What is the next step for Dempsey Marketing?

Robert: We are currently designing the first e-magazine for entrepreneurs serious about business – Dempsey Marketing Magazine. We’re aiming to have our first issue available in iTunes in November/December. This e-magazine will be focused on two subjects: online marketing (direct response, social media, search engine optimization) and the entrepreneur lifestyle. It will be a fully interactive digital experience with audio and video as well as text, and available exclusively on tablet devices.

Imagine a magazine that you can interact with much like a website – view videos, scroll through image galleries, share content with your friends, and much more. This is also a great opportunity for our advertisers to have truly targeted and measurable multimedia campaigns that we can help them create. It takes both publishing and advertising to the next level.

A good example of what we’ll be doing is the “My Ford” application available in iTunes today. We see this as the future of publishing and one step on the road of us becoming a complete media and marketing firm. Find out when the magazine launches at: http://dempseymarketingmagazine.com/