In other words, 7 out of 10 internet users ignore paid ads and click on natural links, like blog posts and articles, instead.
While there are many ways to attract organic traffic, blogging is the best option. Companies that run blogs have 434 percent more indexed pages than companies that don’t blog. That means they have 434 percent more chances to get those organic clicks.
With amazing stats like that, you probably think that blogging is hard to do. In reality, it isn’t just effective. It’s also incredibly easy.
Easy Content Creation with Blogging
Blogging has never been easier than it is right now. Software like WordPress allows companies to create and manage their blogs for free. The simple interface is easy to use, and you can even customize the design without any technical knowledge. These simple tools have leveled the playing field and made it easy for everyone to blog.
Creating your blog is one thing, though. Running it effectively is another. Follow some tips so you can get the most out of blogging.
Tips for Blogging
First and foremost, you need to write blogs that people want to read. Use your social media channels to pick your followers’ brains. Find out what they want to read about and then write about those topics.
You can also repurpose some content for your blog. Take an e-book that you’ve written and break it up into blog posts, or turn an interesting press release into a blog. This will make it easier for you to keep coming up with new content.
Next, you need to remain consistent with your blogging. If you post once a week, post on the same day. Don’t miss a week or people will think your blog is dead.
You also need to use keywords in your blog posts. That way, people will find you. Use the AdWords Keyword Planner or another tool to find your keywords. Also, don’t go with simple keywords. Use long-tail keywords so you reach your target market.
Finally, use social media to promote your blog posts. Share your posts across all of your social media channels and write a short snippet of what each post is about. This is a great way to get more traffic.
Now, you finally are ready to start blogging. Download the software and fine-tune the design. Then, write your first post and introduce your new blog to the world. It won’t be long before you reap the benefits of blogging.
Interested in tracking the activity that your blog receives, and having the ability to continue to nurture those potential clients in new and inventive ways? Request a demonstration of our marketing automation software from one of our experts!
https://www.leadliaison.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lead-Liaison-Logo5.png00Lead Liaisonhttps://www.leadliaison.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lead-Liaison-Logo5.pngLead Liaison2017-05-16 09:48:232017-05-23 13:02:15Why Blogging Should Be a Key Part of Your Marketing Plan
There isn’t just one key to success for a company, no matter the size. Success is usually a product of persistence, best practices, and even a little (or a lot of) luck. One very important key to success is creating brand awareness. We’ve talked about brand awareness several times on the Lead Liaison blog, but today we’ll be talking about the relationship between social media and brand awareness.
An Argument for Social Media for B2B Companies
I’m sure I don’t need to go into why brand awareness is essential for any company, especially a small-to-medium sized company. When another business has a need that pertains to your line of work, you want that company to think of you immediately. Brand awareness is the result of nurturing and education, both of which can be done via social media in small, easy-to-consume spoonfulls.
Why should B2B companies use social media to promote brand awareness? Example: in my off time, I occasionally (okay – more than occasionally) scroll social media. Even though I’m not “on the clock”, I’m still thinking about to-do lists, and I am aware of what I am consuming. I’ve usually got an even clearer head because I’m in more of a relaxed state of mind. When I see advertisements for tools that I could use at work, it doesn’t make me cringe. It makes me think. During the workday, I’m so busy with tasks and emails that I rarely stop what I’m doing to assess the situation and see if I could be doing anything better or more efficiently. That’s not good – but it’s fact.
What Should Be Different About a B2B Company’s Social Media Efforts?
As with most B2B marketing, it’s more about education than hard selling. Remember, the goal with your social media is brand awareness – not immediate sales. You want to help businesses learn to trust your company’s name as a resource. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be the first company that comes to mind when their need comes to fruition. Because of this, your social media marketing should not focus on selling, but rather on education. Share best practices, tips & tricks, or links to informative articles (yours or others’).
Where Should You Focus?
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the most active social media sites. However, LinkedIn Groups can be extremely effective for B2B social media marketing, as well as a YouTube channel. As an introvert, I much prefer to skim YouTube videos about a software that I’m interested in purchasing, rather than speak to a salesperson on the phone.
But, it’s not necessarily where you focus your social media efforts. It’s more about how you communicate. A recent study from The MarketingProfs, The State of Social Media Marketing, shows that B2C and B2B social media marketers are mostly using the same social media approach, in terms of which platforms they utilize. The differences instead lie in how social media is used, not which social media are used.
In social media, small companies can act like big ones. Sure, there are paid advertising options for most social media sites. However, the reach is essentially the same, depending on the amount of followers a company has. Because of this, we see that social media activity does not vary much between large and small companies.
Social Media for Brand Awareness
The message is simple. B2B companies should use social media to help educate and nurture members of the marketplace. If done properly, that brand awareness will lead to increased trust, which leads to increased sales. This is a modern strategy for communicating with your potential clients, and it’s time to get on board!
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Educational institutions don’t often realize that marketing automation is for universities and colleges, too. The key to any department at your educational institution being successful is rooted in a foundation of strong communications with your stakeholders.
Unfortunately, small departments are often tasked to communicate with thousands of people. This can be time consuming and expensive. The alternative is often selected: a single emailed laundry list for all. The result is that your audience will quickly tune out.
Platforms like Lead Liaison position you to drive the interest and involvement of your key stakeholders. The more that they associate with being “part of” your university, the more likely they are to help you. And, it’s often without even being asked!
But wait – you say, “we don’t sell anything within my department!” I would disagree. You are selling your brand. You are selling a connection. You are selling information to your audience, even if that information isn’t paid for with immediate dollars.
If you can do a great job communicating during a student’s life cycle with your university; you will see:
Higher Enrollments
Deeper support for academics and athletics
Enduring support through a strong alumni base
Increased fundraising opportunities
A stronger network
Lead Liaison is on a mission to be on the front lines of colleges and universities that want to strengthen the bonds between your message and all of your prospective students, students, and alumni.
Some of the areas that we have served in colleges and universities are:
Continuing Education
Athletic Departments
Alumni Relations
Fundraising for capital projects
Community Relations
Volunteer/Outreach
It doesn’t matter if your school is designated for profit or not-for-profit, Lead Liaison has an unique staff and set of functionalities that has been built to help you.
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We won’t beat around the bush. The number one mistake that prospective marketing automation buyers make is delaying a decision.
This results in:
Lost opportunity cost for your company
Jeopardizing your current and future employment opportunities because you are missing out on providing your organization a basic necessity
Giving your competition a bigger head start in marketing
Failing to support your sales staff (and we’ve never met a sales manager that said “let’s not sell anything for the next few months… while we get our ducks in a row.”)
Now, let’s look at some of the reasons that you might delay your decision (and why you are wrong if you do):
1. You don’t want to be “tied down” to a technology until you are sure that you have found the right one.
The reality: Most commitments are only one year in length. If you look at three marketing automation providers and choose one within a month, you might be questioning your abilities as a marketer.
2. You want to make sure you have all of the features that you need.
The reality: While this is a very justifiable goal, the reality is that this is a moving target. It’s far more important to do something today, than to worry about not being able to execute an advanced functionality 8 months from now. Why? Well, first of all, 8 months from now you won’t be in a position to use that functionality because you are so far behind already. Secondly, if you lack that functionality at that time, you can make plans to upgrade vendors as you learn from doing. You will still be 8 months ahead of schedule!
3. You are “too busy.”
The reality: If you are telling your management team that you are too busy to maximize the success of your sales and marketing team because you can’t automate, you clearly are not looking to end your struggles anytime soon.
Cost
There is a HUGE cost in going through too many rounds of reviews (or looking at too many vendors). Consider one company who went through at least 5 rounds of reviews as they whittled their list from 20 to 3 vendors! Each review had 3-6 employees involved. A conservative estimate is that they spent 450 person hours thinking about which software they would buy. To put another way, they spent $30,000 to make sure that they didn’t overpay for a $15,000 software decision. This doesn’t even factor in the $100,000+ that they lost in missed sales opportunities during that time.
So, what are our recommendations?
Look for products that are highly rated on vendor review sites. Pay particular attention to reviewers that are in your line of business. G2 Crowd & Capterra are perhaps two of the best sources of legitimate reviews for software products.
Be prepared with 2-3 core strategies that you would like to execute in the first 30-60 days. Insist that the prospective vendors are able to meet those needs.
Once you know you can accomplish your central needs, focus on the marketing automation vendor’s reputation for execution and support. Software is only 40% of the equation. The other 60% lies in how the well that vendor actually performs and supports their clients. We’d much prefer a vendor that has excellent support and onboarding over someone with an esoteric plug-in!
Here are a few tips for success:
Have a plan before you speak with any vendors.
Know what your budget is.
Know what you want to do.
Know who will have the final decision on the project.
That information will give you much more leverage to negotiate the best deal for your company and your potential marketing automation partner.
Most of all: Don’t be afraid to pull the trigger. Regardless of who you chose to work with; you are going to learn more (and experience more success) by doing. Don’t fall victim to paralysis by analysis in your marketing automation decision-making process.
Interested in seeing what a great demonstration should look like?
Professionally, I work for Lead Liaison as a technical solutions specialist. Personally, I’m a father of two beautiful girls, 10 and 7, with an amazing wife that puts up with my shenanigans – for 12 years running now! Occasionally my professional career and personal life overlap. When you’re immersed in your job, and understand the real benefits of marketing automation technology, you start to look for real life use cases for how this technology is used. You’re more aware of it once you understand it. A recent experience in my personal life made it easy to discover how a company is benefiting from the power of marketing automation. My experiences starts with shopping for a pool in our backyard, only because the kids and wife really need it (ha!).
I started pool shopping pretty much clueless. I was uneducated. Most of my initial knowledge base was built up from talking to friends, family, and neighbors about their own experiences. My final list after conducting my research included 10 pool builders, so I began making calls. Most of the providers stopped by our house and gave us their pitch. Through the information from the pool designers and salespeople, I began to build up my knowledge on pools. As a buyer, I tended to gravitate towards the companies that didn’t give me a hard sales pitch or bash other pool companies. I gravitated towards the companies that educated me the most, the companies that really highlighted why they were unique, the companies that made me feel comfortable about the process and what would happen from our meeting to actually diving into the water.
The ones that fell off my radar sounded good at first, but they never followed up and didn’t continue to educating me or build the relationship. After getting to the 10th pool builder, they all started to blend together. I took copious notes on each provider, noted their pricing, and tried to decide who to partner with on the project. My budget was small. It turns out that it wasn’t possible to get what I wanted for our budget, so something had to give. Fortunately, the budget expanded – because we really wanted a backyard haven and outdoor quarters to relax!
Selecting a Pool Builder
I narrowed my list down to three providers. One had a great reputation. They were #1 in the marketplace, but their price was high, I knew multiple people would be involved, and I was concerned we’d just be another number in the 100s of pools they build. If this provider had used technology to support their sales process, I probably would have chosen them. The 2nd provider was a smaller company, building 30 to 40 pools a year, but the salesperson was the owner, who was also the project manager. I felt like I’d be taken care of. This person also had a ton of knowledge. Since I’m a first time pool buyer, I thought from the very beginning that I would be comfortable putting my trust with this provider. The 3rd provider really caught my interest though! Their bid came in as the most expensive bid of all ten providers, which I kind of knew coming in. And their sales person was new to the pool industry, so didn’t have a ton of knowledge to offer in our conversations. But, they really shined with their approach to pool buying. They were different. They focused on educating me, with a process that is bullet proof – regardless of the sales person running the deal. Although I went with the 2nd provider, the 3rd provider is worth talking more about. They did it right for sure.
Pool Builder’s Use Marketing Automation Too!
This company used marketing automation to it’s fullest potential by educating the buyer, me, with different ways of communicating. They sent me emails, a brochure, and postcards. Their themes changed, but their core focus was on educating me. They knew that most pool buyers probably have no idea what they want, what they are doing, and what a pool costs. They sent me a brochure along with a CD about two days (since I’m local) after our first meeting. The CD provided “backyard ideas”, totally appropriate for someone like me in the early buying stages. I thought that was impressive. It was a great follow up, and gentle, educational reminder from this company that got me thinking more about them.
After this impressive touch point, I was pleasantly surprised to receive more communication. They sent me the Top 10 questions to ask your pool provider, another very relevant touch point. They knew that buyers will talk to other companies. They phrased their questions in a way that also highlighted their strengths and differences. Then, they sent me something with a little humor in it, a postcard with the top ten reasons to buy a pool over an RV.
All things considered, they walked me through the buyer’s journey, over the typical timeframe – also known as the sales cycle – for buying a pool. Communication was spread out about every 1-2 weeks. The communication was gentle, informative, educational – with different types of media (mail, email, etc.). Being critical here, they could have sent me some text messages, or maybe a real handwritten letter from the president of the pool company thanking me for their inquiry. These educational touch points were complemented by two phone calls from the sales person. The sales person didn’t have to be the authority here, since the material was helping to educate the buyer. The material was likely created from experienced pool professionals that work at the company. The key is that they transferred this knowledge from their heads, into sales and marketing material that wasn’t pushy, but was educational. In general, they nailed it! As a potential buyer, I remembered this company. Their brand and company name is at the top of my mind. They helped me through the process.
What Could they do Differently?
After seeing their marketing, here’s what they could have done differently:
Sent communications from their sales person. This would have built more trust and the overall relationship during my research phase.
Used marketing automation to onboard me as a new customer, sending me tips, keeping me updated on the schedule, etc.
Used a hand written letter
Sent a gift card thanking me for the inquiry
Summary
The takeaway here, is that the pool provider used technology to differentiate themselves from a saturated pool provider market. If I wasn’t on a budget, and finances were not that much of a concern, I probably would have selected this provider. The provider knows this though. They are aware that they install premium pools, at higher costs – they admitted that and were upfront about it. Less pools, at higher prices, probably nets them about the same amount of revenue as other companies doing more pools at lower prices. The company can invest in marketing automation technology to reduce the cost of sales, and help educate prospects through the buying process. Technology works for them – and they’re the only company doing it!
I’ve added some pictures of what the pool provider sent me so you can get a glimpse. If you want to know how your company can use multi-channel marketing to assist your sales team, let us know. We can help you build a scalable, systematic process, that stands the test of time and employee turnover, that your company can use to differentiate themselves and walk your prospects through the buying cycle. We can help you send postcards, handwritten letters, emails, and text messages – to build stronger relationships with your potential buyers as they navigate their buying journey. Whether it’s a pool, a car, enterprise software, professional services, it doesn’t matter! Every company has something to offer, something to educate their buyers with, unique philosophy’s or approaches that prospects would benefit from. Help your company by taking the initiative to:
Map out the buyer’s journey. What decisions do they need to make, what do they need to know, what questions do they ask.
How long is their journey? What is the typical sales cycle.
Transfer knowledge from brain to paper, then put this knowledge into marketing technology from a company like Lead Liaison to help scale your business and reduce your operating costs!
https://www.leadliaison.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lead-Liaison-Logo5.png00Ryan Schefkehttps://www.leadliaison.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lead-Liaison-Logo5.pngRyan Schefke2017-04-18 08:00:242017-04-19 13:09:16Marketing Automation Like my Pool Guy
SEO and internet marketing are constantly changing. That means if you use old-school marketing tactics, you’re likely a few steps behind your competitor. Check out some old habits that no longer work. We’ll then give you ways to update your marketing arsenal to achieve the best results possible.
Using Purchased Email Lists
Purchased lists used to be the hottest trend in email marketing. Marketers bought lists and then sent email blasts out to the subscribers. They didn’t need huge response rates to turn a profit. As long as they received a few customers out of the deal, they were happy.
Now, advanced spam filters and software detect these types of email blasts and shut them down. You’ll spend the money, but you won’t get the results needed to make it worth your while.
In the old days, marketers believed that quantity was more important than quality. Therefore, they created super short blog posts, ranked each post for specific keywords, and watched the traffic fly to their websites.
That doesn’t work anymore. Today, if a blog post isn’t at least 300 words, it isn’t going to help your SEO efforts. A thousand words is the new “normal”. In addition to making your posts longer, deliver more quality content if you want to enjoy SEO benefits. Search engines will recognize when you put only a little effort into your content, and will penalize you for it.
Using Generic Content
Marketing used to be very generic. Marketers looked at the big picture when creating websites and content, while ignoring the needs of individual customers. That is no longer an effective strategy.
Now, customers expect a personalized experience that can only be delivered through marketing automation. This process allows marketers to collect relevant data and then provide content based on that data. This helps boost the success of marketers’ campaigns, especially for those who want to reach millennials. Because millennials are savvy when it comes to recognizing advertising, they are much more responsive when marketers speak directly to them.
Relying on Exact Match Keywords
Exact match keywords used to be the holy grail of marketing. They were the ticket to gaining a lot more customers. Although they made content look awkward, that was the price paid for traffic.
Currently, search engines want you to write for people. This means that you need to switch out frustrating exact match keywords in content for long tail keywords that sound natural. This will generate higher quality traffic while at the same time, visitors to your website will appreciate reading well-written content.
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In the busy world we live in, we all have our secrets to being more productive and more organized. Technology lends itself to creating more solutions. Lead Liaison is one of those solutions, and we have clients all over the globe that agree! But we didn’t get here by using outdated resources. Here at Lead Liaison, we’ve got several “tools of the trade” that help us be the best that we can be. In this series, we will talk about some of the online tools that we use to be more effective in our day. In today’s post, we’ll talk about Evernote.
What is Evernote?
Evernote is a “project management tool”. Essentially, it’s a tool used to take, organize, and store notes. Evernote can be downloaded to your computer, accessed by a browser, and even has iOS and Android apps.
Features
Evernote allows users to organize their Notes within Notebooks. I use their Search function a lot, because I take TONS of notes! Using the Search function gets me to where I need to be quickly. And that’s important when I’m trying to jot something down before I forget it. The interface is so simple, yet beautiful. It’s not complicated or overwhelming. They offer the same text capabilities as any other document interface (formatting options, bullet points or number lists, linking, etc.). Users have the ability to upload PDFs or other documents to their notes, as well as connect Evernote to Google Drive for linking relevant projects. It also has browser extensions that allow you to save a web page, in its entirety, with just one click.
How Do We Use It?
Professionally, I have notebooks for partnerships, vendors, marketing campaigns, internal meetings, how-to’s and useful videos/articles (I use the Web Clipper for this one). Within those notebooks, I have a note for each item. Within that note, I track updates. For example, if I have a call with Vendor A, I’ll search for that vendor’s name before I hop on the call. The search function will take me to the specific Vendor A note, which is organized in my “Vendor” notebook. Within my note, I’ll record the date and purpose of the call, and then use the bullet-point function to keep track of our conversation.
I take all meeting notes in Evernote, as well, so that I can easily reference them later. Whenever we have a new Feature Release, I’ll take notes in Evernote of the internal unveiling so I can easily relay the information to my clients without forgetting key points.
Personally, I use it for journaling, recipes, and keeping track of important phone calls, account information, or notes from pediatrician appointments.
Cost
Their basic package is fantastic, and it’s free! It allows up to 60MB of new data per month, and will sync across two devices (computer and phone). It’s everything you need to get started, and might even be enough to sustain you. I take notes every day, and I haven’t run into a problem yet. It’s everything that I need.
They’ve got two paid plans, Plus ($35/year) and Premium ($70/year). Those offer many more capabilities, like email forwarding, text search for PDFs or Microsoft Office documents, and customer support. They’ve also got a Business plan, and companies like CareerBuilder use it as their company standard. Evernote is our company standard as well, but as I mentioned earlier, the basic package is powerful enough for our needs. Visit Evernote’s Pricing Page for more information on the capabilities of each plan.
Lead Liaison uses relevant and useful tools to help achieve daily tasks. The completion of those daily tasks results in better sales and marketing software solutions for our clients. To find out more about the capabilities that Lead Liaison has to offer, check out our Platform Overview page or request a free demo.
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When used correctly, marketing automation is a powerful tool for real estate agents. It allows agents to streamline their marketing efforts and push leads through the funnel much faster. Here are some specific ways that marketing automation helps real estate agents succeed.
Better Buyer Profiles
Lead Liaison uses data from over 100 social networks to enrich Prospect (Buyer) profiles with social information, giving you more insight into who you buyers are and what they are looking for. We also track what your website visitors are searching for on your website, and can categorize buyers based on their search keywords. Knowing what your buyers want is the first step to finding them the perfect home.
Utilize Web Forms
Agents can use web forms to convert more website visitors while simultaneously gathering additional information about that buyer, like their bedroom count or location preference.
Send Your Message Strait to Their Phone
Text messages are a great way to get a quick message out, and since it’s (usually) conscience, the chances of your audience reading it is very high. With marketing automation, you can send a text message to a list of people that might be interested in a new home you have for sale. You can even use the merge feature to make the entire message dynamic, so your text message could read: “Hi Jennifer, I have a new listing available at 123 Street Lane. Let me know if I can schedule a showing for you!”
Send Updates in Real Time
Real estate is a fast-paced industry, and buyers want information quickly. It is easy to deliver that information when you use marketing automation software. Agents can build customized email templates in advance, and simply plug in relevant information which can then be sent immediately or scheduled for later. Educational or touch-base emails can also be sent out as a part of a nurture campaign, or can be sent to certain lists (ex: “Buyers interested in 3 bedrooms” list, or “lakefront buyers” list). This type of real-time, relevant information is critical in real estate. Here are 11 Time-Saving Email Templates Every Real Estate Agent Needs.
Reach the Right Leads with Lead Scoring
It’s no secret that some people merely browse on real estate websites without much interest in buying, while others are ready to buy immediately. Marketing automation software allows users to take advantage of lead scoring. This process scores leads based on how likely they are to convert. Using a lead scoring system, real estate agents can put all of their resources into leads that are ready to buy. This will allow them to increase conversions without wasting their time on browsers that aren’t ready to buy a property.
Speak Directly to Leads with Dynamic Websites
Many real estate agents create websites with general information that doesn’t speak to a buyer. Lead Liaison’s SiteEngage™ allows agents to create dynamic content on their websites based on each individual visitor. For instance, an agent can tailor their website to speak to visitors based off of their location. This is especially helpful for agents that cover a large geographical area. Dynamic content could also be used to speak to a buyer’s preference by showing them a featured property based on their Prospect Profile.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is an important part of real estate marketing. But, it can also be time consuming, especially if you’re logging into and posting on multiple accounts. Real estate agents can streamline their social media marketing by posting to multiple accounts at one time, and even scheduling those posts in advance so you’re sure not to miss peak social media hours.
These are just some of the ways that marketing automation helps real estate agents convert leads. When you use marketing automation software, there is no limit to what you can do in real estate. Request a demo from one of our experienced professionals, and we can show you how we can help you succeed in the real estate business!
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*Editor’s Note: The views & opinions expressed in any guest post on our site are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Lead Liaison.
The impact of this “how-to” post can go either way — you resolve to “suspend” ties with your lead generation partner, or you stick to buying your sales leads from outside sources. While the former would be the more ideal action response, ultimately, your choice will depend on whether or not you are sold on the idea of generating leads on your own. You might be holding back from inbound lead generation because you think it’s too complicated of a process, unlike the easy way out you conveniently choose in buying leads.
But, just like anything else, there’s a simpler and easier way to running a lead generation quest if you have the proper know-how. This post will guide you to:
Set up a lead generating website
Incorporate a variety of strategies for generating leads
Simplify your lead generation efforts across platforms
Why Generate Your Own Leads?
Suppose you’re a Christmas tree manufacturer who, for the longest time, has relied on lead sellers for your marketing program. It might have worked in years past, but since a lot has changed in the marketing dynamics, you’d do well these days to be more active rather than passive in generating leads.
It’s very easy to see, for example, how direct mail marketing pales in comparison to joining trade shows to showcase your holiday-inspired product line for homes and offices to potential buyers. Instead of looking for customers, customers can find you where and when they need to. In such opportunities, you get more chances to introduce your product, generate instant feedback, and attract sales. It couldn’t get any better than that.
The Lead Generating Website
The phenomenal power of the internet as an information gathering and sharing tool is very well pronounced in the grand scheme of B2B marketing. At any given day, you will find people turning to online search more and more, looking for information, ideas, or solutions that suit their needs. That’s why it’s important that you design your website in such a way that it attracts visitors who will eventually turn into a lead.
Here’s how to develop a lead generating website for your business:
Attract your target. A buyer-seller relationship all starts with attraction. You want people to visit your site so they would know what you can offer them. To attract people’s attention, you need to build on your content, and you can do this in so many ways. Write blog posts. Create video presentations. Supply an infographic. Include testimonials and photos. The kind of content you offer will depend on your product or service, but the main takeaway is to craft your content with keywords that match what customers are looking for in their online search, putting a good amount of research in the mix as well.
Suit up for your buyer persona. At this stage, you’re starting to get traffic on your website, and you don’t want to lose those page views, especially the ones from your ideal buyer persona. You’ll then need to engage them more by catering to their needs and giving them valuable offers, whether it’s research data, a discount, a product review or guide, e-newsletters, a free trial, or a no-strings-attached type of consultation. This kind of engagement works both ways: you are allowing your site visitors to know your identity, and at the same time, getting them to reveal more about their buying preferences. Then, you can match your selling process to their own buying process.
Start converting. By this time, your visitors are filling out forms and registering on your website. These indicate that you have just found a lead. Then again, you have to keep moving forward to make sure they actually convert into buyers. This is where optimization of each phase in your lead generation process comes in, and all of that can happen right on your website! These are the regular mainstays in your lead generation process:
CTAs are an essential tool in generating leads from your blog posts, not to mention, an easy way to connect better with your audience. CTA types include:
Smart CTAs, the ones you usually find at the bottom page;
Social CTAs, these are links to your company’s social media accounts;
Blog subscription CTAs, for readers interested in your content;
Comment CTAs, giving you insights about what readers think;
Slide-in CTAs, which are less intrusive than pop-up CTAs;
In-line CTAs, written links that lead to a related blog post; and
Sidebar CTAs, which may not necessarily connect to your blog post such as an invite to drop by your booth in the holiday trade show example cited at the beginning of this post.
Landing pages are the final contact points with your guests, where they fill out a form to possibly avail of your offer. So the more landing pages your website has, the greater the number of leads you can get. If you want more generic leads, use short forms to make them easier to fill out. On the other hand, if you want more quality leads, use long forms to ask more information about what your customers need.
Thank-you pages allow you one more opportunity to upsell offers that are related to what your visitors just signed up for. Of course, it goes without saying that customers appreciate genuine messages of thanks for checking out your site.
With this guide, hopefully, you’re on your way to generating your own leads than buying them. Sure, it’s a long way ahead, but now is the best time to start while you’re still at it.
Guest Post Bio:
Johanna Rivard, PureB2B’s Executive Vice President, is a two-decade veteran of the online publishing, B2B demand generation, and technology media markets.
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There’s a good chance that you spend a lot of time on the phone for work. You might have to prospect for clients or speak to existing clients. Whatever the case may be, you need to be as personable as possible. Follow these tips and you’ll be more personable and engaging in no time at all.
Keep Good Notes
Keep good notes when you interact with people on the phone. Then, you can refer to those notes to add a personal touch during later phone conversations. For instance, the person you are speaking with might mention that he or she likes pizza. Nest time you speak, you can talk about a pizza joint that you found in the area. Your client will be touched that you remembered that detail, and it’s simple to do when you take good notes. It also strengthens your relationship with that person, allowing them to trust you (and your business) more.
Have a Personal Conversation
It’s normal to want to rush off the phone, but it’s hard to make a personal connection if you’re always in a hurry. Set aside a few minutes at the start of the call to have a personal conversation. Ask about the person’s family or talk about what he or she did over the weekend. Share some of your own personal details as well. But, try to also be respectful of their time and pick up on hints that indicate that they want to get straight to the point.
Use the Prospect’s First Name
Some people think that you need to use Mr. or Mrs. when talking to clients or prospects since the formal title is a sign of respect. However, Mr. or Mrs. sounds very formal. Instead, use the person’s first name when appropriate, but do it in a polite way. You can even ask, “Do you mind if I call you Mark?” before proceeding.
Avoid Hands-Free Devices and Speakerphone
You’re going to sound much more personable if the prospect or client has your undivided attention. You can’t give that when you’re using a hands-free device or a speakerphone. You’ll start shuffling papers or completing other tasks, and that will make it hard to be stay focused. Speak directly into the phone so the prospect or client knows that you are concentrating on the conversation.
Provide Verbal Feedback
Verbal feedback gives you the opportunity to connect with others. Let people know that you’re listening to them by providing this feedback. Remember, they can’t see you! The only way they know that you are listening is if you make comments that indicate you are listening and absorbing everything that they have to say. This will help you form another connection with the person at the other end of the line.
Use each of these tips when you speak on the phone. Soon, the actions will become second nature. You will find yourself going back to your notes, offering verbal feedback, and more every time you talk on the phone.
Interested in practicing your phone skills on us? Give us a ring! We’d love to talk to you about other tips that we can offer marketers, sales people, and business people of all kind! 1 (888) 895-3237
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