All articles, commentary, etc. that does not fit under Best Practices, Press Releases, Testimonials, or Documentation goes here.

Lead Liaison

How to Optimize Landing Page Sliders

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Marketing automation isn’t just about lead management – well it is, but it’s also about finding out how to get those leads into your funnel and keep them there. One of the most critical and overlooked metrics related to lead management is your individual pages’ bounce rates.

We’ve talked about bounce rates before. Yes, you need to lower them. Yes, you need to be able to see that clients are staying engaged and your site design and layout aren’t prohibitive to that. However, there are some things you could be doing with your landing pages that are prohibitive, and you don’t even know about them. Today we’ll be focusing in on one aspect of a landing page that plenty of advertisers aren’t really thinking about when it comes to their own sites. Let’s show you how to optimize landing page content and sliders in this article.

The Landing Page Slider

A slider is one of those slideshow-type deals on your landing page that allows customers to click through a series of side-scrolling images. Some sliders change automatically without the user needing to engage. Yahoo News has one:

Landing Page Slider

For a news site, the slider is a great idea. Different content on the site is highlighted and the user has the ability to click to a news story that catches their individual interests.

These days, business websites that sell products and services also feature the slider. If your company sells retail products – much like a news site – it makes sense to utilize a slider. You can use the images to let customers know about special promotions, featured products or just to generate interest in a particular product category.

Sliders for Service Websites

Consulting and service oriented websites don’t have it so easy. If your site was designed by a company that isn’t concerned with branding you, or if you’ve uploaded images to the slider yourself, you may be using stock images that aren’t necessarily reflective of your branding or what you have to offer.

Many of these sliders take up most of the page they’re featured on. They tend to make a website look slick and modern – but if they’re taking up the entire page above the fold, your users aren’t really getting anything from them but pretty pictures.

Optimizing Your Sliders

If your landing page features a slider, you really have two options. You can either nix the slider altogether and have your web designer create something new – or you can optimize the images you’re putting into the slider.

For instance, if you’re selling marketing consulting services and one of your slider images is your logo, try changing up or adding text to the logo that really pushes your products. Ensure this text contains some sort of call to action,

“Learn why Lead Liaison Services is the Best out There.”

“Read Customer Reviews to discover why Lead Liaison is the Best Choice.”

The idea behind customizing the sliders is not just to add a different look to your landing page, but to get a click-through to a different page that details your products and services. This strategy is intended to decrease your bounce rate by allowing customers to learn more about you and go to a page with a higher chance of capture. The secondary page should feature a form to fill out or a number to call so you have a better chance of capturing customer info.

Lead Liaison staff can hook you up with analytical tools that will help you keep track of your landing pages – how they perform, what you could do better and how to integrate landing page metrics into the rest of your marketing via an advanced marketing automation interface. Find out more today! We’d love to help you.

Lead Liaison

Real Estate and Marketing Automation – Two Like Minds

/2 Comments/in /by

Real Estate and Marketing Automation - Two Like MindsIt’s no surprise that many businesses new to marketing automation have a hard time thinking about their sales cycle. When you start throwing words around like “Sales funnel” or refer to “top of the funnel” activities, some people immediately tune out.

Even large business executives need to know what their sales cycles look like. Taking back power over your sales process will allow you to not only bring in more leads, but to increase the productivity of your own business and keep you in the know about who’s buying what. Plus, customers who go through a streamlined funnel before they become a conversion know what to expect when they sign on with you – which makes it easier to deliver your services. Let’s look at how real estate and marketing automation are two like minds.

The Real Estate Comparison

The best way to think about multi-channel marketing and marketing automation is to consider the real estate business. Realty professionals, like all other business owners, struggle with keeping their prospects in line, finding new ways to market and keeping their message consistent. They also might struggle with segmenting their lists – as in, separating past prospects from current ones and knowing when is best to reach out to these audiences.

Because the segmentation of their customer lists and the diversity of their marketing channels, real estate professionals are great candidates for demonstrating the power of marketing automation.

Filling out the Funnel

For starters, there are a number of entry points real estate pros may have to their sales funnel. A brief list:

  • Yard signs
  • Local papers with “for rent” or “for sale” real estate classifieds
  • Online MLS and other listings
  • Word of mouth
  • Craigslist

There are many others, but you get the point. All of these entry level inquiries have the possibility of leading to a sale and they all result in a customer the real estate pro can add to his or her list for future marketing. However, each of the above entry points has a conversion rate over time – or, an average amount of times customers who find the Realtor using these methods becomes a sale.

It may not seem important at first, but here’s why understanding the funnel is crucial to the real estate pro in our example. Let’s say this Realtor is spending $500 monthly having an office assistant create Craigslist posts and $700 monthly to list on custom realty websites.

After getting marketing automation in place, the Realtor is able to see what rate of people in each entry point method actually closes. It turns out that over 40% of his customers come from past customer referrals, 2% come from Craigslist and 10% come from online listings.

If this is the case, the Realtor needs to put more budget into courting previous customers – holding happy hours, open houses and free events where past homeowners get VIP treatment – as opposed to shelling out big bucks for online listings. Once a professional can see where budget is going, it makes sense to only allocate budget to areas that he or she knows is working.

If you don’t have an understanding of what your company’s funnel is or how it works, marketing automation can help you! Talk to one of our Revenue Success Managers at Lead Liaison today to clearly define your funnel and put better conversion streams into practice.

Lead Liaison

Common Mistakes Made in Marketing Automation That Could Drive Away Business!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Common Mistakes Made in Marketing Automation That Could Drive Away Business!The online world of commerce is constantly evolving and traditional marketing methods are not able to keep up with the new global business structure. Marketing automation was developed so that marketing campaigns could mimic the speed and efficiency of the internet and online business commerce.

It can be an incredibly valuable tool for generating and converting leads, if it is done correctly. Unfortunately, common mistakes made in marketing automation can have the exact opposite effect. Marketing automation can either convince a lead to trust in a business or lose the lead’s trust completely.

Here are seven common mistakes made in marketing automation that can drive away business:

1.       Strong Sales Pitches and Aggressive Calls-to-Action

One of the most common mistakes made in marketing automation that could drive away business is overly aggressive calls-to-action. Today’s consumers know they have plenty of options and they will not be bullied into rushing a decision. Coming on too strong can permanently turn off a customer.

2.       Not Involving Sales Dept. in the Process

Marketing and sales should combine their knowledge and experience to create the best lead scoring criteria and lead nurturing content possible. The sales department has in depth information about what leads want and need. They can help make sure the criteria and content is suitable for a typical buyer.

3.       Monitoring Only a Lead’s Activity

Too many businesses only focus on a lead’s current activity and they tend to stop monitoring leads that are not active. A lead’s inactivity should be tracked as well. If someone was on your site daily for four days in a row and they haven’t been back for weeks, they may be too busy investigating alternative options. This is the perfect time to reach out to them with some pertinent guidance or purchasing incentive.

4.       Getting Too Personal

A very common mistake made in marketing automation that could drive away business is asking too many questions. Questionnaires or surveys are great for gathering more data on potential leads, but too much of it will become overwhelming and annoying. Limit each questionnaire or survey to only 5 to 10 questions and don’t attach an online registry to all the quality content on your site.

5.       Not Focusing on the Consumer’s Needs

Every aspect of marketing automation should have the consumer’s needs at the forefront of the decision making process. What does the lead really need to know? How can I help the lead make an informed decision? What can I do to offer the lead greater value? These are all great consumer-focused questions, but it all boils down to what does the consumer really need? For example, if you sell fitness equipment, don’t focus on the equipment itself. Instead, focus on the lead’s need to get healthier and/or lose weight.

6.       Not providing Valuable Content

Articles, ebooks, and tutorials are meant to help potential leads make their decision. It is not an opportunity to brag about your product or service. Free online content should offer the reader real value as a method for building a trusting and lasting relationship. Useless or poorly written content can quickly drive business away.

7.       Not striving to Improve on the Marketing Automation Strategy

Not every lead nurturing campaign is going to work. Marketing automation strategies are based on solid research, but until they are implemented, it is hard to be certain about the response you will receive. The same goes for the relevancy of lead scoring criteria. As a company analyzes their conversion rate against their lead scoring profiles, they will notice different components that are not properly rated.  A common mistake in marketing automation that will drive away business is not striving to improve on your current strategies.

Lead Liaison

Financial Services Companies Without Marketing Automation are Losing to Competitors

/0 Comments/in /by

Financial Services Marketing Automation In the financial services space a chasm is forming. Progressive financial services companies are adopting marketing automation to deliver routine digital messages to prospective clients – called lead nurturing – while traditional firms are cultivating prospects using only old-fashioned methods. This is leading to a drop-off in client acquisition for those traditional firms when compared to the progressive firms that have automated their marketing practices. The problem for the traditional firms is, despite how effective those old-style tactics may be, some are losing ground to the progressive, digitally-marketed firms.

After all, plenty of statistics show most Americans use the Internet as a primary research tool when searching for products and services. That holds true in the financial services industry as well.

How can a marketing automation platform like our Lead Management Automation™ platform make the difference between inefficient marketing/sales practices and streamlined client acquisition?

Prioritizing the Best Leads

Our marketing automation platform provides a powerful way to focus your sales staff on leads that show the highest degree of interest in your services. Through a lead nurturing process that sends messages and information at scheduled intervals, the system can determine which prospects are advancing through your sales pipeline to become the hottest leads. Firms with no marketing automation platform must rely on poorly managed buying signals.

For smaller firms, scoring leads is a proven way to prioritize your prospects so the limited sales resources available can be focused on leads most likely to commit to you soon. Without lead scoring it can be difficult to determine which leads are the hottest.

Big Impression

Another benefit of marketing automation for smaller firms is that a well-managed marketing campaign presents a larger image to your prospects. By allowing your marketing staff to automate activities, your prospects “see” a company that appears to have a fully-staffed marketing department, which may be received more favorably than a small firm image.

Efficiency

Marketing automation delivers messages to more prospects more efficiently so your marketing staff can spend more time developing your brand. Once a prospect becomes a lead, the system can manage the lead development process by automatically delivering progressively engaging material until the lead passes a scoring threshold that moves him to the point where your firm’s salespeople should initiate contact. While this lead moves through the sales pipeline other leads are also being advanced to a sales-ready stage.

Build Credibility

By using a marketing automation platform financial services firms can develop a disciplined approach to client acquisition that builds credibility through a defined series of engagements. Firms can execute email campaigns, digital advertising strategies, online surveys, and other marketing practices in a way that cultivates prospects. Leads become familiar with your firm and trust is built through a process of consistent messaging that shows interest in their well-being.

More Opportunities

One of the most profitable revenue generation advantages financial firms have is in their ability to up-sell and cross-sell current clients. Without a marketing automation platform firms must devote personnel to contacting clients one-to-one to uncover additional sales opportunities. By using a marketing automation platform like our Lead Management Automation platform your firm gains visibility into existing clients’ interests or needs through their digital footprints and your sales personnel can be alerted when up-sell or cross-sell opportunities present themselves.

There are several more common marketing automation benefits for financial services firms. To learn about additional common benefits, and to determine how our Lead Management Automation platform will specifically benefit your financial services firm, contact our sales department at sales@leadliaison.com or 888 895 3237.

Lead Liaison

How the Silverpop $25 Million Funding is seen at Lead Liaison

/0 Comments/in /by

Silverpop FundingHow is the Silverpop $25 million funding round seen at Lead Liaison? One of our worthy marketing automation competitors, Silverpop, recently announced it raised $25 million in funding. It is good to see industry leaders like Silverpop, Eloqua, and Marketo achieve the financial backing they have over the past few years. This shows to us that the marketing automation space is proving itself to be a hugely potent vehicle. The financing those giants are receiving will surely help lift the marketing automation industry to new heights.

With the funding that Silverpop has achieved, our Lead Liaison team is confident that their technology – like ours (which delivers error-free, robust lead generation and lead management functions) – will become more powerful to marketers. They intend to devote mass amounts of money to improving  functionality, integration, and customization of marketing automation platforms. Their developments will be good for all of us.

But we’re here to tell you that having all that money doesn’t necessarily lead to better customer experiences in the marketing automation space. In fact, our products, like the user-friendly Lead Management Automation™ platform, perform marketing automation and lead management functions better than more costly platforms available* today, and we provide customer-centric support that sometimes gets lost as companies like Silverpop get big and focus on investor returns. Our boots- to-the-ground mentality means that we focus an entire team around solutions that fit your company. And It doesn’t take $25 million dollars to provide you with a quality marketing automation company.

The playing field in the marketing automation industry, from a product development standpoint, is fairly level. Lead Liaison has some of the best program developers and coders in the world developing our SaaS products. We applaud Silverpop in its impressive funding accomplishments. We just don’t think you should have to pay more for their products because of their financing successes.

To learn more about marketing automation and lead management visit our Revenue Generation blog or contact a Lead Liaison team member today.

*According to customer feedback in Q1 2013

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation for Financial Services

/0 Comments/in /by

Marketing Automation for Financial ServicesAs our marketing automation solutions are being adopted by companies in more industries, we thought it would be helpful to explain how marketing automation for financial services companies such as accounting firms or financial advisors will help them. Many firms lack fully staffed marketing departments; typically one or two individuals are responsible for the multitude of marketing activities required to compete in the financial services space. The Lead Management Automation (LMA) platform allows financial services firms to execute robust marketing campaigns and manage leads that enter the sales pipeline more efficiently.

Marketing practices involve creating digital assets like email messages and display ads, delivering marketing assets to target markets, capturing lead information from inquiries, and preparing leads for initial contact. Fostering relationships can be accelerated when staff has the ability to examine lead information, determine the most likely customers, and manage leads through a sales pipeline. Because financial services often have limited marketing resources to perform these tasks, this technology becomes more attractive.

Some of the benefits of our Lead Management Automation platform for financial services companies include:

  • Delivering digital marketing content through automated schedules
  • Identifying lead sources from financial services networks and third-party referrers and Web publishers
  • Gaining visibility into clients specific pain points and interest drivers
  • Alerting staff to up-sell and cross-sell opportunities
  • Automatically qualifying leads for sales-readiness through parameters set within the platform (grading, scoring, buy signals, etc.)
  • Cultivating (nurturing) leads through progressively engaging messages that educate and engage the market
  • Dynamic prospect list segmentation which automatically organizes and prioritizes leads
  • Devoting limited resources to the hottest leads based upon their online behaviors and demographic attributes

Although many financial services companies use traditional marketing and personal relationship tactics such as client and business partner referrals, hosting seminars, and other non-digital means, today’s financial services company is likely using the Internet to research potential firms. Financial services companies looking to stay competitive should find out how easy our Lead Management Automation platform is to implement and how the rich features can boost your revenue rate and target the best leads.

While it is true that the financial services industry is more heavily regulated than other industries, automated marketing practices can nonetheless be implemented. To find out how our Lead Management Automation platform can streamline time-consuming marketing activities and help prioritize and manage leads, contact our sales department at sales@leadliaison.com or call 888 895 3237.

Lead Liaison

Why Smart Consumers Insist on High Quality Lead Nurturing Content

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Why Smart Consumers Insist on High-quality Lead Nurturing ContentConsumers now have all the power. They have the ability to quickly research and choose products from anywhere in the world. The internet has inspired global competition and consumers are fully aware that they do not need to remain loyal strictly to businesses that are located in the same city, state, or even country. They have an abundance of choices online, so businesses need to do more to demonstrate that they are the right choice. Because of these reasons, consumers demand high quality lead nurturing content.

Forget about Strong Sales Pitches

Businesses that want to stay competitive will need to sway these smart consumers using high quality lead nurturing content. Every blog, eBook  or buying guide needs to be helpful and honest. Smart consumers are tired of strong sales pitches and gimmicks that don’t provide them with any real value. If an article sounds like ad copy, it won’t be taken seriously.

Focus on how it Benefits the Consumer

Smart consumers are looking for a business that is willing to go the extra mile to prove they are worthy. They want real life examples of how a product or service has enhanced another person’s life and specific details on how it can improve their own life. High quality lead nurturing content is focused on how a product or service benefits the consumer, not on the product itself.

Claims Made in Content Must Be Verified

Smart consumers are also insisting on demonstration videos that clearly illustrate every claim made on the website. It is not enough just to say that a product or service is better than the rest, savvy consumers want proof. If they don’t find the proof they need on your website, it only takes a minute to search for another provider who can offer them evidence to back up their claims.

Businesses that make the Buying Process Easier

Since smart consumers can easily choose any online provider that impresses them for whatever reason, every detail of the transaction should be convenient and helpful. The website needs to be easily navigated, online purchasing forms should be simple and automated, and there should be instant access to live customer service when requested. There should also be straight forward answers to all of their frequently asked questions readily available online.

High-quality Lead Nurturing Brands a Business as an Expert

Well-written and informative content will establish a business as being an expert in their field. It will help the consumer trust that their hard earned money is being spent in the right place. High quality lead nurturing content will build a solid relationship prior to the consumer making the purchase, which should result in greater trust and loyalty.

Smart consumers would prefer to find one source for all their needs, so they are not constantly shopping and comparing new businesses. If they encounter an easy to use website that is focused on verifiable facts about how a product or service benefits the consumer instead of merely strong sales-pitches, it will build trust and brand loyalty. High quality lead nurturing content is the most essential component for converting today’s smart consumers.

Lead Liaison

Does Your Marketing Automation Company Help Drive Revenue Generation?

/0 Comments/in /by

Does Your Marketing Automation Company Help Drive Revenue GenerationAs marketing automation becomes more embedded in mainstream marketing practices, some marketing automation companies are more focused on raising capital than focusing on customer needs. At Lead Liaison, we continue to maintain a customer-centric focus. To further support companies that are trying to improve their revenue generation practices we offer a free Revenue Consultation. Ask yourself, does a marketing automation company drive revenue? They can, especially when both companies partner up.

During the consultation we explore current lead management, content marketing, and customer relationship practices. The goal is to determine gaps in the lead management process, suggest an appropriate lead scoring model, and offer recommendations on how to implement marketing automation to streamline repetitive marketing activities, and align sales and marketing functions.

At a time when several leading MA companies are outsourcing consultation and other ancillary services for their customers, we’re keeping support services in-house. Lead Liaison feels it is important to devote resources to supporting the needs of our clients for two reasons:

  1. We want to provide a better connection with our clients so we can ensure that we fully understand the unique needs that each company (and industry) has when it comes to lead generation and management practices.
  2. By directly supporting our clients, the Lead Liaison development team can better configure each platform to suit those unique needs.
  3. Management can design future platform iterations to more fully serve the needs of our entire client base by analyzing the information collected during consultation engagements.

Although some marketing functions that can be automated are standard, there are others that operate more effectively when we understand how our Lead Management Automation™ product will be used by our clients. So we ask targeted questions about sales prospecting, content delivery, lead capture, and CRM integration needs.

We believe offering our Revenue Consultation as a part of our standard operating procedure sets Lead Liaison apart from our competitors. Our approach provides a more effective client relationship and helps you get the most out of your digital marketing and lead management practices. If you’re looking for a company that truly wants to know you and support your marketing endeavors, call one of our knowledgeable sales representatives to set up your free Revenue Consultation today!

Lead Liaison

Understanding and Automating Your Marketing Funnel

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Understanding and Automating Your Marketing FunnelWhen you’re getting ready to work out your marketing automation plan, understanding and automating your marketing funnel is one of the most important things you can do. Many companies see ads for larger marketing automation companies and get excited, expecting a miracle solution to come in that will completely revitalize their business.

Is a marketing automation company capable of some miracle work? Absolutely. You’ll be able to track signs that customers are ready to buy and spend time on leads that truly hold the promise of closing. But at the end of the day, if you aren’t ready to nail down what your sales process actually is, marketing automation isn’t going to work as well as you’d like it to – no matter which company you go with or what methodology you put into place.

Identifying Your Sales Funnel and Sales Cycle

A sales funnel isn’t a finite thing – every business has its own process and sales cycle – but any business that identifies prospects and sells goods or services has a sales cycle, and therefore a sales funnel. Just like your common hardware-store funnel, the top of the sales funnel is wide – meaning, leads get to you in a variety of ways.

As you engage leads through your funnel, the way you focus them on your products and services tends to become sharper. You want leads to understand your true value, to think about you when an opportunity for purchase comes along, and to refer you to friends and family for future sales of your products and services. For that reason, your sales funnel doesn’t actually have an end if you have the types of products that can be re-purchased.

The length of your sales cycle determines how you set up your marketing automation. If you’re selling a larger ticket item, it’s possible that clients could spend weeks or months in your sales funnel as opposed to just a few days. It’s common sense – a new home is a lifetime purchase, but a product you see on an infomercial is something you might buy in just a few seconds. A Realtor doesn’t necessarily advertise on television – they put themselves out there via word of mouth, billboards, magazine and internet ads and signs put up in front of houses because a house is an infrequent purchase. A Realtor relies on the fact that most families will purchase only once or twice in their lifetimes, so it’s important to get their name out there rather than to encourage a quick sale.

Automating the Funnel

Take the time to determine what the different steps are in your funnel. See one of our top articles on Sales Pipeline Stages to learn more about typical stages in the funnel. How do people get to your brand and therefore into your funnel? Once they’re in there, how do you manage leads and identify which ones have true potential to close? For customers who aren’t read to buy, how can you further engage to get them to buy, and how can you track the results of your engagement? Do you reach out to customers once they’ve been sold to, or do they leave your radar – and therefore your funnel?

Marketing automation software like Lead Liaison helps you not only automate the above process, but you can also track metrics to get an idea of your overall marketing effectiveness. Marketing automation can definitely change the way your company closes leads and engages leads in your funnel.

Some marketing automation companies leave you to figure out your sales cycle and sales funnel yourself. At Lead Liaison, we’re happy to look over your processes to find out how best to automate your sales and marketing funnel. For more information, contact us today!

Lead Liaison

Lead Liaison Announces Q1 2013 Results

/0 Comments/in , /by

Innovative marketing automation company continues to grow its revenues and customer base by providing enhanced features in its flagship product, the Lead Management Automation™ platform, and through the company’s adaptability and flexibility in its customer approach.

Allen, TX (PRWEB) April 15, 2013 – Marketing automation innovator Lead Liaison announces Q1 2013 results and closed Q1 2013 with strong momentum from a record fourth quarter of 2012. The company announced on April 12 that its quarterly results for the first three months of 2013 were “well ahead” of the same period last year. In what has been described as a “spectacular” period of record growth, the company has tripled subscriptions for its marketing automation service since June 2012. Lead Liaison is on pace to surpass last year’s earnings by July or August.

Several factors have led to the company’s consistent, significant growth since early 2012. Vice President of Corporate Communications Alex Brown said the rollout of key adjunct services, along with Lead Liaison’s customer-centric focus and product enhancements, have led to the company’s rise in the marketing automation space.

“For the past year we have driven revenue and customer growth through a process of enhancements brought about by customer requests and needs-based analysis,” said Brown. “From executives to developers, our team was given the task of building products to fill specific needs in various industries.”

In a move to address the need for better guidance during product implementation, the company has developed tools such as the Lead Scoring Model Designer, Lead Management Grader, and several free marketing infographics.

Marketing automation is a systematic approach to digital marketing activities that have traditionally been performed manually. Lead Liaison has taken a more comprehensive approach to marketing automation by developing revenue generation products which expand on lead management practices through the introduction of components that align marketing and sales functions.

“Our commitment to product development through an iterative process involving customer feedback allows us to create solutions that fill both general and specific marketing automation needs,” said Brown.

For more information about Lead Liaison’s revenue generation products or its support services contact Lead Liaison at 888 895 3237 or sales@leadliaison.com.

****

Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. It’s innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities.

Media Contacts:
Alex Brown
VP Corporate Communications
abrown(at)leadliaison(dot)com
888.89.53237 (LEADS)