If one out of every two selling opportunities resulted in a sale, we could all retire early. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. When you consider the typical prospect outreach methods, the actual close percentage is more like the single digits. Fortunately, you can increase your odds because, certain types of sales leads do close at a much higher rate. For example, by capitalizing on trigger events, you can propel a prospect from ambivalent to intrigued and from prospect to customer.

So how do you identify trigger events and increase your selling opportunities?

What Are Trigger Events

Trigger events are any occurrence that creates a sales opportunity. From a merger or acquisition to a shake up in the executive ranks, when properly executed, they increase the probability that prospects will  greet your outreach with much greater interest.

Define Your Target Audiences’ Trigger Events

There are numerous common trigger events across the accounts you target. But, some vary depending upon the industry. So, develop an applicable list. Here are 15 examples:

1. New buildings, stores, locations
2. M&A
3. New name or branding
4. New product or service
5. A major competitor move
6. Changes in hiring velocity
7. New leadership
8. New job/role for current contact
9. Expiring contract
10. Good financial report
11. Bad financial report
12. Hiring an outside consultant
13. New legislation
14. Awards
15. Filling out a lead form

Track The Trigger Events

When I first started in sales, I rode along with one senior account rep a few times during my training. “Ralph” only had a few accounts but he had a Rolodex (remember those?) that overflowed with contacts.

On our first outing together he took me to one large client. With numerous meetings schedule, we arrived early. And as employees were walking in to start their day, it was like he was one of them. Before walking 50 feet he had already spoken with four people he knew. Plus, his long time receptionist friend had our badges prepared and signed us in to the guest register to avoid any wait times. Furthermore, before we headed off to the first meeting, she pulled Ralph aside to tell him about a shake-up in the management ranks that occurred the day before and gave him contact information for the new employees.

As we moved from desk to desk and meeting to meeting, the people called him “The Mayor.” I didn’t realize it at the time but that was a term of endearment. He knew more about the company than they did. They asked him for the inside scoop on their own company; information which he was often able to provide.

So, if you have your hand on the pulse as Ralph did, you may not need a different system. But for the accounts where you don’t have those insights, set up alerts so you’ll know when a trigger event occurs.

For example, Google allows you to monitor up to 1,000 different alerts. You can set them up for brands, people, topics and more. Keep in mind that Google alerts don’t return social media results.

LinkedIn is another good source, especially when tracking position changes and people movement. This overview will help you get started.

Plus, there are dozens of other free and paid sources you may want to check into.

Define The Contacts That Trigger Events May Impact

It’s essential to know when a trigger event occurs. But further, once it does, you need to know where to present your solution.

In the accounts you know defining contacts is fairly easy, but it’s far more difficult in an account you are trying to break into. What’s more, when a trigger event does occur, you need to mobilize quickly. So, the more you can identify contact names in advance, the more quickly you’ll be able to capitalize on the opportunity.

But, knowing the contacts in advance of each event is impossible. Therefore, use LinkedIn or other data sources to get the details you need.

Prepare To Connect In Advance

Before you connect with the appropriate contact, make sure you understand their pain points. How does the trigger event impact them and how do your capabilities help them mitigate that pain?

Then, build content that speaks to those pain points to elevate your standing including:

Strike When The Opportunity Presents Itself

Trigger events represent a key time for change in an account - one that can propel your capabilities toward serious consideration. With so much information available online, buyers continue to self-educate and formulate purchasing decisions before even speaking with a vendor. But, if you are the first company to connect with a buyer once they have a need, the odds of selling to them increase substantially. Monitoring trigger events are one way to identify a company at the forefront of their buying need.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing specializes in developing and deploying effective marketing programs, such as trigger campaigns, that increase sales and revenue. Contact us for more information.

The post Use Trigger Events To Increase Selling Opportunities appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

A recent McKinsey & Company study found that B2B digital leaders drive five times more revenue than their peers. And although companies have implemented digital workflows to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, they haven’t innovated around sales and the customer experience—and that’s where the real growth is. And, for many organizations, including Great Lakes Graphic Association members, that experience starts with their website.

We decided to find out by analyzing each member website using a seven step process which you can review in depth below.

In the most basic terms, your website is like the sign in front of your building. It directs customers to the entrance and welcomes them to learn more about you. And, just like a deteriorating sidewalk that connects to a dilapidated building with broken down equipment would give pause to any prospect, so does a poorly designed out of date website.

Website Assessment Analysis

But, just like a company is more than a beautifully landscaped building, an effective online presence is more than an effective web design. Consequently, we evaluated each website using a number of factors including:

Therefore, here’s the key takeaway from this analysis. You should honestly assess how your website fits with your business goals. Then, based on those goals, recognize your need areas and develop an improvement plan that elevates your position and revenue opportunities online.

So, let’s get started!

How Does Your Website Design Rate?

An updated website design increases the possibility that a prospect will explore your capabilities. And nearly 50% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members have recently updated their site providing a compelling first impression. 30% employ an older design but incorporate effective navigation making it easy for their audience to explore their site. Unfortunately, 20% still use an old outdated design, one that creates an unnecessary and potentially inaccurate impression.

If you’re not investing in an updated design, allocate the budget dollars to start that conversion.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

For prospects that don’t know your business, a USP quickly tells them what you do, how you are different and why it matters. In a world with hundreds of different printing and marketing options, a USP is especially important. Yet, only 15% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members have one.

Fortunately, this is an easy fix. Take the time to develop a USP that effectively represents your company and services. Then, add it to your website.

Site Optimization

Some organizations spend thousands of dollars optimizing their website to elevate their page rank. And, it can be well worth the investment. However, hefty investments aren’t necessary to execute basic optimization correctly. Yet, only 19% optimize their sites effectively and 44% are below average.

Basic site optimization means that a search for your company name results in multiple search listings for your company. If that search query doesn’t return obvious listings, it’s a virtual guarantee that a prospect will stop looking.

But implementing basic site optimization delivers significant value. Want proof? Here are the before and after results for one company.

Before Site Optimization

Before site optimization the company had no first page search results listings. And, their average search position was 21. This equates to the bottom of page three, a page only 1.1% of users even visit.

After Site Optimization

Six months later, improvements were significant.

Get A Free Website Assessment To Determine How Your Site Rates

User Experience

There are dozens of user experience definitions. But essentially, a good user experience is one that simply meets your user’s needs. And when your audience visits your website, two common needs are:

Samples Sell

Nearly 100% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members provide paper or printed samples upon request. And although 100% of the web sites have a contact us form, why not integrate a simple, highly visible sample ordering process on your website that attracts prospects and generate additional business opportunities?

Sample requests indicate interest. A prospect that requests samples is a qualified lead. And like any qualified lead, they often translate into sales. In fact, one company tracked prospect sample requests and found that 18% actually turned into a sale.

But don’t stop with samples. A gallery or portfolio page show prospects successful projects that can spur interest. And, testimonials are another valuable information source that enhance the user experience.

Testimonials

Plus, these resources, and testimonials in particular, influence the purchasing decision making process. Nearly 75% of prospects correlate testimonials with greater business trust. And when in the purchase consideration phase, higher trust often tips the scale on a sale.

Content

Studies suggest that a purchase decision is more than two thirds complete before a customer even calls a supplier. It’s one reason why website content is so essential. Today, prospects look online to self educate, build understanding and determine if you are a company they should work with. But, it’s not just your audience. Search engines value content as well. In fact, fresh content, such as new web pages, regular blog posts and resources like white papers and case studies can elevate your search ranking.

But when it comes to content, only 8% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members appear to update their site content regularly. And 12% have clearly outdated content.

Why not do this instead?

Blog Posts

A company started regular weekly blog posts. Each one covered information targeting the key industries they served. The posts were optimized with keywords that related to their brand and key service areas.

Search engines indexed this content and served it to prospects and customers as they queried similar information. In six months, impressions (the amount of times their listing was viewed on a search page) increased by five times and click throughs to their website grew by 350%. Lead contact form submissions increased by a factor of seven - often turning into qualified leads.

Today, only 12% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members publish a blog. A number of those don’t contain current information. Although it’s difficult to maintain a consistent content schedule, as you can see, it’s well worth the effort.

Newsletters

With over 2,000 subscribers, a label printer distributes a monthly newsletter highlighting common customer pain points and the solutions the company provides. Email open rates average 30% with approximately 50 contacts clicking through to their website each time. And typically, around 10 of those contacts request more information often turning into a qualified lead.

The fact is, newsletters are a great way to showcase new products, successes and remind customers of your broad product offering. However, only 18% of members promote a newsletter on their website. This is another effective communications vehicle you should implement.

White Papers

According to HubSpot, a white paper is a persuasive, authoritative, in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem and provides a solution.

A company with digital printing assets developed an extensive white paper that detailed the technology, design implications, material considerations, best fit jobs and more. They promoted the white paper on their website and in their newsletter. In addition, they required an email address in exchange for downloading the document which gave them the ability to stay in touch.

In three months, 60 people downloaded the white paper and 22 of those became qualified leads.

White papers are ideal for prospects as they look to self educate and narrow down purchasing options. 16% of members provide white papers on their website.

Lastly, case studies, with brief narratives and/or data showing specifically how you helped customers increase response rates, impact revenue or save money makes your products and services more valuable. Plus, like testimonials, they help increase trust and can tip the scale on purchasing decisions. 12% of member websites contain case studies.

Lead Generation

As detailed above, website content serves prospects through their spectrum of needs. It connects as they learn about the industry, your capabilities and as they narrow down their list of potential suppliers, when nearing a purchasing decision. And in addition to serving your target audience, effective content generates viable leads for your sales force.

But, viable leads are nothing without a defined follow up program. Equally important, there are a few common elements that increase the probability that a lead will turn into a sale.

1 - Collaborate with your sales force to define a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

What’s the quickest way to discourage your sales force to follow up on leads? Provide them with poor quality opportunities. Although an MQL is not a guaranteed sale, defining leads based on an agreed upon criteria will ensure that your team follows up on viable opportunities.

Common MQL attributes include:

2 - Define MQL follow up KPIs

Even in a B2B setting, studies show that fast follow up generates more discussions and sales. If your sales team doesn’t engage a prospect quickly, the opportunity for further conversations, let alone sales, drop significantly. So, set the follow up time expectations and hold the sales team accountable.

3 - Collaborate with your sales force to define a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Common SQL attributes include:

Although it seems intuitive that viable leads would get regular follow up, they often don’t get the attention they deserve. In fact, a HubSpot study found 44% of salespeople gave up after one try. Conversely, 80% of sales require five or more follow-ups. In addition, 63% of people requesting information on your company today will not purchase for at least three months – and 20% will take more than 12 months to buy.

Unfortunately, we don’t have data on the amount of manual lead generation processes employed today. However, less than 1% of Great Lakes Graphic Association members use automated lead generation programs, such as marketing automation.

Do you have a detailed process for following up on leads generated from your website?

In The Final Analysis

Great Lakes Graphic Association members website ratings are similar to other manufacturing sectors but rank below segments like technology, retail, financial services and healthcare.

As cited above, there are dozens of attributes that contribute to an effective digital strategy. If your website needs improvement, chart the course and start making those enhancements. Websites aren’t a new phenomena. In fact, they are about to turn age 30. So recognize the impact they can have on your business and take the necessary steps to generate the leads and capture the revenue you deserve.

Whether it's recommending digital strategy improvements or executing the right tactics for Great Lakes Graphic Association members or any printing company, InterEdge Marketing provides numerous services that elevate your position online including  website marketing strategies, content marketing and lead generation programs that help organizations drive revenue.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get bi-monthly tips on how to elevate your marketing programs.

The post Effective Customer Facing Digital Strategies  appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

Is your website a Field Of Dreams? One that attracts a steady flow of traffic with an interest in your services? Or, have visitors not yet seen the vision of what you’ve built? Even without James Earl Jones, there are a number of effective lead generation strategies you can incorporate to help them see.

10 Lead Generation Strategies

Start With Content

Engaging web pages that target audience needs are a great start. But, to keep prospects coming back it takes an ongoing commitment to content.

Lead Generation ROI Starts With Follow Up

Don’t spend the time, make the effort and go to the expense of a lead generation program unless effective follow up is part of the process. Lead generation programs often fail because of two equally bad processes:

Define A Process

Data Improves Lead Generation ROI

Meaningful data collection can improve the outcome of your lead generation program. Collecting it in a logical, transparent manner benefits both your company and your audience.

Focus - Feedback - Fix-it

A website is a living document, always in need of tweaks, revisions and improvements. As part of a broader web strategy, lead generation programs need that same attention.

Naturally, it takes more than showing up at an appointment with a prospect to achieve sales success. Similarly, if you want to engage prospects on your website, it requires more than a good design. However, by implementing effective lead generation strategies, you will increase the number of leads. And it will increase the return on your marketing investment.

InterEdge Marketing delivers lead generation strategies that help organizations drive revenue. Subscribe to our newsletter to get bi-monthly tips on how to elevate your marketing programs.

The post 10 Lead Generation Strategies That Will Impact Conversions appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

Trade shows aren’t cheap. And neither are other lead generation programs. So why do companies spend the money to generate leads but fail to follow up effectively? It lowers your return on investment and irritates prospects.

In reality, ineffective follow up falls into three categories: 1) None 2) Untimely 3) Over aggressive

In today’s wired world, lead generation programs are crucial. Traditional prospecting methods are inefficient and bring little value. For example, it takes 100 cold call attempts to make just one appointment! But, a lead generation program without a defined and thoughtful follow-up process isn’t much better. It’s like letting food sit for weeks in your refrigerator. Food spoils and so do leads. The consequence, you waste money.

So, I decided to conduct an experiment. I attended Print 18 to take part in educational sessions and meet associates. But also, to dig into the lead follow-up programs of 20 exhibitors.

I selected the exhibitors based on the following criteria:

Given that only three of 20 visits included specific purchase intentions, I didn’t expect 20 follow ups. But regardless, nearly two weeks after my visit, here are the results:

Don't You Want My Business?

I had a genuine need in three of my booth visits, a need that became clear during my discussions. However, only one of those three companies followed up. Did they lose my contact info? Were they turned off by my 6 - 12 month purchase expectation? Whatever the reason, it’s unlikely that I’ll consider either company in the future.

At a tradeshow, less than 10% of booth visitors have a purchase intent of less than three months. Conversely, 50 - 60% will make a purchase within 24 months. If you make no effort to stay connected with these prospects, you lose the revenue from that sale. And, in addition, the potential to expand the relationship.

Furthermore, it’s not just trade shows. If you generate a marketing qualified lead through your website or other tactics, and don’t follow up, you can expect the same negative outcome.

I'm Not A Prospect!

As part of the follow up process, three companies picked up the phone and called me. Two of the calls came from the group that had capabilities I wanted to learn more about. You know, the companies where I made it clear I wasn’t a prospect and had no need to purchase!

Both companies followed up with a pitch, aggressively trying to set up a follow up appointment.

How did the clearly defined “not a buyer” category translate into a pushy follow up call? In addition to annoying, it’s a complete waste of time and money. Are your goals completely misaligned? Is scheduling appointments more important than targeting the right prospect with whom to set an appointment with?

Avoid This Flaw

Or maybe their follow-up process includes turning all inquiries over to sales. If that’s true, they will quickly turn both sales and prospects off from their lead program.

When you repeatedly feed a sales rep “leads” that turn into time wasters, the rep quickly starts to avoid all follow up. Unfortunately, they also avoid the opportunities that could turn into sales.

In addition, when you understand and market to the needs of prospects, you’ll create a better experience. One that is more likely to lead to future business.

Do This Instead

Work together with sales to define a marketing qualified lead. For example, does it fit into the industry, company size, geographic location and buyer type that you typically target? And, have they exhibited the buying behaviors that you expect? At a trade show you determine the buying behavior from one-to-one interaction. On your website, behaviors such as downloading white papers or measuring the time a prospect spends on your website may indicate a purchasing interest.

In my case I clearly made the company aware that I wasn’t a buyer. As a result, it should have knocked me out of the appointment setting follow-up. Establishing the guidelines and providing your sales team with prospects that only meet that criteria will improve the outcome for your prospects and your company.

A Few Nice Surprises

A few companies clearly had spent time developing effective lead follow-up programs.

One company, that I had expressed a buying interest with, provided the information I needed. In addition, they included examples of how their solution would provide benefits in areas I hadn’t considered. Later, they called to make sure I received the information and learned more about my needs. We have an additional discussion planned for November.

Unless this takes an unexpected about face, it’s likely I’ll make a purchase next year.

In addition, a company that had capabilities I wanted to learn more about, but no purchasing need, sent a personalized follow-up which included these lines:

They clearly understood that I wasn’t a buyer but could be an influencer. They presented their brand in a positive way and made it easy for me to forward information to associates that may have an interest or need. That’s smart follow-up.

Even Print!
And lastly, from another company, I received a postcard that contained a QR code linking to more information on their website. Digital communications are an essential part of any lead generation program but this print piece stood out.

Lead Generation Programs

Do you have lead generation programs that result in a few or a few thousand opportunities each month? If so, you need to develop a process that drives effective follow up. When you do, it makes your sales force more productive, connects with prospects and drives additional revenue for your business.

InterEdge Marketing develops lead generation programs that maximize return on investment.
Learn more about our capabilities.

The post A Funny Thing Happened After Print 18 appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

If you know about marketing automation you've heard about it's benefits. It helps marketing teams identify prospects and market and engage with leads across multiple channels. It automates repetitive tasks and scales with limited additional costs.  And most importantly, it creates more opportunities for sales.

But what about prospects? We've all been one. What's in it for us?

The Power Of Marketing Automation

We've all been there. What happens when something pushes us over the edge. You're doing your job and suddenly you've had enough, you realize there's got to be a better way. Maybe it's a productivity challenge or a nagging problem that won't go away. But, a pain, triggers the need to do something different.

As the prospect, when a company provides a solution to this challenge, you are thrilled! And that's the power of effective marketing automation.

When I was searching for a solution to my business challenge, it was marketing automation that provided the insights to deliver timely, personalized and relevant follow ups. The insights and education that helped me understand my options and formulate a decision. And, the detailed information I needed that led to an ultimate purchase.

Marketing Automation Benefits

Blast emails. Generic messages. Irrelevant information. Don't work.

Prospects want information specific to their needs. Marketing automation benefits your audience by providing the details they seek. Plus, as you gain insights from prospects you can progressively deliver more relevant, specific and valuable information.

And for your marketing and sales team, connecting during those trigger events, with a solution that solves the pain, is the prescription to increasing sales.

But some prospects may not confront a sudden pain. Even so, there are numerous other marketing automation benefits that make it a technology worth considering for both you and your customers.

Marketing Automation Identifies Interactions

With prospects formulating purchasing decisions well before they identify themselves, wouldn't it be helpful to know who visits your website and the pages they explore?

With marketing automation, you can. Although Google Analytics provides general information, the details are limited however, marketing automation provides additional insights. You can see and track which companies are visiting your website, how often, where they came from, what content they’ve viewed, and much more. If they’re a known contact, you’ll even see them by name.

Knowledge Is Power

By understanding a prospects interactions you can communicate in ways that benefit both you and the prospect.

With these insights, marketing automation benefits your prospects by delivering information that assists their specific buying journey.

By utilizing landing pages, contact forms and progressive profiling you can gradually learn more about your prospects, building a relationship that otherwise would have been impossible to form. And, as you build a richer dataset you increase trust and strengthen the opportunity for increased engagement.

Build Campaigns Based On Prospects Needs

With an increasing database of insights, you can build campaigns that target your prospects needs.

When my business pain manifested into downloading a white paper and conducting additional research on the topic, my needs became clear. And voila, I received targeted information that helped answer my questions and narrow my purchasing options.

Whether it's a trigger event, like mine, or a lead nurturing program that educates and engages prospects as they move through their buying journey, marketing automation benefits customers, and sales and marketing. The automation allows you to deliver personalized messages with relevant content that's behavioral based. It's both useful for the prospect and powerful for the marketer.

Use Marketing Automation To Gauge Interactions

Although marketing automation benefits your prospects, user engagement will vary. And for those that do engage, not every interaction is created equal. So tracking and scoring interactions is crucial.

Marketing automation allows you to develop a point system for interactions that are indicative of a prospects level of interest. For example, it's nice to have your email opened but it's even better when a potential customer downloads a white paper or watches a video. And when interactions occur in a certain order - a video followed by a white paper and then pricing - it may indicate a strong interest in your product.

A marketing automation system allows you to automatically uncover these opportunities. And by tallying and grouping these scores, you can better target programs that are relevant to their needs.

Identify Sales Ready Leads

Online from your website or in-person at a trade show or event, only a small percentage of prospects that show an interest in your capabilities are ready to buy today. And those 5 - 15% are easy to figure out. But the numbers say that another 60% - 70% will buy within two years.

Unfortunately, when your sales team follows up only to find there isn't immediate interest, the lead likely won't receive further attention. However, with an effective trigger and lead nurturing program, you'll target prospects with the information and education that often leads to further interest. And, by tracking their interactions and keeping score, you'll only provide sales with the most likely to buy opportunities.

Marketing Automation Benefits

Who doesn't want to know more about their target audience? And what consumer prefers unwanted communications vs. relevant, targeted personalized information? When executed properly, marketing automation benefits both the using company and end consumer. It builds relationships that allows you to turn more prospects into buyers.

The post Marketing Automation Benefits That Turn Prospects Into Buyers appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

Lead Nurturing Strategies

But not just any lead nurturing strategy. A well planned and constructed strategy. One that answers questions as your audience develops a need or crafts a purchasing decision. For a program that connects with prospects and generates additional revenue, use these five lead nurturing strategies.

Segment Your Prospects

How often do you receive emails that are company focused, not customer focused? Or, provides general information that isn't specific to your needs or pain points?

Effective lead nurturing builds relationships with prospects as they interact with you. By listening and communicating meaningful information, you educate and provide the answers your audience needs, through each step of the buying journey. These answers aren't generic, they address specific needs. These needs may vary depending upon:

If you don't have this type of information currently, expand your data set. Because an effective nurturing program relies on providing personalized and relevant information, a comprehensive contact file is an essential step.

Develop Compelling Content For Each Segment

We dined out recently at a new restaurant. The warm greeting from the maitre d' immediately made us feel welcome. Her passion for the restaurant was evident. Our mouths watered as she described the chef's creations. As we walked to our table, there was a noticeable buzz from the patrons. The dining room decor was striking.

But as we started to order, we found that they didn't serve food.

Impossible - you don't open a restaurant without food on the menu.

So, don't start a nurturing campaign without content!

Just like food in a restaurant, it's the crucial element for any nurturing campaign.

What kind of content connects?

But building content takes time. So, if you have multiple target segments, minimize development time by starting with just one or two. You'll learn from your initial efforts and improve when executing additional segments.

Learn how to build content that connects with your audience and encourages interactions.

Develop Campaigns

'If you build it, they will come' may have worked in Field of Dreams but your nurturing campaign needs more than James Earl Jones' pronouncement!

Use the content along with inbound and outbound tactics to target your audience segments.

Inbound tactics bring your ideal customer to you, primarily through their preferred channels including:

Outbound tactics target prospects once you know them. They may have signed up for a white paper, stopped by your booth at a trade show or connected with you in some other way. But, they aren't ready to buy yet. An outbound campaign that's personalized, relevant and uses the content you've built to answer their questions helps deepen relationships. This type of meaningful follow up has proven to convert more prospects into buyers.

Automate The Process

Effective lead nurturing is all about understanding how your audience interacts with you.

Plus, through these interactions, you can start to gauge interest. By attaching a value on the:

Twenty years ago, a sales rep was the primary source of industry, competitor and company information. Today, online channels allow prospects to obtain information where and when they need it. Marketing automation identifies these interactions and allows you to deliver the information they indicate is important.

When you engage your prospects with personalized, timely and relevant information that answers their questions, they are far more likely to engage with you. And most importantly, it increases the odds they will become a paying customer.

Team With Sales

When executing lead nurturing strategies, marketing does the heavy lifting. And, you'll become the sales team's best friend when you deliver sales-ready leads. But lead nurturing strategies work best when sales is an active part of the process.

As prospects interact with your content, visit your website or attend a webinar, there are certain touch points where sales' outreach is important.

Determine a spot or two where a phone call can benefit the nurturing process. Then work with sales to make it happen.

Report/Analyze/Test/Revise/Improve

How do you define the ultimate payoff for a nurturing campaign? By the number of leads that convert into customers. However, by measuring other details you'll get to the payoff more quickly.

Like most digital marketing, effective lead nurturing strategies take planning and execution. But, when executed effectively:

The post 5 Lead Nurturing Strategies That Supercharge Customer Conversion appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

Modest budgets. Smaller staffs. Fewer resources. Just some of the challenges small and mid size companies face when competing against larger organizations. You can't duplicate their manpower. You can't duplicate their capital. But you can compete for the biggest and best accounts. Use account based marketing to equalize the playing field, capture target accounts and grow your business.

Account Based Marketing

Just like a target account initiative, account based marketing programs start by building an account list. But instead of contact based interactions, account based marketing is designed to understand and market to the collective needs of an account. For example, a typical enterprise purchase involves C-Levels, directors, managers and front-line professionals from numerous departments. Some contacts are influencers. Others are buyers. But as your contacts look online to learn about you and the competition, you often don't know if you are connecting or being ignored. Account based marketing leverages technology to understand these interactions. And, it allows you to provide relevant, timely and personalized follow up addressing universal challenges while targeting needs specific to each individual.

Use Account Based Marketing To Counterpunch Competitors

But, account based marketing isn't just for deep pocket, big staff companies. Effective program execution is size agnostic. Technology has leveled the playing field. Small and mid size companies can operate with the same sophistication, tools, savvy and scale of large companies. Here's why.

Access To Data

How do you select target accounts? By modeling your customer database using current accounts, firmographics and industry information fed into an analytics engine that spits out the best opportunities?

Probably not. But, large companies with big databases can spend tens of thousands of dollars to do just that.

Fortunately, your database is much smaller. So is your target audience. And, account based marketing programs don't target 1000s of prospects. They focus on a few of the best opportunities. Using a process ensures the best account selection. But, an analytics tool? Unnecessary.

Once you select the targets, identifying contacts is inexpensive. Combine online sources like LinkedIn. Business contact databases including Zoom Info, Jigsaw and YesData. And, the sweat equity of your sales team to develop a very accurate robust list of contacts, at a very low cost.

ABM Program Development

Websites and online tools provide opportunities for all businesses. But they are especially relevant for small and mid sized companies that use account based marketing. Online channels are the cornerstone of your plan. An effective website allows you to rival large competitors.

Understanding your target audience is another key factor. Developing personas to identify pain points and customer needs require contact with your sales team and a few customers. Both very achievable for companies small and large.

Armed with this information you can build a plan. It doesn't take a big staff. Instead, it takes thinking through how to construct a campaign to reach your audience. And determining the online and offline tactics that connect. Ultimately, it takes sales and marketing common sense.

Learn How To Develop A Campaign Matrix - Download The Account Based Marketing White Paper »

ABM Program Cost

Large companies appeal to a large audience. But it costs money to get in front of that large audience. Even electronic campaigns using email, SEO, SEM and social media can take a bite out of a budget. An account based marketing campaign is different. It combines a variety of online and offline tactics targeting a small audience. For example, if you use account based marketing for 20 accounts, you have under 1000 total contacts.

That lowers your program costs. When you use account based marketing you target a small group of key contacts with highly personalized information. Websites, other online channels and content assist your prospects as they learn about you. Very similar to the practices you are using today. Although personalization is critical, adapting or expanding current resources keep additional investments low.

Offline tactics including direct mail, information kits and brochures are an expense you should incur. But, small quantity digital print technology will keep costs in check.

ABM Program Execution

Large companies have more red tape. It’s harder to get decisions made. Small and mid size companies are nimble. There are fewer layers to coordinate and convince.

An effective ABM program combines the best attributes from both sales and marketing. The two groups may not see eye-to-eye on every issue. But, reconciling differences and working together is far easier in a small and mid size company.

Although an ABM program contains a number of moving parts, planning and executing the plan trumps specific expertise. Although you do need knowledge about online and offline marketing tactics, specialists aren't required. You don't need a direct marketing specialist. You don't need an event planner. Or a data analytics expert.

Marketing automation programs further simplify the process. The firepower available for small and mid sized business rivals big company systems.  Coordinating personalized marketing and sales efforts open doors and deepen engagements in target accounts. When sales and marketing work effectively together, account success rates increase exponentially.

Effective marketing programs don't materialize, launch and succeed at the snap of your finger. When you use account based marketing, it's no different. Learning, planning, testing and executing are critical elements. They are also elements small and mid sized companies can execute to compete against the big guys and capture more business.

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Account Based Marketing Tactics You Need To Succeed

Target an account, rather than an individual. Combine the best attributes of sales and marketing. Address all decision makers from the beginning of the buyer’s journey. That's how ABM differs from a target account program. Use the following account based marketing tactics to elevate your position and close deals more quickly.

Develop Personas

A persona is a semi fictional representation of your ideal customer. Through market research and actual data about your existing customers, a persona helps you:

A persona also uncovers your customers key sources of information. Publishing content in the channels where your customers go to learn increases the probability of connecting them to your solutions.  "ABM isn't just about knowing companies to target but about which decision makers to engage at those targets and and how to engage them." Scott Vaughn, CMO - Integrate

Here's Why Personas Work

Personas help you understand your audience. That knowledge allows you to effectively target communications that connect to their job function, needs and position in the account. Targeted, relevant and personal information elevates the impact of your communications. Using personas is one of the most important Account Based Marketing tactics to implement - it improves response and interaction.

In fact, a MarketingSherpa case study found that buyer personas outcomes:

Create Compelling Content

You've targeted key accounts. You've identified decision makers and influencers. You understand the type of information that prospects seek as they go through the discovery process. How do you connect with your audience?

Developing content driven from persona research provides the best outcome. Forrester determined that an enterprise buyer is 57% of the way to a purchasing decision before they connect with a seller. Discovery is taking place in your target accounts, with and without your knowledge.

Content sells when you aren't there and helps you elevate your position even if you aren't involved personally.

Consider these alternatives: 

Regardless of it's final form, content should coincide with the purchasing journey and the topics your prospects are likely to consume at each stage.

Here's Why You Need Compelling Content

Content commands attention. Designed and built for each unique audience, it's how you reach decision makers and influencers. Driven by data in your persona research, the topics guide users through the purchasing stages making them more likely to buy. It elevates your position even if you aren't involved personally.

Build A Campaign Roadmap

It's impossible to orchestrate every account interaction. However, mapping your plan helps you execute the process.

Why A Campaign Roadmap Works

A roadmap details the communications, responsibilities and timing of your campaign. A thoughtful approach to these details improves the outcome. It also integrates the interactions between sales, marketing and executives. When sales and marketing are aligned the odds of selling a key account increases substantially.

Marketing Automation

Technology separates account based marketing from a target account program. Along with capturing data and putting it to work, marketing automation lets you create a process and then set it to repeat, without additional labor.

Why Marketing Automation Is One Of The Essential Account Based Marketing Tactics

Combining marketing automation with an account-based marketing strategy yields numerous benefits including:

Get Started!

ABM leverages research to find the correct contacts inside an account. Targeting, personalizing and orchestrating interactions with those contacts are account based marketing tactics that increase engagement and shorten your path to success.

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It's a strategic approach to business marketing in which an organization considers and communicates with individual prospect or customer accounts as markets of one. It's a hot topic. Why Account Based Marketing? Because when you employ proven tactics, like segmenting and personalization. When you provide content that's meaningful to each unique decision maker. When you harmonize your program with sales. You increase your account success rates.

If you have a target account program today. A sales driven program. One that doesn't align the value that both sales and marketing provide, you are missing out on revenue opportunities. Here's why account based marketing can impact your operation.

Size Doesn't Matter

Companies in all revenue categories - with a few employees and with 1000s of employees -have all adopted successful ABM strategies. SiriusDecisions researched companies using ABM and found that:

What This Means To Your Business

Account based marketing is an effective tool that can be used by any company, regardless of size. For smaller companies, ABM can be used to scale growth. Large companies can accelerate their expansion. Perhaps it's an underutilized opportunity for those companies in-between.

With staffs that are typically more limited, smaller companies may consider ABM unrealistic to implement, given other programs and responsibilities. However, it's proven to impact revenue and worthy of further consideration.

Where ABM Fits Best

Acquiring one contact at a time, through either inbound or outbound marketing efforts, is an ineffective way to approach a target account. Targeting the enterprise, like a market of one, is a better approach. That's why account based marketing can improve the outcome. It's ideal for companies that target:

What This Means To Your Business

Unlike many programs that are either sales driven or marketing driven, account based marketing aligns the two. When both organizations are in sync, closing deals and increasing revenue from those combined efforts increase significantly.

Why Account Based Marketing Impacts Target Accounts

ABM is more than targeting key accounts. It's about knowing which key contacts to engage and how to engage them. The average target accounts contains 17 influencers and five buyers. The influencers and buyers span the organizational chart. From, C-level to a front line professionals charged with implementation, they have different needs and decision criteria. An effective account based marketing program provides precise, targeted and personalized to each influencer and buyer.

And, it works. Data compiled by SiriusDecisions found that companies with an ABM program had significant increases in target account activity.

Account Based Marketing Scales

Using effective automation tools in an ABM program allows you to scale business development. Automation makes it easier for a rep to target, market to, convert, and upsell a much larger number of contacts at each account. This expands the reach of the business development team and decreases the need to hire additional account managers.

If you employ a target account program today. If you call on accounts with many influencers and decision makers. Then combining resources of both sales and marketing through an account based marketing program will impact your business.

Need more information? Learn how to set up and implement an account based marketing program for your company.

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Open a bottle of wine. And for a website visitor, decide on one of two things:

Why Using Video For Marketing Your Company Is Effective

Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research predicted the importance of video in his 2008 article, How Video Will Take Over The World. He made headlines when he equated the value of a one minute video to almost 2,000,000 words. Outrageous, yes. But, there are plenty of legitimate reasons why using video for marketing your company is important.

The average consumer watches over 200 videos per month. And not just the grumpy cat variety.

And it's not just watching, videos promote action.

What Videos Do You Need

When meeting with a new prospect, a sales rep goes through a progression of steps. From introduction and overview to specific capability details, a rep advances the conversation as more specific needs are uncovered. Effective videos follow that same path.

Consider these topics:

How To Use Videos For Marketing Your Company

Getting To Know You

A suspect. A cold lead. A user that discovers your company for the first time. Only a small percentage take that next step and learn more. A company overview video can help warm that opportunity. Effectively placed on your home page, it captures the attention of prospects, encouraging them to click and learn more.

They are also great to use on social media home pages. Embedded on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more, they allow you to reach other users in their channel of preference. A link from the video to the appropriate web page will capture opportunities that you otherwise miss. They are effective in introductory emails and InMails as well.

Education
Educational content is the one of the most favored types for consumption. Explainer videos expand your audience knowledge. If you have a lead nurturing program, these videos are perfect for top of the funnel prospects. They build awareness, expand interest and establish the relevance of your capabilities.

For a commercial printer, an explainer video showing how to integrate digital printing into the marketing mix or tips on how to prep files to ensure a smooth trip through preflight are topics both current customers and prospects would value.

Middle And Bottom Of The Funnel
Your prospect has learned more about your broad capabilities and is ready to get into specific solutions. The expert video connects with their needs at this funnel stage, demonstrating that your capabilities are a good fit.

Quick Tips

Reuse and repurpose. Just like written content, a video can be repurposed for effective use in other channels. Snippets of webinars, events or even product videos can be applied in shorter form and delivered in social media or emails.

Length matters. Cumulative research by Wistia shows that, when in regards to videos, less is definitely more.

Think script first. An effective script is the single most important part of the video. A well written script will engage your audience and produce results.

Don't fade to black. Use a call to action instead. Think about what your video is designed to accomplish and then direct your audience to where they should go next.

Give It A Shot

Using video for marketing your company engages your audience and allows you to convey your capabilities in a way that written content can't. It's a proven way to convert more prospects into buyers. With multiple uses and reasonable expense, videos are a cost effective tool you should add to your marketing mix.

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