Tag Archives: lead generation

Lead Generation Trends [Infographic]

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Lead Generation Trends

1. No single channel, no unique device

Diversity with a focus on your ideal client is the name of the game in 2017.

The key to success lies in leveraging the channels, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., your target group uses combined with a strategic plan to grow sales.

An online marketing campaign can’t be focused only on desktop computers. In the US, at least 2/3 of the population uses a smartphone to access the internet. Mobile friendliness is vital for every single business online.

2. Quality-driven content marketing = quality lead generation

Per dollar spent, content marketing generates at least 3 times more leads than conventional marketing techniques.

The immense amount of content available is increasing every day. Most of it is mediocre content published for SEO with a small portion of valuable content. Focus on content quality instead of quantity and frequency. Content is aimed at precise audiences and customers in specific phases of the Buyer’s Journey.

3. Customized lead generation tools

Customized lead generation tools that fit the lead’s requirements provide an engaging user experience and generate more contacts for the business.

These types of tools include:

  • Gated content in online presentations or videos
  • Quizzes and calculators
  • Integrated microsites to track specific user engagement

4. Data-driven lead generation

42% of marketers consider that lack of quality data is their most significant obstacle to quality lead generation.

Detailed information on prospects can give valuable insights into the prospect’s journey on the sales funnels. It can also help sales reps make more accurate decisions based on data analysis.

5. Automated prospecting

70% of businesses currently use a marketing automation solution. A company’s CMO invests more in automation technologies than a CIO in IT.

What’s the innovative trend here? Automated prospectingaut. Now we see lead scoring and even some follow-up automated.

Our thanks go out to Tenfold.com for the inspiration for this infographic.

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The Unwritten Rules of Email Marketing [Infographic]

The-Unwritten-Rules-of-Email-Marketing

The-Unwritten-Rules-of-Email-MarketingEmail marketing remains a highly effective method of lead generation. Despite its effectiveness, it does require work for companies to make the most of their email marketing. Therefore, you need to know the rules of email marketing and best practices.

Email marketing campaigns hastily thrown together will not be effective at driving purchases. People receive lots of emails every day. To make your emails stand out from the competition, they must look professional and read well.

Here are the three of the most common email errors:

  • Bad Subject Lines

    An email subject line is the first thing a potential client sees. If the subject is vague, uninteresting, or badly formatted, they may delete the email without reading it. Thus a subject line should be attention-grabbing and above all relevant to its recipients.

  • Unsolicited Mailings

    Nobody likes receiving unsolicited emails. (They have a word for this, it’s spam.) A business should always get permission to send to a readers email address as random mailings come across as desperate and unprofessional.

    In addition, emails must have an unsubscribe link. It’s against the ICANN SPAM laws to send an email without it, and it could get your email marked as spam.

  • Errors

    Professional mailings should look professional. So before being sent, check for typos, broken links, and incorrect formatting.

Thanks to our friends at PureB2B.com

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Use LinkedIn to Increase Lead Generation Traffic to your Website

Use LinkedIn to Increase Lead Generation Traffic to your Website

Use LinkedIn to Increase Lead Generation Traffic to your WebsiteSome social media sites are better than others for garnering the traffic you want to attract. If your focus is on B2B, you’re likely to find that LinkedIn, the world’s biggest professional networking site will bring your website targeted traffic. With its 467 million users, LinkedIn drives more hits to corporate websites than any other social media platform.

Here are some tips to maximize LinkedIn’s potential:

Complete Your Profile

Your profile is a visual presentation of your business, so make sure it contains your company name and title. Add a professional headshot, so people know the face behind the name. To drive traffic to your site, include a link to it, along with links to individual blog posts. Like with all social media sites, relevant content is necessary to entice people to check out your site.

Know Your Target Audience

When you know exactly who your target audience is, you’ll know what groups they belong to, which content they read, when they’re most active, and how they communicate on LinkedIn. This will help you plan a LinkedIn strategy tailored just around them.

Share Relevant Content

Relevant content drives traffic. Create high-quality articles that your followers find appealing. Focus more on business-oriented articles, but don’t be afraid to create funny and light content as long as it still fits within LinkedIn’s professional environment.

Make and Join Groups

No member is an island on LinkedIn, not when you can join groups and take part in discussions. Use the search function to look for groups that fall within your industry. In case you don’t find one that fits your needs, go ahead and create it. It takes work to moderate a group, but at least you can tailor it to attract the kind of members you want. And when you’re the moderator people look up to you as an expert and are more likely to hire you.

Interact with Specific Individuals

You can post a link to an article on your newsfeed so that your whole network can see it, but people might miss it. To make sure you get the attention of your desired prospects, send a personalized message straight to their inbox. This move offers the additional benefit of making the recipient feel special for receiving a tailored text. It’s a good way to build strong relationships.

Utilize LinkedIn’s publishing platform

LinkedIn has its own publishing platform, which is similar to a  typical blogging platform except that it has the SEO leverage of LinkedIn powering it. So aside from producing original content for your site and sharing it on LinkedIn, also create exclusive content for LinkedIn at least once a week. It’s an excellent opportunity for you to be noticed by top-level executives within your network.

Follow LinkedIn Influencers

LinkedIn influencers are people who have a wide following and readership on LinkedIn. They can be high-profile executives, prominent entrepreneurs, news media figures, etc. When you leave smart comments that initiate helpful discussions on the content of these influencers, you and your company will enjoy greater visibility in a wider network. This is because the content delivered by these influencers has a large audience.

Nurture Relationships

Like any other social network, connections on LinkedIn thrive on good relationships. This means you need to continuously engage with your target audience. One way to do that is by asking questions, sharing interesting articles, telling stories, and giving advice. Sounds like hard work, but it’s worth it in the end.

Beyond these sound ideas, you can also look at other LinkedIn Tools that offer special features that can help you. LinkedIn is a reliable tool for reaching potential customers who you can steer to your website for the ultimate goal – closing the deal.

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Seven Vital Components of Lead Generation [Infographic]

The Seven Vital Components of Lead Generation - 315(1)

The Seven Vital Components of Lead Generation - 315(1)Lead generation is the most important action our website should be doing for us. Thanks to our friends over at MarketingProfs for this great infographic on the seven vital Components of Lead Generation.

Do you work hard to generate quality leads and turn prospects into paying clients? Here are some helpful tips to convert more leads to sales.

Components of Lead Generation

  • Resolve to find quality sources:  Do the businesses on the targeted list have a need that the company can provide a solution for?
  • Volume:  Is the lead volume manageable?  Know what appropriate lead limits are to ensure that they can be handled efficiently and in a timely manner.
  • Reach out to decision makers:  The “top dog” may not be the decision maker so use social media to research company decision makers to convert more prospects into clients.
  • Research your targets:  To qualify a business as a potential target, find out their size, turnover rate and financial history to quality the targeted business.

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How to Run an Effective Facebook Sweepstakes

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How to Run an Effective Facebook Sweepstakes - 315

Many smart small business owners have boarded the social media marketing train, and with Facebook having more than 1.6 billion users, there is no reason not to.

One of the best ways to use social media, specifically Facebook, to reach your target audience is to run a Facebook sweepstakes. However, before you jump into this, there are a few tips, tricks, and yes, even rules, that you must follow:

The Legalities of Facebook Sweepstakes

Now, before you open your business Facebook page and throw up a sweepstakes, there are a few things that you should familiarize yourself with. Facebook is quite specific about the promotions that people are allowed to run, and if you break these rules, your page could be shut down for good. Take a look at the community standards, and make sure that you are not demanding that people ‘like’ or ‘share’ any post to be entered into a sweepstakes.

Focus on Your Goals

Next, focus on what you want to get out of your Facebook sweepstakes. Usually, these are part of a long-term strategy and might include the following:

  • Building your brand and awareness
  • Increasing your reach
  • Generate more content
  • Launching a new service or product

Develop Your Offer

To achieve these goals, you must have an excellent offer that sparks the interest of your target audience. Choose your offer based on the answers to the following questions:

  • Who is the target customer?
  • What interests do they have?
  • What promotions do they like?
  • What is the budget?

It’s imperative that you match the offer to the market, as this will play a huge role in the overall success of sweepstakes.

Promote the Promotion

You know that you have to market your sweepstakes, but you also have to market your marketing! To meet your goals, you must make sure that people see your sweepstakes. Here are some ways to promote your promotion:

  • Let your followers know that it’s coming
  • Ask your fans to share the promotion
  • Run Facebook ads to target new customers
  • Use Facebook Live and images
  • Use local media to get your sweepstakes in the news
  • Add a link in email signatures
  • Send an email to existing customers

You’ll likely get the best results from using both online and offline promotion, so look at your budget and find a combination that’ll work for you. Also, make sure to create a sense of urgency!

Measure It All

During the sweepstakes, collect all of the data that you can. This’ll help you with future sweepstakes and with future marketing efforts. At a minimum, get the name and email address of those who enter. You don’t have to get much more, but also try to add a qualifying question, which will help with marketing efforts.

Finish Strong

The biggest takeaway for you from any Facebook sweepstakes is the moment when you hand over the prize to the winner, so make sure to record it or do it live.

Also, make sure to commemorate this in your blog or company newsletter, and then promote it on all of your social media accounts.

When done correctly, a Facebook sweepstake can open the door to many marketing opportunities. When you find the magic formula for these, don’t forget to reuse it. After all, your customers and fans will certainly not get tired of winning anytime soon!

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