The From Line

What’s the best way to get heavy foot traffic to your new cafe in New York City?

a) Rent a property right next to major tourist attractions and build your cafe there
b) Buy a property out of the way of tourist attractions and build your cafe there

(Yes, obviously buying a property next to major tourist attractions would be the best move, but you don’t have that kind of money.)

Here we face the dilemma of the “long short road” and the “short long road.”

Written for Publishing Executive by Elie Ashery, Gold Lasso CEO 

Melody Kramer’s recent piece, “When newsrooms don’t own their data, other companies profit” on Poynter should be a hard and fast wake-up call for publishers. Kramer, a former digital strategist at NPR and former visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, offers several insights from publishers about how newsrooms collect then give away data programmatically without fair compensation. Most of the examples she provides are related to behavioral data, however “data fleecing” publishers stretches way beyond link tracking and location check-ins.

Content Must Be Designed With A Purpose

The ultimate purpose of content, whether it be a website, blog, or social media posts, must be to convert a total stranger to a permission-based lead and ultimately to a loyal customer.  Consider your own web search activities for a moment.  If you wanted to buy lead management software, what would you actually look for?  Are you more concerned about a lot of advertising bragging about the cheapest price, or are you looking for information to help you solve a problem?  Your visitors are just like you; they are looking for relevant information. Understanding the content people want and need should be the key to your purpose.

Content Must Attract Permission-Based Leads To The Top Of The Funnel

Attracting leads to your website or blog might include a number of different methods.  Since you are attempting to attract people who don’t even know you exist, SEO is a very important factor in attracting leads to the top of your lead funnel.   To gain access to the top of search engines, all website and blog content must be relevant, current, and properly optimized to meet the strict requirements of the ever evolving algorithms.  Properly designed landing pages and calls to action play a significant role in convincing visitors to give you information, like an email address.  Once prospects have actually requested more information, your email or direct mail marketing campaigns can be custom designed to meet the needs of the consumer.

Content Must Nurture Leads From Prospects To Customers

Your content marketing strategy is now moving quality permission-based leads through your lead funnel. The next step is to nurture these leads by establishing trust and building relationships.  You have the opportunity of establishing your company as an expert through effective email or direct mail campaigns, blogs, or social media marketing.  By scoring these leads, you know when to send them the right piece of new content.  Content that is totally honest and transparent will gradually change some of these nurtured leads into sales.  Content marketing must continue even after the lead has been converted.  Proper follow ups with additional education and value can leave a lasting impression that will not only generate repeat sales, but will increase your leads through word-of-mouth advertising.

When a prospect gives you information and let’s you know what they like, you know exactly what to give them.  By delivering quality content to a permission-based audience, conversions will come more quickly and your lead funnel will flow more freely.

RegReady is a transparent, fair and balanced customer acquisition community helping you develop true opt-in marketing lists and sales leads. We are advocates of quality customer relationships developed through permission-based marketing and education. We help you find prospects motivated to ask for more information. Contact us today to see how it works.

Step # 1 - Develop A Permission-Based Marketing Campaign

Obviously, the lead capturing process is the critical piece of the lead management puzzle.  Developing your website in such a way as to provide compelling educational content to your prospects will encourage them to provide you with their information in return.  If your offer answers an important question or solves a particular problem for your website visitors, they will more than likely opt-in to your offer and provide enough information to allow you to qualify them.  You are now ready to establish relationships with people who have asked to receive your message.
 

Step # 2 - Using Various Options To Nurture Opt-In Leads

Due to customer awareness, the sales cycle has become a bit longer these days.  Every email or direct mail marketing campaign must be focused on building relationships.  Each campaign must be set up based on the specific actions of each lead category.  Which web page did they visit?  Which offers have they requested or downloaded?  Your targeted permission-based campaigns will offer them information on topics that are important to them and you will be able to progressively understand their needs.  Social media marketing using Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google +, can be effective tools to develop an open line of communication with your prospects and current clients.
 

Step # 3 - Lead Scoring To Determine The Lead’s Potential

By setting up specific qualities or scores that define a strong lead for your company, lead management software will allow you to compare each lead’s score to that of your ideal lead and identify those that are qualified.  Lead scores can change based on the action of the prospect.  The score can be increased or reduced based on the lead’s activity.  Timing is critical in all areas of lead management.  The goal is to determine the ideal time to send each lead to your sales team.  

Step # 4 - Making A Successful Transition From Marketing To Sales

Obviously, not all leads generated are always ready to buy, and many leads will never purchase your products or services.  Managing those leads could possibly turn into a sale somewhere down the road.  Your goal in effective lead management is not just capturing an enormous amount of leads, but keeping customers coming back.

RegReady is a transparent, fair and balanced customer acquisition community helping you develop true opt-in marketing lists and sales leads. We are advocates of quality customer relationships developed through permission-based marketing and education. We help you find prospects motivated to ask for more information. Join RegReady today and start generating leads for free.

If you were to ask any online marketer – “What is the biggest problem you face in your online business?”, the most common answer would probably be – “Developing an effective lead generation and lead management strategy”.  Businesses must learn how best to move away from the old mass-marketing strategy to target marketing.  The lead funnel is probably the missing element of most marketing programs.  Businesses must learn how to move quality leads through the different phases of a marketing lead funnel.

Lead Generation – The Wide Area Of The Funnel
An effective lead generation strategy is critical to filling the top of the lead funnel.  Obviously, the more quality website visitors you have, the better chance of converting more visitors into quality leads, and eventually customers.  Two of the major problems in this area are the lack of online presence and the lack of content-fuelled SEO.  The days of writing content to please search engines are over.  The key to web content is to write to please the tastes of your target audience.  Compelling calls to action will be the key to creating high interest in the product or service you’re offering.  A business blog will help immensely in building your brand and also help establish a good reputation for your business. Developing a social media strategy that works best for your business can be a key factor in quality lead generation efforts.  It is important to understand that all lead generation efforts must be totally up-front and transparent.

Lead Cultivation – The Middle Section Of The Funnel
Lead cultivation or nurturing allows you to move your quality leads through the sales funnel. This process allows you to actually position your business and build a connection with your target audience.  Lead cultivation must be designed to attract the right buyers and create a demand for your products or services.  This is an opportunity to educate and build relationships.

Lead Conversion – The Smallest Section Of The Funnel
The content of your website or blog, in addition to educating your prospects on your products and services, must also provide tips and information on how to make the best vendor selection. You must show your visitors how your product or service can best meet their needs or solve their problem.  Lead conversion is all about focusing on key problems and issues.  This phase of the funnel must be more than simply focusing on you.

The successful transition from lead to customer is by no means the end of the marketing process.  It is the post-sale process that really secures your customer base and stimulates customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising. Many online businesses fail simply because they do not have an effective post-sale strategy.