Hopefully, as part of your strategy to move prospects along the selling cycle, you are using landing pages in order to deliver on what you promised. It’s also a great way to track responses. It could also be a way of losing a potential customer.
Here are some tips that might help results:
Keep it simple – Deliver on what you promised to get them there in the first place.
It’s not about you – How can you help them with a problem that got them there in the first place.
This is not an ad – They’re not looking for a sales pitch, but answers to specific questions.
Powerful content – Keep it relevant. Don’t focus on key words. Instead, make what you say useful and valuable.
Copybloggers infographic gives you some great pointers.
It’s a new year, and before we start doing the same old thing, we should take a minute to make sure what we’re doing is getting us the results we want. Makes sense, doesn’t it? We do it in our personal lives this time of year.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen that did just that. Here are some highlights:
Document your content marketing strategy – only 35% have a written plan that they can share with their team.
Know who you’re talkingto – create personas to reach each of your targeted audiences.
Get other employees involved – both in creating and distributing content.
Expand your visual content – people like pictures and there are several options to help you deliver them.
Incorporate video into the mix – next to Google, YouTube is the most searched. Show your prospects why your product is better.
Get your audiences involved – ask them to share images or rate your product.
Heidi has others, but the point is, take a few minutes to evaluate what you did last year and improve on it this year. Make 2015 a good one.
Let’s face it, in your world, qualified leads are or should be the holy grail of marketing. According to a report byMarketing Sherpa, 78% of B2B marketers biggest challenge is generating qualified leads.
Here are some tips on how you can improve your process:
Create a plan – that will include message, method of delivery, when to hand lead to sales and measuring ROI.
Define your USP – What is your unique selling proposition? What makes you or your offer different from the competition?
Offer them something of value for free – If you want them to start an engagement, you need to show some good faith and give them a tool they can use everyday (conversation chart, smart phone button, competitive parts interchange).
Match the offer to the audience – Not all messages are for all audiences. A concrete tool offer to a HVAC contractor probably won’t get much return.
Capture and nurture leads – Once you get a lead, there has to be some qualifications done before sending it to sales. We’re not trying to overload the sales department with leads, rather we want to give them qualified leads that they are excited about calling on.
Handing off the lead to sales – Depending on the criteria that you’ve developed, you need to forward the lead and what you know about it (in the sales funnel) so when sales calls on them, they know what to talk about, i.e., initial evaluation stages, engineering comparison questions or ready-to-buy type of questions.
Close the loop on the lead – Did they buy? If not, why? This should be documented in a CRM system so we know why you’re gaining or losing sales.
Review performance – Repeat what’s working and stop what isn’t.
I’m still amazed by the number of folks who are still trying to sell me something instead of trying to solve my problem. I think it’s because they are struggling with their story and finding the right voice to tell it on. The old school model of glad handling and feature benefit selling has gone by the wayside for the most part.
Let’s face it none of us wants to be sold. We want to have a conversation. Humans, by nature, are social by design and want to interact with others. Interaction is a two-way street where both parties are part of the conversation. It’s not grabbing attention, but earning and holding attention.
How do we do this? By acting and speaking HUMAN. Storytelling is an essential human activity and must be a vital part of your strategy.
I recently read an article in Chief Content Officer magazine by Kevin Lund and Eileen Sutton that talks about speaking human and gives us some tips on how to be successful at it.
Here are some highlights:
Be Clear – No marketing speak. Use plain English with no jargon and more heart.
Be Helpful – Be relevant to a specific issue. Show them how you add value.
Be Concise – Keep it to the point. Less is better.
Be Consistent – Use the same voice and tone throughout all channels.
If you can figure out how to make life easier for your customer, everyone wins.
UPS recently released a study they did on the behaviors, preferences and perceptions of industrial supplier performance.
Industrial distribution was once dominated by family owned companies built on personal relationships. Things are changing, and now suppliers (whether they are distributors or manufacturers) need to be not only aware of, but be a part of the online movement.
The UPS study surveyed 1501 online. The respondents were either sole/joint decision makers and the survey included only stock only products (no special orders). Annual spends ranged from under $50,000 to over $250,000.
Here are some insights from the study that I found interesting:
40% of those surveyed were only on the job for less than a year.
23% were on the job less than 5 years.
50% of purchasers say having a catalog and sales rep are important in making a decision.
More that 50% are making purchases online.
33% of purchasers spend most of their budget online.
34% say they go outside their existing supply base to make an online purchase with a new vendor.
Preferred research methods for new products were websites and search engines.
Are you still with me? So what does that me for you? It’s an opportunity for you to keep the business you have and expand outside your normal trading areas. Yes, buyers are concerned about quality, availability, price and delivery. But they are also interested in an integrated system that makes the buying process easy — from picking a product to making hassle-free returns.
Suggested action items from the survey:
Online selling is changing they way people buy things — embrace e-commerce (but not exclusively)
Continually improve the customer experience — make it easy for them to purchase from you
Be in the right place at the right time — utilize SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) to make sure people find you when they are looking
Video is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolbox. Why aren’t you focusing more on them?
A recent study from eMarketer showed that even though consumers wanted more video, 75% of U.S. marketers said videos are not a priority, and nearly half said they had no plans on increased efforts this year.
According to eMarketer, consumer-branded video increased over 16% from January to June 2014 to almost 3 billion views a quarter.
We’re a visual society with a 30-second sound bite mentality. Why not use video to deliver your message in a different way? In today’s world with the use of smart phones and desktop editing suites, compiling a video isn’t hard or expensive anymore.
The more successful videos have to do with a single subject and usually run under 2 minutes in length. And, if appropriate, add a little humor (everyone likes to laugh). Manufacturers have plenty of options for using video. Instructional how-to videos, training sales/reps, new product intros and testimonials to name a few.
Next to Google, YouTube is the second biggest search engine. Let potentials find you. Obviously the demand is there. Don’t be left on the sidelines.
![The ABCs of Landing Pages That Work [Infographic]](https://i0.wp.com/copyblogger.com/cdn-origin/images/650/copyblogger-infographic-abcs-of-landing-pages.png?w=650&ssl=1 "The ABCs of Landing Pages That Work [Infographic]")
