Category: Lead Generation

It’s 2021 and you are looking to generate leads for your business. You have come to the right place! We will be discussing lead generation strategies that will help you in this ever-changing world of technology. There is no shortage of information on how to generate new leads, but it can be difficult sifting through all of the noise. This blog post provides a comprehensive overview of what matters most and what doesn’t when it comes to generating quality leads for your business in 2021!

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is a marketing strategy that helps you connect with potential customers. This can take the form of generating qualified leads by capturing contact information, building interest in your company or product, and helping convert interested prospects into paying customers. Generating new leads at an effective rate has never been more important than it is today!

What are some strategies for lead generation?

The best way to generate quality leads for your business depends on what stage we’re talking about: prospecting vs. converting. When it comes to prospecting (generating uninterested parties), there is no one-size-fits-all solution – each industry will require its own customized approach depending on customer preferences and needs in 2021.

However, we can recognize a few strategies that you may want to follow – including one strategy that Early Parrot will be extremely helpful with.

#1 Create an incentive-based referral system for lead generation

Lead generation is an ongoing process that occurs in your company. This means you have to ask for the right things and provide incentives that are worth it to those who help generate more leads. Creating a referral system can be one such incentive-based technique you should use, as well as other techniques like using contests or offering prizes of some sort. It’s important not only to create these policies but also enforce them so people know what they’re getting into when participating with this type of marketing campaign.

Remember that lead generation is not a one-time thing and you’ll have to keep creating new ways for people to get involved if it’s not working. You also need the proper incentives, as well as good ideas on what would work best when trying different things out so you don’t waste time or money doing something that won’t be successful. It may take some trial and error before getting this right but in order to generate more leads there are certain steps worth taking.

#2 Create opt-in opportunities for lead generation

Lead generation is not just about getting people to fill out a lead form. There are many ways you can generate leads, and the best way for your company may be different than what’s working well for others in your industry. One of our favorite strategies is creating an opt-in opportunity–a type of sales funnel that encourages prospects to provide their contact information with the promise of exclusive content or resources in return. The goal here is twofold: first, capturing more email addresses so we can keep marketing back to them; second, providing high quality content like eBooks which will educate customers on topics they care about most so they make smarter buying decisions down the line. We have seen this method work incredibly well when it comes time to close deals.

To set up your own opt-in opportunity, you can either create a landing page on your website or send an email campaign. The most important thing is to provide content that will be valuable and interesting for the people who subscribe–whatever it takes to get them to sign up!

#3 Do not neglect email marketing in lead generation

Email marketing is often overlooked when it comes to lead generation. Email marketing has been around for a lot longer than most social media platforms and as such, creating an email list of people who subscribe to your blog will be more valuable in the long run because these subscribers are invested in what you have to say. An added bonus with this type of content distribution channel is that there’s no need for any additional post processing since the user views your message on their own time and at their convenience so they can easily process all the information without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.

Email marketing is a trustworthy form of content distribution that will help you build trust and authority in your industry.

And with email marketing, it’s not about quantity but rather quality—you have to focus on building relationships so people want to hear from you more often than they simply want to know what you’re selling. A long-term investment pays off better over time!

#4 Use social media for lead generation

It has been said that 80% of adults are connected at least monthly with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram and most people check their social accounts first thing in the morning. This means you can start a day-long conversation by engaging your target market through these channels. How? Think about what they care about then share content related to those topics: events they might be attending, news items that affect them directly, store promotions for products they might like. You’ll find out when it’s worth sharing something too – if there’s an uptick in engagement from followers who have never interacted with your company before! That will indicate you’ve found someone new and a potential customer base

Why is social media a great channel for lead generation? Well, it has quite a few benefits.  First of all, it’s a good idea to use social media because you can find potential customers on there who are already interested in your product. Plus, if they like what they see online – and trust the company that is promoting their products or services – those people will be more likely to convert into leads for sales teams as well as buy from them offline.  Social media also makes it easier to build relationships with potential customers.

#5 Prepare a few landing pages for supporting lead generation

If you’re going to invest in lead generation, it’s important that your content is not only compelling and relevant but also serves as an additional way for potential customers to reach out. Many companies are publishing blog posts about topics like “lead nurturing” or “cold calling,” so if those are a part of your strategy then be sure to publish some related landing pages on the topic too. This means coming up with new offers, providing supporting articles and guides, and writing helpful how-to tips–all things people can take action on through their browsers instead of just clicking away from the page.

#6 Think outside-the-box of your lead generation efforts

The best way to stand out in this crowded space is by thinking outside-the-box of your lead generation efforts. No longer can you rely on the tried and true methods, which are largely saturated with a plethora of other vendors doing just that; it will be hard for you to succeed without some originality. One example might be performing online research about an industry event happening soon so that you can reach potential attendees before they attend the event. That means contacting them beforehand as well as afterwards – while they’re at the conference or when they get back home from it (depending on what their preferences are). But don’t stop there – consider sending follow up emails after participants return from an event geared towards networking opportunities, introducing new products to them, and so on.

#7 Run lead generation webinars

You can also run webinars to boost your lead generation processes.

What is a webinar? A webinar is an online seminar, lecture series or presentation created for the purpose of educating and engaging target audiences. Webinars are usually free to attend, with live streaming video which can be viewed on desktop computers as well as mobile phones and tablets. This means they’re easy to share across your social media networks like Facebook Live Video or YouTube Live Streaming.

How should you prepare for it? The first step in hosting a successful webinar would be creating content that will resonate with your audience while addressing their needs and priorities. You also want to make sure that you have quality visuals (e.g., PowerPoint presentations) because people do not always remember what was said during the event but often retain what they see.

How should you promote your webinar? It’s important to share this information as far and wide as possible, so create a campaign that will reach your target audience such as sending out invitations through LinkedIn or Facebook Messenger. You also want to make sure that there is an email list because people may not be logged in during the event time.

How can webinars help with lead generation?

In 2021, webinars are a great way to generate leads. Webinars have grown in popularity because they allow companies to introduce themselves and their products or services while at the same time learning more about what the customer is looking for. They also give customers an opportunity to ask questions which will then help provide potential customers with all of the information necessary before making a purchase decision.

Webinar marketing has become one of the best ways for businesses to engage customers online by delivering marketing presentations that educate prospects on your business offerings, solutions and how they can benefit from them.

#8 Use influencers

One last strategy we have found effective when developing lead generation strategies is building relationships with industry influencers in our field. These are individuals whose opinions carry weight among prospects–they may not make decisions themselves but they do influence what other decision makers buy into so if you want to reach new customers quickly, this strategy could work well for you. And even better, they’re usually more receptive to marketing messages like these because of their interest in the field.

Over to you

There are many strategies for lead generation, and you’ll need to experiment with what works best for your business. Lead generation is a critical component of any successful marketing strategy, so we hope our tips came in handy!

Brand awareness has been a hot topic lately, since it may be a key factor of your business popularity and as a result a booster for your performance. It is halfway to reaching your target audience and staying in their mind for longer. If you want your brand awareness campaigns to be successful, you should understand what makes a brand unique and then create campaigns that convey this information. As part of your marketing strategy, you should aim to increase awareness of your brand. 

In this article, you will find a brand awareness breakdown; what the brand is and what the brand awareness stands for. We will also share a few tips on how to boost it at low cost. 

What the brand is?

What sticks in people’s minds is the brand. It is a combination of the name, logo, marketing slogan, packages and USPs which makes a perfect mixture of your business recognition.

Brand is how people see your company and what comes to their minds when they hear or see your products or name. It indicates the emotions or memories associated with your business. Every single brand has ties with various feelings, ideas or memories which make them all special and unique. 

For example, let’s take a closer look at the Starbucks brand. What is your first association with this name? Its logo design or characteristic coffee shop design? Maybe your favourite beverage, or your last meeting with friends, sipping Starbucks Frappuccino? This is how  that so-called brand magic works. It brings all connections to the top of your mind and builds a company image in your head. 

Brand awareness – crucial aspects 

Let’s focus on brand awareness, now. What is it and how does it work in practice, beyond all that theory?

What is brand awareness?

Customers’ awareness of a particular brand is measured by their ability to recognize it. It plays a crucial role during making the purchase decision. Both your regular and potential customers should recognize the brand and products to go through the marketing funnel successfully. Your awareness efforts should lead to an expanded group of potential customers who are able to tell what your brand is and what product category you offer.  

Strong brand awareness contributes to immediate brand recall, which is the ability to point to the name when a given product category is mentioned. In practice, it is when your customer base needs a product from your field, your brand comes to their mind first. As a result, they search for the product on your site and make a purchase. This is how consumer awareness generates income.

There is also another type of brand awareness: an aided awareness. It happens when customers recognize your brand among others in a specific field. It is also very helpful and a good place to begin. 

Why is brand awareness important?

It can be your business’s “be or not to be”, especially in a competitive market. It is essential to your target market to know you and come to you before competitors. So, just briefly – why should you care about brand awareness? 

• It increases sales, engagement rate and conversion rates.
• It is helpful in identifying your brand’s level of recognition.
• It boosts consumer engagement and thus customer satisfaction. 
• It supports your marketing efforts, as the campaigns of known and recognizable brands have a higher ROI  than the ones of unknown brands.
• It supports building loyalty among your customers. 

These are only a few reasons why brand awareness is so crucial for your business. 

Brand awareness vs. brand recognition 

Let’s keep it simple and straight to the point since many people mistake both terms with each other. Yet, they actually complement each other. Brand awareness is not possible without brand recognition, and vice versa. How do they differ, then? 

• The first corresponds to knowing what your brand is, and in which field it operates. Strong brand awareness leads to becoming a top brand in customer minds. It is about your search engines optimization, marketing communication and overall presence. 

• Brand recognition is about more tangible aspects of your brand like logo, names, set of colours. It is about making your brand inherent with these factors. For example, when you see blue and yellow, probably your first association is IKEA. Although this Swedish giant is not the only one using these two colours, their brand reposition is so strong that it outclasses others. Research shows that using significant colours may boost brand recognition even up to 80%, and IKEA is a living proof. 

Can you see how they are connected? Nevertheless, it is good to see the difference between them and know how to improve both of them. 

What is branding? 

In terms of brand awareness, there is one more box to open: branding. It is the process of shaping the way your brand is recognized by the target audience. Proper branding helps people link their needs to your products as a way of meeting them. You can tailor their perception by marketing communication and channels you use. Depending on the type of branding you have selected, your marketing tactics may differ. 

For example, the branding of Coca-Cola makes the beverages a good companion while family dinner or meeting with friends. Recent marketing efforts suggest that it also supports being and expressing yourself while living a full life.

As a contrary, Cartier built its brand as one “available not for everyone”. Brands with this history and tradition are for people who aim to live by these values and need a bit of luxury.

Top way to boost your brand awareness ASAP

To increase your brand awareness, you should focus on your customer engagement and building bonds with them. We have some ideas on how to do so. 

#1 Referral programs

It is one of the best ways to establish a long-term relationship with your loyal customers. In a referral program, your customers get a referral link or code, they share it with their friends via e.g., social media posts. Each of the client’s followers who come to your website, start interacting with chatbots, and provide the desired action will receive a reward. Furthermore, the referrer can receive one, too, in this matter rules are up to you. There is also flexibility in what you should offer as an incentive. 

With word-of-mouth marketing you will be able to expand awareness of your company thanks to friends’ recommendations, people will be more willing to trust in them. More than 80% of recipients trust referrals more than any other types of marketing. This number speaks for itself, it is worth running a program. 

If you want to try, sign up for an EarlyParrot demo and learn more about our referral software. With this one, you can create a program that is well-tailored to your needs in a heartbeat. You should try!

#2 Social media presence

What you publish and how you build your brand in social media is crucial for increasing awareness. Your content should be coherent and reflect your brand mission and vision. It is important to think about the type of content you wish to publish. It should bring value to your audience and be catchy. You can shuffle with various types of content, pics, infographics, short videos and deliver some news from the industry or tips on how to make the most of your products. It would also be a good habit to respond to comments, or at least like them or give them hearts. This way you create a sense of community. People prefer brands that are down to earth and make a bond with their audience. This can be accomplished through social media. 

Additionally, to scheduled posts, you should think about live broadcasts. During such events you will be able to get in touch with your followers, show your product in action or answer some questions. The numbers speak for themselves, by a year, live streaming field has grown by almost 100%. It’s living proof of its effectiveness. 

#3 Invest in brand analytics (find out about competitors to Latana)

To build your brand, you must invest in brand analytics. It helps to track your brand activities to know whether they are having the right impact. Lantana is a good choice but its micro nature and pricing might not suit your needs. If you want better brand analytics, learn about more competitors to Latana. Good brand analytics enables you to improve your performance and build a successful and more lasting relationship with your audience. 

In today’s world, branding has become very data-driven. Therefore, marketing as well as brand decisions must be made with real data and not gut feelings. If you’re passionate about building your brand, brand analytics is not what you put on a maybe list, it must be on your must-do list. The benefits are immense and they make your branding journey smoother and more fruitful. 

Brand analytics solutions give you the following benefits:

• Data you can rely on
• Access to diverse respondents
• Ability to reach a large audience
• Access to survey templates
• Numerous tracker templates
• Survey translation options
• Customization
• Nice designs
• Third-party integrations

#4 Affiliate marketing

What about the combination of the two above? Affiliate marketing is quite a one. As with referral marketing, it is all above sharing links, but it is done not by your customer, only by affiliates. You might wonder who they are. There are people who have gathered a bigger audience on their social media, blogs or YouTube channels. They have a big influence on their followers and the content they publish is an opinion-forming one. It is worth cooperating with affiliates from your niche since, similar to referral, it may be a very cost effective option. Also, some people enjoy feeling as if they are stars, so they want to use the same product as their favourite YouTube creator or Instagrammer. 

There are a few major rules when it comes to selecting your affiliates. 

1. Rule No.1 – don to go too big. If your business is a local one, don’t reach global stars. First, there are small chances to contact them and second of all, their commissions may be too high for a local company. Furthermore, their audience may not coincide with your target perfectly. Local influencers are more than good, then. 
2. Rule No.2 – before making a final decision, do a decent research. Both in terms of cooperation with a given creator and in terms of their cooperation. It means you shouldn’t work with affiliates that have worked with your competitors. It doesn’t seem trustworthy at all, and people will  trust both for your and the affiliates.
3. Rule No.3  – set terms and your buffer zone. While doing research, you should also get to know what the commissions are in your field and prepare the offer. Moreover, there should be room to negotiate, but you need to set the buffer. In this way, you won’t be surprised by the other side’s offer and the negotiation will go smoothly.

What is important to add, using all the three suggested strategies you will be ready to profit from the synergy effect. You will be seen on various platforms from various sources and people will remember you. This is how brand awareness is built. 

3, 2, 1… go!

From this article you have learnt something about brand and brand awareness. We showed you what the difference is between brand awareness and brand recognition. Moreover, there are some subtleties about branding. And crème de la crème – three tactics on how to boost brand awareness of your company. If you are interested in this topic and want to learn more, there is a great piece about brand awareness on our blog, yet. Feel free to jump in!

The sales funnel is something you have probably encountered when starting your business. Basically, it is the first step to maximizing your profits. Such a funnel is a visual presentation of the sales process from scratch up to lead generation. It helps to plan and organize your actions efficiently.

A marketing funnel is another type of funnel. It’s essential to understand how the marketing funnel works and how to use it when designing your marketing strategy. In this article, we’ll describe its essence, stages, and what it has to offer from a sales perspective.

What is a marketing funnel?

You can use a marketing funnel to map out the customer journey, all the way from awareness (the moment your business first comes to their attention) to purchasing (when they are ready to purchase your product or service). A funnel can also include cross- and up-selling in addition to post-purchase follow-ups.

In other words, marketing funnels are a visualization of a customer’s path from their introduction to your business to finalising a purchase. It helps to understand your target audience’s point of view and helps them to make the right choices (i.e. buy your products or services). The “old marketing funnel” was based on the AIDA model, which consists of four stages: Attract, Interest, Desire, and Action. Nowadays, there are five stages of the marketing funnel. We will discuss each of them in detail and point out which aspects you should pay attention to. 

Marketing funnel stages 

Marketing funnels are often visualised as an upside down pyramid or, unsurprisingly, a funnel. The first stage is at the top, and the customer path goes downwards through the funnel until hopefully reaching the bottom. Moving down, the number of potential purchases decreases as the quality of leads improves.

Stage one: Awareness 

In this phase of the consumer journey, your potential buyers are aware of your brand and products. Here you have to deliver your prospective customer a good reason to go through the following stages. The awareness stage is dedicated to letting people get to know you better and connect with your brand. Nevertheless, you should hit the ground running if you want to attract your potential target audience. Focus on visibility – Google searches, online ads, and email marketing should all be of interest to you. More than 70% of people look for information through search engines, so it is worth being prominent in the results of them.

Stage two: Interest 

Now is the time to catch the attention of your target customers. You should surprise them by increasing your marketing efforts. To keep your potential customers interested, you should design a unique marketing strategy. Offer valuable content like white papers, case studies, and insightful blog posts, or make use of video marketing. At this stage, you should focus on grabbing the attention of your prospective customer base.

Stage three: Evaluation

Although this is also called the consideration stage, the main issue is that customers examine their options and so your role is to show them that your product is the best choice. Use social media and content marketing materials. At this point the customer experience is crucial, so hedge your bets accordingly. Evaluation is a critical point in the purchase process at which customers decide whether to stay in your marketing funnel or move on to one of your competitors. 

Stage four: Commitment

The decision has been made; potential customers are ready to purchase from you. This is the final stretch, but you cannot rest yet. Now it is time to present your solution at its finest, so you should send a clear marketing message that your products are the best and demonstrate why. This is the right time for offering product demos or free trials, which can speed up purchasing decision-making. 

Stage five: Sale

Mission accomplished: your customers have made purchasing decisions and gone through the whole funnel successfully. This phase is often called the conversion stage. In other words, a potential client becomes a current customer, which means you achieve your ultimate goal. Although this is the last phase of the marketing funnel, the customer journey is about to begin for good. Now you have to take care of customer retention and ensure that the purchase stage is not the end of your relationship with the customer. It should instead be the beginning of a strong connection.

Marketing funnel vs sales funnel

Although both of the funnels end with a purchasing decision, they map out customers differently. Some say that the marketing funnel is just the beginning and it ends when the sales funnel starts. This is true in a way, since marketing is about attracting people while sales aim to maintain customers and repeat the purchase process. 

A marketing funnel is focused on presale steps and gaining a customer’s attention, whereas the sales funnel (hopefully) leads to them making a purchase by focusing on encouraging constant action. 

To recap, building awareness, sustaining interest, and evaluating customer satisfaction are the objectives of marketing funnels. The main focus here is the customer. In the case of the sales funnel, the goal is a successful sales process.

Content strategy depends on the stage of the funnel

As you have probably noticed, at various stages of the funnel, you should generate a variety of content. Let’s focus on that. Have you ever heard about ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu? We can explain. These shortcuts stand for Top of the Funnel, Middle of the Funnel, and Bottom of the Funnel. They concern the content that you should publish at each stage. As a result of making such a division, it is easier to decide which piece of content is most suitable for users at various stages of the funnel. Let’s start from the top.

ToFu

At the very beginning of your digital marketing funnel, your content should reach a wide audience. This stage is dedicated to increasing the number of potential customers, generating more traffic, and catching attention. At the top of your funnel, you have to tell the world that your offer is the best and meets the market’s requirements. 

The purpose of ToFu is to distinguish between potential customers, i.e. people who are really interested in your offer and those who found you by accident. This stage is supposed to educate, so you have to focus on value and sharing knowledge. Let’s explore what type of content you should use to catch a user’s attention and start them on their journey to making a purchase. 

• blog posts
• ebooks, infographics, or whitepapers
• social media posts
• online ads encouraging newsletter signups
• case studies

During the ToFu stage, you have to focus more on the problems that your products or service can solve, and less on the offer itself. With all of the above content, you should present possible solutions to those issues and mention that your products may hold the key to resolving them.

If you use ads to encourage people to leave their contact information, you should offer something in return. For that, longer forms of content would be great – ebooks, whitepapers, or case studies, for example.

MoFu

Welcome to the evaluation stage! Your potential client is interested in your offer. The time has come to get to know one another better and check if you are a good match. During the consideration phase, you must convince your clients that your offer is what they are looking for. Now it is time to make a sales pitch and focus on the benefits of your offer. Present all your strengths and show why you are better than the competition. For this, such content may come in handy:

• product-related blog content
• webinars
• events
• email marketing
• customer reviews

It is also a good idea to ask what your potential customers want to know. You can provide a survey via email or distribute one on your social media profiles. Make sure to keep asking questions and answering them using CTAs. Through promoting it on your website you’ll encourage users to check out your content, and with a call to action you’ll be able to identify any doubts or questions they might have and provide answers immediately. 

By the middle of your digital marketing funnel, you’ll be able to showcase your business from its best side and transition smoothly to the final stage.  

BoFu

You’ve made it to the bottom of the funnel. Congratulations! In this phase, the purchase intent is already very high so your task is just to put the cherry on top. Almost all customers are about to buy products on the home stretch, so if you run a  successful marketing campaign then they probably will. Indecisive users need to be convinced to act, and those who convert should be rewarded for doing so. Do not let them slip; many companies make this mistake. They stop putting in effort as soon as they acquire a client, which is the exact opposite of what you should do. Since customers chose you and not the other way round, you should treat them exceptionally and ensure no dissonance occurs. 

After a client purchases from your business, you have to stay in their mind and keep reminding them about you. It is also a great chance for your business to be referred to their friends or family, so starting a customer referral program can be highly beneficial. If you want to try, EarlyParrot offers a free demo for signing up.

The Bottom of the Funnel stage is to convert clients into loyal and happy customers, so taking care of interesting and useful content should be your no. 1 task. What type of materials should you provide? Here are a few examples:

• email marketing
• demos
• customer testimonials
• discount coupons
• video tutorials

During the last stage of the marketing funnel, the main task is to build a strong bond and keep your customers loyal. A single purchase is not enough; you want to be their constant choice that they often come back to, right? 

Over to you 

A marketing funnel is an important factor for providing a successful marketing campaign and keeping your conversion rate high. It helps with understanding the buying process and adjusting your marketing efforts accordingly.

Additionally, during the decision-making process you have to accompany the customer in order to continue delivering the best possible value to them and ensure that your products are best-in-class. 

During the funnel’s final stages, you can not let them slip away but should actually push even harder. Their final decision is close, and once it is made you have to ensure that it is not their last purchase from your business. 

We hope that, thanks to our article, you now understand the importance of the marketing funnel and will be able to adjust your content to the relevant stage. Keep in mind the ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu division and use this method often. Furthermore, you should also remember that making your marketing funnel successful requires time and some persistence, so be patient.

E-marketing is one of the oldest yet most profitable methods of marketing, all thanks to the so called ‘father’ of email – Ray Tomlinson. Thanks to him, business owners all around the World now have the opportunity to promote themselves directly in consumers’ inboxes with modern email marketing tools like Lemlist. Isn’t that great? It’s like being able to go to potential consumers’ houses and present them with all the amazing aspects of your business or products. Be careful though, because it’s not as easy as it sounds. “What’s the catch?” you may ask. Well, there is one. You need an email list! And just having an email list is one thing, but making it effective can be quite challenging. In this article, we will share with you all the secrets of building an effective and profitable email list. Let’s dive right in!

What is an email list? 

An email list is a database of email addresses of all the people who would like to hear from you. These addresses can come from places like your website, sign-up forms from webinars, blogs, or social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Your goal as a business owner should be to, first of all, gather as many email addresses as possible and, secondly, to ensure that those contacts are valuable – meaning their owners are your ideal customers who are genuinely interested in your business. With the right type of audience, your return on investment can reach up to $40 for every $1 spent. Tempting, right? But the question remains, how to actually build an effective email list?

Source: https://webengage.com/blog/email-marketing-automation-turns-one-time-sales-into-lifetime-customers/ 

How to build your email list: the top 12 ways 

#1 Pick the right email marketing software 

There’s nothing worse than an email service provider that lacks vital and fundamental features. Once you have a tool in your hands that outperforms your most outlandish demands, you’re pretty much on track to building a strong email list. Make sure the email platform you pick lets you track the performance of your email campaigns and leads as well as manage your subscriber list easily. Having such insights are extremely useful for customer retention and acquisition. 

#2 Remember about social media 

Make sure you allow your potential customers to sign-up to your email newsletter via social media. With the rise in usage of social media platforms, it is important that you make it easy for people to join your list from these channels. Whether it is an email sign-up form on your Facebook page or Instagram account, providing this option surely won’t hurt your business but may help a lot! What’s more, if your followers see that you post quality content on a regular basis, they will be more likely to generate more leads and join your email list, which is something to keep in mind for the future! 

#3 Offer a free gift 

What could better attract potential future consumers than offering them free gifts? To apply, all they have to do is join your email list. Smart, right? This is a great idea because it contributes to creating positive brand awareness and recall right at the moment of someone’s first encounter with your business, plus you gain a subscriber who could be a potential customer! What’s not to like? 

#4 Engage your visitors with your brand 

There are many fun and smart, ‘outside the box’ ways to turn your visitors into subscribers.  Example? Use a pop-up form that includes some sort of game or a puzzle, for instance, a wheel of fortune. By offering gifts and benefits you will gather huge amounts of subscribers in no time. Considering that the conversion rate for ecommerce businesses is 1.94% (meaning that 98.06% of your visitors will leave your website and most likely never come back), it is important to provide experiences that will contribute to customer acquisition and building a positive brand image. 

Source: https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/average-ecommerce-conversion-rate 

#5 Incorporate ‘email only’ offers 

Another great way to encourage email sign-ups is by offering your audience something exclusive. Rewarding your loyal subscribers for being part of the customer journey is a great way to show non-subscribers that joining your list is beneficial. It is up to you what your bargaining card will be. Example? Free shipping or an extra 5% discount for email subscribers. The possibilities are endless. 

#6 Offer rewards to existing subscribers for referring your brand 

The numbers show that 92% of people trust referrals from friends and family over any other advertising method. This is great news for you. Some customers would do anything for a discount code or a freebie. Ask your existing customers to invite their friends to subscribe to your email list, and make sure there is a gift for both the referee and the referrer because you want to make both sides satisfied. Although the process might seem complex, it’s actually not. All you have to do is pick a powerful tool offering such a solution, such as EarlyParrot. For more details, visit our website explaining the whole process in detail. Having such a tool will help build your email list in no time.  

#7 Look for original opportunities to gather more contacts  

In the world of marketing, you need to think smart. Try looking for unique tactics to gather a bigger audience. One of them could be designing a really cool QR code. Such practices vastly contribute to shaping a positive brand recall and, of course, building your dream mailing list. Have a look at some possible inspiration below: 

Source: https://jess3.com/ 

#8 Build your email list offline too 

You never know where you might meet a new subscriber or even a customer. That’s why it’s extremely important to always have your business cards or leaflets to hand. Whether it’s during a work meeting, lunch break, fair, or in your store – having them with you won’t hurt but may possibly help. So go and check if you have enough business cards/ leaflets now, and you’ll thank us later. There are many sources of data you can use to find corporate emails personal addresses alike, but this is just one of them.

#9 Pick wisely and never purchase an email list 

No one wants bots, inactive email addresses, or people who want nothing to do with your business on their lists. Make sure you display your opt-in forms in places where your target audience is present. Consider what sites are visited by your ideal consumers, as well as what could be the best locations to place your sign-up forms. Avoid at all costs purchasing email lists from external agencies. Not only are they useless (most of the time), but they can also negatively impact your brand image once recipients start complaining about your content. Lastly, some of the best and most reputable email marketing tools simply don’t accept purchased email lists lacking confirmations of opt-ins.  

#10  Ensure your opt-in forms are easily accessible on mobile devices 

Statistics show that 63% of emails are opened on mobile devices. This may as well mean that people generally want to sign-up from their mobile phones. Keep this in mind when you design your landing pages, pop-ups, and sign-up forms. You want them all to work perfectly on mobile devices so that people can sign up, view, and open your emails. After all, in the long run, the higher the opening the rate, the greater the possibility of a better conversion rate. Isn’t that the point? To know what your ideal open rate should be, check out these extensive statistics showing the average click-to-open rates of marketing emails worldwide as of June 2020 by industry.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/942725/e-mail-marketing-click-to-open-rates-world/ 

#11 Bounce Backs are not the end of the world

There might be times when you send an email newsletter to your subscribers but it doesn’t reach each and every person on the list. This is due to common bouncebacks, caused typically by server or spam errors. A bounce message is what you receive as the email sender saying that a message was not delivered. Ideally, the benchmark for bounces should be less than 2%. If, however, the bounce rate is higher than that for some reason, you should think about fixing it. For instance, suppose you have the mailing address of a person whose email address is faulty, you can simply send them a postcard or a freebie asking them nicely to update their email address in your database. Don’t forget about offering a discount code or other surprise. This will undoubtedly contribute to lowering the bounce rate and improving the effectiveness and performance of your email messages. 

#12 Build your own online community

Sounds scary? It’s actually not. Creating an online community managed by yourself, such as a Facebook group, telegram group, or a blog is a great way to gather your target audience in one place. Once the group/blog is up and running, it’s your time to shine. Invite followers there to join your email list. You can do so, for example, by offering some sort of an incentive to your audience, such as a discount code or a free shipping option valid exclusively for group members/blog readers. 

Summary

Now you know all the right tricks and hacks for building your own strong and healthy mailing list. Let’s have one more look at the most important takeaways:

• It’s better to take care of your existing email list than buy a new, often useless one. 
• Be creative with pop-ups, landing pages, and sign-up forms – a little bit of imagination works in your favour.
• Make it worth signing up to your email list – various incentives like freebies, discount codes, and other gifts will be more than welcome! 
• Consider all possibilities – they may be closer than you think.

The B2B market demands quite a different approach than the B2C one. Your customers are not individuals, but they are various companies with different needs. Here, the sales funnel may seem a little different because your buyers have different expectations and they are mostly not the end-users. 

You as a company should provide the best B2B marketing strategies to stand out. Moreover, a sales strategy is necessary as well in order to meet your target requirements. Easier said than done. What can a company do to meet a B2B client’s needs? We have few ideas thanks to which your B2B sales cycle can be improved more than ever. Grab a pen and make some notes!   

What is a sales strategy?

By definition, it is a plan aimed at determining the market position of your products or services and, as a result, selling them. It should also clearly define what differs your company from the competition, helping you to find qualified buyers. A good strategy defines the goals and determines how to achieve them. It usually contains such indicators as revenue and growth, buyer personas, sales methods, and positioning, etc. It is a guide for your teams that indicates what and when they should achieve.

There are various types of strategies, e.g., marketing ones designing by marketing teams. It helps them to create communication and marketing efforts to meet the target audience’s needs. A sales strategy also indicates the steps and goals of the buying process, hence it guides your sales team.

In this article, you will find some tips on how to master your B2B sales strategy and win your potential customers’ hearts. We will cover such topics as:

1. leads
2. buyer personas
3. referrals and events
4. negotiations
5. and more.

Let’s begin!

Tips for creating an effective sales B2B sales strategy

The B2B sales process is advanced and complicated in many ways. First of all, since B2B buyers are usually the most demanding customers, convincing them that your company has the best offer is not the easiest thing to do. In that case, what should you do to reach your potential customers? Keep reading.

#1 Qualify leads

Qualified leads are people that meet your set criteria and have provided identifying information at the very beginning. By meeting your requirements, they could turn out to be potential customers. Thanks to acquiring such businesses, you will be able to close the deal sooner and make them more profitable.

This will also allow you to make faster transactions. Thanks to the acquisition of qualified leads, you will save time and money spent on ineffective negotiations or meetings. You will be able to recognize which company really wants to cooperate and is ready to undertake obligations resulting from the contract. Choosing qualified businesses doesn’t mean you’re picky, it makes you a professional who respects the times of both parties.  

#2 Let them refer

Referral marketing is a good choice not only in the B2C market because it helps with customer acquisition. You want to reach new customers after all, which in this case are B2B companies. Creating a referral program would be a great idea to grab the interest of B2B leads. It is necessary to choose reliable options on this market, and that is what referral marketing is about. 

To make your own referral program, you will need referral software like EarlyParrot. With this tool, you can design your own program in a flash. How do referral programs work? To ensure that it is effective, you need to set:

• type of program
• goals
• incentives
• thresholds
• links
• communication channels

Then you should invite your current customers and let them spread the word about your business. They can share their links across social media platforms or other channels. Once a lead clicks on a referral link and registers to your website or makes a purchase, either both or one side of the referral can earn rewards.

Creating a program with EarlyParrot is a piece of cake. You can implement it on your website without any IT support and start your referral journey immediately. It works with the most common platforms like Magento, Joomla, WooCommerce, and WordPress, but also headless CMS. This solution is a great way to expand your mailing list too. 

You may be wondering whether or not such programs work for B2B companies. Well they do, and can help you earn a lot of profit – almost 80% of B2B marketing managers admitted that referral programs generate high-quality leads. When it comes to business-to-business relationships, they are made less frequently but with more money involved, so it is better to choose verified providers who have been referred by industry friends. Referral marketing can be an excellent choice to boost your content marketing strategy and acquire new customers at  low cost.

#3 Create a buyer persona

It may seem odd to talk about personas in the case of the business market but it makes a lot of sense! What is a buyer persona? It is a customer profile based on research into a specific industry. In general, it describes your ideal customers. 

Very often you will have several personas, especially on the B2B market where the sales funnel seems slightly different from the B2C one. You sell your product to various businesses and they may have different types of target audiences, i.e. their personas differ. Thus these companies’ requirements may vary too.

To make the most of this process, you need to organize a sales team meeting and brainstorm in-depth questions about your perfect client. This way, your products or services will be aimed at businesses that appreciate them, allowing you to keep the user experience high, as well as your revenue and other growth KPIs. Having created buyer personas, you can tailor communication more effectively and choose deals better suited to success.

#4 Don’t be too strict 

Pricing is an essential factor in the buying processes. For B2B buyers, it is even more crucial because, as we mentioned above, greater amounts of money are involved. The last thing anyone wants is to throw their money down the drain.  

What you should do first is put your pricing in a visible place on your website. All customers have a right to know what amounts are on the table. During sales meetings, set your price boundaries clearly but do not be relentless. Perhaps a customer will want something additional or a more tailored offer following a meeting like this. Such situations require flexibility or you risk losing the client.

Remember that negotiations are an essential part of business meetings, and it is usually pricing that arouses the greatest emotions during this part. Come up with a price bracket list and keep it handy, but give yourself some wiggle room. To reach a compromise, both sides need to let it go a little bit. 

However, customization of the plan is a great idea. You’ll avoid quitting at a moment of uncertainty when neither program seems like the right fit. Thanks to custom pricing, everyone will find something for themselves. Here’s a tip: Be crystal clear about how much your client will have to pay and  for what.  

#5 Keep your agents up to date 

For B2B businesses, the customer experience is even more crucial. Each of your sales professionals must be up to date with your offer and what is happening on the market. It is your duty to take care of this. You should train them and provide valuable content, e-books, and white papers, etc. Moreover, you are responsible for materials that are presented by sales representatives. They must be of good quality, both visually and in terms of content. Provide sales agents with the tools they need to do their jobs well, expediting and simplifying their work.

#6 Events

An effective sales strategy requires some commitment. In this case, we are talking about industry events. Be part of them!

To prepare for such an occasion, you need to focus on your marketing strategy and get in touch with your marketing department. After all, they are responsible for your promotional materials and marketing efforts. All pieces of content you want to distribute during an event should be (as always) high quality and define you as a company. Your B2B customers want to get to know you better. Although these events do not usually result in purchase decisions, they can lead to the idea of cooperation. It is a good starting point for the B2B sales cycle. 

If your company participates in an online event, first make yourself sure that the target audience matches your buyer personas. You can prepare some sort of souvenirs like discounts or free ebooks. Without person-to-person contact, it is harder to convince companies to cooperate but it is not impossible. You should be professional and be open to discussions. The audience should ask you as many questions as you are able to handle. This will be proof that you know the industry inside out. 

#7 Use synergy

No matter how excellent your sales strategy is, it cannot succeed if it is incoherent with other strategies. To make the most of it, your sales strategy should go hand in hand with your B2B marketing strategy, logistics plan, and pricing, etc. These should all be connected and form a cohesive overall plan.

Talk with your marketing team, establish when the latest marketing campaign will be released and what it promises. Your B2B customers have expectations based on the marketing message, so you need to meet them at least partially. Marketing may also be a tool supporting sales efforts. For example, thanks to an email marketing strategy, your company can have access to email addresses that can be used to start a sales pipeline. Of course, your customer must consent to it.

The same applies to pricing, logistics, and many other B2B strategies that may be necessary to establish. Link all the actions and use their full power. 

Ready to plan?

Providing a good B2B sales strategy needs time and commitment but it is definitely worthwhile. After all, this is what makes your business successful.   

You should plan your strategy well to gain the maximum level of trust of your B2B buyers and create bonds with them. Relationships between companies are crucial in the business-to-business market because such cooperations may last for years and strengthen both parties’ market positions. They may be to be or not be for some enterprises.

If you are running an online business, one of the most important factors is conversion rate optimization. Conversions are crucial for every digital business, no matter if it operates on the B2C or B2B markets. Analyze the traffic to your  website, who is converting, and who is not. Identify some patterns. This is important knowledge that can help you improve your conversion rate, and so that’s what this article will talk about. You will learn several ways haw to take care of conversion optimization, encourage prospective customers to make purchases, and how to reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts. Start taking notes; you’ll learn some handy tricks here!

What is conversion?

In short, conversion is the change of a passive user to an active user. A given user converts if they perform a desired action, i.e. make a purchase, create an account, or subscribe to a newsletter, etc. The average conversion rate is 2.35%. This means that only a little more than 2% of all visitors complete the desired actions of site owners. The conversion rate is calculated as follows: the number of conversions should be divided by the total number of visitors and then multiplied by 100%.

To understand what exactly the conversion rate is, you need to get familiar with a sales funnel. This is a tool that helps you visualize the moment when your customers make purchasing decisions, which is especially helpful if you run an eCommerce store. It captures all customers – from those at the top of the funnel who might be first-time visitors, to those at the bottom who are ready to purchase or even become loyal, regular clients. With knowledge about customers positions in the funnel you’ll be ready to take steps to make an increase in conversions, and thus sale.

Now let’s focus on the conversion rate optimization and how to make it sky-high.

How to boost your conversions?

We have a few conversion rate optimization tips below that you can pick one of or choose to use all of them depending on you and your business needs. Ready?

#1 Implement referral marketing

Customers who visit your web via referrals are 30% more likely to convert and have up to 16 times higher lifetime value.

Sounds promising? Referral marketing is a very simple way to optimize your conversion rate. You can really gain a lot from it with little effort or investment. How does it work? You first need to create a referral program – you’ll need a tool for that, e.g. EarlyParrot, thanks to which you can design your own program in the blink of an eye. Then think about what the rewards will be – whether to offer discounts to customers or rather arrange material rewards. Creating a referral program is very simple and implementing it is even easier, since EarlyParrot will guide you step by step. Once you’ve created a campaign you can invite customers by adding them to your email list and sending the details. You need to describe how the program works, what the types of rewards are, and the criteria for earning them.

Why is referral marketing so effective? Because it is based on relationships with their friends or family that your customers have. It is them who recommend your site and share links with potential customers, who are people they are trusted by. And as you know, recommendations from such people are the most reliable of all.

#2 Highlight customers’ testimonials and opinions

It is very important for your customers to see whether products meet their desires and needs. Nobody wants to be disappointed after using a given product for the first time. If you run an online store, you should present customers’ opinions on every product page – near to each item there should be a review box. It would be ideal if your clients wrote opinions and ranked products, e.g. via a star rating. Customer photos added to reviews would be also a great idea.

If you operate on the B2B market you should make even more use of testimonials from your customers, since more money is involved and nobody wants to lose it. Highlight testimonials on the main page and make sure to show several of them. Remember that each opinion should be signed not only with a name but also the company and position of the reviewer. Speaking about product presentation, you need to keep in mind that even the best customer reviews won’t have much impact if you don’t display the product property. High-quality pictures and perhaps even video content will increase the likelihood of boost in conversion too.

Customers’ opinions and testimonials are social proof. They work similarly to referral marketing, except in this case there are no rewards on offer and the recommendations come from strangers. Yet they can still be powerful.

#3 Give up on any long and distracting actions

Your potential customers must be focused on setting up an account or making a purchase, so let them do so. Don’t bombard them with a million pop-ups on every page or distract with calls to action buttons on every corner.

Remember to not make the client feel trapped on your website or force them to close many pop-up windows, because ultimately they might close the entire browser. And there will be no conversions after they’ve left your site for good.

Now let’s focus on initial actions. The first step that a user takes is very important. Therefore, an action button with the word “subscribe” on it should be clearly visible, as well as icons for adding products to the cart and looking at what’s inside it. As a result, cart abandonment rates will drop. What’s more, the process of setting up an account should not be too complicated. Only ask for basic data plus to set up a login and password at first – don’t overcomplicate the registration form. If you send email verification links to email then make sure they arrive quickly. If you want to personalize messages or an offer and you need additional information, please communicate this and leave parts of the form optional. Don’t force clients to provide too much information at the very beginning, as that will take time they may not have. No worries, they will come back to it when they have a moment or after you remind them to do so by sending an email to that effect.

#4 Drive conversions with email messages

Email marketing is still on point. Marketing emails influence purchasing decisions for almost 60% of respondents. Newsletters, WooCommerce cart abandonment emails, or happy birthday wishes – they all can make a great difference. Such communication should go hand in hand with a good content marketing strategy. What’s more, email marketing won’t change much without good message copy.

It’s crucial for email marketing to be aware of what you write and how it will make your customers feel. Bulk emails are not the best option since people want to feel special, so add a personal touch – even to a notification about a shopping cart abandonment.

Bet on diversity. What you should do is to inform customers about new offers, personalize promotional emails, and perhaps also include content like ebooks related to your industry or company. Communication and how you conduct it is very important not only in terms of the customer’s assessment of your business, but also for making a purchasing decision. And this affects the conversion rate. It’s also important not to overdo email marketing campaigns. Don’t send several or even just one message every day, otherwise your email subscribers will opt out of receiving your communication. Enough is enough, so be polite and reasonable.

#5 Highlight your uniqueness

Staying on the subject of communication, you need to show your customers your USP. Regardless of what it is, you need to emphasize what distinguishes you from the competition. You can also add customer testimonials or reviews as proof. It’s worth reminding regular clients or subscribers why they chose you in the first place. Do so not only via email, on social media, or in SMS messages – show it on your page too!

This is also an important factor for new customers who haven’t given you their contact details yet, which is another reason to emphasize the USP on your website. You can do so in an “About Us” tab or place a banner on the landing page with a short slogan about your USP. It all depends on the design of your website and the industry, plus you should know best what works for your customers.

#6 Be mobile-friendly

Mcommerce is one of the strongest sale trends right now. The majority of us shop via mobiles or at least carry out some research from such devices. Therefore, you should take care of proper mobile website optimization and/or provide a mobile app.

Suppose a client browses your website on their phone and searches for desired products, but the page is not displayed properly, freezes, or even doesn’t load at at all. The customer may not only resign from opening the page on their mobile, but also give up on your store completely. It’s not a risk worth taking, so optimize your website for mobile devices and make mobile payments an option too. 

Another good solution would be an app that encourages users even more to purchase via mobile devices. Customers will generally remain logged into such apps at all times and they won’t have to count on the responsiveness of browsers on their phones. Using an app is quite simply a more convenient option for many users that will certainly help decrease the bounce rate and increase conversions.

Are you ready to increase your conversions?

Driving conversions is a process, so don’t expect results immediately after implementing the above solutions. Depending on your target audience, industry, or business size, the rate at which changes occur may vary – so don’t give up! If you do everything with proper care, you will surely notice the results eventually. If you’re not satisfied with the pace or don’t want to invest in several strategies, you can run A / B tests to see which particular solutions bring major improvements and stick with those. It all depends on your goals and the time frame you set. 

When it comes to achieving your conversion goals, it’s important to focus on your audience, not the numbers. After all, conversions are people. Therefore, think about them before you quickly release another bulk email or approve another pop-up. You are definitely a buyer yourself or at least visit websites, so use these experiences to adjust your website’s behavior or call center software to be as effective as possible for your customers!