Marketing used to be a top-down push of information. Cold calling and mass advertising got the job done.
Those methods can still be part of a marketing strategy, but they are quickly becoming outdated tactics that don’t deliver the same ROI that they did in the past. In order to modernize marketing efforts, companies need to understand how digital consumers digest information and prefer to be contacted so that they can be reached in a way that isn’t invasive or annoying.
The following five marketing strategies will not only help a digital brand connect with consumers, but will also create a scalable process that will help a company grow quickly, without having to undergo a large increase in marketing resources.
1. Use a CRM to Delight Prospects and Customers
Creating a lead pipeline gets the right prospects to your door, but tracking leads and staying in touch keeps the revenue stream flowing. Using a CRM allows you to record status, history, notes, and tasks which creates a comprehensive view of your customers and increases an understanding of your buying audience. It will also help your company to maintain a personal touch as it scales.
In a fast-paced world, being able to quickly pull data and connect with customers and prospects in a meaningful way generates love for your brand – and drives sales. The ability to easily segment contacts, find cross-sell opportunities, and pull marketing data will give your business an edge as it reacts quickly to opportunities for growth.
2. Capture More Revenue Through Lead Nurturing
According to Gleanster Research, 50 percent of leads are qualified, but not ready to buy. At the same time, MarketingSherpa reports that 65 percent of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing. A large percentage of businesses are losing out on revenue they could be generating by nurturing cold, but quality leads into warm prospects.
Marketing automation offers simple and efficient ways to stay in touch with leads until they are ready to buy. Intelligent email campaigns educate prospects by delivering valuable content and information over time. Automated email replies can respond to routine prospect requests instantly. Task management makes it simple for sales teams to organize their call follow-up lists. And hot lead alerts let sales know which prospects are ripe for closing.
Nurturing leads through marketing automation ensures that your business does not lose out on revenue. With a lead nurturing strategy, qualified leads that are not ready to buy now will eventually convert into customers down the line.
3. Create Cohesive Campaigns to Boost Engagement
Multiple touch points increase awareness and give lift to sales. Sending relevant, digestible bits of information over time creates several opportunities for prospects to engage with your company. At the same time, several points of contact raise brand awareness, increasing the likelihood that prospects will engage with your brand.
In addition to sending bite-sized chunks of information over time, business should also take a multichannel approach. Include corresponding calls, banner ads, and social media posts into a standard email campaign to increase the response rate and effectiveness of your campaign.
4. Take a Personal Approach to Email Marketing
Most businesses have folded social media into their marketing mix, but companies with email marketing strategies are much more likely to grow. A recent study by McKinsey & Company concluded that email is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter.
Email marketing still rakes in the sales, but keeping up with new trends in email marketing is key to propelling growth. Today, personalized emails are much more effective at creating sales than traditional email newsletters. In fact, according to an Experian Marketing Services study, personalized promotional emails were shown to lift transaction rates and revenue per email six times higher than non-personalized emails.
To realize the full potential of email marketing, ditch the one-size-fits all email blast, and use an approach that delivers the right content to the right person at the right time.
5. Optimize Lead Generation
The goal of marketing is to deliver quality leads to sales people. This is challenging because consumers are fragmented. They don’t all hang out in the same place. They get their information from different sources.
To generate consistent revenue that you can scale, you need to know which channels deliver the best prospects. This is why tracking the customer journey is so imperative. Monitor the source of your prospects and use customer data to calculate conversion rates for each source. Discern which sources perform the best, and predict the return of investment from each source to fuel your lead gen strategy.
With an ongoing lead generation strategy, the sales pipeline stays full.
Today’s most effective marketing strategies are built on delivering a personalized experience in an efficient and scalable way. By focusing on the right technologies and having a personalized approach, businesses can burst open new channels for growth.