Understanding the lead lifecycle, lead generation and ‘lead scoring’ is one of the best things you can possibly do for your business if you want to increase your turnover, revenue and profits while also increasing the brand loyalty and trust your business receives.
The problem is that too many people don’t think about leads and instead focus just on sales. They believe the goal of their website is to convert as many visitors as possible and to maximize their sales. The irony is that this actually ends up driving away a lot of potential customers and actually reducing their profits significantly.
Why is that? Because people don’t like to be sold. Think about your own experience. How do you react to a sales person whose only message is Buy! Buy! Buy! It probably turns you off very quickly.
Why Sales Leaves People Cold
When someone visits your website, whether through SEO, a promoted post on social media or any other means, they are essentially going to be cold leads. That means that they hopefully fall into your demographic and they should be interested in your niche but they have at no point demonstrated any particular loyalty to your brand and nor have they given you permission to contact them and/or try to sell to them.
When this happens and you try and sell, this is going to feel pretty much like cold calling. They don’t know who you are, they have no need to trust you and here you are trying to get them to buy something from you. This is essentially the same thing as approaching a stranger in a bar and asking them to come home with you – there’s no pre-amble and it ends up coming across as rather rude. Ultimately, your chances of getting a positive response are almost zero!
Enter the Wonderful World of Inbound Marketing and its best buddy, Content Marketing!
Are you wondering what Inbound and Content Marketing is and why they are such good friends?
Are you wondering what Inbound and Content Marketing is and why they are such good friends? Marketing and sales strategist, David Meerman Scott, defines inbound marketing this way:
“Inbound Marketing is about getting found online, through search engines and on sites like Facebook and YouTube and Twitter…”
So inbound marketing is about attracting your target audience and getting them to come to you. If you are an introvert like me or just hate “sales,” this is cause for celebration and you can breathe a little easier. Inbound marketing tactics include:
- blogs
- podcasts
- video
- eBooks
- e-newsletters
- whitepapers
- SEO
- physical products
- social media marketing
As you can see, these tactics serve to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel. The goal is to get your marketing message to your target audience and direct them into your marketing funnel. This incorporates quite a bit of content creation!
Say hello to Inbound Marketing’s BFF, Content Marketing.
For the ‘official’ definition, let’s look to the Content Marketing Institute:
“Content Marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Study the key words in this definition –
Creating – distributing – relevant – valuable
Both Inbound and Content Marketing have the same goal. It is converting and engaging your target audience.
Of course, your ultimate objective is to drive customer action both before and after the sale. So Inbound Marketing attracts them and Content Marketing grabs them and ‘woos them to stay.
You do this by building a relationship with your audience and sharing useful information that establishes you as a thought leader. Beyond the sale, content marketing nourishes the customer relationship to keep your audience engaged and move them through your sales funnel.
This is why it’s important to think about your lead lifecycle. Instead of trying to sell to cold leads, you’re trying to impress them with your value proposition, with the quality of information you’re giving away free and with the way your brand aligns with their values.
____________________________
Need help with your Content Marketing? We would love to help you with your blogging or social media. This week we have a special on our Silver Package. It includes:
- 4 posts per month
- Research on topics clients provide
- Write 400-500 word blog articles
- Search Engine Optimization
- Post articles to your blog with
appropriate images
Investment $300 $250
Email me today to get this special pricing befoe it expires.
