Month: December 2018

Are you thinking about your inbound marketing?

The backbone of any successful inbound strategy is tactical lead nurturing, to encourage your prospects through the sales cycle. But have you thought about the best way to approach this to gain the maximum returns?

Here are our top 5 tips on lead nurturing:

1. It’s all about the right content, to the right person, at the right time

Content marketing is an extremely powerful tool if the content is relevant and used effectively. But for content to be relevant to your target audience and support a nurture process, it must be based around your prospects needs and pain points.

Timing is key in a nurture campaign. Individuals will go through a nurture process at different times – depending on the urgency of their needs, their position within the business and how they interact with your content and brand. To move individuals through the process and ultimately down the sales funnel you need to encourage them with the right content and help satisfy their buyer needs.

* At the top of the funnel your content needs to be introducing the brand and providing your relevancy. Using content that answers top level questions and concerns.

* In the middle of the funnel your content will need to be in greater depth and detail. By this stage the prospect is interested in the initial information and they are looking to find out more, make sure you are the right fit and explore what you have to offer.

* Once you reach the bottom of the funnel your content needs to guide the prospect to what the best option is for them and convince them that the journey has been worth it, and you are the best provider for them. At this stage you may consider an offer or some form of encouragement to get them over the line.

2. Let your email nurture do the hard work for you

The beauty of many email platforms is that automation is a built-in feature – you just need to make it effective.

Automation allows you to make email nurture do the hard work for you. You can plan out a whole journey and once the setup is complete, your prospect can merrily glide through, experiencing what is relevant to them.

The automation can be as sophisticated or simple as you feel is necessary. But the real bonus is that once individuals start the journey, you begin to collate data about your prospects that will help you make informed decisions in the future.

3. Make sure your sales and marketing effort is aligned

It’s the age old ‘chicken and egg’ scenario – marketing need sales to assist in chasing and closing leads AND sales need marketing to create the brand, credibility and demand in the first place. So it goes without saying that you need to make sure sales and marketing are aligned when carrying out inbound marketing.

If sales are not aware of the effort going into filling the funnel, they won’t be ready for when the leads start coming through. Having a secure CRM system in place to help manage the lead marketing activity to inform the sales team of updates is also well worth the investment.

4. Prioritise follow-ups

Everyone wants to feel valued – whether you are looking to spend your own personal money or invest for your business. That feeling of being valued translates into nurturing because if we can see an individual is expressing the right signals in your business then we know they should be followed up with a call.

Nurturing is a less invasive way of doing this. You may wish to call initially to qualify where they are in the sales funnel and establish if they are the right fit for your target audience. It is worth noting that there are only a few cases where they will engage to buy from you there and then. So, free up your sales team to actually convert those that are ready and instead send those that aren’t on the nurture journey for follow-ups that are informative, educational and encouraging.

5. Have you considered lead scoring?

Lead scoring is an intelligent way to sort hot leads from those that seem unengaged. It allows you to assess the best nurture journey for an individual and un-stick them from the sales funnel.

Many marketing platforms offer the ability (with the right know-how) to implement lead scoring, which will give you even more insight into your prospects. Are they engaging with the website, your emails, your social activity? If not, why not? Can they be invigorated, or do you need to approach them differently?

This information then informs your targeted marketing approach to reach prospects likely of converting and nurture those less likely.

Feeling inspired but don’t feel that you have the resources or expertise in-house to execute this? Get in touch with us today! We’d love to help you generate more inbound opportunities using our skills to help your business grow. Get in touch today on 01392 796702 or email contact@roots2market.co.uk.

Today, very few businesses are one-of-a-kind. So, what makes a customer choose your company’s product or service over your competitors?

The truth, it’s not necessarily what you’re selling that sets you apart and grabs a customer’s attention, but the messaging you choose to focus on.

This can be achieved by implementing an effective sales strategy around a “Unique Selling Proposition” that differentiates your business and resonates with your desired customers. When your company goals and values match those of your desired customers you can bet your last penny that they will buy into your business over your competitors.

So, what is a USP?

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a statement that describes how your product, service or company is different and hopefully better than your competitions.

Historically, global brands have presented USPs in their slogans or expressed them in their positioning statements to make themselves more valuable to their customer group. You may have heard of theses famous examples:

Rolls Royce

“Trusted to deliver excellence; like nothing else on earth”

FedEx Corporation

“When it absolutely, positively has to be overnight”

TOMS Shoes

“We give a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase”

How do you establish yours?

Being ‘unique’ is rarely a strong USP and rarely true. Therefore, you must put your focus on an aspect which your desired customer cares about, otherwise your messaging won’t be nearly as effective. A compelling USP should:

• Focus on the values of your ideal customer: Your desired customer must feel that you truly understand their needs and are therefore the best company to offer them the solution to their problem.
• Assertive and defensible: Create a USP that encourages a consumer to make a case as to why they shouldn’t choose your competitor.
• Leverage your industries reputation: Position yourself as the game changer in your industry. For example, the telemarketing industry struggles with a lingering reputation for being disruptive in favour of generating dishonest profits. However, knowing this about our own industry, Air have created a platform where our clients can see exactly how much time we spend on their campaigns minute by minute. This platform is truly transparent and shows us to be a collaborative partner who delivers exactly what we have promised our clients. By creating a USP that has changed the game of our industry we are now considered one of the leading telemarketing companies in the UK.
• Avoid the “superstar effect”: A great USP is not claiming that your business is the best. How many times have you gone to a new city and seen “Best Restaurant” plastered on the doorway of multiple businesses? Companies often strive to be the best, but the first thing your USP should strive for is difference.
• More than a slogan: While a slogan is one way your USP can be communicated, it’s also something your organisation should embody in other areas of your businesses. Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.

Remember you’re still here to sell!

Just as Relationship Marketing is as much about the marketing as is it about the relationships, the same applies for creating a Unique Selling Proposition; it’s a form of differentiation that needs to be built around selling more products and services, not just to make your business into a quirky brand that stands out but can’t get traction.

1. Remember each piece of marketing material or conversation must say “Buy this product or service, for this specific benefit.”
2. Your proposition must be one that your competition cannot or does not offer; It must be unique either to your business or in a claim that your competitors have not made themselves.
3. Your proposition must attract new customers and be created with the intent to sell, not just stand out.

Would you like more help establishing your USP? At Air Marketing Group we help our clients form and execute USPs that really resonate with their desired customers, deliver rewarding ROI and differentiate their business in the market place. To get the most out of your USP contact our experienced team today: contact@air-marketing.co.uk or phone 0345 241 3038.

The lead up to Christmas is a fun and festive period. The office is draped with tinsel and twinkling lights, the team are adorned with Christmas jumpers and the Christmas tree is waiting in the door way to greet clients. But what about sales?

Whilst this time of year is fun, it is also stressful and a little tiring. With most people fixated on getting the perfect present, sales can often feel a little harder to win. So how can you keep the momentum of your sales and your team going over the festive period?

1. Embrace it

This is one is simple but effective. Have fun, it’s Christmas! Your team have been working hard all year and, whilst sales are important, their happiness comes first – happy team = happy clients! Now, this doesn’t mean you need to have an office party every day of December, but the odd bit of festive fun wouldn’t go unappreciated. Throw in a Christmas jumper day, some mince pies, after work drinks and maybe even the simple pleasure of an advent calendar. They’re all little things but they’ll make your team feel valued.

2. Be personable

Don’t just embrace the festivities with your staff, extend this to clients. Ask people about their festive plans, you may not want to talk about their child’s starring role as a donkey in their school nativity, but it is important to them and therefore important for your business. You could also employ a festive social media campaign, take photos of the office fun and share it with your clients – let them see the people behind the products and they’ll more than likely buy into your warm company climate.

3. Build your pipeline

Whilst people may not be looking to buy new products right before, or right after Christmas, it doesn’t mean you can’t work to build relationships with new and existing clients so that you can start strong in the new year. Many businesses will slow down all together during this time, so make the most of the quieter market and get your foot in the door. Implement a gentler nurture email or social media campaign so that prospects know you’re there to help but don’t feel overwhelmed at a busy time of year.

4. Take the time to re-strategize

A slower sales period isn’t always a bad thing. It can give you back some much-needed time to sit back and re-evaluate what went well and not so well over the year. By focusing on finding out where your efforts best lie, you can come back stronger in the New Year with ideas ready to go and a team who know what they are aiming for.

5. Team initiatives and incentives

Engage with your team, make sure they know where they are headed and what you expect of them over this period. If they generate strong leads or close a certain amount of sales by the end of the week then reward them, have buzz meetings where you shout about their successes. Include them in meetings or catch up with them where you can to cultivate a transparent and honest culture.

6. Set a theme for the New Year

Looking back on the year, set a theme or goal for the New Year and get your team to begin working on this in December. Do you want to better your sales techniques, customer service, team culture or client relationships? Tell your team that this is what you’re looking to work towards and get them to implement this in their day to day activities.

Team Air hope you have a merry and successful Christmas period. If you feel like you could benefit from any of our services, then why not get in touch to see how we can help you in the New Year? Call: 0345 241 3038 or email: contact@air-marketing.co.uk