December 2022 - Air Marketing

Do Your Extra Leads Cover the Cost of Your CRM? Does That Make Your Investment Smarter?

Posted on 22 December 202210 January 2023 by Hannah Sanders

As a HubSpot Partner and as an organisation that offers SDR services among other things, naturally we have a lot of conversations internally and with clients about CRM systems. You can see from my job title that for me it is my professional life and the rabbit hole I live in!

What is really interesting is how the term CRM seems difficult to translate, or it at least means something different to everybody. There are so many different, sometimes conflicting, views of what a CRM is for, but also why it is needed. Some companies just want somewhere to store customer and prospect data. Some of our clients have little to no visibility of sales and leads moving through the business. Others want to reduce the amount of different software they’re using and connect data sets from different departments into one ‘single source of truth’.

All of these are logical reasons to have a CRM. I’m obviously on the side of the fence that encourages organisations to look at this (I of course know a talented CRM Manager that can help you!), but you can have all the great ideas in the world and then cost and budget come up ☹

A CRM platform isn’t something tangible you can sell and directly see ROI, unless you’re in that industry. You can, for a time, survive without a CRM and still sell to and manage customers. If you then decide to get a CRM, you will naturally have some disruption when implementing it and adapting processes that will feel like you are losing time and therefore revenue. With all that in mind and the cost of running a business going up, why would you pull the trigger? If you make the investment and pay a monthly subscription, when and how do you see a return? Won’t it just be eating into profit and margin? How quickly can that investment start to wash its face at least, and show you financially that you made the right decision?

All of those are sensible questions I hear all the time. First off, I’d suggest an assessment of your entire tech stack. How many different pieces are software are each team using to just do their jobs? Can cost savings be made by not only replacing software with a function within a CRM system, but also having that software directly linked to vital data? I’d advise then thinking about your current operation i.e. how easily can you show and track the ROI from your marketing efforts, and how well are you tracking and staying on top of your leads and deals? How valuable is that data to you?

Then there’s the obvious point that, again, we at Air Marketing constantly talk about: Lead Gen! What if having the right CRM could help you generate more leads? What if a few more closed deals a month, from leads that came off the back of an increase that’s linked to having a solid CRM in place, provided you with profit that could then pay for that monthly CRM cost? In that scenario you aren’t having to find additional budget; you’re seeing an increase in your numbers and have slicker and more integrated processes. I’ve made it sound really simple but that’s got to be a no-brainer, right?

We’re a HubSpot Certified Solutions Partner and became so because we see how the platform adds value to the Sales and Marketing services that we offer. It will always be our first recommendation, because we believe in HubSpot and use it ourselves. There are, however, other great alternatives on the market, Salesforce being one of them.

Both HubSpot and Salesforce have reacted to the question “how can I see ROI from my investment in a CRM?” and have provided some excellent calculators. When shopping around for a CRM, we advise you do your normal due-diligence and investigate features and benefits, but we’d also advise going through the exercise of running some numbers through these tools so you can satisfy that part of your curiosity and/or explain to the powers that be, what returns will come from the cost of CRM implementation.

Try out these FREE calculators:

The alternative, of course, is to fill out a contact form here, and I’ll happily get on a call to help and offer our perspective 😉

Opinion piece by Shaun Weston – CRM Manager at Air Marketing

Day 12 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Air 2022 Rewind

Posted on 21 December 202230 January 2023 by Hannah Sanders

It’s been a year like no other, and as we turn the page on 2022, we’re taking a moment to relive the most memorable moments that have shaped our business culturally in the past year.

Watch the video montage:

And that concludes Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas campaign. We hope you found our content useful and enjoyable, and and we look forward to continuing to connect with you and support your business needs in the new year.

On behalf of everyone at Air Marketing, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Follow us on socials for more valuable sales and marketing content:

Day 11 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Merry Spot the Difference

Posted on 20 December 202230 January 2023 by James Ollerhead

Merry Spot the Difference

Get into the holiday spirit with our festive spot the difference game! Can you spot all seven differences between the two Christmas scenes?

Test your eye for detail and have some fun while you’re at it. From decorations on the tree to presents under the mistletoe, see if you can find all the hidden differences in these jolly holiday scenes.

Click the button below to send your answers to us via email.

DAY 12 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind the final door?

Day 10 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Can You Identify the 10 Iconic Brands Nestled In and Around the Tree?

Posted on 19 December 202230 January 2023 by James Ollerhead

Can you identify the 10 iconic brands nestled in/around the tree, and around the fireplace?

Welcome to our holiday game of brand guessing! We’ve hidden 10 famous brands in and underneath the tree, and around the fireplace… and it’s up to you to discover which ones they are!

Are you ready to put your brand knowledge to the test? Let’s get started.

Click the button below to send your answers to us via email.

DAY 11 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 11?

Day 9 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Maximising the Success of your Email Campaigns

Posted on 16 December 202230 January 2023 by James Ollerhead

Your email campaigns success is much more than catchy subject lines, SEO optmised copy and strong and clear CTA’s.

Before you get started in designing your next killer email, you need to consider the details when setting up your email marketing campaign.

We have compiled a list of the key things to consider when setting up an email marketing campaign, and how to optimise each part.

This guide will provide tips on the following areas:

1. From Name
2. From Email Address
3. Subject Line & Preview
4. Internal Email Names
5. Account Address
6. Send To & Not Send To
7. Optimised Send Time
8. UTM & Tracking

Content by James Ollerhead, Senior Marketing Elf at Air Marketing.

DAY 10 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 10?

Day 8 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Unlock The Power of Account Based Marketing (ABM)

Posted on 15 December 202219 September 2024 by James Ollerhead

Awareness around Account Based Marketing (ABM) has boomed in recent years, but it’s been around since the early 2000s.

For results–driven marketers, ABM is a dream opportunity to drive enviable ROI, with research showing it easily outstrips other approaches: 97% of marketers surveyed agreed ABM had higher ROI than other marketing activities.

That’s great, but what is it?

Account Based Marketing is a strategic marketing approach where sales and marketing work closely together to target potential high growth and key accounts, either customer or prospect, with tailored messaging focused on their specific challenges. ABM campaigns include targeting individual decision makers within the selected accounts with messaging relevant to their operational challenges.

With demand generation, the focus is on creating awareness to a larger market and then moving those interested parties through a marketing funnel until they’re ready to make a decision. Whereas ABM efforts focus on a smaller number of key target accounts and operate on the basis of winning high value opportunities, making the initial intensive efforts and investment worthwhile.

There are many clear benefits to developing an ABM programme, including:

Gives you more focus

Rather than a broad-brush approach, ABM encourages you to focus on those who really need and want your product or service. By tailoring the message directly to key decision makers, you’re effectively bypassing the usual awareness building approach and the reward is far greater.

A higher hit-rate

This is a real opportunity to use highly personalised creative and messaging that cuts through the noise and directly responds to a specific company or department challenge, rather than a broader industry one. This direct response is engaging and rapidly builds trust and rapport, opening the door for a meaningful conversation, and as we’ve already mentioned yields far stronger ROI.

True collaboration between sales and marketing

ABM requires sales and marketing to work together as a team, using all resources in a focused and efficient way. This means sales teams feel far more supported in their efforts and marketers feel much more engaged with the sales follow–up process.

Getting started with ABM

Now we’re not saying chuck out the marketing mix and put all your eggs in the ABM basket. For some business models, it’s not the right approach (we’ll touch on this later). But if you’d like to give it a try there are some straightforward ways to get started.

It’s vital that you set out what you hope to achieve from ABM at the outset of your campaign. Your goals may grow and change over time, but you do need to be clear on what would be a successful result. Remember to be realistic with your goals too, ABM is often a long-term strategy, so don’t expect to see results immediately.

Do you have the team to execute in-house? It’s vital that you commit the time and the resources to an ABM campaign, if you can’t afford to do this in-house, would you consider outsourcing?

Run a workshop between marketing and sales where you work out which clients or prospects would be prime for an ABM approach. Decide here if you wish to spread the risk and opt for a one-to-many approach, rather than a one-to-one.

Now you need to choose your delivery model and start shaping your campaign. Measurement is vital so make sure you have the tools to track your efforts in place. If you’re using a marketing automation tool, ensure your contact data is up to snuff and you’ve mapped your accounts properly. Getting your house in order is crucial before embarking on a detailed and coordinated campaign.

When ABM might not be right

While ABM is a tried and tested marketing approach, there are circumstances when it might not be right for you:

You don’t have a clearly defined audience and cannot easily isolate high–value potential customers – without this knowledge, it’s difficult to get your ABM programme off the ground.
You don’t have the insight to map accounts and create tailored messaging – which is essential for ABM success.
Your sales are largely online rather than led by the sales team – so the sales enablement aspects of your campaign and tailored messaging wouldn’t add value.

Your deal sizes are smaller, and you’d rather sell volume – ABM works on the idea of going deep with select accounts, if your business model is lower transactional value, high volume sales, there are better ways to market your offer (we can help you with those methods too).

Using ABM to break into new markets

We are currently working with a French technology company seeking to break into the UK, Nordic and Canadian markets. Our client can define their target market as large businesses processing big data, so it makes sense to target the C-Suite of large household brands. To capture the attention of their desired decision maker, they need to stand out, differentiate themselves effectively and offer maximum value. Their product and their buyer are perfect for an ABM campaign.

We are validating our client’s target market data, undertaking additional research to build insights that will enhance their campaign and capture and nurture their target decision–makers.

Does Account Based Marketing sound like a strategy that could be relevant for your business? If you’d like to find out more about how ABM could work for you, we’d love to help you get started. Get in touch today.

DAY 9 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 9?

Day 7 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Be Brave Sell More Guide

Posted on 14 December 202215 March 2023 by Hannah Sanders

Does your marketing need a spruce up? (Excuse the Christmas pun!) 🎄 Tired of sending out the same old fluff and seeing the same low ROI?

Then this guide is for you.

We’ve pulled together 4 lessons to help you think differently about your marketing strategy, ultimately resulting in more sales and long-lasting relationships with your ideal customer.

The 4 lessons include:

Be Brave And Look Closer At The Numbers
Be Brave With Your Content
Be Brave With Your Targeting
Be Brave With Your Delivery

Put together, our 4 lessons in fearless marketing will make you serious money… so download it today!

DAY 8 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 8?

Day 6 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Cold Call Teardowns with Owen Richards

Posted on 13 December 202230 January 2023 by Hannah Sanders

Your phone is your biggest tool as a B2B sales professional. But most people don’t use it correctly.

Because they:
– start with a stiff intro
– don’t highlight pain points
– try to sell the product

Instead of:
– getting right into why they should listen to you
– framing the “pitch” around painfully accurate pain points
– selling a longer call or demo

Interested in learning how to book meetings with cold calls? Watch the video or continue reading for our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards’, top tips for filling your calendar.*

How To Book Meetings Through Cold Calls

How to modify your script

Remove:

questions with “no” answers, this adds negativity into the call
“how are you” → doesn’t add value for you or the prospect.
generic language (ex. industry leader) → instead say “We help {{industryType}} solve {{specific problems}}.
undervalued time asks → don’t only ask for 15-30 seconds, instead ask if they can help you out (example below).
assumptive asks → don’t ask to setup a meeting right away, ask to start a conversation.
don’t use a high pitched voice or have fake high energy, just be yourself

Add:

a permission to go into questions (ex: But I don’t know enough about your situation to even know if this will make sense for you. Would it be okay if I ask you a few questions…”
questions that are easy to ask before getting into the harder ones
“what’s in it for me” straight in the start
a natural call ask “what i’d recommend is to set up a call to help you…”
specifics about who you’re talking to “ex: I speak to a lot of CTOs that…”
a bit of cheekiness that makes you human “ex: Is this the worst time ever?”

How to prepare for a successful call

Practice how things sound before making calls so you can be confident when people pick up
Find a time to make your calls that fits when you have high energy + when your prospects will be available
How to find leads:
- data suppliers
- tools like Sales Nav
- industry specific data bases
How to research for cold calls:
- use the research you’ve already done based on your email + LinkedIn outreach
- google the company while you’re calling them up
- use relevancy (ex: find the main pain points for a specific group of people like CTOs of manufacturing companies) → use job descriptions for this

Tips to help you meet your goals

The best SDRs Owen has worked with spend about half the day on the phone. Owen’s goal is to get 1-2 good conversations per hour.
How to bring your lead’s guard down:
- be extremely honest
- making the conversation permission based
- add your personality, be human
If you get a gatekeeper saying someone isn’t in the office any more, ask for the cell phone number.
Add a cold call in at the beginning and at end of the sequence

→ Can be after a LinkedIn step and first email to give initial context

Examples for each section of the call

Opener to ask for their time

→“Look I know you weren’t expecting my call, can you help me out for a moment?”

→ “I’ll be honest with you, this is a sales call. But I’m hoping to have a few moments to tell you why I chose to call you today”

Pitch that answers “what’s in it for me”

→ “We work with (target audience here) to help them achieve (target audience’s goals)

→ “We work with (target audience here) who are typically battling with challenges such as (target audience’s challenges)

- When saying who you work with, the more specific the better. If you can bucket calls based on specific roles this is the best, ex. Heads of People for SMBs, CTOs for manufacturing companies, Heads of Sales in bootstrapped startups, etc.)
- When mentioning goals and challenges, use jobs ads to find what people in this specific role need to handle. These tasks are their main challenges.
Transition to discovery questions

→ “Now, I don’t know enough about your situation to know if something like this would make sense for you, so would it be okay if I asked you a couple of quick questions?”

Close (book the meeting)

→ “{{Name}}, I genuinely think we can help you with [some of the learnings you have from their answers]. I’m going to suggest we book a time to go into more detail on this.

Can I suggest we book 30 minutes for next Wednesday or Thursday? Are mornings or afternoons usually better for you?”

Wrap-up (summary + next steps)

→ “Right, that’s great {{Name}}. So just to summarize, we’re going to speak again next Friday, November 25th at 2pm and together we’ll go over some ways to help you {{solve problem}}. Myself and (Senior Name) will be in the conversation from our side. Is there anyone else you’d like me to invite from yours?”

No problem. So I’ll send you a confirmation email and calendar invite now. Is there anything else you need from me between now and then? That’s great. Then I’ll say thank you for your time and look forward to our conversation next Friday.”

How to handle objections – diffuse, statement, question

→ “That’s absolutely fine, no problem at all. Most of the people I speak to tell me the same thing, I hear it almost every day. {{firstName}} tell me out of interest, (discovery question)”

When someone says “Can you just send me an email?” you have two choices:
- accept they aren’t interested and move on
- call them out on the BS and go back into the conversation

→ example from Blissful prospecting: “firstName, can I ask you an awkward question? I’ve done a lot of these cold calls and generally when someone says this it’s really just their way of telling me they aren’t interested in my lame cold call. Am I completely off base with that?”

Owen’s cold call script

“Hi {{FirstName}} it’s Owen calling from Air Marketing, you and I haven’t spoken before but I’m just hoping you can help me out for a moment.

We help ambitious SaaS companies who’s SDRs are struggling to build enough pipeline and hit target. (depending on the current problems your leads are facing)

Obviously I don’t know enough about your situation to know if this would be a fit for you, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?

Looking for more more content to increase meetings booked rate?

*In collaboration with Lemlist.

DAY 7 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 7?

Day 5 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: Website SEO Refresh Cheat Sheet

Posted on 9 December 202230 January 2023 by Hannah Sanders

You’re planning on refreshing your company website. You’re already aware of the benefits it’ll bring your business and how it can boost your online conversions.

However, if you’re going to put all that time and effort into updating your website, you need to make sure it’s being delivered to your target audience. That’s where an SEO refresh comes in.

Not sure where to start? We’ve created this handy step-by-step guide for conducting your website SEO refresh:

To learn more about the importance of keeping your SEO up-to-date, or what to consider when carrying out SEO updates, read our article.

DAY 6 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 6?

Day 4 of Air Marketing’s 12 Days of Christmas: LinkedIn Campaign Checklist

Posted on 9 December 202230 January 2023 by Hannah Sanders

Whether you’re new to marketing or an experienced marketer, you need to be considering LinkedIn campaigns as a powerful tool to connect with your target audience.

We’ve created this Campaign Checklist to help you get the most out of your LinkedIn campaigns.

It covers everything from:

Account set-up
Campaign set-up
Audience
Bid and budget
Creative
After the campaign launch

Read and download the full checklist below.

DAY 5 OF AIR MARKETING’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What’s behind door number 5?

Month: December 2022