How quickly do you respond to your leads once they engage with your digital marketing? The longer you wait, the easier it is for them to forget about you. We’re not saying you need to reach out the moment they email or call. But if you let an entire day go by without acknowledging them, you could find yourself right back at Square 1. In a world of instant communication and smartphone apps, leads expect you to be ready to talk to them if you’re serious about doing business. If you find it difficult to keep up with your lead management, marketing efforts, and website maintenance, here are a few suggestions to make that easier and improve your overall response time:
Automate your marketing
Most email and social media platforms these days offer some sort of automated scheduling feature. For instance, if you’re focusing on your initial lead generation, use Prospecto: it finds and develops a database of active contacts by verifying their email addresses. Those who enter your normal sales cycle can then be imported into a marketing automation platform like SharpSpring, which sends additional automated campaigns, segments your database, and integrates posts with your social media channels. Both systems have the ability to report KPIs that tell you who’s engaging with your content, and which messaging has the most pull with your audience.
Create a content funnel
Make sure that your leads understand what steps they need to take to engage with your brand. Blogs are a great way to do that, because you’re offering valuable content that then ties into your services. But getting people to read your blog organically can be difficult, not simply because it takes a while for new posts to become ranked, but because leads aren’t always invested in reading a lot of information when all they want is a simple answer to a particular pain point. Instead, push out an email campaign and a social post that reference or summarize a blog, hit on a relevant pain point, and entice readers to click through to read more. Whether they’re going to your blog or your website’s homepage, there should be a highly visible call to action that prompts them to continue their buyer’s journey. That could include opting in on an email distribution list or having a phone call with you — something to keep the ball moving.
Monitor your social channels
If you enable comments on your blogs or social media, you need to appoint someone to monitor them. While you may not initially have a lot of responses to review, you certainly won’t grow your engagement if you don’t acknowledge the few who do. Part of generating more interest is by starting conversations, sharing feedback, and demonstrating to your audience that you value their input.
Pick up the phone
Some marketers and sales folks think email is a cozy replacement for a phone, but that’s not really the case. Sure, leads might ask you for a quote or send in an initial request to talk, but most don’t close deals online. They need at least a phone call or a Zoom meeting so that real people with real faces are exchanging ideas and agreeing to a proposal. And when those requests for calls come in, someone needs to be available to answer. Again, the longer you wait, the more likely your leads will move on to someone else.
If this arrangement sounds a little overwhelming, we can help. Marketing Armor offers professional lead generation, email automation, content development, and digital marketing management. Click the link below for a free consultation to see how each of these can benefit your business.
