There are many things in life that are better when they are put together. Think of peanut butter and jelly. Both are very good by themselves, but even better when you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Think about a cello. A cello by itself sounds so beautiful playing Bach, but it is even more beautiful when it is in concert with other instruments also playing Bach.
To bring it home, your company website, social media profile, inbound marketing and your CRM are much more effective when they are used together to promote your unified brand strategy. The combined effect of each component will enable you to attract and nurture qualified leads with less effort. We want to share 4 inbound marketing strategies to use to help fill your CRM with qualified leads.
- Create Buyer Personas to generate qualified leadsA buyer persona is simply a fictional character that defines your ideal customer or group of customers. It focuses on their demographic and buying behavior. Personas are a wonderful asset to help you analyze if you are attracting the right people and gathering the right information to nurture them as customers. Without personas, the ideal customer is subject to self-interpretation by each department or sales member. Everyone needs to be on the same page otherwise you will attract many unqualified leads. There are many online persona worksheets TO USE such as Don Miller’s StoryBrand Script. You will find that working with a brand strategist will be worth your investment especially if you are a company with many product departments and customer groups.
- Create Relevant Content for Each Stage of Your Sales ProcessUse your personas as a guide to create relevant content. By knowing what your persona needs at different stages of “the buyer’s journey”, you can curate content for each stage. There is no such thing as one piece of content to reach all targets. If it is too sophisticated, you lose someone at the beginner’s stage and if you create high-level content for everyone, you will lose some prospects that are in the consideration or ready-to-buy stage. Meet targets where they are, with relevant content that addresses questions and concerns at each stage. Relevant content will attract qualified leads to add to your CRM with important information that will help you close your sale.
- Nurture Your Leads Through AutomationBy gathering quality information, you can effectively use your CRM’s automation features to nurture your leads with good content. Automation takes the stress out of remembering to follow up as well as remembering what your client needs. Your automation process should follow each stage of your sales process otherwise you may confuse your qualified lead with unnecessary content or out-of-place content meaning they are not ready for it because it is a part of a later stage. Take time to evaluate your sales process and make sure your CRM is aligned with it.
- Give Visitors a Great User ExperienceYou may have personas that help guide your content creation, but if the user experience is not efficient, you WILL lose qualified leads. Evaluate your call-to-actions and online buyer’s journey. When the customer sees a button that says “Buy Now” or “Let’s Get Started”, do they know what they are buying or why there is an urgency to get started? When you ask for information to collect in your CRM, are you asking for too much or too little? Is each step of the buyer’s journey necessary or are you asking them to take an action that is not relevant to the end product? User Experience plays a vital role to gain qualified leads from the moment a viewer visits your website to the automated emails sent from your CRM over a desired period of time.
Integrating inbound marketing strategies with your CRM pays off. You will see a rise in qualified leads and decrease in leads that are a waste of time. If you have questions about any of the strategies, let us know. Click here to contact us.
