Lead Liaison

Top 5 Socially Driven Sales Prospecting Sites

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Top 5 Socially Driven Sales Prospecting SitesTop 5 socially driven sales prospecting sites. With social media interaction in full force, businesses are afforded the opportunity to harness leads targeted specifically to their needs.  Properly prospecting to collect potential sales, however, takes more than sleight of hand and quick email responses: it requires understanding what the socialites actually ‘like’ while matching their ‘likes’ with your product offerings.  While it would appear Facebook is predominantly the go-to source for sales prospecting, you’d be surprised where more specific leads can be found.  We disseminate socially driven internet sales prospecting using communities which are more specific for businesses that need something more intuitive or in-depth which Facebook may not have the proper facilities to offer them.  Upon completion of this article, find out the leading platform to handle everything your sales team needs to close the deals – no matter where they’re found online.

Last.fm

With over 30 million audiophiles tuning in, downloading skins and enjoying occasional streaming advertisements, utilizing this social music channel would allow your business to reach millions of targeted business prospects interested in music, guitars, rock memorabilia and other products related to music.  Since this is a specific niche, the prospecting possibilities are endless.

Hi5

Those who wish to incorporate advertisement into gaming could benefit from the third largest monthly volume of visitors in social media today by putting your message in front of millions of gamers.  Inside every gamer is somebody that still runs a business or works; prospecting leads from this niche should be easily accomplished with an aggressive marketing angle.

Biznik

Another social media gem which could help create lucrative business connections and potential sales leads is Biznik, one of few that moderates individual profiles made so reputation management companies and excessive spammers cannot create automated profiles.  This beefs the potential for legitimate prospecting opportunities for all businesses while keeping things fair for all.

Manta

Business to business merchants can find loads of useful information using Manta, the authority in finding businesses to cold call or contact via email.  You can find local or national businesses using keyword searches and skim the results for suitable prospects.  Although you shouldn’t directly shill your products or services on Manta itself, you can definitely prospect potential customers quite easily.

LinkedIn

The epitome of sales prospecting is LinkedIn, perhaps the only site where finding contact cards to download has been perfected.  By joining specific groups related to your business, you can begin interaction with individual business entrepreneurs or large companies which can then be contacted to pitch your idea or sale to.  It would definitely be worth your while to pay the monthly premium cost as this allows deeper insights and contact information to be revealed.  Of all social networking platforms, LinkedIn takes the cake in terms of providing industry-specific individuals to cater to.

Before You Start

While jumping in head first seems viable, sales prospecting takes prior planning and some form of centralized lead software to handle nurturing, prospect contacting and sales campaign delivery.  Since Lead Liaison specializes in all-in-one lead solvency from finding the lead to closing the sale, let the professionals handle your social media lead prospecting quest.  The web-based software platform unveiled by Lead Liaison offers unparalleled support for your lead capture and segmentation needs.  This, of course, includes your quest to hunt down sales prospects within the social media world.

Lead Liaison

5 Tips on How to Get the Most Out of Your Marketing

/0 Comments/in , , /by

5 Tips on How to Get the Most Out of Your MarketingThe methods that successful companies use to market their products are constantly changing.  New technology, increased opportunities for exposure and the popularity of social media sites has forever altered traditional marketing. Here are five great modern tips to get the most out of your marketing.

1.      Use free social media sites to increase your exposure

There are so many great free sites like Facebook and Twitter that are quickly gaining in popularity.  It is important that every business has an effective presence on all of them regardless of their target demographic.  People of all ages and all walks of life use some form of social media platform to stay in touch with the world.  In order to market a business using social media, a company should host a contest, promotion or create a catchy post that is intriguing enough to draw visit to its page.  A business can then use their social media page to direct the potential new business to a predetermined landing page that will best represent the consumer’s interest.

2.      Prove that your company is an expert in its field

Building a company’s credibility is essential to converting new leads into new customers.  By providing free, relevant and informative blogs or articles in your field of expertise, it will establish your business as a reputable source.  A company can also re-post and comment on articles from 3rd parties to make sure there is a consistent flow of useful information.

3.      Take advantage of marketing automation

Fortunately, there are now online businesses that specialize in marketing automation.  These companies understand exactly how a business can get more out of their campaigns than they would have if they used traditional marketing methods.  By using marketing automation, these professional marketers can provide lead generation, lead scoring and lead nurturing that is automated and unbiased.  Marketing automation software defines criteria specifically for your company that is designed to determine which leads will have the highest chance for conversion, so it is easier to identify which leads are worth nurturing.

4.      Use referrals and testimonials to convince new clientele

A happy customer’s testimonial or referral is one of the easiest ways to obtain new business.  By posting and promoting positive comments from past clients, you are allowing an unbiased objective opinion to speak on your behalf.  It is important to solicit or even offer discounts to customers who are willing to sell your services.  Another beneficial idea is offering existing clients meaningful incentives for referring new clients.

5.      Personalize each message as much as possible

By using marketing automation to better understand the online history and personalities of potential leads, a company can cater each message to appeal to a specific segment of their target market.  Automated programs gather, summarize and categorize information on potential leads and utilizes it for a personal touch to each a lead nurturing campaign.

An effective marketing campaign takes precise planning in order for it to be directed at the right people at the right time in the right manner.  Following these five steps will make it easier to understand potential customers, appeal to their interests and convince them of your company’s value.  Once a business obtains a lead’s attention, the marketing efforts have to be relevant and compelling in order to secure the deal.

Lead Liaison

Creating an Effective Lead Nurturing Program

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Creating an Effective Lead Nurturing ProgramIt may not seem that complex to set up a solid lead nurturing program; however, it requires more than just planning email campaigns, importing contact lists, and sending prospects down automated marketing flows.  There are so many important things to consider for your efforts to be effective and well received.

Know your flow!

Businesses need to map out the direct path each potential lead should take to reach their website’s intended landing page.  Companies need to identify the starting and ending points of their flow, so they can guide each lead in the right direction.  Successful lead nurturing comes from knowing where you want each prospect to end up and then making sure that they get there with the least chance of interruptions or distractions.

Know where to collect data!

Every person online is leaving a trail of their personal interests based on the sites they are visiting, the products they are buying and their own unique comments or posts.  It is important that every company has a system that can pinpoint specific areas where data can be collected on the prospect and then analysed to determine whether or not the lead has any real potential.

Know your weaknesses!

Part of creating an effective lead nurturing program is finding potential problem areas where prospects may fall out of the flow.  Anytime a potential customer is within reach of your marketing efforts, it is important to grab their attention and hold on.  By identifying weaknesses in advance, specific plans can be developed to capture every valuable lead.

Know your lead’s expectations!

Today’s business-to-business buyer is highly educated and has easy access to an abundance of information, including articles and blogs posted by competitors.  To effectively nurture a lead, every message a company sends need to be relevant, informative and regularly updated.  Consumers have high expectations and lead nurturing campaigns need to meet or exceed them to stand out.

The better method you have for collecting information on leads, the easier it will be to direct them to content that will obtain and maintain their interest.  By understanding potential leads and their expectations, lead nurturing campaigns will have a higher rate of conversion.  Follow these steps to ensure that no valuable lead is lost along the way.

Lead Liaison

The Real Value in Lead Nurturing

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Real Value in Lead NurturingInterested in knowing the real value in lead nurturing? Your business needs quality leads in order for it to generate revenue and stay competitive.  There needs to be a constant flow of new potential customers in order to survive.  By using modern marketing automation software, it will give you a greater advantage when it comes to generating leads and making the most out of each new prospect.  The secret to successful lead generation and effective marketing starts with an accurate scoring process.  The scoring process assesses the potential in each online inquiry to determine which leads are qualified and worth it for your sales team to pursue.  The next and most valuable step in the process is turning the qualified leads into actual sales.  This happens by using a process called lead nurturing.

Lead nurturing will score leads based on inherent buying signals and it will assess how well they match your ideal customer profile.  By scoring the lead based on their personal compatibility to your company, you can then determine which leads are worthy of more effort and which are not worth your time at all.  If you are using marketing automation for your lead generation then you can also program the software that you are using to send automatic alerts to your sales reps based on the ones that have the highest potential for conversion.

Lead nurturing through marketing automation will also set up auto-response emails and
marketing campaigns directly to potential customers.  Typically, a lead nurturing program includes a variation of informative letters, emails, articles, voicemails, case studies, success stories, events, white papers and webcasts strategically planned to target specific qualified leads.  The greater variety in the approach, the more likely there will be a positive response.

A key aspect of effective lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to prospects at no charge to them, so that you are first establishing yourself as a trusted advisor.  You will then become the perceived expert in your respective field and they will turn to you with their future questions or concerns.  You don’t need to have a strong sales pitch or an outrageous gimmick to grab their attention.  Instead, simply provide insights and solutions on your area of expertise to build your reputation in the potential customer’s eyes.  Then the odds are that you will be the first company they will call on when there is a need for your services.

Your business cannot grow without a stream of quality leads coming in on a regular basis.  Your business needs to continue to secure new customers and now the process of obtaining and converting those leads into sales is more efficient.  Through a solid lead nurturing strategy and a productive sales team, the possibilities are endless!

Lead Liaison

Minimize Marketing Efforts, Maximize Profits with Marketing Automation

/0 Comments/in /by

Minimize Marketing Efforts, Maximize Profits

Maximize Profits with Marketing Automation & Minimize Efforts

Want to know how to minimize marketing efforts and maximize profits with marketing automation? Organizations can save up to one-fourth of their total sales and marketing costs by adopting marketing automation tools and strategy. Any business these days entails too many tasks and requires you to devote too many hours in a day. You need to put in more effort and more time, as the challenges and competition grow further and the reach to empowered consumers spreads out. Marketing automation effectively allows streamlining of workflow and enhances customer interaction in a more personalized way assuring maximum efficiency and profit with minimum efforts.

Marketing Automation Assures Better Leads and Sales

You can beat challenges and create better leads with the implementation of marketing automation. Remember all leads do not assure sales. It is only identification and tracking of better leads that guarantee sales. Effective marketing automation strategy enables businesses to identify, select, and manage leads without putting in too much effort and time. Automated systems provide metrics on each visitor, prospect, and lead maturation trends empowering you to make strategic decisions. With minimal effort you can track leads, convert sales prospects, and make your marketing deliver better results.

Marketing Automation Optimizes Time and Efforts

To beat competition businesses need to meet in more time than usual to outwork their competitors. On one side, you have to carry on the process of business expansion and on the other, you need to learn new concepts, technology, social marketing, lead generation, and build and manage relationships. Use marketing automation to relieve yourself of time-consuming tasks that keep your days buried in work.  The latest digital marketing tools enable you to monitor and follow leads without manual intervention. This leaves you with time to optimize business strategy, look for innovations, and stay with your family while reaping benefits of error-free automatic marketing.

Improve Client Management and Relationship Building

Much like businesses, today’s customers value time and personal engagement. They want relevant, customized, and on-time messages that befit their life style, choice, and orientation. With marketing automation tools, you can track buying behavior of customers, create rich prospect profiles, and build up relevant engagement strategies. It also allows you to create segmented database of customers and develop insight into customer communication at different key points, welcoming, purchasing, post-purchasing, and upselling. You or your staff can easily communicate with prospective customers or existing clients while continuing lead tracking.

Beat the Competition with Better Campaign Management

Use marketing automation to reinforce your campaign and gain competitive advantage. Automated marketing allows businesses to design campaigns of content based on customized scenarios and share it with clients. With advanced automation tools, you can create campaigns through email, blogging, and social media with minimum efforts.  It assists in streamlining pre-existing, new, and potential clients as per their preference and segments prospects. This enables marketers to send regular messages with milestones tailored according to individual needs and time and empowers sales. You can schedule the campaign, make it personalized, and improve the possibility of sales.

Put marketing automation to the test and build a solid strategy to reach customers early and effectively. It not only assures qualified leads, prospect conversion, and data analysis, but also saves time and resources analyzing ROI. Start your intelligent marketing using the right automation strategy, expand your customer base, drive revenue, and stay ahead of competitors.

Lead Liaison

Targeting Leads Using Marketing Automation

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Targeting Leads Using Marketing AutomationTry targeting leads using marketing automation. Thanks to impressive advancements in modern technology anyone can now manage the targeting, timing, and content of their outbound marketing messages in direct response to prospect’s online behavior.  Marketing automation is designed to first qualify each potential lead and then target the leads based on their established online history.  Lead qualification criteria are setup specifically for each business, so every aspect can be customized to find leads that have the greatest potential.

It is quality over quantity when it comes to potential business, so any program that can categorize each lead based on how their interests relate to your company’s main focus is worth its weight in gold.  Marketing automation searches for strong leads that have a higher chance of conversion.

Marketing automation qualifies leads by analyzing prospects online activity, so a potential vendor can better understand needs and buying patterns even before first contact is made.  This way the marketing team can create campaigns designed specifically to appeal to customers they are targeting.  Marketing automation uses website activity profiles to segment your audiences for various campaigns based on their personal interests. For example, if you know someone has registered to run a marathon and you sell high end fitness gear, then you can direct the ad towards how your shoes are superior for long distances.

Every marketer wants to get to know their potential customer’s faster and the best way to tap into their thought process is to analyze the sites they are visiting, the articles they are reading and the products they are purchasing.  Marketing automation does all of that in less time than humanly possible.

Marketing automation also allows you to personalize your lead nurturing efforts to target specific leads by providing them with useful and relevant content.  Imagine sending educational articles geared toward subjects that the potential customer is interested in reading.  Companies can sell their product or service in a more subtle way.

Marketing automation can also create landing pages that adapt to different audience segments.  A company has mere seconds to grab a potential customer’s attention since first impressions are important.   By customizing every interaction to prospect’s unique taste, it will automatically improve your conversion rate.

In today’s high tech world there is no need to randomly spread marketing messages hoping the right people will see it at the right time.  By using marketing automation a company can specifically target each prospect based on their personal interests.

Lead Liaison

Why Is a Lead Management System Important?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Why Is a Lead Management System ImportantAfter your marketing efforts generate a lead, what happens to it? According to recent reports, most marketing leads are never pursued. In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of leads generated through marketing get lost, discarded or ignored. That’s a lot of lost revenue. The most effective way to prevent leads from evaporating is to use a lead management system.

Why is having a lead management system important? There are two answers: 1) you’ve spent money and resources on marketing activities to capture a lead, so it’s important not to waste that effort; and 2) most leads don’t convert on the first impression, which means they need to be nurtured over time.

So, most organizations can benefit from implementing a lead management system. Some of the more important benefits include:

Lead Organization

An lead management system provides an organized method of classifying and scoring leads as they are captured. They can be organized in multiple ways – by geography, media channel, behavioral traits, engagement period and more. Without a lead management system, it can be challenging to coordinate distribution or maintain an appropriate exposure schedule.

Response time

Today’s consumer demands rapid response to an inquiry. Without a lead management system, requests to the most likely buyers might be delayed. If some leads don’t receive a response in one hour to one day, they have likely moved on to other options. Lead management allows a company to schedule automated responses – including requests made during peak hours and off hours – which allow companies to maintain contact with leads while requests are distributed to the appropriate departments.

Lead distribution

For companies with large sales territories, a lead management system provides an organized flow of leads to the sales force, either geographically or chronologically or by product line. This helps optimize the sales staff by distributing leads to appropriate salespeople in a timely fashion. The distribution process helps optimize the sales team’s efficiency – and reduces the risk of calling on dead ends.

Lead tracking   

With a lead management system a company is able to determine a lead’s position in the sales pipeline in real-time. When leads become more engaged they can be scheduled to receive more influential exposures, such as webinar invitations or free white papers. As they progress through marketing impressions, leads can be prioritized for sales engagements. Lead management often promotes accurate sales forecasting, which leads to better operations management.

Build and maintain a relationship

Many buyers are not prepared to purchase after only one or two contacts. A lead management system funnels leads through a process of multiple engagements, so buyers become more familiar with the company or products and more comfortable with the decision to buy. When a lead requests information, responds to free offers, clicks a link or views a page, those actions create a profile that can be analyzed then used as a guide during sales calls.

Lead Liaison

Use Marketing Automation to Avoid Human Error

/0 Comments/in , , /by

To ensure that marketers are able to target potential leads with the right messages at the right time, today’s businesses need a marketing automation software platform that can automatically tailor messaging, as well as the timing of their marketing communications to provide the optimal results.  Automation provides a more accurate and thorough process than someone who may have their own agenda.

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” – Bill Gates

By having an unbiased view without personal preferences, lead data produced will end up being a more realistic reflection of each lead.  Every interaction is being judged by the same criteria and will be evaluated solely on merit rather than human opinion.   Leads that may not strike an individual as having potential could rate as a qualified lead when objectively considered by a marketing automation program.

Marketing automation software can also run email campaigns and track responses, which is normally a very tedious and time consuming task.  If a person was managing your campaigns, they may miss out on opportunities simply due to time crunches or failure to see the potential in a specific lead.   Marketing automation can organize and interpret data faster without the potential for human error.

People may have the tendency to rush through work assignments and they often miss important things without realizing it.  It is only human to make mistakes, but fortunately software programs are guaranteed to do exactly what you instruct them to do.  That way you can be sure that everything it is supposed to look for has been reviewed and that every potentially useful fact has been considered.  An automated system can easily adapt to handle an increase in volume without an increase in cost or time.  If it wasn’t automated, there would be an increase in salary and a higher probability of human error any time work load increased.   Human capital is going to go up when business improves, but not marketing automation. If the company already has a smooth running operation and a clear understanding of their target market, then it only makes sense to put it on autopilot.

Use marketing automation to improve efficiency of your business’s lead generation efforts and to remove costly human error.

Lead Liaison

Maximizing Results Using Marketing Automation

/0 Comments/in , /by

Maximizing Results Using Marketing AutomationIt’s important to understand how to begin maximizing results using marketing automation. Marketing automation is a tool for increasing operational efficiency and for generating revenue. It is about automating the routine and repeatable tasks associated with lead management, lead nurturing, lead qualifying, and creating and maintaining a marketing lead database. If it is done right, then it can help marketing organizations improve their productivity as well as their collaboration with sales organizations. Automation software enables marketing departments to measure what works and determine the impact on revenue. It does this by integrating with your existing sales force automation system, so that it makes marketing a true partner with sales throughout the lead management process.

Making the Most Out of Your Reach

Marketing automation helps you locate and engage prospects everywhere possible. Prospects may touch your blog, community site, social pages or a partner page, but they may not be visiting any site pages that are monitored by your revenue generating software (RGS) system. So simply engage the prospects wherever they are, with interactive, branded, marketing strategies that are embedded wherever possible. You can use partner-owned channels, their web sites, email blasts, community sites or any other avenue that is available. Rapidly create and offer engaging co-branded marketing units to partners, so they can easily incorporate into their campaigns. You can also launch using their channels to mutual prospects. This allows you to capture a short-form lead, right at the point of engagement. This will result in less re-directs, less friction, fewer dropped leads and fewer opportunities missed.

Tracking Prospects

Marketing automation can tell you what web pages a specific prospect has visited. You can use that information to score a lead to determine if the lead is sales-ready. You send out newsletters and nurturing emails to tens of thousands of prospects every month. You can learn more about specific prospects and their needs directly from your email. Marketing automation allows you to get answers in a simple, non-intrusive way, no matter where the prospect engaged with your brand.

Gathering Data

Marketing automation systems, along with real-time IP data providers are delivering more accurate information from prospects for landing pages and it is common to pre-fill form fields with the prospect’s crucial customer information (mapped from the prospect’s IP address). It is now possible is to leverage the same real-time IP data, combined with target account or account relationship information in an RGS system to dynamically change and serve highly targeted, relevant, marketing offers everywhere. Marketers will soon be able to define rules in their RGS system to map or update target accounts into different sales pipeline stages. RGS systems will then interact with external partner systems to make all of this possible.

Get More from Marketing Automation

Marketing automation can increase sales through lead nurturing using multi-touch, multi-offers nurturing campaigns. It also uses outbound marketing to follow up, nurture and qualify inbound sales leads. Use automation-driven campaigns to generate more referral or to up-sell  cross-sell, and resell to existing customers. Marketing automation can increase sales productivity by focusing on qualified leads and reactivate old leads. It also offers useful content to build your site’s credibility. There are so many powerful ways that marketing automation can maximize your results and generate increased revenue.

Lead Liaison

How to Optimize your Marketing Efforts Using Marketing Automation

/0 Comments/in , , /by

How to optimize your marketing efforts using marketing automationOptimize your marketing efforts using marketing automation. In today’s competitive business environment marketing needs to be directed to the right person at the right time in the right manner.  It is no surprise at all that older techniques no longer bring in the results that one would normally anticipate.  Consumers are changing, competition has become global and technology is offering businesses more opportunities to directly engage with potential customers.  Your marketing plan has to keep up with current trends if you expect it to grow to reach its full potential.

Marketing automation has the power to generate revenue in faster and more predictable cycles than traditional marketing campaigns.  In order to obtain optimal responses from your marketing efforts, you will need a proven system that can qualify leads that are worth nurturing and targeting.  Using it will increase your profitability due to the use of marketing strategies that are designed specifically to improve your lead conversion rate.  It works because it starts with scoring and qualifying leads before your sales team’s valuable time is invested and it follows up with a proven plan to nurture those leads into new business.

You can use marketing automation to develop new ways to segment your list of leads by combining demographic information with the behavioral data of potential consumers.  You can create marketing offers targeted to specific buyer profiles or personalities.  Marketing automation will help you identify the areas of your revenue cycle that need the most improvement, so you can prioritize your efforts.

Instead of a manual process that can be quite time-consuming and could lead to human error, marketing automation solutions are programmed to be efficient and accurate.  It will enable you to create sophisticated and engaging campaigns that automatically respond to prospect’s behaviors, life-cycle segments and other predetermined criteria.

Marketing automation is necessary technology to support and optimize your potential for growth.  Use it to handle the many complex and time-consuming aspects of lead scoring, lead nurturing and lead management, so your time can be spent securing leads that have the greatest potential for conversion.  At its essence, marketing automation is the optimization of the entire marketing process, from campaign planning to execution to the analysis of the ROI.

One of the beauties of marketing automation software is that companies can use it in numerous ways to meet the specific goals of their particular business. Companies will employ marketing automation to create, execute, manage, and measure the success of their online marketing programs in order to get optimal results.