Category: Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is a powerful tool for businesses to use to generate leads. Marketing automation software, like Keap, helps you automate many of the repetitive tasks involved in lead generation and marketing, freeing up your time so that you can focus on more important aspects of your business. You don’t have to be a marketing guru, or an IT expert, to create automated campaigns. Marketing automation is the best way for small business owners with limited time and resources to generate leads that convert into sales. In this article, we will discuss how marketing automation can help you get more customers by generating leads and nurturing them until they are ready to buy!

Not everyone is ready to buy on their first interaction with you, so it’s important to continue to nurture them, building relationships and trust all along the way until they’re ready to become a customer. Think of a garden full of green tomatoes…there is nothing wrong with the tomatoes, they’re just not ripe yet! It would make no sense to rip them out of the ground and start over simply because they’re not ripe yet…they just need a little water and some tender loving care, until they become red and ripe and are ready to eat.

And yet, small to medium-size business owners often seem to think they need more leads…more leads…MORE LEADS! …in order to grow their business, when nothing is wrong with the leads they have in the first place, they’re just not ripe yet – they’re not yet ready to buy.

So how do we capture more leads and nurture them into paying customers?

Step One

Step one is to take the time to identify what’s important to your customers. Who are they? Where do they hang out? What do they read or who do they follow? What PAIN do they have, and how can you help them solve it? What are their fears, and what are their possible objections to the sale? The better you understand your audience, and the more specific you can be about who your ideal customer is, the more they are likely to hear you and connect with you. They will seek you out!

After you’ve identified who your ideal customer is and what’s important to them, then you need a strategy. You can’t just “wing it” and hope for the best – that never works!

Once you have your customer insights and strategies in place, then it’s time to execute these ideas with a marketing automation software like Keap. With Keap you can create automated campaigns that are personalized and relevant to the individual. Imagine a pet store with customers who own dogs, cats, and fish. The dog owners don’t care about cat food, and cat owners don’t care about fish tanks. With Keap, you can send dog owners relevant information about dogs, and cat owners relevant information about cats. This is called “market segmentation” and helps your customers pay attention because they are receiving only relevant information from you about things they care about.

Step Two

Step two is to set up an automated system that can segment your leads according to their interests, nurture them with relevant information, and give them a “Call To Action” – a small offer that’s easy to say “yes” to. Remember – the most difficult buying decision your prospective customers will ever have to make is the first one, because it fundamentally changes their relationship with you. So make the first purchase an easy one!

Step Three

Step three is to track everything. Metrics are important – knowing where your leads are coming from and what they respond to allows you to better focus your efforts and resources on what’s working best.

To sum up: The best way for small business owners with limited time and resources to generate leads that convert into sales is through nurture powered by marketing automation.

For more information about Marketing Automation or for a free trial of Keap, visit www.zebramarketingsolutions.com.

The key to success in email marketing is sending the right type of email at the right time. It’s important to understand the types of emails that businesses send, and how to use them. So take a look at these 3 types of marketing emails, and think of how you are or how you might use them in your business!

1. Promotional Emails – these are the most common type of marketing emails, and their purpose is to make an offer to your email list. The offer could be promotional content, a white paper or webinar, a brand announcement, a new product release and more. A whopping 66% of consumers have made a purchase as a direct result of an email marketing message, so it’s no wonder promotional emails are so popular – they work!

2. Relational Emails – these deliver value to your customers by providing free content and information, such as subscriber welcomes, newsletters, blog articles, surveys, social updates and more. Relational emails may not make an offer, or sell a product or service directly, but they are designed to build relationships with the customer by adding value up front. For example, when your email subscriber receives a piece of high-quality content in your e-newsletter, he or she is interacting with your brand in a deeper and more meaningful way.

3. Transactional emails – these are sent in response to an action that a customer has taken with your brand. They include messages such as order confirmations, receipts, coupon codes, shipping notifications, password reminders and more. This type of email is often overlooked as an opportunity to give customers an idea of the voice behind your brand, and what it is like to do business with you. Do you deliver what you promised? Do you respect your customer’s wishes? The leads and customers on your email list are observing how you do business, and transactional emails are a big part of that!

The purpose of email marketing is to move a customer along their customer journey. From prospect to customer, and from customer to raving fan! Whether it’s keeping a customer excited about a purchase they’ve recently made, or adding value in advance with your e-newsletter, you’ll want to keep these 3 types of emails in mind for email marketing success!

Need some help with your email marketing? Contact Us or set up a Complimentary Consultation for more information!

When you enter a sales meeting of any sort — be it online, on the phone, or in person — your expectation is to walk out with a win. After all, you wouldn’t go through the pain of preparing if you weren’t sure you can meet your clients’ ultimate needs, right?

Unfortunately, the sales funnel isn’t very forgiving. If you want your pitch to resonate with potential customers, you have to personalize your message such that it speaks to your audience. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Put Professional Online Stalking to Work. LinkedIn and Twitter can be your best friends when you’re trying to learn more about your prospective customers. Search social media sources to learn what your prospects talk about, what language or tone they use, and which word choices might work best. The more you know about your consumer, the better you can position your brand.

2. Put Out the Right Attitude. Are you working with someone who’s laid back and has no worries, or are you dealing with a corporate executive who’s spent 35 years on his or her career journey? You can send the same message two very different ways, depending on the recipient. It’s important to know who you’re talking to.

3. Respond Accordingly. Read your respondents’ behaviors. Do they need a friendly, enthusiastic follow-up, or will they react better to conservative approaches?

Need help bolstering your marketing strategies to new levels? Book your free Strategy Session with our Zebra Marketing Solutions team today!

Everybody talks about how important it is to keep your content fresh. That’s because it is important.

With so much buzz about blogs and the importance of great web pages, it may feel like fresh content magically appears on the internet all the time. Unfortunately, as many small business owners have come to realize, generating awesome ideas isn’t always as easy as it seems.

If you’re stuck at your desk with blogger’s block, here are a few ideas you can use to help keep your content flowing fresh:

1. What do people ask you?

You probably don’t realize it, but every time a customer asks you a question, they’re providing you with the foundation for content. Each time you receive an inquiry, jot it down. You can then provide answers by way of blogs, newsletters, and landing pages.

• What do you do? This is a fundamental question that you should easily be able to answer, but it’s often harder than it should be. A few brainstorming sessions should provide you with an assortment of responses. Don’t discard any of them! Instead, reach for a new response when your idea well runs dry.
• How can you help me? How can you help your customers? Identify your competitive advantages so you can highlight them in your content.

2. What’s going on in the world?

The key to great content is keeping it relevant. Talk about industry trends, pop culture, and interesting news bites. Be sure to relate your tidbits back to your business so your theme makes sense to your audience (and so search engines understand what you’re getting at.)

3. Who are you?

Introduce your team members so your readers get to know your business on a more personal level. Highlight accomplishments, achievements, team-building, and charitable giving. Your content space provides the perfect real estate for a more intimate connection with your consumers.

Looking for more small business tips and digital marketing tricks? Be sure to check out our Zebra Marketing Solutions blog!

Are you guilty of decorating your office with brightly-colored little squares that contain tons of contact information? If sticky notes have become the wallpaper and main accessory in your office, it’s time to banish the chaos in favor of a de-cluttered contact list.

It never fails — People only seem to need their business cards when they have none. Sticky notes become runners-up, allowing you to jot down potential customers’ names, email addresses, and other vital information. Before you know it, a whole new layer of fluorescent shades is stuck around your computer screen.

Unless you’ve figured out a way to hit “send” on your sticky notes, your marketing efforts may be suffering at the hands of your handy little scribbles.

Segmenting = Optimal Marketing

When you segment your contact list, you’re able to target them with content that’s relevant to their specific needs, rather than hoping for one-size-fits-all content solutions.

Each subset of customers helps you hone in on information you can use to make your marketing campaigns more efficient and effective. Here are a few key factors you might want to consider as you set up your segments:

• Geography
• Gender
• Buying frequency
• Industry
• Past purchases

This list could go on forever. Find what works for you, and make strides for continuous improvement.

Personalization = Improved Customer Experiences

Unless you have the memory of an elephant, you’re probably not going to be able to store every conversation you’ve had with your customers over time. Thankfully, with the help of an organized contact list and a great CRM (customer relationship management database), you can easily:

• Make notes about past orders or interactions
• Track customer activity
• Learn what makes your customers tick

Once you record the information, it’s easily accessible anytime you need to reference it in the future.

Now that you know how important an organized contact list is to your business, let’s make your newfound knowledge work for you! Sign up for free inbound marketing tips from our team at Zebra Marketing Solutions today!