blogging Archives

5 Secrets of the Best Sales Emails

Posted on November 19, 2017February 26, 2024 by teamsstepup

Why should you spend time planning and writing a sales email? Because when done right, it absolutely works to drive traffic to your business. A recent talk by Heather Morgan from SalesFolk highlighted ways to create the best sales emails for your business.

Download our guide to email follow up after a trade show.

There are many reasons to consider reaching out to prospects via email. First, marketing has changed significantly in the last decade. There is more competition in all industries and it is no longer enough just to shout “I am here!” and wait for the work to appear. Telemarketing and cold calls are hard and not as effective. You need to adapt your approach to continue to gain new customers and projects.

Inbound marketing is the new way to attract and educate qualified leads, but building quality content takes time. You also have to spread this content over multiple channels such as email marketing, Facebook, and LinkedIn to attract leads to your website.

If done right, sales emails can be very an effective way to attract, educate, and retain clients. Here are five principles to follow to create an effective sales email:

Know Your Audience

Are you writing to the CEO? Then your email should address concerns most CEOs have such as cutting costs and boosting sales. Writing to the engineers? Then talk about tolerance, maintenance costs, or customization options. Spend some time looking at the web profiles of the company and individuals you’re targeting. You’ll be able to learn what they’re reading about and where their interests are. You can also see what thought leaders and industry influencers they follow. From this information, you can understand what their concerns are and how they’re making decisions. All this information can help you draft a better sales email.

Get a Reaction

People react to an email for three reasons:

Curiosity: Humans are, by nature, curious about things they aren’t familiar with. Use curiosity to get people to open your emails by employing leading questions as your subject line.
Desire: When you can paint a compelling picture of how you’re going to solve a problem and improve their situation, clients are quickly motivated to take action.
Fear: This is when you talk about situations people want to avoid. You can target their problems and pain points. Just be careful that your email is designed to motivate quick action and not make them give up.

Download our guide to email follow up after a trade show.

Create a Feeling of Trust

Call on existing customers to brag about your company. When it’s someone else exclaiming your virtues, prospects are more likely to take note. Ask your current clients to share a story about how you’ve helped them succeed. Get them to describe what it’s like working with you. Share a picture of your client or their name so that they are relatable.

Have a Clear Goal for Your Email

It is important to be specific about the goal of your email. Do you want the prospect to call you? Fill out a form? If you know what your goal is, you can craft your entire email towards the one simple action you want the prospect to take.

Collect Data

Be a data fanatic. Set goals for your sales campaigns and measure your results. Modern email marketing tools come equipped with email testing capabilities, advanced reporting, and lots of specific insight into what’s happening with each email.

Many people are afraid of cold emailing, but success really depends on your state of mind. If you have a great product or service that can truly help the people you’re contacting, then it is your obligation to sell it.

Now you know you need to send sales emails – but what to write? Check out our free guide of proven follow up sales email templates for ideas of emails to use throughout the sales process, and for every kind of lead. Templates can help you semi-automate your follow up process, save time, and reach more of the leads you want. When you use the right tools, the right leads will come your way.

Three Key Tips for Converting the Right Leads

Posted on October 26, 2017February 26, 2024 by teamsstepup

Every business has a specific customer they’re looking for – preferably one who can afford their services and is ready to make a purchasing decision. For B2C companies, this customer might be clear to everyone. But for B2B companies and in particular industrial companies, often only the owner of the business inherently understands the profile of their ideal customer. Communicating this to sales and marketing teams, and making sure that you are converting the right leads, is a challenge.

Inbound marketing is a marketing methodology that addresses this issue. In contrast to traditional marketing or even digital marketing, inbound marketing involves creating a system that starts with understanding the ideal customer. This understanding then guides an entire process of communication. Here are three key steps you can follow to start building an inbound system:

1. Create a Clear Buyer Persona

Take the time to sit down and draft a persona for your ideal customer. What role do they hold within their organization? How educated are they about your industry? What specific needs do they have that your company can fill? Is there a certain size or type of order they might need?

For businesses marketing to other businesses, this means that your buyer is generally someone in management or procurement at another business. They’re generally well educated and have done at least some basic research about your industry. Define exactly who this person is so that sales and marketing are reaching people who can make decisions, have projects your business can complete, and are focusing on converting the right leads.

2. Ensure Marketing and Sales Alignment

Particularly when businesses focus heavily on a professional sales team, marketing may get less focus. However, marketing still plays an important role in making sure the message is consistent and that potential leads are aware of the brand. Regular communication between marketing and sales personnel will ensure that marketing isn’t over-promising the company’s capabilities and the sales team is presenting a consistent, professional image.

3. Create a Clear Sales Funnel

In a manufacturing company, there is a clear process required for each task within the manufacturing process. In the same way, creating a sales funnel where a prospect goes from a stranger to a customer makes sure you’re capturing the information you need to make informed marketing decisions. It also ensures you can properly analyze every lead that comes your way, focusing on converting the right leads that will become customers.

Start with a clear process to document and track leads and move them from someone who is just learning about your business into a prospective customer. Your sales team should also have a clear process to follow for approving and sending out request for quotes and handling changes requested by customers. Even a simple process can be useful to make sure you don’t miss any details and, if set up correctly, can scale as your company grows.

Handling the marketing aspects of a growing business may seem like you have to learn a completely new, and highly technical, subject. That’s why collaborating with an outside marketing firm that specializes in B2B sales such as StepUp Marketing is helpful. While you’ll still have to articulate clearly who your buyer is, they have the technical expertise to set up the marketing processes that feed directly into your sales funnel.

Blogging For Business – 5 Reasons To Apply It To Your Business ASAP

Posted on March 27, 2017February 26, 2024 by teamsstepup

In the past, blogs were considered a rarity within the business world – very niche specific, without much value. Now, this is no longer true – blogging for business has evolved to be the main staple in most business marketing strategies and more specifically, within any inbound marketing strategy.

While blogging can take some time and may even seem slightly daunting, the advantages of having a blog for your business are numerous and hard to ignore.

Business Blogging Defined

First, it’s important to note that business blogging looks different than other forms of blogging. Perhaps you choose to blog in your free time, or maybe you’re a frequent reader of travel blogs, that’s all great. But with business blogs, you must keep in mind that its main purpose is to be part of a strategic marketing plan.

The length of posts can range drastically, yet what’s important is that you treat the blog as a part of your company’s website, and keep the subject of posts relevant to what you are selling or providing.

The goal of the blog should be to increase online visibility, whether that is through SEO or social media. Use your company’s expertise to share insights of real value with potential customers. Ensure that posts are speaking to your client’s challenges, holding their interest and proving to them that you are established within your specific industry. Showing them the value that your company has to offer simultaneously promotes your service or product, prompting traffic to be converted into leads.

Why Blog?

In 2017, a blog for your business has more to offer than ever before. The overhead is low, and the benefits are high. Consider this:

Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links
82% of consumers enjoy reading relevant content from brands
Websites with a blog have 434% more indexed pages
77% of internet users admit to using blogs

Here are five best reasons why we believe blogging for your business is a must:

#1. Business Blogging Drives Traffic

This was briefly mentioned above but is important enough to really dig into. Specifically, with Inbound Marketing, driving traffic (instead of being annoying/distracting) truly is key.

Make sure to view your blog as an extension of your website. Hopefully, your website has been kept simple and doesn’t have a lot of pages, yet most likely isn’t updated as frequently as a blog would be updated. Which is perfectly fine, because blog posts are basically just indexed pages on your website.

A statistic from Hubspot notes that 78% of internet users are turning to the internet to do their product research. With frequent blog posts addressing the concerns of your potential consumers, the odds of them stumbling upon those indexed pages are high.

With every blog that you write and post, you are increasing your chances of:

Showing up in search engines (driving traffic)
Increasing your social media presence with your current audience/followers
Expanding the potential of being discovered via social media by new potential leads

Think of it this way – with each blog post you are publishing, you are increasing the odds that your audience will be sharing and re-sharing this post to others. It’s a simple way to build on free marketing, while also building credibility.

All the above examples are working towards your end goal of driving more traffic, resulting in more potential leads. Which brings us to our second reason.

#2. Blogging & Building Leads

In short, having a blog for your business is going to generate more leads, it’s as simple as that. The traffic that we mentioned above, some of it is looking specifically for your product or service, and therefore are well-positioned to be converted into leads once discovering your blog. When it comes to converting those leads, the use of ‘call to action’ opportunities within the blog are crucial.

Blogs are a GREAT opportunity to utilize CTA’s. Some simple CTA’s to consider adding to blog posts can range from free fact sheets, webinars, training, even an e-book; any simple value-add that encourages a visitor to exchange their contact information. Without a CTA, it may be little more challenging to ensure that you’re turning blog traffic into leads.

Part of turning your traffic into leads is also developing that relationship. The language or tone that your blog uses may help to connect more with your audience than your actual website does. When writing posts, consider asking questions towards the end to promote comments from your readers; which also will give you a view into the kind of traffic you are seeing come through your blog, and what kind of solutions they may be seeking out.

Along with building relationships with your traffic and/or potential leads comes the perk of also building trust. Or in other words, credibility.

#3. Creating Credibility

Stemming directly from the concept of building relationships through your blog now comes the concept of establishing yourself as a credible source of information to your audience; one of authority. The more that you are able to interact with your prospects and answer their questions, the more quickly you can build up that authority.

Perhaps there is confusion around a certain issue, or a visitor is unsure of how to solve a particular problem. If an existing blog post of yours is able to answer a question or solve that problem, you’re able to quickly (and easily) build up that credibility with a visitor, simultaneously increasing the chances of turning them into a lead.

It makes sense; if you’re able to organically utilize a blog to answer questions, the chances of your audience then trusting you and being willing to enter the sales process will be much higher than without. Not to mention the fact that your leads are coming to you more educated because of that blog, which may enable them to actually move through the sales process more quickly than those being established from ground zero.

At the end of the day, you should be striving to create a blog that establishes yourself as the “go-to” resource when it comes to your industry. Provide educational, easy-to-digest knowledge for your blog traffic, and you will build leads that trust you – leading to higher customer conversion rates. It’s as simple as that.

#4. Connecting With Clients

A business blog is also a great tool to genuinely connect with your customers, and communicate with one another. Focus on posting content that addresses issues or pain points that they have (and that you can solve), or use posts to further explore areas that may also be of interest to your audience.

It can be a great resource to test new ideas and thoughts on different solutions or products, by posting and then seeing how your audience directly responds. Using the “comment” feature at the bottom of a blog post is a must; end posts by encouraging your readers to respond to it with their thoughts or questions, and then use that direct feedback as some navigation as your business continues to move forward.

Perhaps your readers are choosing to reach out and comment on challenges that you had never even considered before. Just like the use of social media, blogs can be a great opportunity to then use that information that is freely given to you, and explore ideas within your own business, so that you can possibly offer solutions around those pain points being voiced while growing your business over time.

#5. In it for the Long-Haul

The last thing to consider when it comes to blogging for your business is that blog posts can help grow your business, forever. If you are writing relevant content for your readers to absorb and utilize, your blog posts will continue to bring traffic to your website for years to come.

Think about it. Once you share a new blog post, the hope is that it gets shared, reshared, read through emails being sent out, social media, and so on. This helps your blog to get ranked in search engines and then sets you up to be found in the future – for the weeks and months to come.

So essentially we are suggesting that a blog is not only a short-term but a long-term investment. As long as posts contain a value, they will continue to offer value as long as they continue to exist out there on the world wide web. Be patient, don’t always expect immediate results, and trust that traffic (and leads) will continue to flow in from your blog, over time.

Hubspot – our marketing platform – actually reported that 70% of their blog traffic per month actually comes from posts that weren’t even published during that month. The traffic came from old posts. Old posts, with great value.

It’s Time to Blog for Your Business

When it comes to building your business, blogging can be an extremely relevant, helpful tool, without having to put excessive amounts of time and effort into it. And the best part is, if you don’t know where to start, there are plenty of resources out there to help you launch your business blog and get it underway.

Questions? Comments? Want some help with starting a blog – or your entire marketing campaign? Get in touch with us today!

12 Most important marketing tactics to grow your business in 2017

Posted on January 8, 2017February 26, 2024 by teamsstepup

At the start of every new year we say to ourselves that this year is going to be different: “This year we will set some real goals and achieve them.” “This year we will be proud of ourselves and blown away by the progress that our business made.”

Yet usually, we wake up on the last day of the year and feel that something went wrong… again! We look at our business and see that we aren’t even close to where we wanted to be this year. We blame our planning, our goal setting, our optimism and our lack of time to handle everything.

So, how can we make this year different?
If you’re serious about seeing significant growth in your business, here are the 12 most important marketing tactics to focus on in 2017:

1) Smart Goals

It is not enough to set goals and simply believe that they will happen (we’ve tried it and been there), we need to set goals that we are fully committed to and passionate about.
In our inbound marketing methodology we use “SMART GOALS” as our compass for the client’s success journey. The SMART goal framework stands for:

Specific – Your goals should be clear to your team, so that everyone understands what needs to be done and who is responsible for what.
Measurable – You should be able to check if you have reached your goals exactly by numbers, and not by assumptions.
Attainable – You should set realistic goals that are actually achievable. . It is very frustrating to fall short of a goal every time – don’t set yourself up for failure!
Relevant – Your goals must be related directly to your business.
Timely – Your goals must be mapped out within a specific timeframe.

Without clear and measurable goals your rocket might fly high but actually miss the target! Know what you want to achieve by breaking down your goals “SMARTly” – with details!

2) Quick Wins

Half of all new businesses fail within the first five years – which is why you want to see positive results in your company as soon as possible. You must not depend only on strategies that take months to see progress. Instead, look for marketing activities that can get results fast in order to fuel and motivate both your team and yourself.

Every business has an opportunity to see fast interactions with its audience. The most common tactic is PPC advertising, yet you could find many other options such as flash sale to your email list, viral contests on Facebook, etc. No matter what you’re planning to do this year, start seeing your potential results as fast as possible, in order to build confidence and meet your goals for the year.

3) PERSONALIZATION

Your prospects are becoming less patient to marketing messages that don’t talk directly to their specific problems. In 2017 you should be much more aware of this, and adapt your marketing system to this environment.

For example, if you used to manage direct lead generation campaigns with PPC traffic, in 2017 it is going to be more challenging to get results. There are more and more ads on all digital platforms, the competition is getting fierce and expensive, and the people are more wise and aware of it.

With new technology and smart strategies you can send the right message to the right person at the right time. You need to segment your audience with more specific targeting and personalize your message to their state of mind. For example: Don’t advertise your service or product to the general audience, but instead send relevant and great content, segment them by their interest and interaction and then send them a specific offer, relevant to what they were interested in.

With today’s technology, it’s easier than ever!

4) Multiple Conversion Points

Many companies rely mainly on just one sales funnel, and try to sell the same thing to the same audience over and over again. This can be repetitive, and ineffective.

If you want to see exponential growth this year, you must create several different offers that can be delivered to your prospects in case they don’t convert on your main offer. Once you create different conversion points, you will significantly increase your sales opportunities and therefore your income.

5) Automation

Today’s marketing efforts can seem huge, and overwhelming. If you don’t automate some of your tasks, half of them may not even get done.

So – what are the main things you should automate? Here are some ideas:

Lead Nurturing: With a well-planned email automation process, you can nurture cold leads and turn them into real sales opportunities.
Post Scheduling: Whether it’s blog posts or social media content, most of this can be scheduled far in advance so you can let the computer do the work, and focus on the distribution of the content
Content curation: Use tools such as Google Alerts, Buzzsumo or others to help listen to conversations online that would be of interest to you, chatter around your brand, and industry-related content that is applicable to your audience. This makes it easy for you to share with your listeners.

6) Mapping Your Buyers Journey

There are three stages your prospect goes through before making decision to buy from you. The stages are: Awareness, Consideration and Decision.

If you don’t want to flood prospects with the wrong content and offers, you must map your buyer’s journey very clearly and organize your content planning and campaigns based on his or her buying stage. This makes it easier for you create the right content and lead your prospect through a smart pipeline until they are ready to buy from you.

Overall, a smart sales funnel will help you sell more easily, without being too pushy or aggressive in any stage of the sale.

7) Structured Sales Funnel

Your team is the most important yet most expensive asset in your business. Build a rock-solid sales funnel that will provide your sales team with high-quality leads, thus allowing them to work faster and smarter.

8) MULTI-CHANNEL TRAFFIC SOURCES

You can’t rely solely on one source of traffic. A strong and long-lasting business is always searching for new traffic sources that intelligently interact with one another, creating an unstoppable lead machine.

Each traffic source you use must be analyzed and tracked with a clear ROI report. This sheds light on which one has the highest benefit and where to focus your efforts on.

Multi-channel traffic sources are crucial for sustainable business and must be planned into your growth strategy.

9) Blogging

Research shows that businesses that use blogs generate higher traffic and significantly more leads than those that don’t.
Here are some stats to support it:

Business blogging leads to 55% more website visitors (Source: Hubspot)
Small businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that do not blog. (source: Impactbnd.com)
B2B marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not.
B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those that do not.
On average, companies that blog receive 434% more indexed pages. (Source: Hubspot)

What more reason do you need to start blogging now?

10) Social Media Knock Out

Social media is not just a great source of traffic but also a main platform to engross and build trust with your audience.

Because of this, social media marketing should be an integral part of your businesses’ digital marketing strategy. By having the right social media marketing strategy, your brand can help you stay ahead of your competitor, and engage and interact with your audience, which ultimately will have a huge impact on your business.While using it to create raving fans that genuinely want to spread the word about you to their friends and family., it simultaneously becomes an amazing viral prospects lead machine when used with care and authenticity.

However, social media can backfire if you abuse it with too hard of a sales pitch, or not responding well to your audience; more specifically, unhappy customers.
Use it wisely, use it with care – and use it more often! Social media is dominating the way people communicate around the world.

11) Reports

I have found that so many businesses don’t actually know their numbers. If you don’t know and control your numbers, then odds are you are losing money, or at the minimum not earning as much as you can.

What’s your average sales conversion rate? What is your best traffic source that brings the biggest deals to the business? What is your EPC (Earning per Click) by media?

Do you know the answers to these questions? If not, we need to do some homework – together. It is crucial for you to understand exactly which source brings you money, and where you should invest your next campaign. Yet, without basic reports that will give you control over your business results, this is difficult to do.

12) All Platforms

Mobile, apps, all screen sizes…. nowadays, people have less time and are less patient for non user-friendly interfaces. Adapt yourself to all platforms… or LOSE!

There are tons of responsive websites out there that have poor mobile interfaces. Chances are high that if a mobile user clicks to sign up and is taken to a tiny, non-mobile site asking for too many details, they will lose interest. It is crucial to optimize the conversion funnel for the user. Today more than ever, consider simplifying all of your platforms to make it as simple and easy as possible for all users.

Extra – Inbound Marketing with Hubspot

There is the old way of digital marketing and then there is… Inbound marketing! Inbound marketing is a methodology that creates a solid and long-lasting marketing system for any business. It utilizes all of the 12 points discussed above and fits them it into one great business execution plan.

Hubspot platform helps us manage and control all aspects of the methodology and automates it into the highest level of marketing performance. It even has artificial intelligence that optimizes and tailors each massage, to reach the right audience, at the exact time – converting the best leads you’ll ever get. Amazing!

The sooner you join the Inbound Marketing Movement the faster you’ll see change and growth in your business. Don’t get left behind!

Tag: blogging