Marketing Resources

Realizing Lead Conversion with Autoresponders

Every business in email marketing must have an effective system for coming up with large numbers of new leads in a regular basis.  If possible, it should even be able to produce sets of leads every single day.  This is because leads are the closest things to sales.  In this kind of marketing on the internet, emails cannot just be sent to anyone without any discrimination.  Doing so will just result into a waste of time and energy, which can ultimately mean the loss of money.  The trick that is usually involved here is to make an intensive and extensive campaign.  This would entail sending as many emails as possible to every possible lead. 

However, the initial part of the marketing campaign may not be as difficult.  It does not even require much work as software has been developed for this purpose.  What can be more tedious though is when the initial email marketing activities start to bear fruit.  This happens when the persons to whom the emails were sent begin to communicate with the company to make further inquiries, to order, or to consult.  This would not be a tough task if only a handful would respond to the emails.  However, if thousands do so at nearly the same time, then this would be a nightmare if done manually.  Postponing the response would also be unwise.  These are people who are very potential customers.  These are leads now in the process of being converted to actual sales.

An option would be to hire personnel for this particular task but this would cost you more in terms of salaries and supervision.  It may not be all the time that you will be getting the opportunity to convert thousands of leads. But if you have employees for dealing with this, you may be compelled to pay for them even during the leanest seasons.  Of course, you may also have to ensure their annual bonuses and other fringe benefits that could only hurt you more financially.  Managing them is also an additional task that you may not be able to avoid. 

With an autoresponder, you may not need any additional staff or employees for dealing with emails from potential customers. The software actually does the job for you in ways even more accurate than human hands.  Of course, it still needs human interface but only at a very minimal degree. In fact, if you own a small to medium-sized internet marketing business, you could probably do the job yourself.  The autoresponder, as its name implies automates your job in responding to the customers.   You can prepare a template for emails responding to standard inquiries and these can be sent on preset dates and times to customers without any further prompting from you.  This software does not just respond to your customers’ emails; it also allows you to monitor the developments of your marketing efforts.  It informs you who have read the mails it has sent, who clicked on the links provided, and the income that the mails have produced.  Therefore, it does most of the important tasks in converting leads into real deals.

SpyFu

If you are one of the many online marketers who are at a loss in sorting through the heap of internet marketing products that are out in the market in order to find out which ones actually walk their talk, then you will find this article a helpful read.

Perhaps in one of your several searches, you stumbled upon the keyword search tool called SpyFu. In fact, it is one of the highly coveted keyword search tool available today. It aims to give actionable information that search marketers can really use. SpyFu is often considered as the answer to analysis paralysis that kicks you into action with loads of insight and direction.

SpyFu now has the top spot when it comes to marketing must-haves. For the longest time, SpyFu has pleased thousands of clients thus leading to a solid loyalty with their extensive list of domains and keywords. If you do not believe me, that is 16 million domains and 7 million keywords to be exact. Unlike most keyword search products that will just monitor the keywords and domains that you give them, SpyFu takes the initiative to cast a wider net and let you rake as much information possible about anything and everything that you will find interesting.

When you ask SpyFu what needs to be done, they will tell you that they value many of their competitors for what they offer, but their services do not really go over each other’s. SpyFu believes that in any competition, the main goal is to “defend your castle as you expand your empire”. That means that if you need to go over a set of pre-selected keywords every day, perhaps you can do something better. But if you are talking about learning where the best new opportunities are, SpyFu has the answer. Their core function is to give their clients a look at how domains use keywords, both organic and paid, to succeed in their respective niche.

Aside from giving you a peak at the outside world, SpyFu also gives the spending on these keywords and ad copy that the domains use. SpyFu is very effective and efficient at narrowing down the information into the keywords that are most functional – the ones that will literally make a difference right now and how you can best add them to your add groups right away. Aside from that, SpyFu also now provides help to SEOs in prioritizing their focus and win over hesitant clients. In other words, if you need to get the attention of your prospect clients online, SpyFu will help you get the fastest and the most effective ways to do that within your means.

SpyFu is very easy to use. On its main page, all you have to do in enter a domain or a keyword into the search box and once you click search, you will land into a page that will show you all the necessary numbers such as a domain’s daily spending to a keyword’s top advertisers. On top of that, the pages exist as launch pads that let you get more answers depending on what type information you need.
 

Developing a Social Media Plan-Resources and Goals

Now that we have completed our listening it is time to get down to some of the nuts and bolts of your social media plan. We have already mentioned that social media takes a lot of time and so time will become a primary element to consider when it comes to the scope and size of your social media plan.

What resources do you have to contribute to your social media plan in terms of people resources (time) and financial resources (money)? Some of the items to consider when analyzing your resources include the following:

How many paid resources do I have to contribute to social media marketing? (Include full and part time)

Do I have any volunteer resources that would participate in social media ?

Do I have any staff members with technical expertise in social media?

;>Can other positions contribute to social media efforts as a part of their regular job description and ork day? If so, how much time?

Do we have existing content that can be leveraged for use in social media? If so, how much?

Can we outsource our social media? At what cost?

What percentage of our budget can we put towards social media? What are the actual dollars per month/yr?

Knowing and understanding the resources you can commit to social media will help you structure a plan that is realistic, achievable, manageable and efficient. Do not plan a campaign that exceeds your resources or you are setting yourself up for failure.

Defining your Goals

The core of your marketing plan depends upon your ability to clearly define your goals. What are the goals of your social media marketing? Some of the following questions can help you focus in on the goals you want to achieve with a social media presence and marketing campaign:

Is the primary goal to raise brand awareness?

Are you using social media to attract more highly qualified traffic or just more traffic?

Are you trying to reach a new customer segment?

Are you trying to build up a base of support for your brand?

Are you using social media to increase conversions/act on a call to action

Once you define your goals you can set up your action steps and measurements. If your goal is to increase brand awareness an action step might be to post 5 positive comments about your brand on Twitter every week to stimulate interest and conversation about your brand. Once your action steps are in place (each action should directly support one or more goals) you need to define measurements for success and benchmark performance of each action/goal.

Typical social media analytic data you can receive includes:

• The number of comments made about you or your brand
• The number of influential blogs that are linked to your brand
• Content keywords
• Influential friends
• Voting participants
• Names added to email /subscription file
• Increase/decrease in webpage hits
• Donations

In our last installment you can read about honing your message and taking action.

Myths and Mistakes of Social Marketing

Do you find the world of social media mystifying? Does your company question the value of social media marketing efforts?  If so, you aren’t alone.  In this article I’ll address some of the most common mistakes and myths that surround social media.

Perhaps the most common myth is that social media is free.  Although it is true that most sites and many of the tools needed for social media are free there are still plenty of costs to consider. You have your employees or consultants that provide the daily social activity (relationship building through articles, comments, posts etc.)  and the costs of producing social media presentations such as testimonial and product videos, podcasts, blogs, Twitters etc. Don’t forget about applications to track your social media efforts.  Expertise, time and tools still come with a price tag even if it is significantly less than more traditional advertising methods.

Some companies and individuals believe that social media is strictly the realm of teens and young adults but this is not the case.  If you look at the statistics, facebook ‘s largest user group is in the 35-54 yr. old age range.  Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the fastest growing social media age group is 55 and older.  If we consider social media participation from the company perspective age is irrelevant but good writing skills, influence, interpersonal relationship skills and expertise are crucial.  In this respect age and life experience provide greater benefits than youth and inexperience.

Many would have you believe there are no rules in the world of social media but this is really untrue.  What we can say is that the rules of engagement do change and evolve.  There is a basic etiquette a nd there are definite practices that aren’t looked upon favorably.  A key rule in social media is to be humble- Don’t think you need to engage in a lot of self-promotion. Rather, speak honestly and thoughtfully about your industry, your company, your products and services. Sincerity and honesty are well received and add value. Don’t over-automate –make your company accessible and responsive. A real voice, a personal email rather than an auto responder show you care about your customers and their experience. Lastly, but most importantly remember the balance of power has shifted from the supplier to the buyer. Your customers do not want to be bombarded with tons of advertising. They search for information. So focus on providing relevant, accurate information on all levels, personal, corporate, industry wide. Expertise is valued and generally rewarded-pushing a product is NOT.

You’ll hear social media is hard….social media is easy so what’s the bottom line? The truth is that social media marketing is both. For some it comes naturally and it is easy for them to do. For others it is difficult because they do not possess the skills necessary to build long term relationships, write effectively or manage the day to day activity and the required tracking and analytics.  Can anyone do social media? No, not everyone is well suited with the appropriate skills. There are certain techniques and processes that are more effective than others. It takes time, education and experience to understand the nuances of social media marketing but social media skills can be obtained and improved with education, time and experience. 

Remember that your social media “persona” is the face of your company. It pays to carefully choose who you want to represent your company.   Assemble a team that can share the responsibilities and utilize the strengths that each person brings.  Someone may be great with analytics and lousy at engaging with your target market.  Play to each individuals strength. If you are using a consultant talk about who will be performing various aspects of your social media and if you are unhappy with work ask for a change in personal until you feel the right people are in the right positions.  It is important to focus on the word “social”. Those who are most successful in this realm are friendly (social), creative, helpful, articulate, curious by nature and  love talking with others.

If you are expecting an immediate jump in traffic and conversions you are bound to be disappointed. Social media is a powerful marketing approach and it can provide significant increases in traffic and sales conversions but do not expect it to happen quickly. Good social media marketing takes time-a lot of time to build long term, loyal, productive relationships and alliances. Think about how long it takes to cultivate a really good friendship.  It doesn’t generally happen in a day or a week.  More often it takes months or even years. Are there occasional “miracles”-yes, sometimes a comment or video will go viral and set off a chain of events quickly and unexpectedly that gives an immediate boost to traffic and sales but that is not the norm and it is not what you should expect. You should expect incremental improvements over time.

Some people believe social media carries a high risk. This attitude is most prevalent in fields like medicine, financial services, and other regulated industries. There are situations where a company has to be cautious about its social media participation and content for liability and security reasons.  One should be aware of any specific industry and regulatory environment and the rules that govern it and use appropriate safeguards to ensure privacy, security or regulatory requirements.  Most likely people-customers, prospects, analysts, journalists, shareholders and others—are already talking about your company and/or industry across social media channels.  So if there is a real risk the greater risk is in ignoring conversations that impact your industry and brand. You should at a minimum follow the chatter and stay on top of it if your industry  excludes your participation.

Do you believe social media is something new?  Social media is actually a variation of a time-tested and honored medium-word of mouth advertising.  Many of the social media tools we use now like Twitter ,Facebook  and blogging are relatively new  but fundamentally social media and “word of mouth” advertising are both about participating in and influencing the direction conversations take about your industry and brand. The practices are old. The difference is that social media has increased the accessibility, speed and magnitude of conversations.

There are some businesses that should not participate in social media marketing but for most businesses social media marketing is a requirement to remain competitive and successful in the marketplace.  Government agencies dealing with security and intelligence, companies involved in building weapons systems for the U.S. military, other high security or high risk industries might best be cautioned to avoid using social media.  Ultimately, your company is responsible for determining whether or not social media is an appropriate marketing approach. You must do your due diligence and understand any regulatory issues that may affect your ability to use social media but by and large there are few situations where social media cannot or should not be utilized.