Regardless of the industry or sector, I have seen key areas that businesses can optimize and leverage to gain more revenue and connectivity to their buyers.
#1. Contact Lists and Databases. There are many options to enhance your existing contacts while building up a database of subscribers. Each company operates differently and you should focus your database accordingly. Ultimately, businesses need to clean their lists either through an ESP (email service provider) or offline function to analyze a number of key areas:
Opt outs: Which of these contacts are valuable and how to regain interest
Soft Bounces: Track if these contacts ultimately receive email
Hard Bounces: Seek & update contact information of valued contacts
#2. Get Specific
Segmentation is used to target specific email users into groups, lists, or have tags matched to your go-to-market strategy. Most ESP's have this functionality, but requires advanced planning matched to how you wish to leverage content delivery across specific targets. This practice, albeit arduous really pays off.
Lately, I helped a financial consultancy segment contacts and content to target only a fraction of their database to drive new leads. The result was astounding. The business closed 2 major accounts in less than a month from major companies that had no idea they even existed. Crazy.
Make time to get this done right. By strategically aligning contacts to geography, products, services, industry, sector, buying habits, and on and on, you will greatly improve your digital marketing metrics, leads, and close ratios.
Please see more on segmentation and how to set a strategy that leverages your ESP's functionality to attract more customers on other posts.
#3. Marketing and Customer Relations Automation
Yes, I know this can be expensive and takes time and manpower to facilitate. The more information you gain from your lead funnel to client interest the more opportunities you have to sell.
ESP's and marketing automation tools help greatly in this area. They need to have connection or "integration" with your CRM. This way marketing ROI is more transparent and sales enablement can be tracked to improve these processes by leveraging:
Gated content submissions - Form filled to receive downloads
Autoresponders - Conditional based emails on latest interaction
Automated Campaigns - Timed or interest oriented emails to nurture various leads
Client Automation Engagement - Timed or process strategy to upsell or re-sell
#4. Build a Greater - More Robust Network
Businesses have an inherent focus on driving lead nurturing campaigns. This usually involves creating a series of emails that are sent out over a period of time. This marketing strategy is referred to as Demand Generation, where your connecting to virtually unknowns or prospects to seek lead conversion.
All good. But, don't forget your referrals, or referral network. They are incredibly valuable!
Remember you are a business connected to other businesses; hence B2B. Use your connections to leverage new sales to drive new business. Referrals can come from your supplier network, clients, prospects, trade associations, provider network, and others. This is referred to as Referral Marketing, and provides leads that have high close ratios with good options on up-sell compared to Demand Generation.
Obviously, such aspects noted above require work and time. Building this system does pay off. Technology connectivity is key and requires someone who knows how best to optimize all of these tools. Please post your comments or questions below.