I recently wrote an article detailing 8 steps to managing the chaos of a digital world focused on instant gratification. The article set the stage for building your digital marketing services and strategy to combat the reality we face as marketers. People are distracted and we need to be mindful of that as we try to interrupt them with our message. In this article we'll talk about how connecting all of the dots to make sure your prospects receive everything they need to truly consider hiring you.
Just because someone downloads something on your website doesn't mean they're ready to buy. Shoot, they might not even be worthy of buying what you're selling. You have a lot of work to do if you're going to properly qualify your leads and they're expecting a lot more from you before they give you the green light to present a proposal. I'm going to illustrate how you can better serve your leads by providing the additional resources that will lead to success with your digital marketing campaign, turning those prospects into new clients.
The Need to Serve Your Prospect's Need for Information
To grow conversion rates you’ll need to understand why your visitors convert where they do and what stage of the buyer’s journey they’re at. The sales funnel, or consumer buyer behavioral model, segments the different points of psychological readiness to buy. At the top of the funnel contacts are the furthest from purchase. They’re looking for general information as they attempt to educate themselves on a topic of interest.
Their area of interest may include a problem you can solve with your services they might not be ready to purchase yet. They’re still considering their options and might not even be sure they want what you and your competition has to offer.
As leads near the middle of the funnel they’re starting to understand the overall offering, are interested, but still aren’t sure about you. They’re trying to determine whether you’re credible enough to consider and may be looking for some examples of what you’ve done for others in the past. Finally, the bottom of the funnel is the least entered point and the point you want them all to eventually end up at. Bottom of the funnel entrants are ready to buy and should be contacted right away. The more you get to this step the more new business you'll sell. It's an easy concept to grasp but it's a little more difficult to master.
Understand Prospects Don't Always Do What They're Told
It’s important to understand that all leads don’t enter at the bottom of the funnel, ready to buy. They’re capable of converting at any point in their process of evaluation and you must be prepared to answer their questions while qualifying them properly. Regardless of their entry point, it's your job to meet their needs. Use lead scoring, automated workflows, and good-ole hands-on intelligence gathering to evaluate who they are, what they're looking for, and how you can best provide the value your competitors just can't match. You'll find your digital marketing conversion rates increase throughout the nurturing process and you'll score more meaningful sales interactions. If you want to get really good at this, I recommend mapping your content specifically to your ideal customers. To do this, download the offer below. It's fantastic, I know you'll find it useful.