As Everything Turns Digital, Will Sales & Marketing Efforts Get Lost?

December is the time when marketing and sales complete their plans for 2021. As sales and marketing professionals look online as to where marketing dollars are being spent, it’s no secret that digital campaigns consume most to all of the budget.

According to WebStrategies, Forrester Research and eMarketer reported in their 2021 study that the average company is expected to allocate half of their total marketing budget to online, with the largest spend with online display ads.

“How can we get noticed and fill our sales funnel for 2021?”

The marketing term is omnichannel marketing, in other words, use as many avenues as possible to touch your prospects and customers. Let’s review a few…but with a bit of a twist.

Broad vs Narrow

Taking a broad approach to marketing and sales means you’ll touch any company regardless of size, industry and need. With the increased digital noise, you may want to consider a narrower approach. One of the best ways to decide on how to focus is to review your past and current customer successes. Where has that been? Try to go as narrow as possible in a couple different areas.

Marketing & Sales Channels that Produce Results

Below we’re going to touch on some of the most productive channels for sales and marketing to use. Remember, being targeted or focused will help yield the best results.

The New Overused Communication – eMail

It’s interesting how articles are supporting the use of emails as a lead generation tactic. It took a while, but Campaign Monitor recently stated that following the pandemic in March, emails increased a staggering 36% from the previous year. However, open rates only increased 12% and click-through rates did not increase at all.  

The bottom line? When using email, be targeted, specific and personalized.

Calling Still Works

There’s nothing like picking up the phone and calling the prospect. Most companies have now figured out a way to route calls to employees. By picking up the phone and calling the prospect, you’ll be utilizing a touch point that hardly anyone else is using. Be ready to qualify when you have them live!

Project Reports

This is a perfect time to bring up Project Reports provided by SalesLeads. Project Reports are identified projects, meaning there’s business to be won if you pick up the phone and call the contact person(s) with the supplied direct phone number. If they don’t answer, use the email address provided and let them know you called and left a message regarding the project. It’s a great way to get a call back.

Referrals

You have great customers in the specific focus you’re selling and marketing to. Give them a call and ask a couple of questions. 1. Do you know anyone who could use a solution like you currently have and 2. Will you talk to a prospect and share your wonderful experience? You’ll get at least one yes from the conversation.  

Case Studies

If you have case studies already done, use them. When a prospect can identify with a current customer that has successfully used your product and/or service, the faster they can go through the sales funnel. Case studies share the customers need, business reason for purchasing and result. Discuss it with the prospect and use it to draw out the prospects unique business need. Once you know what that is, you can now begin to help them solve a problem that is costing them time, money and energy.

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising such as Google Ads or LinkedIn are good advertising avenues to explore. However, the best way to get an ROI is to focus the ads on your specific target. By focusing, only those who are interested will ‘see’ the ad. If you have a compelling reason to click on the ad, take them to a landing page to learn more. The likelihood of it turning into a sales lead will be far greater than casting a wide net.

Now You Won’t Get Lost

By focusing your efforts on some or all of these key programs we discussed, you’ll have a better chance of being successful in 2021.