DISCOVER REAL PROSPECTS - THE ONES WITH THE INTENT
Measuring a buyer's intent is a complex exercise and it is almost impossible to ascertain with 100% accuracy, the circumstances that lead to a purchase. It involves analysing a multitude of data points and interactions that marketing specialists are trying to correlate and make sense of. These analytics then form the basis for identifying the variables that have maximum impact, redefine campaign strategies, personalize messaging and thereby help improve the conversion rates. Here are some of the indicators and behavioral traits that marketers can take advantage of: (1) Navigates beyond the landing page: A real prospect truly wants to understand your product or service in greater detail and so is likely to browse through all the information available on your website. The kind of information he is consuming and the amount of time he is spending indicate a certain degree of his buying intentions. (2) Keeps returning to your website, atleast few more times: Please note that the buyer might be in the process of evaluating other sellers too. A return visitor is an indication there is a higher probability of making a contact. Signing up for a free trial, visiting the pricing page or interacting the 'chat' window elicit a higher level of purchase intent. (3) The source of Lead: Search is known as the high intent channel as the prospect is actively trying to find something on his own, compared to social media where the target audiance are of a passive kind. Further, leads orginating from certain social platforms are more favorable to a certain category of businesses, example: Instagram for fasion & cosmetics, LinkedIn for B2B and so on. Long tail keywords used in search, referrals from a coupon site or a product review site too seem to show a high level of intent. (4) Predictive Modelling: Historic data combined with certain demographics is being increasingly used to arrive at patterns that can help identify potential buyers. The models compare prospects with earlier customers that exhibited similar pre-purchase behavior, to identify their level of intent, and thus improving the chances of closing a sale. Larger the sample size, closer are the predictions. As simplistic as it may sound, there a number of other factors such as first-time buyers, repeat buyers, B2C, B2B, finer website interactions, devices used, location data etc., that have to be correlated to further help improve targeting. However, the challenges remain: acquiring demographic data, third party data points, limitations governed by privacy laws are some of the grey areas that the marketers still have to deal with.
THE KEYWORD ECONOMY - UNLOCK ITS VALUE
When prospective customers find a business by its brand name, either they already know that company, trying to seek more information or maybe they are repeat customers. Then how about those who are trying to find products or services meant purely to meet a specific need or with a certain personal criteria associated.
For example, compare these 3 phrases:
'Nike running shoes for men'
'Running shoes for men' and
'Running shoes for men under $100'
This need centric buying behavior of online consumers presents a huge opportunity for companies to take advantage of - reposition themselves and claim their share of the pie. The 'keyword targeting' that companies use to acquire this untapped business opportunity is what we term as the new age branding.
Search engines play an important role in this branding exercise. As a matter of fact, they create the brand for companies online - helping them target, influence and acquire prospective customers based on their search activity. The search terms or phrases used by potential buyers offer great insights into market potential, competitor analysis, online visibility of your business, user behavior, associated commerce value and so on.
Here are some of the vitals to keep track of:
(1) Keywords that are driving quality leads.
(2) Those with higher conversion rates.
(3) Potential keyword opportunities & their search volumes.
Keywords drive businesses, not just the brand names anymore !
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR LEADS ARE INBOUND ?
B2B companies: What percentage of your leads are inbound ? And is that increasing ?? The best can be as high as 50%. A significant number of companies are missing out on this opportunity as they are yet to recognize inbound marketing as a potential source for lead generation.
Having a strong brand name doesn't necessarily translate into a strong online visibility. Try searching for a product or service that your business is into and you will be surprised to notice that a number of smaller players have grabbed this space. Just imagine even a small percentage of those leads coming your way. It only requires a little bit of conviction and a re-orientation of the existing resources, to take advantage of the huge potential inbound marketing has, both for brand building and business growth.
What makes it even more compelling are the lower costs of customer acquisition, better conversions, improved quality of leads and most importantly the flexibility it offers to run campaigns from any part of the world.
Re-vitalise your marketing efforts !
These are some of our sample LinkedIn marketing posts. If you are looking for a cost effective marketing agency to support your social media and search engine promotion activity, please contact us.
Client Testimonials
Excellent team. We have outsourced most of our digital marketing activities and have seen amazing results over time.
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