Build a Pipeline of Qualified Leads and Enquiries With Inbound Marketing

When trying to attract completely new customers to your business it is important to have a strategy in place. There will be several potential customers who visit your website, for example, that are unfamiliar with your business and have not heard of your business before. Inbound Marketing is an essential technique which allows people who are unfamiliar with your business to find out more. Through Inbound Marketing you may need to market to the potential customers several times before they are likely to buy your products or services. However Inbound Marketing techniques encourage potential customers themselves to enquire with your business and become a lead. The process of the customer stages begins from strangers to visitors to leads to customers and repeat customers. There are different marketing methods you can use at each stage, particularly internet marketing methods.

First Stage Customers: Converting Strangers to Visitors 

When people are completely unfamiliar with your business, key internet marketing methods such as blogging and social media can be used. Blogging will help your potential customers build up an understanding of your services through informational guidance articles. You can work on answering the questions that you hear from customers regularly. You can provide answers for them through your articles. The clearer you understand your different types of customers the more effective your articles will become, and the messages will be clearer to your readers. Through blogging you can encourage potential customers to subscribe to regularly receive your articles. Your blog will be visible on your website and you can share articles, particularly through your social media channels. If you would like help with your copywriting for articles there are Marketing Agencies who can help you with this.  You could also have a read of this article: 3 Tips For Creating Articles That Generate Traffic To Your Website

Furthermore social media allows you to promote the voice of your business. You can make your messages and posts personalised on your profiles to engage your potential customers. There are now several strategies you can use to encourage customers. However it is important to share articles from other websites too as long as they are not direct competitors. You should include a range of your content and use visual images and messages to engage your potential customers. There are also informational images known as infographics you can share which provide messages on a range of topics. If your business also has videos you can share these through your social media channels to provide additional guidance to fans and followers. Additionally you can share announcements about key UK and International events, for example with Easter coming up you could do a promotion for this. It is important to have a range of social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ and Pinterest. However it may be important to differentiate your posts depending on the social media platform.

For more information on Social Media ideas check out this article: Where Do I Start With Social Media? A UK Business Owner’s Guide

Second Stage: Converting Visitors to Leads

As soon as potential customers have visited your website a few times to find out more about your services you can encourage them to become a lead for your business. This is the stage in which they will enquire to your business about your products and services. You can use a range of techniques on your website to encourage more potential customers to enquire.  Call To Action buttons encourage prospects to be directed to one of your important website pages. These buttons may include messages such as Read Now, Watch Now, Find Out More. They will then be directed to a page known as a landing page, which encourages potential customers to provide their contact details. On these pages you can include options to download a particular guide or brochure by registering.  Once they have registered their inters they become a lead.

However it is also crucial your website is found on the Internet so that people have the opportunity to make an enquiry. There are online advertising methods that can be used such as Search Engine Optimisation and Google Adwords. Google Adwords is likely to provide you with regular enquiries through regular advertising. This is because your adverts click directly through to one of your website pages. Therefore bringing more traffic to your website. Whereas Search Engine Optimisation is a long- term strategy to help your business be found at the top of organic search results.

Third Stage: Converting Leads to Actual Customers

At this stage once a potential customer has become a lead you should ensure that they are on your marketing database so that they receive regular communication from your company. A key targeting method you can then use at this stage is Email marketing. You can send emails to these leads every week to keep them informed and encourage them to become your customer. You should include key benefits of your products, any special offers and keep reminding them about how your business can help them. Your email marketing can also be measured so you can see your open rate, conversion rate and more. This will therefore allow you to see how successful your emails are. You can also set up a series of emails to be sent to a particular list of potential customers so they are sent out automatically every few days or a certain number of weeks.

Fourth Stage: Converting Customers into Promoters

Once you have successfully marketed and promoted your business and products you will have now successfully achieved a new customer. At this stage you then want to encourage your existing customers to promote your business to others in their industry. This will help boost the positive reputation of your business. You also want to continue your relationship with existing customers to encourage them to buy from your business again. You may want to keep in touch with these customers by inviting them to special events for example. You can then gain a deeper insight into their business and find out if you could help them with any other products or services.  Most importantly provide a great experience for your customers so that they will be happy to recommend you to others.  You could also run a loyalty bonus scheme to encourage repeat business or a referral scheme to encourage word of mouth.

Article by: Laura Morris-Richardson