Here you will find two simple ways to fix this without draining your bank account.
! The original article is available on inc.com. The article was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, but it has been edited by an editor.
I’ve had many dogs in my life – I really love them – and if there’s one thing I’m known for, it’s squirrel brain. Every time my dog Tori sees a squirrel or other small creature running by, she stops and gives it her full attention. But her attention lasts only a fraction of a second. Within moments she finds something else to chase or focus on.
Similarly, many modern marketing tactics are like a squirrel – they can grab attention for a few moments, but they lack lasting impact.
The spend is greater too, as digital advertising costs keep rising. In 2024, Google’s cost per click (CPC) increased by 13% compared to the previous year, and CPC for retailers has gone up by 40–50% over the last 5 years! In addition, Meta reported that the average price per ad in 2024 rose by 10%.
Every dollar you spend on your marketing needs to be carefully considered. That may mean learning new tricks to get better at nudging prospects from fleeting interest to closing the deal.
For entrepreneurs of my generation, new tactics can be complicated and confusing. Don’t be afraid to research, watch videos, or even ask AI to explain them. I do that myself often! You’re here to learn, so you’re on the right track.
So – I have a few marketing strategies in my arsenal that helped me build my business from zero to more than $100 million and that will help you close more leads without major extra effort or cost.
Focus on your website’s conversion rate
The conversion rate is the number of people who visit your site and fill out your form or make a call, i.e., turn into a lead. The global average web conversion rate is about 3.68 percent – only four out of every 100 website visitors will become leads. That’s potentially 96 percent of your marketing spend being wasted. Of course, this varies greatly depending on your industry, experience, and other factors, but let’s stick with this. If you close deals with half of those leads, that’s two customers out of every 100 prospects. But if you increase your conversion by 50 percent, you’ll close with six people instead of four and get three customers out of every 100 prospects instead of two. You’re already spending money to get these leads. So use them to get the most out of that spend!
How to nurture leads without spending money
One free way to spark interest is to add a website pop-up that offers something enticing (for example, a discount or a free gift) in exchange for contact information. Keep your forms short. Research shows they work best when you ask only for a name and email address. Asking for a phone number can reduce conversions by 47 percent. Or include a form on every web page that gives people the chance to take advantage of your offer (in other words, to convert). I suggest testing different offers and designs to find which converts best. My company, PostcardMania, recently improved our pop-up conversion rate by 269 percent by testing a free gift (1,000 free postcards) against a discount ($50 off). Once you have their email or phone number, keep following up with that lead! Email campaigns, e-messages, and even SMS texts work well for this.
Nurture your leads offline too
You can also follow up offline with website visitors who didn’t convert. This is called direct mail retargeting. With this method – once you find an address – you automatically send a postcard to anonymous website visitors within 24–48 hours. This is done by matching the visitor’s digital IP address to a physical address, allowing you to target someone offline based on their online behavior. It works similarly to online ad retargeting – with a cookie or pixel added to your site to track traffic – but adds the legitimacy of traditional offline marketing. Moving your message offline creates a deeper, longer-lasting impression on recipients. Not only do studies show that people’s recall for direct mail ads is 70 percent higher than for digital ads, but mailings also increase trust. Another study found that out of 1,200 consumers, 76 percent said they trust direct mail, while only 43 percent trusted ads on social media.
Reach out to leads directly from your CRM
A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is essential for businesses that want to grow, because the best relationships — with a spouse, a friend, or a pet — are built on good communication. In a survey, more than half of our clients (mostly small and medium-sized businesses) said they don’t use a CRM. That number is far too high! A CRM can help keep your company’s communications organized and (more importantly) give you an overview of each prospect as they move through the buying process. Once you have this overview, use your CRM to guide your follow-up with the customer so you can move more prospects through that buying process faster. One study found that a CRM can increase conversions by 300 percent. Your CRM-based follow-up will depend on your platform, but here are a few examples that are widely available in most CRMs:
- Automate emails to follow up with new leads at set intervals, for example every day during the first week
- Reminders to call specific contacts based on your last conversation
- Automatically sending a follow-up postcard 24–48 hours after an offer is delivered
My favorite way to follow up directly with a prospect using a CRM is this: let’s say a consultant calls to reach a prospect but is sent to voicemail. They can mark in the CRM that they tried to call, then click a button to send a postcard. They type a personal message based on the previous conversation and then click send. A few days later, the client receives a highly personalized postcard that says something like: “Hi <Name>, just trying to get in touch with you about <what we last talked about>. Call or email when it’s convenient for you.” To use these tactics, you’ll need to integrate your CRM with an email platform and a direct mail automation platform. Check your CRM’s integrations marketplace to find the options that suit you best.
When choosing the right mail automation platform, pick one that doesn’t add extra fees for technology or training. The logistics of physical mail are expensive enough, so look for an integration where you pay only for the mail that’s delivered – with no hefty tech fees on top. Holding people’s interest is difficult, but not impossible. By building the right lead capture on your website and adding CRM-based follow-up to your marketing mix, you’ll increase your chances not only of getting the puppy to look at the squirrel, but to chase it and catch it.
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/lielaka-dala-jusu-marketinga-izdevumu-tiek-tereti-velti/
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