by Fronetics | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Here are 4 components of an effective lead-nurturing campaign that will entice your potential customers and have them moving down the sales funnel.
Your content marketing objectives really come down to one basic goal: to generate a high number of quality leads. These leads will help drive tomorrow’s revenue and increase sales. In fact, 85% of B2B marketers say lead generation is their most important content marketing goal.
[bctt tweet=” 85% of B2B marketers say lead generation is their most important content marketing goal.” username=”Fronetics”]
As more and more buyers discover brands before they are ready to purchase, an essential function of any marketing department is lead nurturing. That is, moving leads through the sales funnel by leveraging what’s known about their needs and online behavior.
Marketo, a marketing software company, describes lead nurturing as being “personalized, adaptive, and able to listen and react to buyer behavior in real time.”
We know that marketers need to focus their lead nurturing strategy on multi-channel engagement. This includes utilizing email, social media, blogs, and video to interact with potential customers. A multi-channel lead nurturing strategy is essential for companies looking to optimize their user experience and bring in high-quality leads.
With so many variables contributing to a productive lead-generation campaign, it can be challenging to pinpoint what differentiates a successful campaign from a mediocre one. Here are four tools that will help you deliver a series of targeted messages across multiple touch points and platforms to help solidify your lead-nurturing strategy and increase your quality leads.
4 building blocks of an effective lead-nurturing campaign
(Made with Canva)
Takeaway
Successful lead nurturing is really about utilizing all the tools at your disposal to meaningfully connect with your leads in order to build trust and establish credibility. Using these four key points, marketers can start building on their lead-generation efforts as they guide potential customers on their journey to becoming a client.
And don’t forget: Asking for the right information is key! If you want to nurture high-quality leads, you need to make sure you’re capturing relevant, helpful information along the sales journey.
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by Fronetics | Jul 23, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Part four in our series on effective lead generation walks you through how to create a form that converts leads, getting you the information you need without driving prospects away.
Welcome to the last installment of our series on effective lead generation and nurturing. Now that you know how to:
- Create and package a valuable offer
- Add calls-to-action that work
- Design a landing page that converts
So, what’s next? The final step in the lead generation process, and one that’s too often overlooked and undervalued, is designing a form that gets you the information you need.
It’s all in your form
When prospects get to your landing page, they’ve indicated that they’re interested in your offer. Ideally, what they find on your landing page has reaffirmed their interest. Now it’s time for them to provide you with what you’re looking for in return for the value you’re offering them: their contact information.
The information you glean from your prospects will feed into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or other lead management database. This means that you should essentially be retrofitting your form based on your email segmentation criteria. In other words, you want to get just the right information from your prospects that will allow you to tailor your lead nurturing to best suit their needs and interests.
[bctt tweet=”An effective form strikes the delicate balance between acquiring all the necessary information and keeping the willingness and attention of your visitors.” username=”Fronetics”]
Your head might be filling with visions of long and comprehensive questionnaires — not so fast. If you make your form too long or involved, prospects will abandon it out of impatience and frustration, or feel that you are exploiting them for more time or information than they’re willing to provide. An effective form strikes the delicate balance between acquiring all the necessary information and keeping the willingness and attention of your visitors.
3 characteristics of forms that convert leads
For this last and crucial step in your lead generation strategy, it’s all about capturing leads. So, what makes for an effective form?
1. Find the length that works for you.
Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the shorter your form the more leads you’ll get, whereas the longer the form, the better quality (though fewer) leads you’ll get. But that’s a bit of a simplistic and defeatist way of looking at it.
We think you can have your cake and eat it, too. The key is to design your form with your email segmentation criteria in mind.
Ask as few questions beyond the basics as possible to get you precisely the information you need. Your goal is richness of information, as opposed to lengthy, detailed questions. For more, check out HubSpot’s guide to creating a form.
2. Don’t frighten them away.
It may seem counterintuitive, but you should avoid using the word “submit” on your form. Nobody likes the idea of “submitting” their information.
Instead, use a phrase that demonstrates that your prospect is about to get something that they want by supplying their information. For example, “Get it free,” or, “Download now,” emphasizes what the prospect will receive, rather than what they will be giving.
3. Protect their privacy.
In the current climate, we’re all thinking more and more about how our data gets collected and shared. Make sure your prospects know that you’ll be a good steward of the information they provide you.
Add a privacy message or link to your privacy policy, indicating that their email or contact information won’t be shared or sold.
Creating forms that convert leads is the final step — though one of the most crucial — in effectively turning website visitors into prospects. If you can manage to create a valuable offer, entice visitors with a call-to-action, convince them to convert on a landing page, then present a form that encourages them to complete it (rather than drives them away), then you’ve done your job as a marketer.
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by Fronetics | Jul 19, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
In part three of our series on effective lead generation and nurturing, we walk you through the components of effective landing pages that convert visitors to leads.
If you’ve been keeping up with our four-part series on effective lead generation, you should be up to speed on creating a valuable offer and a call-to-action that works. The next step in a finely tuned lead generation process is a landing page that converts.
Why does my offer need a landing page?
[bctt tweet=”Landing pages are crucial, and brands miss out on opportunities when they fail to optimize them. According to HubSpot, marketers see an average 10% conversion rate on landing pages — that represents a huge amount of missed opportunities.” username=”Fronetics”]
Landing pages are crucial, and brands miss out on big opportunities when they fail to optimize them. In fact, according to HubSpot, marketers have seen an average 10% conversion rate on landing pages — that represents a huge amount of missed opportunities. Brands that have it right, those that focus on designing for conversions, reap the benefits in big ways.
Your primary objective for a landing page is to get visitors to submit their contact information in exchange for the offer. At this point in the process, your potential customer has already engaged with your call-to-action, meaning he or she is interested in your offer. When they get to your landing page, everything they find there should affirm their choice to and assure them that the content they are about to download is going to be relevant, interesting, and valuable.
Designing landing pages that convert
So what are the hallmarks of a great landing page? Starting with the basics, your landing page should briefly, simply, and clearly describe the benefits of your offer. It’s important that there be as few distractions as possible. For example, make sure the page doesn’t have a top navigation menu. Bonus points for including ways to share your offer on social media.
Additionally, you should make sure that your landing page doesn’t include links to other things on your website, as they can distract the lead and perhaps send them somewhere else on your website where they can find the information you’re presenting in your offer.
As you design your landing page, keep this checklist in mind:
- Is it clean, organized, and clearly presented?
- Is there any ambiguity about where or how leads should enter their information?
- Does it describe the benefits of my offer?
- Is it free of extraneous or distracting content or links?
- Is it mobile-friendly?
- Does it contain easy ways to share on social media?
If you follow these tips for landing pages that convert visitors to leads, we’re confident you’ll start to see an uptick in your website conversion rate almost immediately.
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by Fronetics | Jul 18, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Once you’ve decided how to create and package a valuable offer, the next step in an effective lead generation is creating calls-to-action that convert leads.
If you read part one of our four-part series on effective lead generation, you’re familiar with the first step in creating a campaign that will generate a high volume of quality leads: creating a valuable offer. So what’s next?
In part two of this series, we’re exploring how to draw visitors from reading content on your website to taking a desired action.
When we talk about this second step, we use the term “call-to-action” (CTA). It refers to the tool that asks the reader of your content to take the next step — rather than just assuming they will do it. A call-to-action can be in-line text with a hyperlink, a button, or an image-based web-banner.
Why do you need a CTA?
CTAs are the vital step where you ask your potential client or buyer to take an action that moves them one stop closer to your objective of connecting them with your company. But plenty of marketers forget this crucial element of an effective campaign.
If you’re offering high-value content (like an ebook, webinar, infographic, or product demonstration), but you aren’t including a specific CTA, you’re not giving your audience direction for obtaining the offer — and you’re probably missing out on plenty of qualified leads.
[bctt tweet=”If your CTAs aren’t effective at capturing the attention of your prospective leads and persuading them to click, then no matter how impressive your offer or how well-written your content, it’s pretty much useless.” username=”Fronetics”]
A CTA is yet another opportunity to optimize your campaign. Remember that you’re competing with every other brand in a fight for the attention of your audience, and you need to make the most of every opportunity to draw them toward your business.
Keep in mind that if your CTAs aren’t effective at capturing the attention of your prospective leads and persuading them to click, then no matter how impressive your offer or how well-written your content, it’s pretty much useless. Your CTA can be used on product pages, in display ads, email, social media, direct mail, or pretty much anywhere you’re marketing your offer.
Elements of calls-to-action that convert leads
Not all CTAs are created equal. As you think about incorporating a call-to-action into your offer, keep in mind these 4 tips for maximizing its productivity:
1. Choose your location wisely.
Back when people read newspapers, editors would place important news “above the fold:” high enough on the page so the reader wouldn’t have to unfold the paper to see it.
A well-placed call-to-action follows the same principle, and should be high enough on the page so your target lead won’t have to scroll down to see it. You should also place a second CTA further down within the offer.
2. Be clear.
You don’t want to leave your reader puzzling about what will happen when he or she follows your CTA. State the offer clearly, and be specific. For instance, rather than “download now,” say “download your free ebook.”
3. Don’t hide your light.
Your call-to-action should stand out on the page. Choose contrasting colors for your CTA, so it draws the eye and doesn’t blend into the rest of your text.
We’ve found, in many cases, our clients have the most success with calls-to-action that are image-based (particularly in emails). A really well-designed, attractive, image-based CTA can effectively draw click-throughs in a way other kinds of calls-to-action can’t. Give it a try!
4. Link to a landing page.
Send potential leads to a targeted landing page that is relevant to what they are looking for. Your CTA should send them to a page that will convert them into a lead.
For more information, check back in with our next post, when we explore how to create a landing page that converts leads.
How do you design calls-to-action that convert leads?
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by Fronetics | Jul 17, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
The first step in an effective lead generation campaign is creating valuable offers to convince website visitors to entrust you with their contact information.
Welcome to part one of my series on effective lead generation.
In this four-part series, I’ll guide you through the four most crucial components of the creating an effective lead-generation and lead-nurturing campaign. And I’ll help you tailor your strategic marketing objectives to generate a high volume of quality leads.
Today, we’re looking at how to create valuable offers, the first step in converting a website visitor into a lead.
Offering value
To generate a lead, you need to convince visitors on your website to give you their contact information — and this takes work. You can’t simply expect them to generously hand over their personal information. (Don’t we all get enough emails?!) This means you need to tempt them with something they really want, which you give them in exchange for their contact info.
You may be asking, what will my audience find valuable? And this is where your content comes into play.
[bctt tweet=”Well-written, high-quality content is always more effective at generating leads than an overt sales pitch.” username=”Fronetics”]
One of the fundamental principles of content marketing is that your expertise is just as valuable as your products and services. Well-written, high-quality content is always more effective at generating leads than an overt sales pitch.
Creating valuable offers
When designing your content, keep these three questions in mind:
1. What does my audience need?
It might seem like a basic consideration. But before you jump with both feet into creating an offer, take a step back and really consider the needs of your audience.
This is a good time to check out other industry blogs, social media, and online forums like Quora. What kinds of questions are your prospective buyers asking? What problems are they facing, and how can you help them?
2. How do I best serve the information I’m presenting?
Once you have a clear, well-researched idea of what your audience needs, think about what format best serves the content you’ll be offering them.
Depending on how your information should be structured, valuable content offers could be industry reports, guides, infographics, free consultations, product demonstrations, discounts, or webinars. You’ll often find that you can repurpose your existing content into an exclusive new, valuable offer.
3. How do I let my audience know that my offer is valuable?
So you’ve figured out what your audience needs, and created and structured a content offer to meet that need. Now it’s time to let your audience in on the secret.
The higher the perceived value of an offer, the more irresistible it becomes. And a big part of what we perceive to be valuable is about exclusivity and high demand.
To create this feeling of exclusivity and demand, use elements like:
- Limited-time offers
- Limited quantities
- X number of people have seized this offer
- Content that matches current trending topics
- A title that hooks interest
When you create an offer that your target audience perceives as truly valuable, your lead-generation efforts will begin to grow exponentially.
What tips do you have for creating valuable offers? Want to learn more about the crucial components of the creating an effective lead-generation and lead-nurturing campaign? Here’s the rest of the posts in our series:
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by Fronetics | Jul 16, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
Updated December 11, 2024
Whether you’re selling manufacturing solutions, logistics services, or technology, your supply chain lead generation strategy must address specific industry pain points like inventory optimization, transportation costs, and supplier relationship management.
While content marketing works across industries, supply chain decision-makers have unique needs. Procurement managers, logistics directors, and supply chain VPs face complex challenges:
- Multi-stakeholder buying committees
- Long sales cycles (often 12-18 months)
- High-value purchasing decisions
- Complex technical requirements
- Regulatory compliance concerns
- Integration with existing systems
Let’s explore how to adapt the four core components of lead generation specifically for supply chain audiences.
The 4 Essential Components of Supply Chain Lead Generation
1. Creating High-Value Supply Chain Offers
Supply chain professionals seek concrete solutions to operational challenges. Effective offers include:
Industry Reports:
- Annual logistics cost benchmarking studies
- Regional supplier capability assessments
- Port congestion and capacity forecasts
- Last-mile delivery performance analysis
Technical Resources:
- Warehouse automation ROI calculators
- Transportation management system comparison guides
- Inventory optimization modeling templates
- Supplier risk assessment frameworks
Educational Content:
- Supply chain sustainability certification programs
- LEAN logistics implementation playbooks
- Digital twin technology adoption guides
- Blockchain in supply chain webinar series
2. Supply Chain-Specific Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Customize your CTAs to resonate with supply chain roles:
For Procurement:
- “Download Supplier Evaluation Template”
- “Access Vendor Management Toolkit”
- “Calculate Potential Sourcing Savings”
For Logistics:
- “Benchmark Your Warehouse Costs”
- “Map Your Distribution Network”
- “Optimize Your Fleet Performance”
For Supply Chain Technology:
- “Compare TMS Features”
- “Schedule WMS Demo”
- “Download Integration Roadmap”
3. Converting Landing Pages for Supply Chain Professionals
Design landing pages that address industry-specific concerns:
Technical Validation:
- Integration capabilities with ERP systems
- API documentation
- Security certifications
- Compliance standards met
Operational Proof:
- Industry-specific case studies (e.g., automotive, retail, pharmaceuticals)
- Performance metrics (e.g., inventory reduction, on-time delivery improvement)
- Implementation timelines
- ROI calculations
Social Proof:
- Logos of recognized supply chain brands
- Industry awards and certifications
- Partnership badges (SAP, Oracle, etc.)
- Client testimonials from supply chain leaders
4. Strategic Form Fields for Supply Chain Lead Qualification
Capture information crucial for supply chain lead scoring:
Company Profile:
- Annual freight spend
- Number of distribution centers
- Current transportation modes
- Manufacturing locations
- System landscape
Project Context:
- Current supply chain challenges
- Priority initiatives
- Decision timeline
- Budget range
- Required integrations
Role Information:
- Position in supply chain organization
- Purchase authority level
- Technology decision-making role
- Geographic responsibility
Supply Chain Lead Nurturing Strategies
Once you’ve captured leads, nurture them with industry-specific content:
Early Stage:
- Educational content about supply chain trends
- Industry benchmark reports
- Thought leadership webinars
Middle Stage:
- Technical specification sheets
- Implementation guides
- Customer success stories
Late Stage:
- Custom ROI analysis
- Pilot program proposals
- Integration assessment reports
Measuring Supply Chain Lead Generation Success
Track these key metrics:
- Lead-to-opportunity conversion by industry vertical
- Sales cycle length for different solution types
- Implementation success rates
- Customer lifetime value by segment
- ROI achieved by solution category
Next Steps in Your Supply Chain Lead Generation Journey
Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore advanced topics including:
- Supply chain buyer persona development
- Industry-specific content strategies
- Technical validation frameworks
- ROI calculation methodologies
Sign up for updates to get these insights and more on generating and nurturing qualified leads in the manufacturing, distribution, and logistics sectors.
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