Posted on November 2, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

The 4 Stages of your New Sales and Marketing Funnel

We need some new vocabullary to understand the new sales and marketing funnel.  Marketing has become a science with the tools necessary to impact each part of the funnel.  But before we look at the new funnel math, we need to establish new vocabulary that matches funnel metrics.  Below are the four key terms used to describe people as they flow through and in or out of the sales and marketing funnel.

Contacts – the first personal interaction we might have with someone.  These are people we meet at trade shows, at networking events, who are referred to us.  We think they might be an opportunity.  They haven’t selected us, but we have had initial “contact” with them.

Suspects – these are the people who have raised their hand.  They found us on the web and downloaded our white paper, free report, eBook, watched our video, or attended our webinar.  These people are interested in us, but we don’t know if we are interested in them.  These could also be people WE are interested in.  Potential prospects, companies we WANT to do business with.  We know them, but they don’t know us.  Before we can call them a prospect, we have to get to know them better.

Prospects – Now we know.  We like them (they are qualified) and they like us.  They are still early in the Guided Sales Process (for more on this see our newest eBook, Fire Your Sales Team Today!) but there is potential for us to work together. 

Opportunities – We are talking about working together.  They understand what we do, we understand what they need.  We are actively co-creating a solution that meets their specific and direct business needs.

These four new descriptive phrases are critical to understanding the new buyer behavior.  Understanding the numbers at each stage in your sales and marketing funnel is critical to managing that funnel and when we talk about the new Funnel Math associated with actively managing the process, it will become clear how these all work together.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Inbound marketing, advertising agency, close business, cold calls, increase sales, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing strategy, marketing tracking, sales methods, sales process, sales proposals, sales reps, sales techniques, sales tips, selling, small business marketing strategy, video marketing, website design
Posted on October 31, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

3 Secret Marketing Treats that aren’t Tricks

It’s Halloween, we all have to be careful to find the treats and avoid the tricks.  Marketing isn’t that much different.  Here are a couple of yummy treats.  Work on these and stay away from some of the stale tactics and your marketing will be scrumptious not scary. 

Treat 1 – Video
Video has so many applications today that no marketing program would be complete without it.  Here are a couple of suggestions.  Get a flip cam and shoot some clients talking about how happy they are with your company.  Edit them together and use this “reference real” instead of giving out references.  Take a few videos and post them to YouTube, tag them with the right keywords, add a call to action, and if the search volume is under 1 million, you might just get on the first page of Google in less than 48 hours.  Click here to learn more about video.

Treat 2 – Content
Today’s marketing programs need content and lots of it like blog posts, eBooks, videos (see above), white papers, podcasts, webinars and more.  The more content you have the easier it is going to be to get your prospects to feel safe hiring you.  The more you help them do their jobs and the more you talk with them regularly without trying to put the hard sell on the faster they will know, like and trust you.  The hard part is knowing what to write about.  That’s where a good content plan helps.  Think this out in advance, do it for the next six months and stick with it.  Click here for more on creating great content.

Treat 3 – Offers
If your website gets one million visitors each month but no one converts (identifies themselves) then your million visitors are worthless.  Offers get people to convert.  Conversions are potential sales opportunities and if you treat (ha!) them right (nurture not sell), they will become your customers.  Create offers regularly, track and test them, ride the ones that work and retire the ones that don’t.  Use your content as your offers.  When you see what people are interested in adjust your content plan to create more of what is working.  Click here to learn more about the Trio of Offers.

Doing marketing the Reality Marketing™ way doesn’t have to be scary or tricky.  If you want to talk about getting any of these special treats for your company, just let us know.  We are here to help.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Inbound marketing, Money saving marketing tips, advertising agency, close business, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, small business marketing strategy, video marketing, website design
Posted on October 21, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

To call or not to call…that is the question!

By now you should have heard that educating, coaching, advising, and guiding prospective customers are the new buzz words in sales and marketing. No longer are we putting the hard sell on our prospects, we aren’t offering them discounts if they sign up today. Now we help them make the right purchase decision.

Why do we help them?
By helping them, we accelerate their emotional connections to us and help them know, like and trust us more quickly. This emotional connection is key to getting their commitment to hire us. Marketers do that by providing educational content and sales people do that by applying what we call the “guided sales process.”

Are calls part of the Guided Sales Process?
So the question arises, when do we call the prospect? Remember that piece of technology on your desk that actually connects real people, voice to voice, person to person?

To illustrate my point, let me tell you a story. The other day, I was sitting in my office and the phone rang, after it startled me…because it rarely rings these days, I picked it up. On the other end was a guy from a company (names have been removed to protect the innocent) who provides video services. He proceeded to tell me that I had requested some information from their website and in that process provided my phone number. Now he wanted to know if there was anything he could do for me. Sounds pretty innocent, right?

It wasn’t a big deal, but I only vaguely remembered the company. I DID remember downloading a PDF from their website on “how to use video to get SEO results.” But I wasn’t interested in anything more than information. I definitely didn’t want to be interrupted during the day by a phone call and if I had needed more information, I would have proactively, on my own requested it from the company.

What is really going on here?
Let’s look at this approach more closely. First, I didn’t ask to be called and there were no expectations that I was going to be called. Had they informed me that by downloading that PDF a sales person might, in fact, call me, I may have chosen to NOT download the PDF, either way, I would have been prepared. One way to avoid bad feelings from prospects is to set the appropriate expectations.

Next, if you think personal calls are appropriate for your process, then offer prospects something of value that requires the call. For instance, we offer prospects a 30 minute website review via the phone. The worst thing you could do is call with no real reason for the call. Remember, what is in it for me, the prospect.

But honestly, the way marketing works now, the call is an out dated follow up tactic. Buyer behavior is different. Marketers are educating, advising, counseling and sales people are simply guiding buyers through the decision process. The day of the unsolicited, unexpected, unnecessary phone call is over. Get your sales people to understand the new buyer behavior and watch your close rate soar.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Inbound marketing, Marketing, Tips, advertising agency, close business, increase sales, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing strategy, marketing tips, sales methods, sales process, sales proposals, sales reps, sales techniques, sales tips, selling, small business marketing strategy
Posted on October 18, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

The World Series and Marketing

The World Series starts tonight.  I know the Phillies aren’t in it, and I am not saying I will be watching, but I was thinking about what it takes to win the World Series and I couldn’t help but compare it to a well planned out marketing program.

Humor me…you might enjoy the analogy.  To win the World Series you need a combination of great starting pitching and great relief pitching.  You need fabulous fielders, singles hitters, home run hitters, and guys who can steal a base.  You also need a bench of utility and serviceable backups should one of your players get hurt or you are in desperate need of a key hit late in the game.  Don’t forget that you need a comprehensive and detailed plan that takes you from Spring Training all the way to the Fall Classic.

Marketing works exactly the same way.  As the business owner, you should meet with your team NOW to get ready for next year.  This is the same as baseball’s Winter Meetings when GMs get together with their managers, scouts and coaches to plan for the next season.  They know what they want to achieve and they evaluate all their players.  You should be evaluating your current marketing activities so you can cut, waive or trade the laggards and add, sign or reinvest in your most productive marketing tactics.

With a strong game plan (marketing strategy) you know what mix of tactics are required to get you to your goals, just like the GM knows what mix of players are required to win the World Series.  Now you have to go out and execute.  The players have to play and the marketing tactics have to perform.

The team is built from the ground up, just like your marketing.  You can’t compete without strong starting pitching, just like your website.  You can’t market your company without one.  If it doesn’t perform; drive conversions, downloads, leads and calls you can’t compete.  The relief pitchers have to hold the lead, just like social media.  People are forming opinions on your business and reading other people’s opinions on your products and services, if you aren’t involved in those conversations your competitors will be.  Without strong relief pitchers you will lose games in the late innings.

You need strong hitters.  Just like your marketing needs strong content.  Content drives the conversation.  You need the big blasts like eBooks, videos, and webinars and you need your share of singles like blog entries.  If you aren’t hitting the ball, your customers never get to know, like or trust you.  If you don’t hit, you don’t score and you won’t win many games.

You need to be fast, in the field and on the bases.  This means you need to be there when your competitors aren’t, this requires continued conversations with your prospects and clients.  Email marketing, search and lead nurturing campaigns provide the ability to automatically communicate with your prospects sending the perfect message at the exact time to the right target market.

Finally, you have to play defense, fielding your opportunities and handling them flawlessly so you never bobble, drop or misfire any chances.  Your sales process, sales messages, and sales presentations all have to be perfectly aligned to get your prospects to feel safe choosing you and then equally safe referring you to their contacts.

Along the way the manager tweaks and adjusts the lineup, motivates the players, and makes in-season moves to work the plan during the season.  Every day he does something, almost every day there is a game so he constantly works his team.  Treat your marketing the same way.  Look at your website traffic daily, review conversion rates, track email performance, test subject lines, blog regularly, adjust the blog topics based on the response of your readers.  Consider trading or dropping a program that isn’t performing and adding or trying a new tactic.  This constant tweaking is a requirement if you want to get to the World Series.

A lot has to go right to win the World Series and yes this is hard work but baseball and business have a lot in common.  They are both measured by wins and losses.  Baseball brass is measured on the increase in wins season over season, just like your business.  Did you sell more than last year, increase profits over last year, or hit our goals this year?   And just like baseball, in business the best seasons are those when you won more than you won the year before.

Think about your marketing like a baseball team and you will be one step closer to winning the World Series.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Email, MLB, Marketing, Money saving marketing tips, Tips, World Series, advertising agency, email marketing, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, marketing tracking, sales process, sales techniques, search engine optiization, small business marketing strategy, social media, video marketing, website design
Posted on October 14, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

Does it feel like Marketing Armagedon?

Has the marketing profession become increasingly complicated or is it just me? SEO, SEM, PPC, CPM, KPI, ACR, CMS, CRM and more.  Websites, mobile devices, video, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Digg, ReadIt, are you serious?  Ads don’t work, search doesn’t work, cold calling doesn’t work, direct mail is out…what does work?

If it feels overwhelming, your marketing probably isn’t organized appropriately and you might be missing the strategy part of marketing.  The often overlooked part that, while not as glamorous as some of the tactics above, is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of any marketing program.

While most people are jumping right to the tactics, building the website, sending out emails, hiring an SEO expert, the right move is to work on building the perfect marketing strategy and then sticking to it, month after month.  Watching it, tracking it, analyzing it and making small changes to optimize it.

Here is an example of how marketing strategy helps you decide if one of the fancy new tools, Groupon, might be right for your business.  Click here to watch the video.

Hang in there, we are here to help.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Email, Marketing, Pay Per Click, Tips, advertising agency, email marketing, increase sales, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, marketing tracking, small business marketing strategy, social media, video marketing
Posted on October 11, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

4.5 Ways to Learn from our Failures

As a Philly sports fans, we have learned to deal with our failures.  Perhaps the Phillies collapse and the Eagles recent troubles are extra painful, but at the end of the day, we all need to learn from our mistakes and work hard to recover.

Business and marketing is the same way.  If we never try anything new, risky or different our businesses and our marketing will never improve.  Here are 4½ ways to learn from your mistakes.

  1. Set expectations up front.  If you know what to expect you will be able to measure whether you are successful or not, where you fell short, and how to make improvements going forward.
  2. If you set an expectation that means you have to measure performance.  If you go to a new trade show and you have no idea how many leads to expect, then when the show is over and you are deciding whether to exhibit next year, how will you decide?  Gut?
  3. If you fail, take the time to identify why you failed and proactively make changes to prevent it from happening again.  Make sure you do this quickly, the longer you wait the less you will remember about the situation.
  4. Better yet, do a Pre-Mortem.  Instead of the above Post Mortem.  Before you start, list all the things that could go wrong and work to prevent them from going wrong up front.

Yes, here is the extra ½ a way.  Encourage failure, make sure you or your team fails fast, but is never afraid to fail.  Our mistakes are our best chance to learn and we have to make them to get to the ingenious idea that is just around the corner.

Click here for a video on a few interesting ways to prevent your sales team for failing with any new leads that come from your website.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in MLB, Marketing, Money saving marketing tips, Phillies, advertising agency, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, marketing tracking, small business marketing strategy
Posted on October 7, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

How Baseball and Marketing are Alike

As marketers, we can learn a lot from baseball. Now that the baseball playoffs are in high gear, watch this quick video on the similarities between baseball and marketing. Try to manage your marketing like GMs manage their teams. Click here to see how Reality Marketing fits in perfectly with your marketing strategy.

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Posted in MLB, Marketing, Money saving marketing tips, Phillies, Tips, advertising agency, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, marketing tracking, small business marketing strategy
Posted on October 4, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

Stop Selling and Start Nurturing

Does anyone like being sold to? When a sales person approaches you in a store or calls you unsolicted in the office or at home do you get that happy feeling inside? Why would your prospects feel any differently?

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Posted in Marketing, Tips, advertising agency, close business, cold calls, increase sales, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing strategy, marketing tips, sales methods, sales process, sales proposals, sales reps, sales techniques, sales tips, selling, small business marketing strategy
Posted on September 30, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

5 Ways to Nurture Your Leads

Getting a lead from your website isn’t the end game for marketers, its getting them to spend money with your company. To do that, those new contacts need to be nurtured, cultivated, and watched until they grow into real opportunities. The video give you some tips and techniques to implement an effective lead nurturing campaign.

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Posted in Marketing, Money saving marketing tips, Tips, advertising agency, close business, increase sales, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing metrics, marketing strategy, marketing tips, marketing tracking, sales methods, sales process, sales techniques, sales tips, selling, small business marketing strategy
Posted on September 28, 2011 by Mike Lieberman

5 Video Ideas for Your Business

Perhaps the most challenging part of doing video is figuring out what videos to create. Take some time and create a short video strategy so you know in advance the kinds of videos your audience wants. Consider that YouTube is now the number one “how to” site on the web. Here is a link to another site with some additional ideas. Enjoy the blog.

Square 2 Marketing – Leading the Reality Marketing Revolution!

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Posted in Marketing, Money saving marketing tips, advertising agency, internet advertising agency, internet marketing company, marketing agency, marketing company, marketing firm, marketing ideas, marketing strategy, marketing tips, small business marketing strategy, social media, video marketing