How to predict what content will convert a lead into business
As B2B marketeers, we all want prospects to get in touch. But to transform enquiries into actual business, you need to understand where each potential customer is coming from. Each prospect will want to see different types of content, so you’ll need to tailor your strategy accordingly to convince them you’re the right fit for them.
These are the four broad types of customer you need to get to know. Get familiar with them, so you can identify what stage of the journey they’re at, and effectively channel their enquiries into lead conversion success.
The quick contacter
How do they get in touch?
They might phone, ping off a quick email, or send a message via your contact form; either way, they’ve done it straight away.
What content would they like to see?
At this stage, don’t invest too much time or offer a proposal – this might even be off-putting for them. They probably just want a quick conversation, so give clear examples of your work online and some of your relevant past clients.
How well do they know you?
They probably don’t know much about you beyond your landing page or social media profiles. Give them an insight into who you are and what you do but don’t invest too much time. It’s likely they’ll be calling around several different options at the moment, so have some information ready to go that you can quickly and easily tailor for these types of enquiries.
Unless they’re a small company, they’re unlikely to be the key decision maker within their organisation, so give them a professional and persuasive synopsis that they can easily present on to their boss. Don’t inundate them with too much detail. Nurturing leads like this can take a long time and can often be frustrating if they don’t get back in touch, but never underestimate the longer-term value of a good first impression.
The warm lead
How do they get in touch?
They’ll probably contact through personal communication channels, whether that’s direct to your personal email, telephone, or via social media.
What content would they like to see?
This type of prospect will most likely have already seen examples of your work on your website and promoted on social media. Don’t undermine your familiarity with each other by guiding them to content that’s easily available online. Take the time to pick content, case studies and clients that match their enquiry and business.
How well do they know you?
They will already know of your company, so will be aware of what you do and may have even contacted you in the past. You may not need to send them a hefty proposal. Navigate the conversation and find out the best next steps to secure a conversion. Warm leads can become loyal and longstanding customers, so make sure to nurture your ongoing relationship.
The keen researcher
How do they get in touch?
Keen researchers usually narrow down their options to a handful of choices and send out email enquiries to all of them. Even on first contact, their brief will already be detailed, so they’ll appreciate it if you can move quickly to a more in-depth discussion, perhaps over a conference call platform where multiple people can be involved.
What content would they like to see?
Remember, these types of prospect are keen investigators. Don’t be surprised if they’ve researched your past clients, read examples of your work and are familiar with your testimonials and case studies. Respond quickly and, if possible, head straight to offering a solution or a proposal. There’s a high chance they’re a decision maker at their business, so always offer detailed and concrete solutions and strategy.
How well do they know you?
They’re likely to know a lot about you, so you’ll need to catch up and quickly understand more about them. Ask constructive questions about their pain points and make sure you do your research before any further communication. However, because they do a lot of groundwork, it’s also very likely they’re already in negotiation with your competitors. Because of this, try to offer competitive pricing, a timeframe and respond to enquiries quickly.
The networker
How do they get in touch?
They might have attended a webinar or conference, be connected with you on social media, or have spoken to you informally, face-to-face before.
What content would they like to see?
Networkers collect various materials from various companies. They see a lot of different names, so you need to make sure that yours stands out and the material is easily digestible. You should always have branded sales material in your toolkit ready for these types of enquiries.
How well do they know you?
A networker may know your professional reputation but may not know you personally. Make sure to exchange contact details and connect with them on LinkedIn. They may not have a specific need or problem in mind right at this moment, but they like to explore potential options for the future and build their databases. Try to think long-term strategy and find ways to stay in touch and keep them updated.
Turn prospects into customers
By understanding each prospect’s needs, you’ll be able to appropriately field each enquiry and nurture them for successful returns.
At asabell, we’ve spent over sixteen years dealing with a wide range of different customers and understand the complexities of their unique needs. That’s why we’re more than equipped to help you tailor your strategy to each proposition. Whichever way prospects get in touch, we can make sure you have the right strategy and content to turn them into business. If you’d like to find more about what we can offer you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
5 common pitfalls of poor blog posts
The same mistakes crop up time and again in blog posts. We list the top five most common issues to avoid. Make sure to look out for these in your own writing and share them with your colleagues.
1. Spelling and grammatical errors
Nothing looks more unprofessional than a badly written blog post that is littered with spelling mistakes. If multiple people are writing or editing content, typos can crop up very easily. Make sure you proofread your content carefully. Often, it’s a good idea to get a second pair of eyes to read it over. Always make time for editing so you’re sure you’re producing the highest quality content possible.
2. No call to action or links
When writing a blog post, you need to ask yourself: what should the reader do next when they have finished reading it? Would they want to contact you or sign up to an event/newsletter? Is there a link to your contact page or a phone number and email?
If you’re writing a blog post to increase conversions and web traffic, then this is a particularly important point to address. It would be a shame to create really great content but leave your reader hanging.
3. Irrelevant, stale or sales-driven content
You don’t want a post that is only full of content that interests you. Don’t focus on what you want to say about yourself, instead focus more on what your audience is interested in and what they want to learn about. Your reader’s time is precious. Make sure your content is relevant, engaging and fresh, and keep updating your blog regularly with new posts.
Try to speak to your audience’s needs without being too salesy – work out what issues matter to them. They might want some tips or advice on a particular topic, or they might be trying to find out about trends and news from their industry. Don’t ‘push’ your products and services, only mention them if they are relevant and if it doesn’t feel forced.
4. Too long or short
Think about who is reading your blog post and how much time they are going to have to scan over it. You want them to take away a few key messages, not feel overwhelmed with reems of text. They might be on their lunch break or just browsing social media for a few minutes between meetings. If your post is too long your reader is more likely to switch off and not make it to the end. Help them by breaking up the copy with subheadings or lists.
Similarly, if you only post short snippets instead of full articles then you could be missing out on the kind of rich content that is naturally optimised for organic search. Take a look at the sort of blog posts competitors are publishing to get an idea of length and layout. Take note of the topics they are covering too. This will help you target the right kind of keywords and content.
5. Too formal or informal
Blog posts shouldn’t be overly complex to read. A conversational tone is usually best for engaging with your reader. Long sentences and paragraphs can be off-putting and difficult to digest. Don’t alienate people with lots of jargon, strange acronyms, or unusual vocabulary. If you are using content written by a subject matter expert, then check it over to see if your audience will understand it. At the same time some blog posts need to use more formal and technical writing – it just depends on your audience and your brand. Consider rewriting parts of your post so that it fits the right tone of voice.
If you would like some professional help with writing blog posts or other content, please get in touch with the team here at asabell.
Lessons learnt from the pandemic
Over a year has passed since the UK went into lockdown, although it does sometimes feel like longer than that. It’s been a struggle for all of us in different ways, but as is often the case when faced with challenges, it’s also an opportunity to grow and reflect. Here are some learnings to take away from the pandemic.
Routine gives us resilience
Something that may have come as a surprise to at least some of us, is that having a routine is actually really quite important. Working alone and from home requires a lot of self-discipline, and actually having some kind of schedule makes a big difference. Of course, we all work differently and not all of us necessarily want a strict routine, but the lack of structure in life since lockdown has really crystalised why at least some structure is important.
Sometimes our personal lives can be complicated, overwhelming or distracting, and if we have some routine to fall back on it can give us stability and emotional resilience. Routine at work can also really help you manage your time and stay productive.
We all need human connection
Another learning, which may be more expected, is that we really benefit from human interaction. Our working life is so much richer when we get to maintain those face-to-face meet ups. It’s not necessarily even communicating about a project or piece of work, but more just the chit-chat and relationship building that comes from sharing a space with co-workers. It’s important to keep making time to catch up with people and keep the bonds strong.
Also, video conference calls can be quite tiring, especially if you have several back-to-back. Sometimes it’s worth scheduling in a meeting for 5 past or 10 past the hour just to give people some breathing space.
The comforts of home
Our final learning is a new appreciation for the comforts of home. It would be amazing if more businesses could transform their office spaces into a more comfortable place to be, after all we spend a decent proportion of time at work. Whether that’s allowing people to wear clothes that they feel comfortable in, ensuring everyone has enough natural light for their work area, or simply making some simple improvements to the space such as adding in some plants or updating the décor.
Workers also really do appreciate the flexibility of homeworking, and many organisations are now considering offering a mix of home and office working permanently for more of their staff. According to a YouGov poll, 57% of those who were working before the outbreak and who intend to stay part of the workforce say they want to be able to continue working from home. If there was one change we expect to see after the pandemic subsides, it’s a rise in remote working.
9 mistakes that show your copy is behind the times
Copywriting has changed fairly dramatically over the last few decades since digital took over.
The majority of content is now written for the web and social media channels. It can be difficult to keep up with best practice and writing conventions, but it’s important – you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.
Here are some pointers on what to avoid when it comes to writing copy for digital channels.
- Long paragraphs.
Remember most platforms like websites have relatively narrow columns for copy, much narrower than Word. In fact, it’s likely someone may end up reading your copy on a mobile screen. Also, users tend to skim read blog articles and web copy, so it’s best to break it up and make it easier to digest. There’s nothing more annoying than landing on a page that has a huge block of text to try and absorb. - Indenting paragraphs.
A space between them will do. This isn’t a letter from the early 20th century, it’s a nice, clean bit of copy going onto a digital channel. - Double spacing.
This is a legacy of typewriters, but your content won’t match the formatting and layout of your other digital content if you start adding in double spaces. Also, it’s often difficult to be consistent with double spacing and you end up with a weird mix of single and double spacing, especially if multiple people are editing a bit of copy. - Being too salesy.
Sales-driven content can come across as insincere and be off-putting. This includes cheesy one-liners and exclamation marks. Just avoid them. - Keyword stuffing.
It’s so obvious when you’re writing content just to fit in as many keywords as possible rather than with your reader in mind. If you are writing an article about a particular subject, then related keywords will naturally crop up without you having to force it. - Overuse of bold, italics or even worse, all caps.
There are better ways to draw attention to key points such as using subheadings or single-line paragraphs. - Using obscure words in order to elevate your copy.
Generally, it’s best to keep content simple and relatively easy to understand. There’s no need to oversimplify but also no need for unusual or flowery language. You could alienate your audience. - Forgetting who you are speaking to and what tone of voice to use.
If you’re writing for a younger audience or a more informal channel (e.g. social media) then overly formal writing will look out of place. Think carefully about where your content will appear and who you are speaking to. - Using ‘click here’ or URLs for hyperlink text.
There are a number of reasons why you shouldn’t do this, ranging from SEO to user experience. Plus, the link will take up unnecessary space if the link text is a URL. Try to describe in a few words what you are linking to, for example: BBC website.
Don’t be afraid to ask for some professional support. Here at asabell we have dedicated copywriting experts on hand to help you produce the best possible copy. Catch people’s attention with your content – but for the right reasons. Get in touch to find out more.
10 tips to transform how you work with subject matter experts
Are you realising your experts’ full potential as ambassadors of your industry expertise?
By capturing their insight, you are close to having everything you need to be able to provide valuable content to your customers. But often, a torrent of unfiltered advice and knowledge can be hard to decipher, especially when it’s full of industry jargon and technical terminology.
You need to be able to know how to distil a specialist subject matter into engaging content that is easily accessible for your customers.
Using over 16 years of experience in this area, we’ve put together our ten most useful tips to get the best from your experts.
Download it by clicking the image below. Afterwards, if you’d like to find out more about how we can help your business, please feel free to get in touch.
10 steps to success: How to run a marketing campaign
When you want to get the word out about a product, service, event or re-brand, what you need is an integrated marketing campaign.
But where do you start? And how do you make sure it’s a success?
A marketing campaign is a huge commitment and a lot of work. From asking all the right questions during your strategic planning stage, to brainstorming the big idea that your campaign will centre around, there’s a lot to get right. That’s why we’ve put together a 10-step guide — to walk you through the main milestones and help you create a campaign to be proud of.
Download it now by clicking the image below and get in touch if you’d like more info on how we put together successful campaigns for our clients.
Marketing insight: making the most of LinkedIn
Your personal LinkedIn account is the perfect place to start building your individual brand in a professional setting. With over 300 million members, it’s a fantastic place to grow your network and harness new opportunities.
That doesn’t mean it’s a revolving door of prospects, though. Like any other social media platform, a solid strategy and dedication to building your following and brand are vital. That’s why we’ve put together a handy LinkedIn guide to walk you through the key areas that contribute to LinkedIn success: Purpose. Profile. Presence.
To find out more about these and how they can help you increase sales, build a platform as a thought leader or even find your next role, download the guide now!
Marketing insight: animations
It’s a crowded marketplace out there, and it’s getting tougher to get your messages across. Increasingly, B2B businesses are choosing animations as a way to bypass pages of static text, using the fact that the brain can process visuals 60,000 times faster than the written word.
But it can be confusing if you’re new to it, so we’ve put together a guide to producing amazing animations. Have a read and get up to speed on all the hints and tips that will help you through the animation process.
Download the guide now by clicking on the image below and get your messages moving.
Sales enablement for the win(ning of new business).
You might be wondering what sales enablement actually is. Well, put simply, it’s your ticket to boosting sales. But behind this is a collection of marketing resources that help your salespeople seal the deal.
The sales call is only one part of getting a new client to sign on the dotted line. It’s a rare prospect who buys from you during their first contact with your organisation.
That’s why you need to build a wider sales-enablement campaign — including sales emails, cheat sheets and organised calling days — to bring that new revenue through the door.
Supporting your sales superheroes.
It can often be hard to convince sales professionals that marketing materials really can help them. But we’ve run more than a few campaigns in our time that show sales enablement is totally a thing.
Take, for instance, when one of our clients tasked its sales teams with winning back 60 accounts from competitors in 60 days. Sounds like a tall order, right? Well, our ‘Heroes’ collateral helped the salespeople smash their targets — and saw the campaign extended way beyond its original remit.
To do this, we created a company superhero — along with flyers, posters and cardboard cut-outs. Oh, and chocolates made an appearance too (followed by a swift disappearance once eaten).
When people met their targets, they got to become their favourite superhero — as we created framed photos and awarded certificates.
It might all sound daft without seeing it in action. But the salespeople all bought into the campaign, and made it a huge success. A superhero theme might also seem frivolous when budgets are tight. However, for relatively little investment, you can seriously boost your bottom line.
Three ways to enable sales.
So, how do you go about creating your own super-successful sales-enablement campaign?
Well, here are three steps you need to follow to get your sales team selling as they’ve never sold before:
- Share best practice.
How does your top seller tackle a difficult sale? Find out, and share their knowledge. There’s no to reason to keep the things you do successfully a secret. And collateral like cheat sheets give you simple ways to make sure everyone in your sales teams has access to best practice. - Own the customer conversation.
Two-thirds of sales teams struggle with not being able to find content to send to prospects. Create emails, presentations, data sheets and more, and you’ll have plenty of useful info to seal the deal. - Upskill your people.
You can’t expect your people to all work the same way. But you can encourage them to adopt best practices by providing training materials such as internal emails and intranet campaign pages. This gives your people the helping hand they need to turn prospects into customers.
Play by your own rules, and get results.
There are so many ways to give your sales teams the edge when they talk to prospects. It all depends on what’ll work best for your people.
Sales enablement allows you to win business by making sure everyone has the tools to share your message and work together.
Give us a call to find out more about how we can help you shape your team into a room full of sales-target-busting superheroes.
How to write a great case study in 4 easy steps
A good case study is like sales gold dust. It’s the closest thing you’ll get to one of your satisfied customers going around and telling all your prospects how great you are. In just one short document, you can evidence that you understand your customers’ issues AND know how to fix them.
So why do so many case studies end up as dry, underwhelming documents that do nothing to win business?
A case study that lacks impact is often the result of poor planning and execution. The good news is that there is a winning formula: follow our four key steps to make sure your case study brings in the business.
1. Find the story
Creating an effective case study is all about telling a story, complete with a plot that sees the hero facing and triumphing over a challenge. Ideally, there’ll be some element of struggle in it before moving on to a happy ending. If you find what you intend to write about doesn’t have a story to tell, cut your losses and find a different topic for your case study.
Your customer must be the hero of the story. Make your customer’s main challenge the villain of the piece and remember that your company, product or solution must only ever be a supporting character. As with any good story, your plot will centre around your hero, and will take them on a clear journey. And maximise the reality, believability and relatability of your story by mentioning any hitches that you and your customer had to overcome along the way. Making your customer the hero has three main benefits:
- A customer is more likely to sign off a case study that shows them in a good light.
- It creates a story experience that the reader is most likely to identify with.
- It stops you focusing the piece on your product or service. This means you’re less likely to get side-tracked into listing features that detract from the story and are better suited to a datasheet.
Wondering how we could tell your customers’ stories? Take a look at some of our case study examples.
2. Let your customer’s voice shine through
Wherever possible, conduct interviews with key players in your customer’s company to capture the human angle for your case study and let the personality of your customer’s business shine through. By talking through their experiences you’re more likely to extract genuine responses that your reader can relate to; written inputs tend to be more clinical and can slip into industry jargon that sound stilted, significantly reducing readability.
Prepare thoroughly for your interviews by speaking to the person that has the closest relationship with them in your company:
- Get the background to the events you’ll be exploring and your colleague’s side of the story so you can make sure you cover every aspect in your interview.
- Prepare open questions beforehand and work logically through the story journey.
- Seek out the transformation story. Explore the position of your customer’s company before and after your actions so you can draw out the contrast.
Listen out for good quotes to incorporate into your writing and use them liberally. The way your customer expresses themselves will be far more effective than your reportage of what they said. Don’t be afraid of a natural-sounding quote; think of it as one peer talking directly to another.
3. Maximise layout and design to make your messages easy to absorb
Boost your chances of your messages coming across loud and clear by making the most of imagery in your case study. The right images embody your customer’s industry and help to draw your reader into the story. Images also create more of a magazine feel, so reading the piece feels light and easy.
Design your case study with the skim reader in mind:
- Include call out boxes containing headline results and key benefits.
- Use subheadings to signpost the main points of the story.
- Consider including graphics to illustrate products or services mentioned, or design mini infographics to draw attention to key stats.
Need a hand to make your case study look good? Take a look at some of our examples for a taste of what we could achieve for you.
4. Work your case study hard
Creating a great case study is not enough — you need to get it noticed by the right people, and that can take some work. Start by customising your core story into the right formats to suit a variety of channels. Begin by creating a short, two-sided version for a quick read, and a succinct couple of paragraphs to get across the key points in presentations. Could it work as a video case study?
Plan how you’re going to promote your case study:
- Consider promoting it across your social channels using custom-designed images.
- Think about how you can feature it on your website with a call-to-action banner.
- Make sure your sales teams know about it and have strategies for using it to best effect.
Once your case study is up and running, keep an eye on its performance. Check back in with your sales teams to get feedback on how your case study has been performing so you can incorporate their opinions into your ongoing case study strategy. Find out the reach of your case study on social media, and website views, too. All measures of effectiveness will support your overall case study programme.
Sell your success with a story
Never underestimate the power of a good case study. Sharing your customers’ stories is a sure-fire way to convince prospects to choose your business. By explaining their journey, your satisfied customers help others to visualise how they could achieve a successful outcome with you, too.
At asabell, we create case studies that win business. To talk through how we can help you share your customers’ stories, get in touch.