One of my favorite phone calls to get from businesses we are doing digital marketing campaigns for is when they call us to tell us that they are getting a bunch of responses to the marketing campaigns we are doing for them. One of the least favorite things I hear from our clients is when they ask us, “ok, so I have these responses from prospective customers. Now what do I do?”
The easy answer to this question would be me to tell them about our marketing services and try to sell them on subscribing to more services, so they can easily solve their issue. The reality though is that many business owners can probably handle the follow up on their own, and the main purpose of our partnering with small businesses is to bring value to them. It is NOT to try and nickel and dime and sell them on every little thing we might be able to charge them money for.
So for those of you that work with our marketing agency, or for others of you that are stuck in this same conundrum, today I want to share with you two easy ways you can follow up with people that are responding to your digital marketing efforts, to help cultivate the lead and turn them from prospective customer, into customer.
Get An Item Of Value In Their Hands
This does require a little bit of elbow grease, but it pays off HUGE. There are a couple of pieces to this. First off, you have to have an item of value in hand. A good item of value will be perceived as relevant and interesting to a potential customer, and will make for the perfect conversation starter. For instance, maybe somebody clicked on a Facebook ad about the new spring menu you are releasing for your restaurant. With a little bit of work, you can set up your CRM system to send everyone that engaged with this ad, a VIP invite to a special menu launch dinner, at your restaurant, via Facebook messenger. This is the perfect conversation starter you can use to get to build rapport with potential customers, and get them engaged with your brand and coming into your Restaurant.
Start A Secondary, More Targeted Marketing Campaign
This one should seem like a no-brainer, but you would not believe how many companies do not do this. If you have people responding to your digital marketing campaigns, you HAVE to set up a secondary campaign that will help you further cultivate these leads.
The purpose of this campaign will be to allow the prospects to learn more about you. Specifically, you want to use the campaign to teach them what makes you different from other similar businesses in your marketplace, and exactly how these differentiating factors are going to equate to an advantage for the customer. For instance, using the restaurant example again, you might choose to send retargeted ads to your prospects that discuss how you are one of the only farm to table restaurants in your marketplace, serving the freshest and healthiest food possible.
These campaigns will require a little bit of initial set up to get them going. Hopefully you are working with an agency that can help you develop this content. If not, just examine your competitors and really hone in on differences, taking into account the fact customers will always be looking at things from a, “what’s in it for me” perspective.
Once you have your campaigns set, you will want to determine the frequency with which you will touch these people. My recommendation is send info to them no more than a couple times per week, at the outset. Then, after they have completed the first retargeted campaign, perhaps put them into your list of prospects that are on a monthly or twice per month cultivation campaign via direct mail or Facebook Messenger marketing.
So there you have it. Leads that respond to your marketing are the lifeblood of growing your business. Be sure to follow up with them, actively and often, ensuring you turn those qualified leads into life long customers.
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