Want to build better targeted marketing automation campaigns? Here's a brief overview of a powerful way to integrate Inbound and Outbound marketing with sales.
My video addresses how far too many small businesses struggle to build highly-targeted marketing automation campaigns. List size and the cost to build a targeted list is the biggest obstacle for targeted, automated marketing campaigns because most small businesses can't afford to invest enough in advertising to build a big enough list. It can be cost prohibitive for many small businesses to buy paid traffic on the big search engines. And sales people bemoan the fact that there just aren't enough great leads.
So what's the best way to build your list if you don't have an ad budget to spend every month sufficient to build your targeted list of prospects? One of my suggestions is buying or renting a list of highly-targeted prospects, much like people do when the partner with affiliates who get paid a big cut of sales for cross promoting a product or service. Remember, we are scrambling to build bigger and better lists of prospects and it's important to adhere to the laws and etiquette of "permission-based" marketing, which is kind of misleading. Do sales people need permission to make cold calls? Well, neither do email marketers when hitting a new list. The key is doing it in a way that is legal and cost effective.
With all the hype today given to the power of Inbound marketing it seems too many small businesses forgot the power of old school, outbound marketing and sales tactics. For example, when you buy or rent a highly-targeted list your sales team and marketing automation systems can fire away, qualify, nurture and win new business. The results may not blow your socks off, but that's not the point. All these tactics work. They just don't work well if you only look at the conversion results. It's hard work, especially when you take the time to do it right so you don't win enemies while seeking friends, if you know what I mean.
There are lots of services out there that sell and rent lists. Which one is for you? This is tough to say until you identify a budget and source of new data that will meet your needs. Rather than rattle off any of the big ones on the market, many of which we have done business with, check out the video today and tell me what you think of the concept of melding Inbound and Outbound automated marketing campaigns.
Oh, and by the way, the Outbound part, also requires a ton of hard work and consistent follow up. That's because sales and marketing success is all about the numbers. It's a game of failure and repetition, because most of what you do won't work well, but it will work! You simply have to be in the game each and every day doing the hard work: emailing, calling, direct mailing and making sure you do so with the proper relevancy and frequency. It's also helpful to qualify every prospect as best possible, especially when starting to build your highly-targeted, new list.
Babe Ruth struck out a lot to become the home run King of his day. Same with sales and marketing people. The key for the winners is being willing to get in the batters box and keep swinging away.
We always appreciate your questions, comments and suggestions here on the Conversion Marketing Experts blog. And if you ever need a second opinion on your marketing automation campaigns, just give us call or complete one of the forms on our site.