Inbound Marketing: Engage Stage
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Once your business reaches that stage of the Inbound Marketing funnel, it means that it has been able to attract qualified prospects.
At this stage, the prospects are evaluating how your business’ products and services stack up against the competition. They are evaluating the different methods that are available to them.
It is now time to CONVERT them into Inbound leads, actively ENGAGE with them and persuade them to continuously receive information. You want to lead them further down the funnel. The term “lead” itself is an individual or an organization that has an interest in your products or services.
At this stage of the Inbound Marketing methodology, your business must establish contacts. Contacts are anyone your business market to, sell to, partners with, engage with, or employs. Your business is creating a relationship with these individuals. Having a strong contact database is key at this stage. Storing data about who these prospects are, what they want from your business and segmenting them with your suitable products and services is the way to go.
In other words, you want your visitors’ contact information: their email address, phone number, or any other contact form.
The best way to do so is through an exchange. Your business must offer something valuable and enticing whereby the prospects are compelled to give the required information. After all, your business is still delivering critical information to help the prospect make the best possible decision.
Here are some of the methods your business can employ to convert prospects into leads:
01
Demo Videos
One of the most efficient ways to offer a better explanation of how your products and services work, is through a Live or an animated demonstration video. You are showcasing them in action. This is a thorough and compelling way to communicate your product or your service’s value to the potential customers. They will eventually have a visual proof of there feasibility and there worth. As a Digital Inbound Marketing Strategy, posting these videos on your business’ website and social media pages will organically attract visitors and generate leads.
02
E-Books
Electronic books, or e-books, is a publication made available in digital form. Since they are in said form, they are never unavailable or out of stock. Your business can give prospective customers valuable information about a product or a service in exchange for their contacts. E-books are also a reliable source of information that enables knowledge to be transferred from the company to the prospects, thus generating more Inbound leads. Last but not least, they are easy to send, share and download.
03
Training Videos
As a business, you should keep in mind that the majority of your potential customers are visual learners. By adapting a training video during the engagement process, you are establishing a connection with the prospects. Besides, a training video can perfectly complement written instructions on an E-book.
04
Freemium Models
One of the key Inbound services that your company can implement is the freemium model. As its name indicates, freemium is a portmanteau of the words free and premium. It is an internet-based business model where basic services are provided free of charge, but charges are levied on additional premium features. Adopting the freemium model is the perfect opportunity to increase your business’ user base, and thus generate leads towards it. It also constitutes the perfect opportunity for free beta testing of new products and/or services. Adopting the freemium model adequately will form what is known as the “network effect”. A product or a service becomes more valuable when more people use it.
05
Whitepapers
A whitepaper is an informational document that is issued to promote or highlight the features of a solution, a product, or a service. The customer cares about what your product can do for then and how it addresses his dilemma. A whitepaper can be a very valuable and powerful Inbound Marketing tool for your business and can positively influence current and prospective customers’ decisions.
06
Discount Coupons
Coupons are almost a surefire way to drive prospective customers towards your business. 97% of consumers look for deals when they purchase products or services. 92% of them stated that they are always looking for deals even when they are not actively shopping. 50% of all millennials state that limited time offers are very enticing and something that they look out for. One of the best ways to turn coupons into an efficient Inbound Marketing tool is to entice customers to provide their name and email address in order to obtain the coupon. That way, your business can expand its contact database and generate more leads towards it.
07
Chatbots
An average of 35 to 50% of sales go to the businesses that respond to the customers first. Instant communication is established through chatbots. A chatbot is a software used to conduct a conversation via text. They have the potential to add up to a 400% increase in Inbound lead conversions.
08
Customer Engagement Campaigns
Once your business has an understanding of what prospective customers think, it will have the ability to identify the areas in which to grow and improve. Market research surveys, questionnaires, can be powerful tools to help shape your business using customer feedback. Through these interactive campaigns, your business can entice consumers into providing their contact details.
09
Call-to-Action
Last but not least, in order to capture leads from your content, you must leave a call-to-action, or CTA. It should be a very crucial part of every marketing campaign your business intends to do. The only objective of a CTA is to encourage the user to pursue the next Inbound Marketing stage. In other words, if you want to collect email addresses of your visitors, you must use a CTAs such as a “Subscribe Now!” or a “Click here to Sign Up” button. Once the visitors click on them, you will obtain their email addresses. The key is to give customers directions to take your desired action.
When it comes to engaging the customer, the more the perceived value of your offering, the more information you can ask for, and eventually obtain.
