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Smart Funnel Campaigns Marketing Results Through Channel Blending

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Page 1: Smart Funnel Campaigns

Smart Funnel Campaigns

Marketing Results Through Channel Blending

Page 2: Smart Funnel Campaigns

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 1

Jon DiPietro is a Certified Inbound Marketing Professional and author of “Social Media for Engineers and Scientists.” He is the Founder of Domesticating IT, an inbound marketing blog and consultancy, and co-founder of CareerGravity.com, an educational website that teaches job seekers how to market themselves online. Jon holds leadership positions in the International Society of Automation, for which he has received multiple awards including the Emerging Leader Award. He is a frequent speaker on Internet marketing and social media topics.

@JonDiPietro [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/jondipietro

Conrad Sanford brings a unique blend of being an entrepreneur, incubating ideas into reality, as well as being a trusted adviser to numerous organizations, both small and F100 entities over the past 28 years. He has provided strategic insights and direction to companies for customer facing mission critical business functions, supporting this with detailed planning and tactical hands-on execution that has enabled success. Conrad has worked with the pioneers of GIS, ERP, CRM, having responsibility for executing global enterprise vision while offering insight to suppliers to improve their [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/conradsanford

Page 3: Smart Funnel Campaigns

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 2

“A marketing campaign isn't something that comes to you while you're taking a shower.” - Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

This paper approaches marketing tools from the perspective of synergy rather than conflict. The “either/or” mentality recently promoted for marketing campaign approach is unnecessary. The spectrum of marketing tools from blogging and SEO to cold calling represent choices in a campaign’s design, not alternatives based upon moral codes.

Page 4: Smart Funnel Campaigns

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 3

Outbound Campaigns

Marketing campaigns have historically been dominated by outbound efforts – email, advertising and telemarketing. Over time, the targets of these efforts have found many means to resist, making them less effective and thus increasing the cost of sale when using these tactics. The familiar outbound approach is shown here.

Inbound Campaigns

More recently, the introduction of inbound campaigns has been championed as superior to outbound, showing significantly lower cost per sale. The infancy and novelty of inbound are credited in part to the many quick wins that these tactics affected. The efforts within inbound campaigns differ significantly from outbound, where the steps focus on improving the connection with audience rather than the sale itself.

Convert the lead into a customer

Qualify the lead

Campaign outreach and direct contact

Pilot outreach and direct contact

Target and acquire audience

Convert the lead into a customer

Qualify the lead

Promote content through social media

Optimize content for search

Create content interesting to audience

Page 5: Smart Funnel Campaigns

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 4

The Smart Funnel approach has evolved from market evidence showing erosion in the effectiveness of inbound campaigns as their popularity expands. Concurrently, there appears a slight uptick in the effectiveness of outbound technics, such as direct mail, as these campaigns have received less usage.

The coda for Smart Funnel campaigns is to integrate the channels and processes from both inbound and outbound tactics.

Outbound Strategies Inbound Strategies

Page 6: Smart Funnel Campaigns

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 5

Techniques

The pages that follow model the techniques employed to place this synergy depicted in the table above into action:

Analysis  • Campaign design begins from an analysis of lead generation goals, target audience and past

performance metrics

Traf,ic   • Traffic Sources which advertising, email, search engine optimization, social media, and blogging are identified which will serve the target audience.

Lead  Magnet   • Lead Magnets are developed to convert cold traffic into leads.

Offerings   • Offerings are defined, ranging from low-cost Tripwires to Core Offers to high value Profit Maximizers

Return  Path  

• Return Paths are defined which promote customer retention goals using the same techniques as lead generation.

Page 7: Smart Funnel Campaigns

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Page 8: Smart Funnel Campaigns

INTRODUCTION

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 7

“Cold Calling Is Dead, Thanks To LinkedIn” - Ken Krogue, Contributor, Forbes

Marketing history exposes itself as a sequence of shifting trends. These trends result from new strategies based on the most current enabling technology. The outcome generates tactics by innovating these emerging technologies to create new marketing channels. And, frequently, these new trends conflict with the previous marketing paradigm.

Currently, we are witnessing one of the most significant shifts: inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing has a very strong basis in theory. Create content that will engage leads, persuade them that you’re an expert in your field, and purposefully nurture them from a lead into a customer.

But is inbound marketing delivering on its promise? And, if not, is there another path? Most importantly, how to we continue to leverage our channel investments while consuming innovations?

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The Gartner Hype Cycle “provide[s] a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities.”

© 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp

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INTRODUCTION

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 8

Recent marketing technologies and trends follow this hype cycle. Each of them has some enabling technology:

Each of these enabling technologies, offering the promise of new marketing capabilities get over-hyped, leaving marketers’ ability to implement and optimize them lagging. This is illustrated in Gartner’s Through of Disillusionment. Eventually, expectations are leveled and the platforms get figured out, leading to the Plateau of Productivity.

As the chart above suggests, we see the marketing landscape as relatively mature in the areas of outbound marketing and CRM. One of the fundamental arguments in favor of inbound marketing is that what is now traditional marketing is more difficult and less effective than in the past.

This is further shown when the incremental value proposition of CRM functionality is reviewed. The incremental return on the technology must now be bolstered with integrations such as analytics or chat applications.

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AAuuttoo DDiiaalleerrss From the late 1970’s, this technology enabled large scale telemarketing which continued to expend until controlling legislation in 2003

Significant efficiency improvement in outbound demand generation

CCRRMM Pioneered in the 1980’s in products such as ACT!; formalized in 1993 with the introduction of Siebel Systems CRM

Improvement in the ability to effectively manage large numbers of prospects and customers, and maintain detailed information about them

SSoocciiaall MMeeddiiaa An outgrowth of the internet’s popularization, formally began to take shape in 2002-2003 with sites such as Myspace and iTunes

The basis to current dominant channel, using blogging, inbound marketing, internet advertising and SEO

Page 10: Smart Funnel Campaigns

INTRODUCTION – INBOUND MARKETING DISILLUSIONMENT

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 9

“Inbound marketing is a tool in your toolkit rather than a replacement for traditional sales and marketing.” - Geoffrey James, Contributing editor, Inc.com

Inbound marketing is entering a phase in which most, if not all, marketers have heard of it and a majority have adopted at least some inbound marketing practices. Early adopters tend to have found more success, but as more and more companies jump into the content marketing pool, things get crowded and quick wins become the exception rather than the rule. It tends to take longer, cost more, and generate less than most businesses had anticipated.

This is not to say that inbound marketing doesn’t work; rather it’s an indication of mismatched expectations and shifting trends. Early adopters in any space tend to find results more quickly than their successors. This is in part reason for these mismatched expectations.

Another factor is the accelerating pace of change in technology. Consider how business was conducted in the 80s and 90s. How often did a true game-changing technology come around? Fax machines, personal computers, mobile phones, the Internet – these things happened periodically. Moore’s Law applied to social media shows a progression of game-changers every couple of months.

These changes bring both threats and opportunities. The challenge for businesses is to see the change and be nimble enough to adapt its strategies and tactics.

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INTRODUCTION – BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 10

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” - Wayne Gretzky

Both outbound and inbound marketing have their respective strengths and weaknesses. By combining these approaches, we’ve been able to realize the best of both marketing worlds. Scalable, direct marketing tactics can significantly boost the volume of leads into an inbound marketing funnel, shortening the conversion window while simultaneously preserving the longer term benefits of content marketing.

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There has been considerable discussion recently regarding inbound marketing and its superiority to outbound marketing. Experience with each approach reveals that each as a share of strengths and weaknesses.

In a sense, it’s a difference without a distinction. It’s all marketing. The goal is to attract prospects and convert them to customers. The strategies and tactics are slightly different, and their respective benefits tend to be perpetuated and exaggerated by businesses and consultants with a product and/or vested interest in one or the other.

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INTRODUCTION – BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 11

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Inbound marketing consist of strategies and tactics that organically attract prospects by offering value first and making a sales pitch second. It tends to focus on the very top of the sales funnel and rely on automated processes to pull prospects through to the bottom of the funnel. The key distinctions are that it is primarily a “pull” marketing approach and that it is a perpetual rather than a finite campaign.

Inbound marketing involves five steps:

11..  CCrreeaattee remarkable content that prospects will find interesting and want to share with their peers. This content must be engaging and provide value to the consumer.

22..   OOppttiimmiizzee the content for search engines so that it is easily indexed and ranks for relevant keywords.

33..   PPrroommoottee content over a wide range of channels including social media.

44..   CCoonnvveerrtt leads into customers through landing pages with strong calls to action.

5.  Annaallyyzzee the performance of each and every step in order to continuously adjust and improve.

Create

Optimize

Promote Convert

Analyze

Page 13: Smart Funnel Campaigns

INTRODUCTION – BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 12

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Outbound marketing focuses on strategies and tactics that generate cold traffic with targeted sales messages. It tends to operate on the middle and bottom of the sales funnel, relying mostly on manual sales processes to close sales as rapidly as possible. As a result, longer term prospects tend to be abandoned along the way. The key distinction here is that it is primarily a “push” marketing approach and is a finite campaign, as opposed to a perpetual process.

Outbound marketing typically works as follows:

Target

Determine audience and segmentation Establish budget

Outreach

Single or multi-channel campaign Establish contact with prospects

Qualify

Quickly qualify prospects Focus on opportunities

Close

Convert to customer

Page 14: Smart Funnel Campaigns

INTRODUCTION – SUMMARY OF INBOUND AND OUTBOUND

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 13

SSttrreennggtthh WWeeaakknneessss Inbound Marketing

LLoowweerr ccoosstt ppeerr lleeaadd: Data from Hubspot consistently supports the fact that inbound marketing delivers leads at approximately 60% of typical outbound marketing campaigns.

LLoonngg RROOII hhoorriizzoonn: Since content marketing, search engine optimization, link building and organic social media promotion are time-consuming to construct, inbound marketing results tend to be measured in time frames of six, twelve, or eighteen months.

EEvveerrggrreeeenn: Inbound marketing requires content to fuel its campaigns. The blog posts, ebooks, webinars, and other various content provide ongoing benefits perpetually. The content is indexed by search engines and also provide basic “ground cover” for sales activities.

WWiiddee aauuddiieenncceess: It’s difficult to narrow inbound marketing campaigns to the most qualified segments. As a result, inbound marketing tends to have a higher noise level than outbound marketing.

PPeerrcceeppttiioonn: Because successful content marketing delivers value, it positions companies as generous thought leaders. It establishes a reciprocity relationship with the audience.

SSccaallaabbiilliittyy:: Scaling inbound marketing efforts is difficult. Numbers from Hubspot clearly show that more content will net greater results. However, the relationship is hardly linear, especially over the short term.

Outbound Marketing

QQuuiicckk RROOII hhoorriizzoonn: Outbound campaigns reach higher numbers of more highly qualified prospects and, therefore, tend to generate sales qualified leads much sooner than pure inbound marketing.

HHiigghh ccoosstt ppeerr lleeaadd: Acquiring a narrow audience costs money. Whether it’s through purchasing lists or paying to advertise to niche audiences, accessing those prospects costs money.

NNaarrrrooww aauuddiieenncceess: There is a great stockpile of information such as segmented lists, social graphs, and other source of behavioral data which permits outbound marketing to focus more narrowly on qualified leads.

NNoott eevveerrggrreeeenn: When the outbound campaigns stop, so does the lead flow.

SSccaallaabbiilliittyy:: Outbound marketing campaigns tend to scale very well. For example, when an advertising campaign is working particularly well and demonstrating a positive ROI, it’s usually quite simple to scale the effort and achieve proportionately greater results.

PPeerrcceeppttiioonn: Traditional outbound marketing are invasive and typically not well received, since most of these campaigns tend to focus on moving a prospect completely through the sales funnel.

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INTRODUCTION – COMBINING INBOUND AND OUTBOUND

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 14

The image on the right is typical of those that are found around the Internet, touting the superiority of inbound over outbound marketing. And while everything on this graphic is true enough, it’s not a complete picture. Many of the comparisons between inbound and outbound marketing tend to ignore some of the benefits of outbound along with some of the disadvantages of inbound.

If you compare the lists of advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches, you’ll notice that they are quite complimentary to one another. Each tends to make up for the shortcomings of the other.

That’s what Smart Funnels are all about. They combine the best of both worlds from traditional outbound marketing and modern inbound marketing in order to deliver the best results in the fastest possible time frame.

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Page 16: Smart Funnel Campaigns

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Page 17: Smart Funnel Campaigns

SMART FUNNELS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 16

The Smart Funnel is a synthesis of attributes from inbound and outbound marketing. It leverage proven technologies in order to create scalable, efficient processes for reaching prospects and converting them to customers.

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Business growth is achieved by increasing:

•  Number of customers

•  Average value per customer

•  Number of transactions per customer

Optimizing these factors results in improved revenue streams, reduced cost of sales, and customer retention. This process is called Customer Value Optimization and it forms the basis for the Smart Funnel design.

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Smart Funnels rely on a series of offerings designed to move prospects through the sales funnel, and then on a return path for additional and/or more profitable offers.

Page 18: Smart Funnel Campaigns

SMART FUNNELS – TRAFFIC SOURCES

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 17

It’s fair to say that driving traffic tends to take up the significant share of a digital marketer’s time and resources. Inbound marketing tends to focus on more organic sources, such as search engines and social media. Outbound strategies employ more direct tactics such as advertising and email.

The key to driving traffic is understanding customer acquisition cost and customer value. A profitable campaign is where the acquisition cost is lower than the value of a new customer. This is the objective of a Smart Funnel: Acquire customers using a scalable, efficient, automated system at a profit.

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There are already countless forms of digital advertising available and new channels are emerging almost daily. As social media business models continue to mature, their chief source of revenue must continuously evolve. This offers digital marketers a nearly endless stream of new, exciting opportunities.

The general categories of advertising options available are tabularized on the following page. Regardless of the advertising medium, the key is to have adequate analytics tracking to ensure that you can accurately track your customer acquisition costs.

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Marketing directly to an email list is another viable traffic source for Smart Funnels. These lists can be existing customer and/or prospect lists, they can be purchased from external sources, or they can be constructed through manual discovery and collection efforts.

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A well-constructed landing page with a Lead Magnet offer (see following section) can earn free traffic from search engines if it’s properly optimized. This not only means that the page must be built correctly, but you’ll need to earn links and social shares as well.

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Social media audiences are another source of traffic, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to organically reach your own followers. As each social network grows, the noise levels increase, making it more difficult to rise above the din with your message. Additionally, the need for these businesses to generate revenue is a factor that puts downward pressure on organic reach.

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Building an audience through blogging is an effective way to enhance multiple traffic sources. It allows you to expand your email subscriber base, build your social media audience, and increase organic search engine traffic.

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SMART FUNNELS – ADVERTISING TYPES

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 18

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Search Advertising The major advantage of search advertising is the explicit intent of the user. They are deliberately seeking information about a particular topic, which is a strong signal of intent. As more and more marketers leverage this platform, the bidding is becoming more competitive and the degree of difficulty increases.

Ad Networks By combining banner advertising with content-aware networks, you can enjoy some of the benefits of both platforms with ad networks. They are particularly useful for remarketing campaigns, which present ads to visitors who have previously been on your website.

Display Ads (social media) Most social media channels offer the opportunity to purchase advertising. While this is functionally similar to banner advertising, social media channels tend to offer much stronger audience segmentation based on demographic information, behavior, and social relationships.

Promoted Content Social media channels are also offering the option to boost the exposure of your content beyond your own audience via promoted content. Depending upon the platform, these ads can be text, image, and/or video.

Advertorials An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Many larger websites are offering this means for accessing their audience, whose purpose is getting a specific action from the reader (e.g. downloading an ebook, visiting a website, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.).

Page 20: Smart Funnel Campaigns

SMART FUNNELS – LEAD MAGNETS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 19

A Lead Magnet is an irresistible “bribe” that delivers value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information. It is likely the first interaction you will have with a prospect and is the entry point into a Smart Funnel. The goal of the Lead Magnet is to convert cold traffic into leads.

A Lead Magnet will be most effective when it is 1) extremely relevant to your core offering, 2) solves a specific problem and/or answers a specific question, 3) is free, and 4) is easily “consumed.” Here is a list of the types of Lead Magnets you can offer.

•  Reports and guides •  Cheat sheets and handouts •  Toolkits and resource lists •  Video training •  Software download/trial •  Discount or free shipping •  Quiz or survey •  Assessment or test

Once your Lead Magnet is created, it needs to be placed on a landing page with an opt-in form to collect the contact details. It’s important that the conversion form contain as little friction as possible. Typically, name and email are as much information as you want to require.

The conversion form needs to be connected with an email marketing tool that supports segmentation and automated workflows. These auto-responders will be used to move prospects through the Smart Funnel and convert them into profitable customers.

Page 21: Smart Funnel Campaigns

SMART FUNNELS – TRIPWIRES AND CORE OFFERS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 20

Tripwires

The job of a Lead Magnet is to generate leads. The job of a Tripwire is to convert that lead into a paying customer with an aaffffoorrddaabbllee ooffffeerr.. The goal is to create a customer and not necessarily to generate profit at this point.

The strategy of Tripwire offers is simple: Convert the maximum number of Lead Magnet leads into paying customers. Some may even choose to do so at the expense of their profit margin, with the understanding that acquiring a paying customer will deliver profit through the next three steps; Core Offer, Profit Maximizer, and Return Path.

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Most marketing campaigns attempt to convert cold traffic directly into Core Offer customers. Your Core Offer is the main product or service offered by your business. It’s generally a difficult proposition to make that leap, and depending upon your product or service price point, it can be nearly impossible. That’s why leveraging a Lead Magnet and Tripwire can dramatically improve your prospects for selling a Core Offer.

The Lead Magnet generates trust, demonstrates authority, illustrates the problems you solve, and instills a sense of reciprocity with the prospect. When you’ve helped them by delivering value, they’re far more receptive to your message and more willing to give back (in the form of time and/or money).

The Tripwire establishes a vendor/client relationship by exchanging money. Even if it’s just a few dollars, the relationship has changed forever. It makes the trip to consuming your Core Offer much shorter and provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate the value of your product and/or service.

Your Core Offer may or may not make you profitable. It depends on your industry and strategic approach. Many businesses do not become profitable until their customer reaches the Profit Maximizer stage. Recall that the CVO process includes increasing the average value per customer and the number of transactions per customer. That’s what the next two steps are all about.

Page 22: Smart Funnel Campaigns

SMART FUNNELS – PROFIT MAXIMIZERS AND RETURN PATHS

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 21

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In some cases, the Core Offer is enough to become profitable and a Profit Maximizer isn’t required. But in other cases, businesses need to increase the average value per customer.

Best Buy sells laptops and plasma TV’s (that’s their Core Offer) on wafer-thin margins you can’t resist and makes it up on warranties, installation and Geek Squad support (those are their Profit Maximizers). Amazon shows you at checkout, “People that bought this product, also bought that product,” to increase the Average Basket Value, also known as maximizing profit.

What could you be offering as an upsell or cross-sell?  What could you bundle with your Core Offer?

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The goal of the Return Path is to have frequent, strategic communication with your buyers and prospects that cause them to buy again and again. This is the final CVO step; increasing the number of transactions per customer. You are essentially repeating the Smart Funnel process over and over again. By reaching out to your customers with additional Lead Magnets, Tripwires, Core Offers, and Profit Maximizers, you create an ongoing, automated selling loop that continuously adds to your bottom line.

Page 23: Smart Funnel Campaigns

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Page 24: Smart Funnel Campaigns

CONCLUSION

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 23

What are the bottom-line advantages?

This ebook covered the individual strengths and weaknesses of different tactics. The bottom-line advantages of Smart Funnels are that they:

•  Maximize both the short-term and long-term ROI of your marketing efforts.

•  Produce the greatest results in the shortest period of time.

Where do you start?

As always, it’s important to start with a clear set of goals and an understanding of your target market. These are the high-level steps that need to be followed:

•  Understand your funnel •  What irresistible, free asset can you offer to your

target prospects? •  Is there a low-cost follow-up offer you can make that

will change the relationship from lead to customer? •  When is the right time to make your core offer and

how do you position its value? •  How to you maximize your profit among your existing

client base?

•  Understand your traffic sources •  How will you build and leverage your social media

audience? •  Do you have sufficient expertise in the various

advertising platforms? •  Understand your technology

•  How will you build your landing pages? •  Where will your leads go and how will you set up

auto-responders? •  Understand your sales process

•  How will you score leads? •  What is your process for following up? •  Are you prepared for success?

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CONCLUSION

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 24

What tools do you need?

Smart Funnels rely heavily on marketing automation technology. In order to realize maximum ROI while maintaining scalability, it’s essential to right-size the technology you’re going to use.

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Landing Pages The ability to create landing pages on your website and iterate them quickly is essential. Typically, this requires a web Content Management System (CMS) or third party landing page service.

WordPress, Ektron (CMS) Leadpages (Landing Pages)

Email Marketing Your email marketing solution must have two essential elements. First, it must easily segment your lists and be able to do so “on the fly.” This means that you’ll need the ability to identify and move leads through every stage in your funnel. Second, it must have auto-responding capabilities to follow up with precise timing.

MailChimp, Active Campaign, Aweber, Hubspot, Infusionsoft, Pardot

CRM Depending upon your business model and sales force structure, it may be necessary to feed leads into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The system should support lead scoring

Active Campaign, Salesforce, ZOHO, Hubspot CRM

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CONCLUSION

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 25

Smart Funnels are simply the next evolution in marketing strategy that take advantage of new technologies and channels. CRM and email marketing system capabilities have advanced to the point where it is relatively simple to create sophisticated digital funnels. And new direct marketing channels have appeared via social media advertising. Together, these give rise to the ability to combine inbound and outbound marketing strategies for optimum results in the shortest possible amount of time.

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ABOUT AUTHENTIA

© Authentia Software, Inc. 2015 26

Authentia provides End-to-End Digital Marketing™ services to businesses looking for sales growth.

The way in which businesses can connect with new customers is rapidly changing in our mobile, social, digital age. The challenge for small and medium companies is having the resources to keep up, while enterprises can find it difficult to be nimble enough.

But what hasn’t changed is the fact that all businesses need growth. End-to-End Digital Marketing delivers that growth by applying the very latest tools and practices to generate more leads and close more business.

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Implement the most effective mmaarrkkeettiinngg aauuttoommaattiioonn technologies.

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Produce real results sooner with SSmmaarrtt FFuunnnneellss.

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Execute iinnbboouunndd ccaammppaaiiggnnss to generate leads and close business.

 

Learn more at http://www.authentiasoft.com