Back when you first started, networking was enough. Jobs were coming in based off referrals. Now you’re looking for ways to expand your marketing efforts. Maybe you’re running the company blog but are not sure how to harness its potential. Maybe you considered a cold email campaign or some other outbound activities. Bare with us as we discuss all the channels step by step and explain how to best utilize them.
Different types of leads
There are three types of leads, depending on the way you acquire them: referral, inbound, and outbound leads. They all differ in a number of ways. The skill level needed to close the deal, or the acquisition forecast are just some of the factors affecting the lead’s temperature.
Low-maintenance referral clients
Clients, whom your company’s been recommended to instantly see you as a reliable business partner. You don’t have to be an exceptional salesman in order to win them over. They’ve usually already decided to work with you.
Seems like the perfect customer, right? Unfortunately, referral leads are rare. Even if you managed just fine in the early stage working solely with such clients, they won’t be enough as you start to grow.
Also, you never know how many of these referral leads you’re going to get, that’s something out of your control. Even though these clients make you feel great because someone’s appreciated the work you do, so you want more, their number will fluctuate a lot. This is one of the least stable and predictable channels.
Blog posts, social media, content creation
You’re doing everything to make sure the customer finds you online. You’ve optimized the site for search engines, you run an inspiring blog, you post on social media. You’ve invested in inbound heavy, but is that enough?
Besides drawing prospects’ attention and luring them over, you need to do one other thing. You have to prove you’re better than the competition. Why? Because most likely you’re not the only business potential customers are contacting. They’re sending inquiries, doing research, and making purchase decisions based on what they found or were provided with online.
Develop your inbound slowly but surely
Growing your inbound is a long-term process which is also sadly a budget strain. Even if you’ll invest in it, or decide to outsource it, you have to realize that effects won’t come overnight. Unfortunately, not every business can afford to wait, especially in the early stage of its development.
You’ve been eating right and hitting the gym. You know well enough that strengthening and growing muscle requires regular workouts. As soon as you stop, you fall off quick. The same goes for inbound – if you’ve decided to do it on your own, don’t expect immediate results and act systematically.
Stick to your guns for at least a couple of months. Just as with going to the gym, the results will pleasantly surprise you. Keep in mind, though that as soon as you acquire customers, don’t stop investing in inbound. Even a short break from growing this channel may cause you to lose all the gains you worked for.
Outbound complements inbound
You’ve reached a stage, where you’ve been catching increasingly bigger fish, and the circle of your clients grows with every project. You need more staff in order to handle all of them. The increase in revenue you see is linked to higher costs – you’re forced to acquire leads in the most predictable manner.
When growing your company, you need a steady stream of orders – a well-assessed number of leads and the highest conversion possible. Having a thorough strategy in place is the only scenario that will help you avoid stressful situations and sleep soundly.
Don’t be afraid of cold emails
Cold emailing is one the most challenging, but at the same time most effective outbound channels, if done right.
Why should you consider investing in it? Because it’s the only medium that’s fully scalable and allows you to directly reach your target group. As far as you’ve been using content to attract a certain group of individuals within your inbound activities, outbound allows you to straight reach people matching your ideal customer profile.
If you’ve already invested in outbound, you should also invest in a sales professional, who’ll be able to convert leads into closed deals. Even if you already have a sales team, you need to get it ready before venturing into this new channel [read more on training sales people]. Closing outbound leads differs from closing other types significantly.
Outbound OR inbound?
As far as inbound requires time to pick up momentum and you’re never sure how many of the campaign recipients you’re going to convert, a cold email or cold calling campaign provides you with the opportunity to measure results closely.
Keep in mind though that outbound works best when it complements inbound – first, you reach particular companies, raise their interest, and then they still verify your business through consumption of your content marketing pieces.
Inbound AND outbound is the only proper combination of these two words. Together, they have an increased, multiplied power. That’s why you should consider making an investment in both these channels if you wish your business to grow steadily.
