Want to be inspired by some lead generation examples?Check out this article for some ideas.It is in two parts.Welcome back to part 2 for ideas 4-5.Let me know what you think with a comment
below.
5 Inspiring Lead Generation Examples You Can Learn
From – Part 2
4. Reconnect
When
generating sales leads, ideas should also include your old contacts. It’s easy
to lose touch with them given the pace of life. But they get that as much as
you do.
There’s
no harm in sending a “touching base”
email just to heat them back up as a prospect. Even if
they’re not ready to do business directly, they’ll be so flattered you thought
of them that it could lead to a nice referral.
5. Take an Active Role in Your Content
If you
really need leads, don’t farm out your content creation to a non-expert. No one
knows your business like you. So demonstrate it!
You can
do it by taking an active role in the ideation. You also want to offer
editorial oversight to any outside help if you don’t have the time to create
the content yourself.
These Lead Generation Examples Work
We’ve
tried a ton of lead generation examples over the years to varying effect. But
nothing works quite as well as the ones we’ve shared above.
They’re
flexible. They’re timeless. And they put the emphasis on creating value and
embracing the passion of your expertise.
Want to be inspired by some lead generation examples?Check out this article for some ideas.It is in two parts.Read ideas 1-3 today.Follow again tomorrow for ideas 4-5.Let me know what you think with a comment
below.
5 Inspiring Lead Generation Examples You Can Learn
From – Part 1
There’s
no shortage of lead generation examples available online that promise to take
your business to new heights. But how do you adapt what others are doing and
make it work for your situation?
In the
following article, we’ll be discussing some simple but effective strategies to
inspire you. Best of all, they’re incredibly flexible. (Thus, easy for you to
incorporate into your current day-to-day.)
1. Connect with Real People from the Companies You
Love
One of
the best lead generation ideas we’ve found: focus on companies you love. More
specifically, target the individuals already working for them. How can this be
helpful?
Usually,
these are highly-talented individuals with their own ambitions. The Googles and
Amazons of the world wanted them because these candidates thought outside the
box and had entrepreneurial ambitions of their own. And where there’s a spirit
of entrepreneurship, there’s a lead looking to hire someone with your
particular skill set.
Pro tip:
look up a company you love on LinkedIn. Find the link telling you how many
employees working for that company are active on the site. Study profiles until
you connect with someone, build a short but tailored pitch and message them
privately.
2. Skim Top Competitors with a Local Eye
Great
content creates hot leads. Start investing more time in your content strategy.
Examine what top competitors are doing.
Do a
geo-search for your keywords in another local market. Visit blogs and websites
that come up first and see if you can’t craft an original spin on some of their
more popular topics.
But
remember: you’re after lead generation ideas, not content you can rip off. If
you can’t be original, then you have a lot of craft-honing to do.
3. Take Your Audience to School
Anyone
can throw 500 or 1,000 words into a blog post. Don’t settle for that.
Instead,
add real value to the consumer’s life. Then, think of the best ways to package
that knowledge to keep them engaged.
Many
thought leaders have moved away from regular blog schedules and are instead
creating dense, engaging courses that solve crucial problems for the consumer.
Social
media is a great vehicle for delivery. In fact, one seminar
marketing campaign was able to pull down over 1,300
signups from a six-week Facebook campaign. But the content has to be first.
With a trend moving to working from home and working
online you may wonder why bother with a virtual office.There still are benefits to having a virtual
office.Read on to find out what they
are.Leave a comment below to let me
know what you think of this article.
Location,
Location, Location: 4 Surprising Benefits of Setting Up a Virtual Office
We live in an increasingly virtual world.
From shopping to banking, almost everything can be
done from your living room couch.
Including, at a
rate that has increased 155% over the last decade, working. More workers are
choosing to pursue their careers from home, and more business owners are seeing
the benefits of a virtual workforce.
As business owners set up their consulting firms
and video production companies from their living rooms, virtual office space is
becoming more popular.
But if you already have a home office, why bother
with renting virtual office space somewhere else? Let’s take a look. The
benefits may surprise you.
It
Looks More Professional
Even in our virtual world, customers and clients
like to see a brick-and-mortar building. Even for quintessential professionals,
a home office can scream “amateur!”
Renting virtual office space can give you that
physical building, even if you don’t use it for more than meeting space and
business post collection.
Work/Life
Balance
A recent study
from Stanford University showed a stunning increase in productivityamong
work-from-home employees.
Often, business owners think that when they start
taking on employees, they need to invest in office space. But in reality,
recruiting talent from all over and letting them work from their own space can
give you all the benefits of a staff with none of the downsides.
Employees can work when it’s convenient, balancing
work around their life and interests.
It also allows you to bring on talent that is
beneficial to your company but may not be able to relocate to your location.
Privacy
You need somewhere to receive business mail, and
you’re clients like to see that you exist on a map, but you also don’t want
your doorbell ringing with business matters at all hours.
Renting virtual office space helps keep your work
and home lives separate. Even if you work from home, you can ensure that your
business is headquartered elsewhere, keeping your privacy intact.
Save
Money with a Virtual Office
Now, renting virtual office space can seem like an
unnecessary expense, but it is actually an incredibly cost-effective solution.
Places like Hoxton Mix, in London, can set
you up for under $20/month, with all your mail forwarded, a work phone and
answering machine. For that inexpensive, you almost can’t afford NOT to rent a
virtual office space.
Even if you rented meeting space in a virtual
office for monthly meetings, you would be coming in FAR under what you would
pay for office space in a major city normally.
Ready
to Rent?
Virtual office space can offer you a slew of
benefits. From opening up your candidate pool to talent the world over, to
slashing your operating costs to maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
With so many reasons to headquarter your home
business in a virtual office, can you really afford not to?
For more on
getting your home business to work harder for you, take a look here!
Is your business on the ball with its online marketing
strategies? Do you want to know what it
will do for your business if you are up to scratch with your online marketing
strategies? Here is an article to explain why.
It’s in two parts. Welcome back
to part two. I’d love to know what you
think of this article with a comment below.
How to Use Online Marketing to
Increase Your Profits – Part 2
Email Marketing
Email
marketing is a powerful tool in any online marketer’s arsenal. In fact, email
marketing consistently outperforms website sales for many eCommerce platforms.
That is why building a mailing list with targeted subscribers is key if you are
selling products or services online.
If you
have a blog or an eCommerce store, you will want to create lead magnets to get
more email addresses in your mailing list. That way, you can keep your highest
qualified leads updated on hot offers, new product releases, and links to your
online content.
Check out https://www.microdinc.com/ for
comprehensive website and eCommerce solutions, including squeeze pages and lead
magnets.
Email
marketing is powerful because it costs next to nothing and is 100% scalable.
Sending a million emails costs virtually as much as sending a single email.
Online Advertising
Pay-per-click
advertising is almost synonymous with paid marketing. Search engines, eCommerce
giants, and social media platforms alike offer numerous options to advertise
online. When done right, PPC can get you ahead of the curve.
However,
PPC can also drain your marketing budget overnight if you are not careful with
how you set up your campaigns. Some of the most important PPC ads include:
·Google
·Bing
·Facebook
·Instagram
·Amazon
By
featuring your business on the above platforms, you can spend your marketing
budget for measurable results. If an ad isn’t converting well enough, you can
eliminate it immediately. On the other hand, if you generate most of your
traffic from a single ad, you can scale it up with ease and multiply your
leads.
Leverage the Power of Online
Marketing
Now that
you know the power of online marketing, it is time to take your profits to the
next level. Here at Article City, we help businesses drive more traffic, leads,
and sales with our great content.
We
connect digital marketers and business owners who seek to leverage the power of
content to drive sales. Come on in and join over 40,000 other marketers today!
Is your business on the ball with its online marketing
strategies?Do you want to know what it
will do for your business if you are up to scratch with your online marketing
strategies? Here is an article to explain why.It’s in two parts.Come back
tomorrow for part two.I’d love to know
what you think of this article with a comment below.
How to Use Online Marketing to
Increase Your Profits – Part 1
Looking
to increase your business profits? Online marketing is now more powerful than
ever, and businesses who don’t leverage digital media in their marketing strategy
will fall behind.
Here is
how you can use online marketing to promote your business and bring in more
sales.
Why Online Marketing?
With nearly half of all
humansaccessing the
internet, you just can’t afford not to go online. People and markets today are
more connected than ever. This opens up tremendous opportunities, leveling the
field between giant corporations and small businesses.
However, getting your business noticed in a global
competition is no easy task. Here is where online marketing comes in. Today,
your marketing strategy should have global reach, even if you are selling locally.
Online
marketing is completely accountable, scalable, and measurable. You can track
cost per lead, per visitor, and per sale. This way you will always know your
marketing ROI and make adjustments where needed.
If you don’t embrace online marketing, your
competitors will. If you are not ranking in the first search engine
results page, you are
losing sales to your competitors. Google’s algorithm features more than 200
ranking factors, and a high ranking is key to a successful marketing strategy
today.
However,
the core aim of online marketing is not high SERPs rankings. It is driving more
traffic, leads, and sales.
Types of Online Marketing
There are
several discrete types of online marketing. They generally fall into two broad
categories: organic marketing and paid marketing. All good online marketing
campaigns offer a mix of both.
Let’s see
the most important types of online marketing below.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is an
essential concept of online marketing. It is what binds most marketing efforts
together. Even if you think you have the best website in the world, people will
not come to it if it is not optimized for search engines.
Google
ranks websites based on numerous criteria. SEO offers the key to ranking high
in search engine results pages. This has the power to drive practically
unlimited organic traffic to your website.
However,
SEO has two drawbacks:
·It
doesn’t lead to conversions by itself
·Everyone
is doing it, so competition is stiff
·When
people come to your website through organic searches, you pay nothing. If you
can’t manage to rank high on SERPs, you will have to pay PPC ads to remain
competitive.
Content Marketing
Content
is king. This is the most certain truth in the world of online marketing.
There is
no way around this fact. You will need original, engaging, and optimized
content in order to make money online.
If you wish your traffic to convert, you will need
a comprehensive content
strategy. Creating unique content is no easy task. While
the world’s
top blogs may be making millions each year, the vast
majority of blogs earns zero dollars.
The
difference? Content. You cannot hope to achieve success without good content.
By offering quality content, you are encouraging your visitors to share it with
their peers, which boosts organic traffic.
Of
course, part of this is luck and good advertising as well, but good content is
one of the key factors to make money with your blog.
Original
content is also key to ranking higher in search engine results pages. Google
trusts sites full of original content.
Social
media marketing is a hot topic for some, but in reality, it is just another
type of content marketing. When you write and share engaging content in social
media, your readers will share it for free. This can create viral content that
drives organic traffic back to your website.
Why do
people get so hysterical about SPAM? Who hasn’t been bombarded by unsolicited
email and if you are in business you will want to be very careful that your
emails are only received by those who have consented to be on your email list. How should we regard spam? Read on and find out. Leave a comment and let me know what you
think.
The Contemporary Hysteria of SPAM
By: Robert Evans
Spam is one of those internet nuisances no one should have to put up
with!
But in many cases, the furious and avid anti-spam campaigner, while
attempting to rid the internet of this nuisance, causes some very real and
equally serious side effects. In fact, we should not have to put up with that
either!
Under the current climate of aggression towards the sending of SPAM
emails, is it any wonder that hysteria is beginning to set in?
Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning spam. I hate it with a passion. I
am always very careful to ensure that the people on my mailing lists have
chosen to be there. Verification is of the utmost importance when building my
lists. As are clear instructions to unsubscribe should anyone wish to be
removed.
Adopting a double optin policy should be of primary importance to every
online marketer and webmaster.
But is this enough?
The answer, it seems, is a resounding NO!
In my own experience, people often forget that they have opted in. This
can cause problems that really only reason can solve.
But most of the time, I have to say, reason does not even get a look in.
Take the case of a good and trusted friend of mine.
He almost lost his entire downline (which he had worked VERY hard to
build) after he had paid for an ezine ad.
One subscriber (who had clearly forgotten he had subscribed to this
particular ezine) got very hot under the collar and alerted some self-righteous
vigilante anti-spam "service" (and the company with whom my friend
had built his downline) and they were indeed ready to have him kicked off the
internet! It was only because he was prepared to jump through hoops to clear
his name that the matter was resolved, but it was a close call.
And only recently I had a sharp email from someone accusing me of
spamming. I had sent a message to the safelist I had paid to join and he was
obviously on the list or he would not have received the message.
In his email to me he said that he had never joined the list, and that my
message was "Spam, pure and simple," and that he had filed a report
with the FTC.
My first reaction was to fire off a reply in my own defence, which he
never had the courtesy to answer, and in fact I have not heard from him again.
So perhaps it has all blown over.
But why do people get so hysterical about a few emails arriving
uninvited into their inboxes when they scarsely bat an eyelid at the daily
influx of junk mail coming through their letter boxes?
There may be occasions, of course, when you feel something simply has to
be done. That's okay, but why not try the reasoned and measured approach BEFORE
you blast your complaint off to SpamCop. For example:
·if you've received a message via a safelist, ezine etc, for goodness
sake check to make 100% certain that you are NOT a subscriber to this list and
if you cannot confirm this yourself, take it up with the OWNER of the list
·if the message has come directly from an individual, reply to them and
ask them how they came about your email address. This is to ascertain whether
they are bona-fide or not. If the reply to them bounces, then you can be almost
certain they are spamming you and you can take the matter further
·I myself receive thousands of unsolicited emails every month. Most of
the time I just grit my teeth, click the delete button and commit the offenders
to the trash can. In my view that seems to be the best solution for the time
being. At least until someone somewhere can come up with a more "grown-up"
approach to dealing with the whole sorry business.
Author Bio
Robert Evans has been doing business online since 2000. He runs a resource
center offering free and low cost marketing products and services: www.market4profit.net
Does spam annoy you?
Spam and scams online, how would you define them? What are they and how can we avoid them? Read on if you want to find out. Leave a comment to let me know what you think
of this article.
What You Must Know About Spam
By: Mihaela Lica
What Is Spam?
When referring to emails, according to the NCES (National Centre for Education
Statistic), "Spam refers to electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup
postings. Some people define Spam even more generally as any unsolicited
e-mail. In addition to being a nuisance, Spam also eats up a lot of network
bandwidth. Because the Internet is a public network, little can be done to
prevent Spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, the use
of software filters in e-mail programs can be used to remove most Spam sent
through e-mail."
Some search engines use the term to describe websites that try to attain a high
listing rank by submitting identical or mirror pages. In this article I am
going to give you a few tips about email Spam.
If we give a too general definition to the word, we might end up taking for
Spam perfectly legitimate emails. Not "any" unsolicited mail is Spam.
Spam means unsolicited bulk email.
If a message is unsolicited that doesn't make it Spam. The same goes for bulk.
A message is Spam only if it is both unsolicited and bulk. When you receive an
unsolicited job enquiry, you do receive an uncalled-for email. But is that
Spam? No. What about a newsletter? That is bulk, but no Spam if you are a
subscriber.
Why Do You Get Spam?
Have you posted your email address online in forums, chat rooms, on your
website? Than why do you marvel? Spammers gather the addresses from the
Internet; so no wonder your own found its way onto a spammer's list. Besides,
spammers use different other means to get what they want: viruses, Trojans,
buying from other spammers.
Spam Scams
How many times have you received an "update your account" email from
paypal, a bank or ebay? How many times have you received a "warning
message"? Maybe it didn't look suspicious to you as it came from an
institution you work with, but was it really that way? This kind of emails is
referred to as "phishing scam". There is not much you can do when
this happens. Just don't click on any links in that email, don't give away any
confidential information such as social security number, bank account or credit
card number. There are some free tools that can protect you against known
phishing websites. For example download the free EarthLink toolbar and report
the scam to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
What about the emails from different Nigerian (or other nationalities) citizens
offering you a percentage of a vast sum of money? Yes, you've got that right:
scam. You'll only loose your money on this one. Better don't be curious. They
will ask you to pay a fee in advance - a so called transfer tax, and guess
what: some complications will appear, you have to pay more and more and end up
with nothing. And don't believe the "you won money" lottery
sweepstakes either. You'll only spend. The same goes for the Nigerian purchase
scam: they want to buy something from you, pay by check and they wish the goods
to be sent in Lagos, Nigeria.
A Major Don't
Don't reply to spammers... ever! Don't send any "remove me" message.
By doing so you confirm your address is active, you show you read bulk
messages, you prove your ISP doesn't use Spam filters. You are the perfect
candidate. You will never be removed. On the contrary...
Spam Fighters
If Spam really bothers you and you want to fight against it, than you have
plenty of possibilities. If you are an American, join Cauce at: www.cauce.org.
If not... check out Cauce's international partners (example: EuroCAUCE for
Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, France, Norway).
Associations such as to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the American Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) or other volunteers' organizations are there to help
protecting you against scam or other illegal emails (children pornography for
example). Detailed information about Spam, Spammers and ways to fight against
them you can find here: www.spamhaus.org.
Author Bio
Mihaela Lica is a skilled journalist and PR consultant, founder of Pamil
Visions - www.pamil-visions.com Previously she
used to work as a military TV redactor for Pro Patria and the Military Media
Trust within the Public Relations Directorate of the Romanian Ministry of
Defence.
