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May 30, 2008 1:30 PM
I often hear fellow marketing colleagues ask about where to source out a good list. They need to do some lead generation activities, and for some that's just about buying a cold call list for their sales team to tear through. It takes some time, but one of the best lists is the one you build from your own website.
Marketers are so willing to sink tens of thousands of dollars into
trade shows while they let their website become outdated. Your website
is like your booth, and you undoubtedly have more traffic passing by it
than on the trade show floor. If your web visitors are bouncing off your site then you're letting potential leads pass you by.
So you need to capture their information. This involves two basic steps: put forms in place to gather the information and have a plan to compel people to give you their information.
There are all sorts of forms best practices, and we all know about trying to keep forms quick and easy to fill out. Since Marqui is integrated with Google Website Optimizer, our clients can easily test to determine what form works best for their audience.
People are more than willing to provide their information if:
1. The content on your website communicates your value proposition succinctly
2. They receive valuable "carrots" in return such as a demo, whitepaper, or webinar
These lists you build from your website are made of people who already know who you are, so the read rate will likely be higher as well. It's one of the best lists you'll have.
May 20, 2008 9:15 AM
I went to a volunteer orientation session last week for a not-for-profit organization that will remain unnamed. Before the orientation session, people who wish to volunteer had to fill out a form on their website. It was a bit long but straightforward. I even got an email confirmation that my form was submitted successfully. Perfect. When I showed up at the in-person session, I noticed everyone was madly filling out the hardcopy version of the form. I asked the organizer if this was necessary if we already filled in the online form because I certainly didn't want to go through the hassle of repeating myself again. Well it turns out I did have to fill out the hardcopy form again even though I had successfully filled out the online form. Why? It was sort of a convoluted explanation about how the information somehow gets "lost". Why bother having an online form at all? And how does the information manage to get lost?
I was on another site for a professional organization in the high tech sector this time. This should be a better online experience right? Not so. The "form" I needed to submit was actually just a Word doc that I had to download, fill out, and then email into the staff. It's a bit archaic but fine. Well that didn't really work out either because they didn't process all of the information that I submitted, even when it was sent in the Word doc.
There's a lot of really cool technology out there these days, so it's a
little surprising to see some organizations still struggle with
building forms. I know people will argue that these are not-for-profits, so they can't afford to have a website with proper forms. I say "poppycock" to those people. We have loads of not-for-profit clients, large and small who can create forms on their own. It doesn't take deep pockets or technical knowledge.
Watch for a new case study coming soon on the Union Gospel Mission and what they've been able to do with marketing automation. Their forms really do work.
May 16, 2008 10:30 AM
The marketing team here at Marqui have experience in sending out email campaigns with many other companies we've worked at in the past. Most times we've always tried to send out email campaigns first thing Monday morning or perhaps the Tuesday. But it really was just a gut feel. Now that we use the Marqui solution (obviously) to send out our email campaigns, we can actually see which days get a better read rate and CTR. For some reason, Fridays always get a better response than any other day of the week. Perhaps people have more time to read their emails on Friday. Not sure but now that we can actually see the results, we are doing more of our campaigns on Fridays. I'm sure there is research out there that points out which days are better for read rates and such (I think I read something about Wednesdays), but there's only one way to find out what works best for your audience. Track the analytics on your email campaigns. Fridays work for us, but it might not be the best day for you. Just don't necessarily discount a specific day for sending out your email campaigns until you see the data to prove it.
May 9, 2008 10:30 AM
Jesse (our product manager at Marqui) and I delivered our first webinar on drip marketing this past Wednesday. We actually crammed a lot of information into those 30 minutes. We ran through what drip marketing was, the importance of nurturing leads, how you go about planning your drip marketing campaign, had some tips and industry examples. If any of you missed it, we'll be running it again sometime soon. Most of the webinar attendees had little experience with drip marketing but all seemed keen to start. Overall, I think it was an interesting and informative webinar. After all, we didn't get any heckling (although we did mute the line....). The attendees are from various B2B and B2C businesses, and it would be really neat to learn what type of drip marketing campaigns they crafted after walking away from this webinar. Drop us a line at webinars@marqui.com to share your drip marketing campaigns. Enquiring marketers want to know.
The show's not over yet. Hold on tight for our "Hot or not? Find hot leads with lead scoring" webinar on Wednesday, May 21. That will be my colleague Richard's first webinar at Marqui, and I will surely be heckling him. Register for Richard's lead scoring webinar here.
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