Does your lead need a little nudge to close the deal?  Deciding to commit business resources is a considerable step for many business owners, but some owners have an easier time than others.  If you’re having difficulty closing leads developed through inbound marketing methods, the following describes a few easy steps that can be taken to encourage them in the right direction. 

When nurturing relationships with website visitors, you must get beyond the initial attraction and impress audiences with content that keeps them interested.  The next step is to convert visitors into leads for business development by gathering their contact information.  Contact information is essential to continuing engagement.  The question is…“how will visitors voluntarily provide their contact information?"  The answer to this question is that you need to give them something in return in the form of content. Content can be in ebooks, whitepapers, or tip sheets – whatever information would interest the industries you serve and associated client profiles.  Once you master content, you will have as many leads as possible.

While the rules of attraction for the human species are not clearly understood, the rules of attraction in the game of inbound marketing are clear-cut.  The scientific rules have already emerged.  Inbound marketing works on a conscious level to motivate strangers to take action for reasons that are tucked inside your firm’s content. 

Think back to when your long-term client relationships began with a spark.  That spark is that initial message or action that caught their attention.  What is that spark? What caught your client’s eye?  It may not be just one thing; it may be a series of things that initially attracted your clients to your firm.  In an attempt to understand client attraction further, refer to the definition (source: dictionary.com) provided below:

Inbound marketing aims to create content people love. 

Regarding social media channels, Pinterest tops the chart for using visual content as an inbound marketing tool. Visual content like an image or video can communicate a qualitative or quantitative viewpoint. They can show a vision or assist audiences with visualizing how to execute a plan. A series of images or a video can also show change. Combining this social media channel with a solid inbound marketing strategy will help your audiences see how your firm can use pictures to illustrate ideas and provide solutions.

As a professional services marketer, you tirelessly seek new ways to engage your audiences. It can get discouraging to perform traditional marketing methods, and I'd like to know if you are making a connection. You attend professional seminars and lectures that cover important points to consider. However, you can't find the right ingredient to bridge the gap from concept to an emotional connection with your audience. 

Traditional prospecting and go/no-go practices take time to analyze.  During the prospecting phase, knowing which messages are on target and which need to be included in the boat is difficult.  At the go/no-go phase, you cannot quantify a prospect's interest level. Inbound marketing methods make it possible to determine which messages resonate with your audience and also gauge the level of interest. This post aims to help you set the stages for your firm's inbound marketing funnel.

Marketing professional services constantly require content generation.  We are always responding to requests for qualifications and requests for proposals.  Once we are done, these responses are filed away and referenced for yet another response.  Why not take a fresh approach to your writing skills?  Try repurposing proposal content to create eBooks highlighting your firm’s market expertise. If you can write great proposals, you can write an eBook that generates leads.

In my recent post, Deep Six Boilerplate with Content Marketing for Professional Services, I discussed transforming the tired old boilerplate library into a high-performance blog that rates your text by the popularity of your post.  One of the suggestions was to incorporate presentation slide decks into your content marketing practices.

How do you feel about your firm’s boilerplate? Personally, my experience with boilerplate has always been miserable.  A Boilerplate tends to be a useful “start” for responding to a lengthy request for a proposal (RFP) or request for qualifications (RFQ).  However, the boilerplate is not fresh or exciting, and if it is not regularly enhanced, the text becomes stale and dull. If you like your firm’s boilerplate, please do not read further. However, if you have a musty and out-of-date boilerplate, it is time to consider a fresh approach!