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. 

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.

Valentine's Day is the perfect day to offer a heartfelt message about winning the hearts and minds of clients. I prepared a light-hearted post on this special day to show readers how much I care. 

At the beginning of each year, marketing professionals take a more granular look at their firm's annual plan for trade shows and events. Trade show and professional event strategic marketing is a process that takes some planning to ensure the firm generates an increase in business development activity that justifies participation costs. 

Any firm can easily inspire inbound marketing campaigns with mission and vision statements. These statements provide direction and purpose, encourage achievement and ensure inbound marketing campaign activities align with a firm’s business goals and inbound marketing strategy. A firm’s ability to effectively embrace the values of the mission and vision statements will enrich the firm’s entire work environment. 

Marketing automation focuses on nurturing leads from the top of the inbound marketing funnel to becoming prospective clients at the bottom of the funnel. Prospects typically get a score based on their activity level when provided with regular campaign messages via email. These periodic campaign messages nurture the prospective client from initial interest to services award.  Marketing automation combines email marketing with a structured business development lifecycle.