Understanding how to make the most of email and social media marketing could help reach more new and existing clients, and take your business to the next level
When it comes to marketing, the biggest thing is content.
Content marketing is all about communicating with customers and prospects without selling. Instead, you’re giving them information to help them be more intelligent and make better decisions.
“It positions you as a trusted advisor versus just a salesperson, but also builds loyalty, improves branding and increases lead conversion,” said Chris Carter, founder of Market Focus Inc.
Content marketing gives professionals an opportunity to stay top of mind. When paired with other forms of traditional marketing like email, social media and website marketing, it can be very effective, according to Carter.
Market Focus provides services like automated marketing strategies and industry-specific marketing content to sales professionals in mortgage, real estate and insurance.
Email marketing
Sending a newsletter with relevant and interesting content is a good way to share information with customers, referral partners and prospects. Using infographics and sharing specialized market material in a visual and condensed way is important, so people can consume the information very quickly, advised Carter.
Another great way to stay in contact is through branded holiday and seasonal e-cards used for Thanksgiving, new year or happy holiday wishes.
“I’ve gotten feedback from people saying they get the best response from e-cards and have actually gotten deals after sending a birthday greeting over email. It’s all about timing. Consistency in marketing is really key,” Carter added.
Video emails are also something that’s really taken off, he said. Sending an informative video on a topic each month that provides education and information can be a great way to stay in touch. Carter said that every dollar spent on email marketing should see $42 in return.
“If you ask people how they want to communicate with companies, they prefer email. It’s low cost and everyone has an email address.” In the end, making the most of your email marketing is all about having strong content and automation, Carter said.
Social media marketing
Almost 70% of adults in the U.S. use at least one social media site, while the average American internet user has more than seven social media accounts, according to Hootsuite. Customers, prospects, competition and referral sources are all on social media, making it essential to have a strong presence. Social media is also commonly where people go to research a company’s products and services as well as reviews.
Carter said that social media marketing is much more complicated than email marketing because it’s time consuming, requires consistency, and is difficult to track the return on investment. While social media can be a great place to generate leads, he said the main purpose is to position yourself as an expert through social media branding.
A good rule of thumb is 80% of content should be non-industry, while 20% can be industry specific, as varying posts gives a better chance of keeping followers interested.
“You need to time to research and create content, the posts should be engaging and relevant to your target audience and one of the most important things is having ‘calls to action’ to increase results,” he said.
A call to action is an invitation for customers to take an action when they are ready, for example, having an “Apply Now” button on your social media, which would take them to your website to start their loan application. Videos are also a great way to supplement these calls to action. A call to action within a video gets 380% more clicks than a normal sidebar call to action, according to research by QuickSprout. While likes and shares are important, Carter said calls to action provide an even better way to track the effectiveness of your social media marketing and increase traffic to your website.
In the end, it’s the combination of different forms of online marketing, great content and calls to action that can really bring a huge benefit to professionals and result in increased sales.
“Rather than promoting each tool individually, placing calls to action in strategic locations to promote all your tools increases their usage and ultimately generates better sales results,” Carter said.
