When it comes to scoring word of mouth mentions about your brand from bloggers, the ideal kinds are those that are sincere and organically fit in to a blogger’s content.

An organic and authentic brand mention is not a result of a sponsored post or reaching out to a mass number of bloggers who have no real connection to your brand.

A good outreach marketing strategy puts in place a giant focus on existing brand fans.

I have a challenge for you. Instead of reaching out to bloggers this month, what if you put in place a strategy in which bloggers can reach out to you?

An Opt-In Option

Having an opt-in option where bloggers can apply to be part of your influencer network or blogger outreach program is one of the best ways to ensure that bloggers actually want to work with you. After all, they are choosing you!

This savviness, this brand “fandom,” no matter how far that blogger reaches, can’t be bought… Not to mention the time that is saved when you don’t have to research and ready out to bloggers with the right affinity.

When setting up a form for bloggers to fill out, ask for things that makes it easy for you to vet them such as:

• X handle, FB page link and other social presences.
• Link to blog.
• Ask how many visits they get per month (traffic data).
• Links to posts that fit well with your brand (most important).
• Ask in their words why they like you and want to work with you.

Again, looking for a contextual fit, good content and good images in posts is more important than a far reach.

Are You Building a Network Instead of Campaigning?

Once you start building up your network through your opted-in bloggers who are pre-qualifying themselves as stellar fits, try to adapt a network mentality instead of campaigning.

Brand fans are a product of an ongoing relationship; not a one time “we worked together for a post” sort of thing. They weave your brand in to their content organically. The best part—their mentions are poised to cause action as opposed to awareness.

Nurturing relationships and fostering a network takes work and a lot of time. Here are ways I’ve seen clients keep up their relationships on an ongoing basis.

• Drip content monthly to stay on their minds. Make it useful to them.
• Keep them informed of brand changes and new products before the rest of the world.
• Send free products from your brand every few months. You can use this ShipStation promo code to ship those!
• Share their content on your own social channels.
• Ask for their feedback and actually implement it. If you treat your influencers like part of your brand instead of an extension, they’ll be much more likely to recommend you.
• If it’s in the budget, you can even have annual blogger events where you fly them to your location and wine and dine them for a weekend. Their brand coverage, feedback, and suggestions will be invaluable…

As I mentioned before, authenticity is what we’re going after as marketers. The modern consumer is a very smart consumer and is becoming blind to sponsored posts just as they are blind to billboards…

One of the only things that stands between us wrapping up this insane year is what we’re all describing as an unprecedented holiday shopping season. Tons of survey data has been released, numerous predictions have been made, and marketers have been challenged to develop strategies and plans unlike any other plans for previous years.

This year’s holiday shopping season is not only about sales, but also about how brands can adapt to a rapidly changing retail landscape. It’s a test of agility and creativity for businesses, big and small.

While you’re thinking outside the box and finalizing your holiday email campaigns, I want to encourage you to revisit your standard preparation for this season as well.

Here are 5 things to check off your list:

Data Feeds

Ensure all data feeds and triggers are working as expected, especially those for remarketing campaigns or opting in customers. Also, keep an eye on your feeds and triggers throughout the holiday season.

Regular monitoring can help you adapt quickly to changing consumer behaviors and trends. A quick glance at send reports on a regular basis can help to catch issues early, and regular testing can ensure that all systems are running smoothly.

Deliverability

Check in on deliverability and work to mitigate concerns now. The last thing you want is for all your hard work to go to waste due to poor inbox placement. Remember, during the holidays, email servers are under extra strain, which might affect deliverability.

It’s also a good time to clean your email list, removing inactive or un-engaged subscribers to improve overall performance.

Campaign Design Audit

Audit your campaign designs within the inbox on desktop and mobile. According to Litmus, every email has 15,000 different rendering previews. Take a moment to validate templates are rendering correctly for an optimal customer experience including content display, links, and images.

Also, consider the accessibility of your emails, ensuring that they are easily navigable and readable for all users, including those with disabilities. Regular feedback from a sample of your audience can also help in refining the design for better engagement.

Targeting and Personalization

Increase targeting and personalization by using customer information and behavior data to stand out from the vast increase of messages during the holiday. This can be as simple as personalizing subject lines.

Go beyond the basics by segmenting your audience based on their past purchases and browsing behavior to create more relevant messages. Remember, a personalized experience can be the key differentiator in a crowded inbox.

This last one is something everyone hates to address. But I promise you, it’s the most important thing you can do to help yourself this holiday:

Be prepared!

Things happen: sites go down, promotion codes don’t work, products sell out… and the list goes on. Prepare your contingency plans now. Have offers approved and creative ready so that you can quickly pull the trigger to help mitigate customer dissatisfaction.

Also, ensure that your customer service team is well-prepared to handle increased inquiries and potential issues. Regularly updating your FAQs and having ready-made responses for common issues can also be a big help. Don’t forget to set up a social media landing page using Hihello app to showcase your social media creatives and content.

While the holiday season presents unique challenges, it also offers a tremendous opportunity to connect with your customers in meaningful ways.

By focusing on these five areas, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are not only effective but also resilient in the face of unforeseen challenges. Remember, preparation and adaptability are key to navigating this holiday season successfully.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Many companies don’t do enough upfront work to qualify their new sales leads. They simply pass every single sales lead through to the sales team, even if the prospect is nowhere near ready to buy or is even a good fit for what the company sells.

According to statistics cited by HubSpot, 61 percent of B2B companies send all of their business leads directly to sales, even though only 27 percent of those leads will be qualified to count as “serious buyers.” Having too many unqualified sales leads wastes the time of the sales team and causes the company to miss out on legitimate sales opportunities. When your salespeople are bombarded with low-quality leads that aren’t a good fit for your product or service, they’re going to miss the chance to talk with prospects who are legitimately good sales opportunities.

If your company is chasing bad sales leads, the following strategies will help you better qualify your inbound sales inquiries upfront:

Create Content that Drives Sales

In B2B content creators have always keep their target DMU (decision making unit) in mind. Have you been doing the same when creating content for B2C?

Text Optimizer is a great intent optimization tool that helps you create content that meets your customers’ needs and expectations.

Ask Lead-Qualifying Questions

Not all sales leads are the same, so why would your company want to treat them all the same? After all, every single prospect is unique; they all have different problems and pain points and budgetary concerns, and they all have unique business needs that your solution has to address. But if your company is simply passing every sales lead along to the sales team without even asking any questions, you’re missing a big chance to learn more about the prospect.

Asking questions to qualify the sales leads is a simple step that you can take to start prioritizing and ranking your sales leads. By asking sales-related exploratory questions, you are starting to build trust and build a relationship, and you’re learning more about the larger picture of the customer’s business challenges.

Asking questions also helps you do “lead scoring” to rank your sales leads based on how likely they are to buy. This is somewhat of an inexact process, but with time, you’ll get better at deciphering the subtle clues and behaviors of prospects to see which ones are genuinely interested and which ones are just calling around to do research or get price quotes. Use an online form builder that gives you flexibility to verify your contact prior to registering is as a leader.

Ask Open-Ended Questions

Asking lead-qualifying questions is a subtle process that requires some skill and savvy. For example, you don’t want to be too direct or aggressive by asking questions such as, “Do you have a budget for this purchase?” or “Are you definitely in the market for a new solution?” or “Are you looking to buy sometime soon?” These questions tend to create sales pressure and make the prospect feel defensive.

Instead of putting the customer under pressure, start by asking open-ended questions that get them to talk about their overall business situation. For example, you could ask, “What challenges are you experiencing with your current solution?” This helps get the customer to open up a bit and share their frustrations that are causing them to seek a new vendor. Or you could ask, “How is your current solution impacting your overall business processes?” This is a great question, because it helps you analyze the overall picture at the prospect’s business and evaluate how urgently they might be looking to make a purchase decision.

Every lead-qualifying question is your chance to hear more from the customer. Get them to open up about their business challenges, and then really listen to what they say.

Follow Up By Phone

Other companies make the mistake of relying too much on automated systems. For example, when you get new inbound sales inquiries via your website or online advertising, you might have an automated email reply or online intake form that asks the prospect some questions about what they’re looking to buy. These automated tools can be helpful, but you can’t rely on a fully automated lead qualification process.

Instead, call people back. Get on the phone and have a detailed conversation that allows for the “human element” of relationship building and establishing trust. Even with the great technology we have today, you still need to get on the phone and talk with your customers.

Why? For one thing, the buyers who are most urgently looking to make a decision want to hear back from your company immediately, and from a real person. Motivated buyers are probably contacting several of your competitors, and according to HubSpot’s cited statistics, 35-50 percent of sales go to the vendor who responds first.

Some prospects are never going to be the right fit for what you sell, and not everyone is a “good” customer. But with better inbound lead qualification processes – one that includes asking good questions, sorting and ranking the sales leads and following up quickly – your company can turn more of your sales leads into big sales.