Over the last couple of months [mostly between Xmas and New Years] I did a deep dive into the most current thinking on SEM and SEO. Gotta love Marketing Sherpa, Marketing Experiments, vendor white papers and easy access to thousands of online opinions. Well, it was encouraging to see that the techniques we have been using at IQ are current and in some cases "leading edge". We have moved beyond focused website optimization and scoring, landing page testing, conversion tracking and lead nurturing.
I see one 'gap' in current online practices.....current B2B approaches seem to be focused on either Instant Gratification or Long-term Nurturing. There is very little attention on the step after Instant Gratification but before actual sales team engagement. For IQ, given our sales cycle, a sales person is always involved in the purchasing process. So, let's compare a Typical B2B Lead Capture Best Practise (current IQ approach) to what I will call a Spider Web (potential IQ approach).
Typical B2B Lead Capture Best Practise
- Marketing campaign run [online / offline]
- Prospect is sent to a landing page with analytics tracking
- Landing page has a focused call-to-action (CTA)
- Prospect enters their information
- Prospect information is added to CRM system [lead scoring may happen]
- [Instant Gratification]
- Screen shows a "thank-you somebody will be in-touch" message
- The End
- Marketing campaign run [online / offline]
- Prospect is sent to a landing page with analytics tracking
- Landing page has a focused call-to-action (CTA)
- Prospect enters their information
- Prospect information is added to CRM system [lead scoring may happen]
- [Enter The Spider Web]
- Screen shows a "thank-you" message + contextually relevant additional information for the user to click-on / learn more about
- The End
What's the big difference between Spider Webs versus Typical B2B Lead Capture Best Practises? Maybe the following points can illustrate them:
1. When a prospect lands on a landing page, the message is tuned to where they are coming from (i.e. what campaign were they targeted with? what keyword did they click on?)
2. Once they have entered their information into your online capture form, you have additional knowledge of who they are (i.e. role, organization size, geography, etc.).
3. With this additional information, contextual content can be presented, engaging the prospect to learn more and to be better informed, ideally accelerating the sales cycle once the sales person speaks to them. For example, a person that self-identifies themselves as working for a manufacturing company, will be presented with a manufacturing specific case study.
Spider Webs are nothing more than a concept of mine but I feel strongly that success comes to those who innovate [and work bloody hard]. My IQ team still needs to refine how we implement and test the Spider Web concept, but the bottom-line goal is increasing the efficiency of our marketing campaigns. Test data will quickly identify whether it is a worthwhile concept or not.