In many ways, sales departments and marketing teams are working toward the same, common goal—that is, they both want to know how to increase sales revenue. A smart and strategic online marketing campaign can prove highly effective in the pursuit of this goal—and cost-effective, to boot. For businesses wondering how to increase sales revenue, then, consider the following seven points—key strategies for smart and savvy marketing in the digital era.
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
First and foremost, remember that, indeed, your marketing and sales teams really are working toward a common objective. This has become a difficult thing to understand, as more and more companies have found themselves divided by turf wars between the marketers and the sales managers, but facilitating integration between these two arms of your company is a necessary step for efficiently and effectively boosting sales. Something as simple as a weekly meeting, wherein the sales team shares its latest developments with the marketing team and vice versa, can be very fruitful.
Nurture Your Leads
The importance of lead nurturing cannot be overestimated; indeed, for companies wishing to know how to increase sales revenue, the secret is that bringing a lead into the sales funnel is just the start of the process, not the culmination of it. Research tells us that roughly 50 percent of all leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy, so conducting regular follow-up is essential for easing that lead to the point of a sale.
Customize Your Offers
Another staggering statistic: Personalized, relevant e-mails generate 18 times the revenue of general, broadcast e-mails. As you follow up with leads, then, don’t make the mistake of sending out cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all e-mail offers. Instead, offer customized offers for those who are in different places of the sales funnel—an offer for those at the top of the funnel may be different than an offer made to those at the bottom of the funnel, in other words. The key is to treat your leads as individuals, and to be patient as you earn their trust.
Automate
Though personalization is key, automation is also important, especially for companies wondering how to increase sales revenue as cost-effectively as possible. Marketing automation may be as simple as a stock reply send to those who express an inquiry in your company, followed later by a more personalized e-mail correspondence. Automation keeps the process moving along and ensures that no lead ever slips through the cracks.
Create Urgency
Another tip for those curious about how to increase sales revenue: Create a sense of urgency. Convince your prospects that now is the time to buy—because if they wait, it may be too late! A great way to do this is to promote special, one-time offers, making it clear that the window for acting is relatively brief.
Upsell and Cross-Sell
Businesses are also smart to upsell and to cross-sell as often as they can, which is actually quite easy when it comes to online commerce. If someone buys a product, you can send them an invoice or receipt that lists some relevant, related products. If you notice that a prospect is keenly interested in purchasing a load of fertilizer or mulch from you, the time is surely ripe to offer them grass seed, flower pots, or insecticide, as well; whether you’re making a personalized offer or simply cross-referencing related products on your company website, upselling and cross-selling are great ways to increase revenue.
Switch from Outbound to Inbound Marketing
A final tip: Make this the year when you leave those cold calls behind for good, and instead switch to an inbound marketing approach. The reality of today’s world is that consumers are more than willing to seek out the products and services they need via quick online searches—so it is vital for your business to be there, positioned as authoritative and customer-centric. Inbound marketing is just the thing for achieving this goal, and as such it is a more cost-effective approach than outbound marketing.
The bottom line is that those companies curious about how to increase sales revenue have several strategies at their disposal—and when used in tandem, these strategies can turn any marketing campaign into a well-oiled, sales-garnering machine!
Learn much more through this webinar on: 7 Deadly Things That You Should Be Aware of in Your Marketing If You Don’t Want To Waste Your Money
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