There are a lot of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) providers out there that do a very good job of getting you clicks on Google (paid or organic), but very few of them think beyond the click, to focus on the conversion of B2B visitors into identifiable leads.
That’s why I recently launched FunnelBuilders - a consultancy that helps technology organizations develop post-click marketing strategies to generate inbound leads.
Because all these SEM providers are so click-centric, they seem to have skewed the expectation of many of the technology organizations I prospect. As a result I get a mixed bag of response to my prospecting calls:
Not Interested in Internet Marketing
These people cut me off pretty early on in the call and tell me they are “Not interested.” They say they’ve tried paid search before and it didn’t work for them, so they have focused their marketing efforts elsewhere. Now, I always check out a prospect’s online presence before calling them, to assess if they would be good candidate for smart inbound marketing programs and the majority are. It’s sad that these people are ready to brush me off so easily, because most of them could really benefit from a well thought out, well run internet marketing program.
They Think They Have it in Hand
Some people are actually doing something on the internet and think it’s going OK. “Thanks for your call but we’ve already engaged a web agency and they’re helping us with all that stuff.” Now, there are very few SEM vendors out there that really grasp the complexities of high value B2B technology lead generation, and even fewer that understand the many facets of post click marketing best practices. Most of them believe that if they can get you on the first page of Google and garner lots of click throughs to your web site, they think they’ve done their job. Sadly, they’ve managed to convince their clients to think this way too. The fact is, clicks without conversions really don’t amount to much of anything from a lead generation perspective.
They Know They Could be Doing Better
Thankfully, there are a number of organizations out there that know they should be leveraging the internet more for lead generation, but they don’t necessarily understand what to do or how to do it. So when I call in with my pitch about the value of post-click marketing and how it can positively impact their inbound lead generation activities, they are very receptive. They quickly grasp the compelling value that post click marketing can offer and typically ask me to swing by for a face meeting to find out more.
In the current climate, with sales cycles getting longer and longer, generating qualified leads is more important than ever, and getting the best value you can out of those difficult to find marketing dollars is of paramount importance. For the majority of technology organizations this means focusing more time and effort on intelligently leveraging the Internet as a source of potential leads - and this is what Post-Click Marketing is all about.
If you are interested in finding out more, feel free to contact me. Or at the very least, challenge your current SEM provider to spend more time focused on creating conversions vs. just clicks.
______________________________
Sean O’Donovan is the owner of FunnelBuilders, an internet marketing consultancy that helps technology organizations develop and implement intelligent post-click marketing programs to generate actionable in-bound sales leads - www.funnelbuilders.com