PAN Communications Lead generation is an evergreen priority for any brand — without prospects, there are no customers, and without customers, there is no business. Even so, the pressure to drive leads has reached a critical level, as marketing and sales leaders contend with tighter budgets, longer sales cycles, and more competition every day. Building a reliable inbound lead strategy is a long process, and one that is made easier and more effective in collaboration with your integrated marketing and PR agency. Here, we’ve broken the process down into three core steps. Creative storytelling, PR, inbound content, email campaigns, social media efforts — regardless of the tactic, the goals are the same: A lack of integration can dramatically increase the risk of disconnected messaging, jeopardizing campaign goal alignment and overall program effectiveness. Duplicated efforts and missed engagement opportunities with prospects will negatively impact the ROI of these programs. Building an effectively integrated program means finding the optimal mix of PR and inbound efforts for your business goals. Determine your growth goals. Take the Growth Phase Assessment. Quality content is critical to both a PR and an inbound strategy. Here are six steps to working with you integrated agency partner to execute effectively. Download the eBook: How to Work with Your PR Agency to Build a Successful Inbound Lead Strategy Producing great content for campaigns is only half the battle. You’ll still need to distribute and amplify to drive engagement across channels. Leverage earned media. Great content shouldn’t just be confined to the campaigns it’s created for. Any content that holds value for your personas and ICP should be pitched out for potential earned media opportunities. Awards, top coverage placements, interviews, thought leadership opportunities and more can all validate your brand and drive qualified leads. Drive the path to purchase with email campaigns. Direct contact is a critical tactic for engaging and nurturing your leads. When building an email campaign, don’t confine your segments to just your personas — consider locations, employers, roles and behaviors as well, and keep track of what resonates through practices like A/B testing. Increase brand awareness with social media. Social media can be used at every stage of the inbound methodology, and it is a fundamental step in driving traffic, generating leads and building a community. Optimization of campaigns is key to success — focus on listening and monitoring, channel differentiation, clear and compelling message, relevant and impactful visuals and regular A/B testing. Push campaigns further with paid social. Social advertising can be critical to nurturing leads on their journey to conversion, and it starts with clearly defining your objectives and KPIs. Bonus strategies. Optimization comes in many forms. Landing pages and CTAs are the foundation of your online marketing campaigns. Information included should be clear and concise: customer quotes and list key takeaways; use your firm’s inbound expertise to draw out why your company is better than the competition. And before you publish new content, make sure that it’s effectively optimized for organic search. Download the eBook: How to Work with Your PR Agency to Build a Successful Inbound Lead Strategy When executed correctly, advocacy can impact brand recognition and trust and drive sales, recruitment and talent acquisition — all while supporting your brand’s growth strategy during a time when word-of-mouth and referrals are more important than ever. There’s never a bad time to improve your lead generation strategy, least of all right now. Leveraging the integration of PR and inbound marketing is critical to building and sustaining momentum — and meeting your growth goals. Download the eBook: How to Work with Your PR Agency to Build a Successful Inbound Lead Strategy
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