Laptop showing CRM for accountants

CRM data: The good, the bad and the ugly

The quality of the data that you hold plays a vital role in the success of your marketing strategy.

It’s worth noting that lists used for email marketing decay between 20-30% each year so if it’s entered incorrectly into your CRM system in the first place then you’re not going to be off to a great start. You’ll experience a reduction in email delivery which will impact the success of any email marketing campaign going forward and your overall lead generation goals. 

Quality data for your marketing campaigns

It’s key that your email addresses are validated. So, that would include people signing up to receive your email newsletters from an online form, as it’s something they have requested. This is a qualified lead.

What’s important is to review data on a regular basis and cleanse it.

The fact that we are required to include an unsubscribe link on email marketing communication is actually a good thing as this helps cleanse your list too. It’s not a bad thing that people unsubscribe when you send them an email. Let’s face it, if people aren’t interested in your products or services then it’s best, they aren’t on your list. It’s much better to have fewer, quality leads eager to hear from you than a mammoth list of contacts that are never going to engage with you or provide bounce backs as they are no longer valid email addresses.

A consistent CRM process

Go for consistency in your CRM process so ensuring email addresses, names, company detail, contact number are always added and they are added correctly.

Ultimately you want your firm to adopt the CRM system you deploy. But if the detail is incorrect when team members go to access data then very soon colleagues will become despondent and revert back to, what they think, is a trusted excel spreadsheet. This then creates the ongoing cycle of silos within a company. This way marketing will never sync with sales or business development teams and vital new business opportunities will be lost in the ether.

So, take time to get the process of inputting data instilled in your team in the first instance, that way you will reap rewards in the long-term as again and again the team will find success from the contacts entered into your system.

CRM data

The basics to include in your CRM for the benefit of your marketing strategy include the contacts first and last name. An email and physical address as well as phone number and web address. As well as any social handles whether their personal LinkedIn or company related.

It’s also useful to gather data about them about their life. Following your initial networking with your contact, these are great reminders to add to the CRM about what you discussed as this will help with ongoing client relationships, future meetings and give your colleagues insight.

Using a system like Hubspot CRM can help you access website activity so you can soon get an understanding of how often people visit the website, services viewed or eBooks downloaded.

CRM for accountants

As a Hubspot partner, we can help you with CRM for your business to help make a really effective lead generation campaign. 

What’s important about any lead generation campaign is to continue to be insightful with your communication, providing answers to challenges that you know your clients face. With the insight you have as a result of your CRM, this can really help you tailor an ongoing content marketing plan tailored to your target audience.

We’re a digital marketing agency based in Croydon with a specialism in marketing for professional services firms including digital marketing for accountants.

Read our blog on lead generation strategies for your business.

Creating a Google My Business Page

Creating a Google My Business page

Our Smart Cow ‘Marketing Minute’ videos are here to provide you with quick marketing tips for successful online lead generation for your business.   

In our previous video we talked about the benefit of Google My Business. Our advice is that you make sure you have set up your business on this directory before you even think about setting up your social media accounts or creating a website.

This is because Google is one of the most popular search engines so it is essential that you are on it as it’s another way to help prospects find you. It also helps with your ongoing search engine optimisation strategy and improving your online presence.

Watch our latest video where Simon Cripps gives you an overview of how to get started on setting you your Google My Business page.

Google My Business set up

  • Log into your Google account that you associate with your business or create an account if you do not already have one.
  • Then go to google.com/business/
  • If you are not already registered, then enter your business name, and follow the steps to enter your business category, your location, areas you serve and then contact telephone and website URL if you have one
  • Select a method to verify your listing and away you go.

That’s your Google My Business page set up in a nutshell.

Watch out for our next set of Marketing Minute videos as we delve into a little more detail as to how you can best optimise your newly set up page.

SEO agency Croydon 

If you need help then give us a call at Smart Cow on 020 3137 1826 or book a free consultation to discuss our SEO services and other digital marketing tools such as social media managementPay Per Click (PPC)email marketing and CRM – read more about our marketing services.   

 

Magnet symbolising inbound marketing

How to generate leads with inbound marketing

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting prospects into a person that has indicated interest in your company’s product or service. Lead generators include things like job applications, blog posts, coupons, live events, and online content.

To understand a little more about lead generation we’ve outlined the key steps to follow to generate leads for your business.

  1. To start with a visitor needs to discover your business. This can be through one of your marketing channels, such as your website, blog, or social media accounts.
  2. That visitor then clicks on your call-to-action (CTA). This could be an image, a button, or message that encourages website visitors to take some sort of action.
  3. The CTA takes your visitor to a dedicated landing page, which is a web page that is designed to capture lead information in exchange for an offer.
  4. You want your offer to be something of value on the landing page, like an ebook, a course, or a template. The offer must have enough perceived value to a visitor to merit them providing their personal information in exchange for access to it.
  5. The form for a visitor to complete on your landing page consists of a series of fields that collect information in exchange for the offer. Forms are typically hosted on landing pages, although they can technically be embedded anywhere on your website. Once a visitor fills this out, you have a new qualified lead!

Put these elements together and you can see the start of a great lead generation process for your inbound online marketing campaign.

You can use your various digital channels to drive traffic to your landing page to start generating leads.

Lead generation channels and tactics can include email marketing, social media marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns and blog posts which can all lead to a landing page with an offer.

Inbound marketing London

As an inbound marketing agency specialism in marketing for accountants, we would look at your business, understand your objectives to then tailor an inbound marketing campaign encompassing tactics that will help you achieve your goals. 

If you’re looking to grow your business, talk us through your current position, where you would like to be, your target audience and objectives and we can work on a digital marketing strategy proposal for you.

Download The Beginner’s Guide to Generating Inbound Leads.

Contact us for a FREE consultation

Why we recommend setting up your Google My Business page

In our Smart Cow ‘Marketing Minute’ series of videos we provide a snapshot of marketing top tips for online lead generation for your business. 

In this video, Simon Cripps tells us why setting up or optimising your Google My Business page is one of the first things to look at when marketing your business online.  

Search Engine Optimisation

If you look at our blog, we’re always shouting about the benefits of Google My Business as part of your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy. This is about your business rising organically in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Therefore, having a Google My Business page means your business is detailed on one of the biggest search engines. So, getting this page in place is something you should do before having a domain name, website or social media account.

Remember, this is Google’s directory of business and you need to be on it. 

What Google My Business offers

Essentially, Google My Business is a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears on google search and maps. 

Google My Business shows your business location, contact details and opening hours.

It offers the opportunity to upload and share photos and updates showcasing your products and services.

The directory also offers a place for customers to write reviews about your business. This provides a great place for you to source testimonials for your website and sharing on social. When people search online, they often look for reviews so a recommendation from a happy customer goes a long way to encourage prospects to your website.  

Importantly you can access insights into your search results to help you understand your target audience so you can tailor your ongoing inbound marketing strategy.  

SEO agency Croydon

To get started, go to Google My Business and follow the simple steps to manage your account. If you need help the give us a call at Smart Cow on 020 3137 1826 or book a free consultation to discuss our SEO services and how to improve your organic rankings.  

We can also work with you on your digital marketing strategy including a mix of tactics such as social media management, Pay Per Click (PPC), email marketing and CRM – read more about our marketing services. 

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