In this last installment of our Growth-Driven Design (GDD) series, we want to zoom out a bit and show the bigger picture behind this methodology. How does it help you combine your sales and marketing efforts? Most importantly, how does it result in converting valuable leads?
As we covered in our first piece A Different Approach to Website Redesign, the idea behind GDD is to make incremental changes to your website instead of block edits every few years. In the second and third posts, we covered how to approach SEO with a GDD mindset and how HubSpot’s tools bring even more value to the method.
Your marketing team’s goal is to find strategic ways to connect and communicate with potential leads. They should be scoping out where potential leads are spending time (digitally) and constructing strategic ways to catch those leads’ attention. The information marketing collects during this process is then handed off to sales to communicate with leads. It is up to the sales team to take that lead and convert him or her into a loyal customer.
On the marketing side, content and design with a GDD mindset helps attract leads, builds credibility and trust with them and whets their appetite enough to want to learn more. Basically, the marketing team tees up the opportunity for sales to take over and expertly sink the winning shot. In this post, we’ll highlight how exactly your sales and marketing teams can do what they do best.
The Buyer's Journey and Content
Content is a huge part of the GDD methodology of making consistent changes to your website, especially when it comes to the blog. HubSpot doesn’t recommend a set number of blog posts that should be posted within a period of time. However, it does recommend focusing on the quality of the blogs.
But how exactly do blogs—and other content on the website—connect the marketing and sales teams? It’s all about the Buyer’s Journey.
Potential customers are savvy these days. Most of them aren’t simply going to make a purchase online from the first website they see. That’s especially true if it’s a big purchase. This makes producing a consistent stream of strategic, quality content extremely important.
When creating your content plans, do so with the customer in mind. Create content for the first few stages of the buyer’s journey—attracting and converting. With the attraction stage, make content that answers specific questions potential customers have about your industry, products, etc. This stage of the journey is all about building trust with you as a business but not yet trying to sell anything.
The conversion content should be a bit more focused on why potential customers should choose your business. Include testimonials, customer interviews, influencer reviews, etc. Another valuable idea is to create gated content such as ebooks or white papers so potential customers need to provide their email addresses in order to access it.
After your marketing team creates content to attract leads and encourage them to convert, it’s time to hand off the information to the sales team to close the deal. Then, the whole team can delight the customer with their work!
However, content is only one part of the equation. Design is another important part that works hand-in-hand with the content side.
Jessica Nath, ProFromGo's Content, PR and SEO Strategist, wrote this section.
Design that Engages Leads
So you got your lead to check out your website (hopefully using your awesome content!). Great. Now what? Before a lead converts, they will repeatedly engage with your website. But it only takes about 0.05 seconds for them to form an opinion about your website and decide whether they like it and if they will stay or leave.
As a business owner, your goal is to have your marketing team create a rewarding site experience so your leads not only decide to stay but also feel compelled to return to repeatedly engage with your website. Your sales team can then work on converting those return visitors into actual customers.
According to Adobe, 38 percent of users will stop engaging with a website if the content / layout is unattractive. In other words, your website is the cover that your book is being judged by.
If your website hasn’t been updated or redesigned in five or 10 years, it probably shows. Bad website design, outdated aesthetics and low usability damage the credibility of your company. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that in 2020, a company’s credibility is linked to the aesthetic quality of their website. Showcasing a modern, responsive website with a consistently updated design— reinforced by quality content—keeps users interested and engaged.
To learn more about how HubSpot approaches website design optimization, check out this article.
Sarah Kennedy, ProFromGo's Senior Art Director, wrote this section.
Sales Strategies that Convert Leads
If you are executing Growth-Driven Design, chances are you're creating consistent and relevant content that helps educate potential customers or prospects. Over time, this starts to fill your sales funnel with curious prospects who have taken the time to identify you as a potential partner or solution provider based on the content you have created. Plus, they are now comfortable enough to reach out to a salesperson. This gives your sales team an incredible advantage. According to HubSpot, inbound marketing generates 54 percent more leads in comparison to cold calling and other outbound methods. In addition, the cost-per-lead is about 62 percent less.
Not only will your organization attract better qualified leads for a lower price, but your sales team will also have a better chance at closing them because the leads have already been warmed up to your products, services and process. What salesperson or sales manager wouldn’t want that?
The truth is, that with a consistent GDD approach, your marketing team starts to generate more contacts, and your sales team has a higher percentage chance of closing them. This strategy pays its dividends because you now have an educated prospect speaking your language. That means your salesperson can spend more time building a relationship and selling as a subject matter expert.
John Caruso, ProFromGo's Director of Business Development wrote this section.
Now It’s Your Turn!
At ProFromGo, we pride ourselves in helping your sales and marketing teams attract and convert your leads. We also know the value of a well-constructed GDD plan. That’s why we’re happy to help you attract leads and strategically convert them into loyal customers. Contact us to learn more!
