Seven Marketing Areas to Focus on When Lead Generation Has to be Paused

Like a farm, a business will go through seasons. Sometimes, your lead funnel will be full and business seems to be full steam ahead. Other times, you are in the winter, planting and nurturing your carefully planted seeds to prepare for a future harvest. In business, these winter seasons come from events like economic decline, business seasonality, or, more recently, a global pandemic.

Marketing during this time may seem fruitless, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! 

Marketing is so much more than short term results from a paid advertising campaign. There are many different marketing areas that you can invest in during times of slow lead generation to move your business forward.

Search Engine Optimization

No matter the climate of the economy, search engine optimization is a long-term strategy that requires consistency. We all want to be on page one of Google’s results, but that doesn’t happen overnight. Especially when leads are slow, it is important to optimize your website and deliver authoritative content that will increase your organic traffic from search engines.

During a slower season, you can create a dense editorial calendar and create optimized, educational content for the next year. Spend this time doubling down on content creation. That way, you have plenty of content to publish when leads increase, and you have to prioritize other areas of your business.

Additionally, you can invest in link-building opportunities to increase traffic across channels. Link-building increases your domain authority and your referral traffic. Opportunities could include:

• Optimizing older, higher-performing content by adding links to new content within your website.
• Partnering with local and national thought leaders in similar industries to create guest blog posts.
• Reaching out to local news publications to feature your content.

Rebranding

Have you been putting off your organization’s rebranding efforts because of time or lack of resources? While lead generation pauses, redirect your time to create a refresh of your brand. It can seem overwhelming to redo your logo or update your branding while focused on your daily operations, but dedicating your time to a brand refresh demonstrates a strong brand identity during the busy seasons. 

This can be done on a large or small scale, depending on timing. It may include refreshing your social profiles with updated banners and profile pictures, or it could be an entire rebrand to propel your brand forward.

Collateral Design

Like a rebrand, designing new collateral, signage, or branded materials can often take a backseat to more pressing tasks. During a season of slower leads, investing in updating your collateral or designing branded materials will give you a competitive edge when leads start to increase. Collateral is a large part of your business and should reflect your brand’s identity.

New Website

A website is no longer a luxury for your business. 90% of US adults use the internet in every area of their lives. These users are on the web connecting with others, sharing pictures of their pets, and, most importantly, finding businesses. If you don’t have a digital presence, you will miss out on potential customers. And if your digital identity is not reflective of your brand or does not rank in search results, you could lose out on potential business.

Recently, businesses have had no choice but to digitize their business in response to a global pandemic. Business owners have had to move their business online because that may be the only way for users to interact with their brand. While we don’t know what the future holds, it’s best to invest in a website that accommodates your customers if this is the new normal.

Creating a website is an investment, but one that will pay off for years to come. It takes thoughtful strategy, understanding your user’s needs, and purposeful content to create a website that fuels your business goals. In a season of preparation for leads, spend time investing in a new digital storefront to represent your business. You will be well prepared, not only for a season of high lead generation but for one that captures authentic leads.

Company Culture

People want to work for and partner with companies that have a great culture. If you feel that your business hasn’t invested time in your company’s culture as much as you’d like, use this season to participate in culture-building activities. Update your team’s headshots with professional and fun shots to demonstrate your culture on your website. Interview your team members and share “get-to-know-you” posts on social media. Investing in and showcasing your company’s culture will not only enhance your business, but it will create a strong team that will represent your company well.

Additionally, investing in your company culture will benefit you when it comes time to recruit new team members. Company culture, coupled with competency, affects your decision to hire someone. If you have a clear understanding of your company’s culture and values, you hire team members to enrich your culture and empower it. Company culture is also important to those you are interviewing. Culture can persuade or discourage someone to apply for your open position.

Long-form Content

Content marketing is a huge part of search engine optimization, as delivering highly-valuable, educational content both delights potential customers and helps you rank higher in search engines. Blog posts are a great and consistent way to accomplish this. Long-form content presents an even larger opportunity but takes longer to craft than a timely blog post. Long-form content can come in many different forms, including:

• Webinars
• Ebooks
• Case Studies
• Podcasts

While lead generation is slower, you can invest more time in creating this easily consumable, authoritative content to delight your audience even months after you release it. Plus, you can use this content in other areas of your lead funnel, like giving it away in exchange for an email address or providing it as a value-added benefit for taking certain actions.

Email Drip Campaigns

Lastly, planning and executing an email drip campaign is a proactive way to invest in marketing to benefit you later. An email drip campaign is a strategy that involves multiple emails sent to prospective clients over an extended period of time. This is done to nurture a lead through the different stages of the funnel and eventually convert into a customer. In a time of slower lead intake, crafting an email drip campaign can help your organization better convert new visitors to the site, especially if they are signing up for a newsletter or long-form content.

Digital Marketing for All Seasons

Lead generation is a priority for your business, which means it’s a priority to us. Our digital marketing strategies are focused on driving authentic traffic to your website and increasing conversions. This is done in many different ways, such as content marketing, SEO, email marketing, branding, website development, and more. 

If you are interested in investing more into your digital presence to prepare for a season of harvest, connect with us. We’d be happy to talk through strategies crafted specifically for your business.