By Mark Galloway, President of OppSource
Do you have any recollection of what you read online yesterday? Or better yet—what you searched for online yesterday? For those of us who spend the better part of our days in front of a screen of some type, it’s almost impossible to recall anything of note, even minutes after seeing it.
By Mark Galloway, President of OppSource
Do you have any recollection of what you read online yesterday? Or better yet—what you searched for online yesterday? For those of us who spend the better part of our days in front of a screen of some type, it’s almost impossible to recall anything of note, even minutes after seeing it.
Now consider that the same is true for your prospects.
If you can barely remember a site you recently visited, what chance is there that your prospect remembers that snazzy copy he found when he landed on your site? The state of marketing today demands follow-up as fast as you can deliver it. Ideally, this means within minutes, not days or weeks. This is a concept we refer to as Moment-of-Interest Marketing: the idea of connecting with prospects in their actual moment of interest to best engage them in conversation and diagnose their needs.
It might seem overwhelming to think about coordinating follow-up efforts that take place within minutes of a prospect’s demonstrated interest, but consider how significantly you can shift the odds of interaction in your favor: At OppSource, we’ve found that voice-to-voice connect rates are nine times greater when we follow up within 15 minutes.
With results like that, allocating and aligning your resources for timelier follow-up seems like a no-brainer.
As you might suspect, all follow-up is not created equal. We’re advocates of combining digital and voice interactions to gain the most accurate diagnosis of a prospect. Simply relying on marketing automation tools to read the digital tea leaves (email interaction, downloads, page visits) does not usually give you the full or accurate picture about who the contact is, what she’s looking for or what her budget and timing are. In a complex B2B buying cycle, phone follow-up is integral, both in getting the full picture of a prospect and connecting with them in their moment of interest.
If the idea of Moment-of-Interest Marketing is new to your organization, consider starting with the following:
- Ensure your systems give you full visibility to (and notification of) prospects’ digital interactions.
- Assign a guerilla team that can test moment of interest follow-up calling.
- Chart your effectiveness over time—how frequently are you able to connect voice-to-voice? What have your conversations taught you about your marketing efforts?
In many ways, marketing is only getting more difficult. Capturing prospects in their moment of interest is the best way to focus your marketing dollars and resources on tactics that will work.
Mark Galloway has 20+ years experience in the B2B marketing space. He currently serves as President of OppSource. He can be reached by email at Mark.Galloway@oppsource.com or by phone at 877.742.8880. More of his thoughts can be found on the OppSource blog, www.oppsource.com/blog.
