Marketing on a Budget - iContact
- Updated on: 2018-02-20
- Read original article here
Marketing for start-ups doesn’t come with a route map. Getting from A to Z can be a long and arduous journey, especially when budgets are limited. As with all journeys, you need a starting point (a product or a service) and a destination (a target against which to judge your success). Thankfully, at iContact, we can provide you with the navigational tools to help you find success – and still have some money left for the gas to take you on your journey.
Your journey starts with a landing page, a simple, one-page website where you can promote your product or service (using text and images) and collect business leads via an online form. A well-designed landing page is vital if you want to quickly build up your email marketing lists. iContact Pro enables you to quickly build (by either selecting a pre-built template or designing your own using simple drag-and-drop technology) and host your own landing pages without the need to hire a web designer or developer.
Social media posts on sites like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn are excellent navigational aids, pointing potential customers in the direction of your landing page. iContact Pro enables you to schedule multiple posts over multiple social media channels to ensure maximum traffic at the lowest possible cost. Because social media posts have a limited life span (approximately 18 minutes on Twitter), it’s important to post to your various social networks on a regular basis. A small investment in time to schedule your posts will ensure your social media activity works for you when you are busy doing something else. Remember, while it is a good idea to automate your social media posts, you cannot automate your social media engagement (conversations) – a vital component of any social media strategy.
Email marketing is still the most cost-efficient method of driving customer engagement and (more importantly) sales/revenue. For every dollar you invest in email marketing, you should (if you follow best practices) expect to see $44 in return. Remember, there is no point in sitting on customer data (collected by your landing page). The longer you hold on to an email address before making contact, the less likely it will deliver a positive return. If potential customers have given you their email address, they deserve to be contacted in a timely and appropriate fashion. iContact Pro has all the benefits of a great email marketing solution from a leading service provider (easy to use, awesome customer support, etc.) but with so much more.
iContact Pro takes email marketing and supercharges it, allowing marketers to build highly targeted and incredibly sophisticated campaigns based on previous engagements or lead score (quality). In simple terms, iContact Pro helps you send the right message to the right person at the right time.
Marketing data becomes even more useful when it is made available to everyone in your organization. iContact Pro integrates with Salesforce.com to allow for the sharing of information across your entire enterprise. When your sales team members have an understanding of how their prospects are engaged with your marketing campaigns, they will have a better understanding of their needs, which will help them close more sales.
All great journeys start with a single step, and your first step toward a more informed and strategic marketing strategy doesn’t cost a single cent. Start your journey today by starting your free 30-day trialof iContact Pro.
