Inbound Marketing is so Much More than a ‘Contact Us’ form on Steroids


Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing is So Much More than a Contact Us Form on SteroidsHave you ever wondered why websites put ‘contact us’ forms on them? It seems so archaic to force a user to navigate to your Contact Us page only to find a form with just a few fields:

  • First & Last Name
  • Email
  • Comments

Perhaps there’s a form field asking for a phone number, or maybe even an opt-in to join the monthly newsletter that’s never actually been sent.

How often have you filled out one of those forms with the intent to buy? For me, I can’t remember the last time I filled out a basic contact form with the intent to buy.

I’m not saying you should drop your contact form page. If you have one, you’re getting a small taste of what inbound marketing can do for your business. Especially if people are actually using it. The ‘contact us’ form is like a digital version of picking up the phone and calling your business. Think about the types of inquires you get from your contact us form. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Got your list ready? Are any of these on there?

  • Website Suggestions
  • Pricing Questions
  • Pointing out a spelling error
  • Product questions
  • Spam
  • SEO Scams
  • Your mom trying to get a hold of you

Does my list closely resemble yours? What if I told you there was a better way, and it’ll weed out the spam, scams, website suggestions, and inquiries from your worry-wart mother?

Enter Inbound Marketing

When we set up inbound marketing for our clients, we turn their contact us page into a Bottom of the Funnel form. Our ‘contact us’ forms are big. They ask lots of questions. They’re meant for folks who are ready to buy now. Folks at the decision stage of their buyer’s journey. The sheer size of these forms scare away unqualified prospects. (We’ll get to what to do with those prospects in a bit.)

“But wait! I thought qualifying prospects was my job!

It used to be your job. With today’s technology, inbound marketing makes that job so much easier it’s practically automated. That’s not to say you can't jump into your dashboard anytime to review your contacts and cherry-pick the most qualified ones. The human element is the one aspect no piece of software can ever replace. Yet, software does make your job as a marketing director much easier and more efficient.

The contact us forms we create for our clients are the first line of defense for gathering highly qualified, ready to buy leads.

What to do with those Pesky Unqualified Leads

Nurture them. Nurture the hell out of them until they become a qualified lead. Let your website and blog do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.

Let’s look at an example.

Visitor A comes to your site. She reads your services page, then she visits the about us page. She thinks to herself, “Self, these guys sound like they might have what I need. I’ll fill out their contact form.” So she navigates to your contact page, only to find a huge form asking all sorts of questions. She’s not ready for that kind of commitment!  She still feels your company would be a good fit for hers, so she opts to sign up for your newsletter instead. She’s not quite ready to buy yet. She’s in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey.

Now you have her email address on file, and you can see, with inbound marketing software, which pages she has visited.

Now you can setup a workflow to email her content (e.g. blog posts) related to your services. Each email would have an offer to take the next step. Perhaps you’d like her to download a case study, or a checklist. You can do all that with a workflow. You’re letting her take more steps towards you on her terms, not yours. Her timeline. Not yours.

It’s called permission-based marketing, and it’s taking over the world. Seriously.

We did this for Marco.

One of our workflows targets people who have visited the Business IT Services Section in the last 7 days. The criteria is simple. We want people who are in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey.

Once they’re in the workflow, they’ll get a series of emails over the course of two weeks. Each attempting to nurture them down the funnel to download an eBook. If the user downloads said eBook, they are removed from the workflow. There is another workflow setup for users who download the eBook. The goal of that workflow is to nurture the user further down the inbound marketing funnel to contact Marco. Thus becoming a sales qualified lead.

Get Inbound Marketing for Your Business

Like what you’ve read? Sound like something you’d be interested in? This is just the tip of the iceberg of what inbound marketing can do. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Everything is Inbound. Curious how?  This eBook will give you all the details. Get up close and personal with  inbound. Download the free eBook

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