Throughout human history, people have been driven to explore the unknown. We have an involuntary compulsion to discover new things and push the boundaries of what science and technology offer us. Today’s buyers often use the exploration of the internet as a delusional escape from using the expertise of your company in their buyer journey.
Email Marketing’s Role
An article in the National Geographic talks about the explorer’s drive. They call it the ‘restless gene’ and point out that humans will push into new territory when it is not really needed. Since today’s pseudo-explorer can brave new territory from a device on their lap while reclining in front of the TV, it changes everything. Armed with information they believe is valid, they demand that you do not interrupt their exploration by trying to sell them something.
Before the vast quantity of data on the internet, it was harder to be a self-proclaimed expert. Most buyers surrendered to asking a ‘real’ expert who worked in the field every day. It’s not like that now. Your choice is to educate your sales leads with email marketing, or leave your competitor to do the job.
Capturing Known and Unknown Visitors
If email marketing has the power to educate sales leads, it helps to know how to build your email list. Start with identifying anonymous visitors to your digital resources such as your web page. Offering something of value in exchange for their contact information is a proven way to make that connection. CAUTION: Make this free offering extremely useful or you have just wasted both your time and the sales lead time. You will experience failure to communicate.
Another way to build a list of exploring sales leads is to relentlessly dig into the persona of your best clients. When you know a lot about the customers in your CRM program, you can do your own exploration to find where this specific type of person spends their time. Good CRM software offers easy to set up dashboards to help you get clear on the persona of your clients.
Keep it Clean
When your company becomes adept at capturing explorers at the earliest stage of the buyer cycle your database will probably get messy. Good database hygiene is necessary for many reasons. And the messiness can come in many ways:
Data Source: If you use list provider to gain data about your targeted persona, you can easily get a lot of junk. Follow the principles of good data hygiene to protect yourself.
Incorrect data input: Prospective sales leads can sometimes put incorrect information in the form so they can get your free offering.
Aging data: People move on. Their email address may have been abandoned or they may have given you an email address specifically used for downloads. Again, data hygiene practices will help you identify and clean up the mess your adventuring sales leads have left for you.
Like it or not, your company depends on the delusional exploration of prospective sales leads. Your role is to capture their attention as early as possible in the buyer journey and bring them into your fold. Once you begin email marketing efforts you can share your expertise and deepen the relationship over time. Eventually trust is established and they become your ideal clients.