Using Marketing Automation with SEO

Think about what you use search engines for. Obviously, to search, I know. But think a little more specifically about what you’re searching for. Most often, we use Google to find answers to our problems or find information about the things we want to do, accomplish or buy.

Often, we discover new products and services while looking for solutions to our problems or researching ways to make our life better.

The marketing dilemma associated with this little customer interaction, is that the searcher is often very early in the buying cycle—they are just learning about their options. This makes search engine optimization (SEO) a perfect companion for marketing automation (What is Marketing Automation?).

If you can find a way to start a relationship with this searcher you can use marketing automation to nurture these leads into customers over time.

When I say start a relationship, I mean obtaining their contact info, getting them to follow you on social media or even just dropping a cookie in their browser so that you can remarket to them with display ads. Any of these activities will allow you to start nurturing the lead towards becoming an educated, ready-to-buy lead.

As a marketer, brainstorm the ways your product solves your customers problems or improves their lives. Write helpful content about these problems and title the post similar to the problem that your prospective customer would be asking Google.

What would your prospect be thinking about when in “research mode” or even “damage control mode” for a major problem?

Here are some examples of what that content might look like:

• Problems with transitioning to ICD-10 coding
• How to recruit top salespeople
• What causes spider veins?
• Common mistakes when importing products from China
• Natural ways to treat earaches

Regularly writing and adding content like this to your website benefits your marketing in many ways. In addition to developing a stream of search engine traffic from prospective buyers, these pages can be sent to prospects during the sales process by your salespeople or even automatically in the lead nurturing process.

Expand your use of SEO keyword targets beyond your products and services to focus on the problems and answers your customers are searching for. This will bring you a stream of potential customers very early in the process long before they begin contacting competitors.

Using SEO and Marketing Automation to Seal The Deal

Also, marketing automation can be designed for ready-to-buy leads, which will keep them engaged while you move through the proposal process. Days or weeks can go by while your proposal is “in legal” or awaiting a board meeting where it can be presented. We all know the feeling of watching a deal go stale while it moves through the internal bureaucratic cog or your prospect is “just too busy” to make a decision.

Use marketing automation to keep the brand top of mind and create a sense of urgency by crystallizing the benefits or magnifying the pain caused by inaction.

SEO, marketing automation and lead nurturing is a powerful recipe for filling your sales pipeline when executed correctly.

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