DIGITAL)Online Tools for Quality Leads -- Part 2

3-25-2013

Last week I shared some online research tools to help you track news about your prospects, as well as monitor their social media conversations using Google Alerts and Social Mention.   These tools can help you identify the optimum time when your prospects are most likely thinking about buying advertising.

This week we?ll take a look at some online tools to help you build quality lead lists more quickly.

Manta

Manta is a cross between a business directory listing and social network for small businesses.  The primary mission of Manta is to provide a platform for small businesses to promote themselves and to support one another. According to a survey of their 90-plus million members last year, 42 percent of small business owners say they get most of their business advice from other small business owners.

How can Manta help you get more quality leads? As you search for small businesses in your area, Manta provides additional filters, so you can target businesses based on their number of employees and company revenue. 

Here?s one quick search tip when using Manta, first search by type of business like ?restaurant? or ?car dealer." After your search results come up, scroll all the way to the bottom to filter your search by location or advertising category.

Angie?s List

If you are seeking to build a quick list of quality leads for home service advertisers like ?plumbers? or ?dentists,? AngiesList.com is your best bet. Unlike other business review websites, Angie?s List does charge a small monthly fee based on local rates, but it?s worth it for the leads you can gather. 

Qualify your leads by looking for businesses that have the most reviews, are promoting special offers or have newly created profiles. 

Those with special offers are indicating their desire to market a bit more aggressively. When you call on them, remind them that their pool of customers on Angie?s Lists is very limited. There is a much larger audience seeking their services who didn?t pay for Angie?s List, but can be reached by advertising on your radio station.

DemandBase

Think about all time and money you spend on getting people to come to your website. It?s probably one of your greatest unrealized sources of qualified leads. You probably have an ?advertise with us? on your website, but the majority of the people visiting that page are completely anonymous to you.

DemandBase.com enables you to identify businesses visiting your website. Your visitors? IP addresses are analyzed and matched against business information sources from Dun & Bradstreet and LexisNexis. DemandBase will identify the names of companies where your visitors work and then sell you leads to those companies for as little as $1.80 per lead.

This tool has a lot of promise, but for a radio station to realize its true capabilities, it would need to create content to attract businesses because most radio websites target consumers. A station could create a separate website, blog, or business directory targeting local business owners only. If you already have popular business content, then a tool like DemandBase might be worth your consideration.

The Web is one of the greatest sales research tools ever created and, at the same time, it is one of the most under-utilized research tools in radio sales. At the very least, before you call on any prospect, visit their website. Think of their homepage as a virtual billboard describing all of their marketing needs, priorities, and opportunities. 

Stephen Warley is the founder of inboundarts.com, a research and training firm dedicated to helping radio broadcasters use digital tools to generate more qualified sales leads.  He is also the founded of LocalBroadcastSales.com. Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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(DIGITAL) Online Tools For Quality Leads – Part 1

3-18-2013
By Stephen Warley

Many radio sales veterans probably remember starting out their career by thumbing through the yellow pages looking for sales leads. Beyond getting the phone number and address of local businesses, there really wasn?t any information about their marketing needs or intentions. The only way to get that information was to call or stop by their business to ask them.

Selling against other media was and still is a popular method of qualifying leads by calling on businesses already advertising in the newspaper, in the yellow pages, on billboards, on television, and on other radio stations. The thinking goes that the business has already bought into the concept of paid advertising, now it?s just a matter of selling them on your station.

You and every other local media rep has the same idea. Once a business starts their advertising campaign, the owner?s voicemail ends up full of messages from other local media reps they?ll never call back.

Today?s local advertisers are busy and they expect us to know a little more about their marketing needs beyond knowing that they paid for advertising somewhere else.

The optimum moment to meet with a local business is when they are starting to research their marketing options. Businesses generally perform this task when they are figuring out their annual marketing budget, launching a new product or service, making preparations for seasonal business, expanding their business, or have a special event. While they are in the planning stages of their advertising plan, they haven?t committed to any one message, media, or maybe even a budget.    

Knowing when a business is planning to buy advertising is one of the highest quality leads. The trick is finding out which businesses in your area are ready to pull the trigger. Be the first local media rep to call on them and leave the rest of your competition left to be forgotten in your new client?s voicemail!

Here are five online research tools to help you search for higher-quality sales leads:

1. Google Alerts

Imagine monitoring every piece of news published on the Web about your clients and prospects? It?s possible using Google Alerts (google.com/alerts). Think of it as a news clipping service sent conveniently to your email. The best part, it?s completely free!

You can monitor news about a particular business by submitting their name as a search term. Keep track of news in a single advertising category or even individual shopping items like shoes, clothes, or golf clubs. Be sure to also submit the name of your market as a search term to filter out irrelevant news. You?ll also be able to choose the frequency of your alerts and the type of content you?ll receive.

2. SocialMention.com

Wouldn?t it be even easier to target prospects if we could only eavesdrop on conversations about their marketing plans? Listening in on phone calls is of course illegal and unethical, but monitoring social media conversations isn?t. It?s the next best thing to overhearing an actual conversation.

Using SocialMention.com you can submit terms and phrases to monitor your prospects? social media activity on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and loads of other social media networks. It picks up where Google Alerts leaves off by sending you updates about social media posts based on your search criteria.

Many local advertisers use social media to gauge the needs of their customers, to promote special offers, and to inform their followers about their latest news. Social media conversations are rich in marketing information that can help you know when to call on a prospect well ahead of your competition.

END OF PART 1

Catch Part 2 next Monday?

Stephen Warley is the founder of inboundarts.com, a research and training firm dedicated to helping radio broadcasters use digital tools to generate more qualified sales leads. He is also the founded of LocalBroadcastSales.com in 2008. Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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View the original article here