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THE

lead nurturing GUIDE FOR

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS

The Lead Nurturing Guide for Professional Services Firms Copyright © 2013 Published by Hinge 1851 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 350 Reston, Virginia 20191 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Design by Hinge.  Visit our website at www.hingemarketing.com

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5

Introduction

6

Chapter 1

Why You Need a Lead Nurturing Campaign

9

Chapter 2

Components of a Lead Nurturing Campaign

12

Chapter 3

5 Types of Email Offers for Lead Nurturing Campaigns

14

Chapter 4

Developing Your Content Strategy

18

Chapter 5

What Metrics to Track

21

Chapter 6

Getting Through to the Inbox

26

Conclusion

27

About Hinge

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

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ABOUT THIS GUIDE

What? An executive guide to successful lead nurturing for your professional services firm.

Why? Having an email list is not enough. In order to turn leads into valuable clients, lead nurturing is essential.

Who is it for? Professional services executives, marketers, and business development professionals.

Who is it from? This guide was prepared by Hinge, a leader in branding and marketing for professional services firms.

How can Hinge help? Hinge offers branding and marketing services in the following areas: • Lead nurturing programs

• Research and strategy

• Branding and brand building

• Content marketing

• Award-winning creative

• Campaign management

Hinge also offers: • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • Website redesign • Outsourced blog writing and editing • Social media strategy and implementation • Graphic design and layout

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INTRODUCTION

Lead nurturing is the “neglected stepchild” of professional services business development. That is too bad for three reasons: • First, most professional services sales are complex. Complex sales involve a longer education and closing process. Lead nurturing is well suited to these needs as it does a better job of making your case and making it stick. • Second, most professional services sales require that both expertise and trust be established before a decision can be made by the consumer. Lead nurturing is a natural way to accomplish both those objectives. • Third, an effective lead nurturing program can save you considerable time and expense when compared to traditional approaches to relationship building. It is much less time-intensive on the part of business developers and billable staff. Lead nurturing should be at the center of your business development strategy. In this Guide we will show you how to plan and develop a program that will deliver these benefits to your firm.

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why you need a LEAD NURTURING CAMPAIGN

Does any professional services firm not want more “ready to close” leads? Unlikely. In fact, generating sales-ready leads is the goal of marketing departments everywhere. Too often this goal has translated into programs that generate “unqualified” leads that are rejected because they are not ready to engage a firm or that require a time-intensive education process. This consumes a lot of resources without producing much return. Fortunately, there is a better way.

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

develop a lead nurturing campaign based on content marketing.

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WHY YOU NEED A LEAD NURTURING CAMPAIGN

That better way is to develop a lead nurturing campaign based on content marketing. Content marketing is revolutionizing the way professional services are bought and sold. Instead of overtly promoting its services, a firm that embraces content marketing demonstrates its expertise and builds a cadre of followers, some of which eventually become leads and clients. Here’s how it works. A firm freely shares its knowledge online in a variety of formats, such as blog posts, webinars, ebooks, guides and videos. Because the content is optimized to be found through online search, interested parties are able to discover it easily (in Google, for instance). Individuals who are truly interested in the topic will return again and again to download more. This process breeds loyalty, and a certain percentage will contact the firm for services that they already understand and trust. Here’s why these programs are so effective for professional services firms:

they get a good sample of what it might be like to work with your firm.

1. Content marketing is a natural fit for professional services. After all, the professional services are based on applying insight and expertise to solving client’s problems. Content marketing is all about sharing that insight and expertise with potential clients to help them understand your capabilities, approach, and areas of practice. It is the perfect framework for developing your marketing strategy. 2. Not all leads are ready to buy now. While some will be “sales ready,” most will be at an earlier stage in the process. They may still be trying to get their hands around what the issues are or what a potential solution looks like. In short, they may still be trying to diagnose the problem. Selecting a professional services provider could be months away. 3. You have the opportunity to influence the narrative around the problem. How you define and understand a problem determines the type of solutions you will consider. Let’s say your potential client is experiencing flat sales and rising costs. Is this a problem of cost control or inefficient sales people? In one instance she might seek out a cost control consultant,

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in the other, a sales automation specialist. By helping your potential client understand and diagnose her situation you will also be framing the range of alternatives she will consider. 4. You can educate the prospect over time. Your content-based nurturing campaign will educate the prospect about your approach, your services, the way you approach problems, etc. They get a good sample of what it might be like to work with your firm. This removes a huge burden from your sales process. As you nurture the lead they become a better and better prospect. 5. Your leads will self-qualify. Generating sales leads involves ruling out potential clients as well as ruling them in. If your content is reflective of what you do and how you think, it will likely be of interest to clients that are a good fit with your firm. As you nurture the leads, the well qualified ones will continue to be interested in your content. Those that are not a good fit will not be engaged. From this perspective, lead nurturing is lead qualification as well as education.

content-based lead nurturing is also a path to building trust.

6. You can position your firm properly. One of the biggest marketing challenges for professional services firms is how to differentiate your firm and position it appropriately in the marketplace. While a lead nurturing campaign will not tell you what your positioning should be, it will certainly allow you to communicate whatever you decide you want it to be. Are you the well-known expert? The downto-earth team member? If you can’t express your positioning through a nurturing campaign you are unlikely to be able to express it any other way either.

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7. You will build trust. Building trust used to require repeated face-to-face interactions. Not anymore. We now know that content-based lead nurturing is also a path to building trust. By offering useful content over time, potential clients come to trust your firm. This also reduces the burden on your business development team. Generating sales leads is often thought of as a discovery process. They’re out there. You just have to find them and convince them to buy from your firm. The reality is often quite different. They are indeed out there. But your task is to find them and nurture them until they are ready to do business with you. And that is where a well-designed lead nurturing campaign shines.

your task is to find leads and nurture them until they are ready to do business with you.

In the next chapter we’ll explore the components of a lead nurturing campaign that generates a steady stream of sales-ready prospects.

Want to do it yourself? From step-by-step How-Tos to in-depth courses, Hinge University will give you the skills and know-how to elevate your brand.

Check out Hinge University: HingeUniversity.com

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components of a LEAD NURTURING CAMPAIGN

Now that the question of why a lead nurturing campaign is necessary has been answered, the next logical question is ”How?” What are the components that should be in place in order to effectively nurture leads? The reality is that leads can be nurtured using only an Excel file and a simple mail client like Outlook or Mac Mail. However, these systems won’t give you the flexibility, analytics, automation, or design that a dedicated system can.

prospects who request your content will be much more likely to become clients in the future.

The main components of successful lead nurturing campaigns are:

A Lead Generating Website: In order for your lead nurturing campaign to be effective there is one vital piece that can’t be replaced or substituted: leads. Designing and building a lead generating website will ensure that you always have a healthy flow of new leads to nurture. If there are no leads, it is quite difficult to nurture them.



An Email List: In order to start nurturing leads you will need to have a list of contacts who will receive your marketing materials via email. While there are companies that sell email lists for marketing use, Hinge recommends against that practice. People who submit their email addressesin order to access more of your content after reading your blog posts or downloading content will be much more likely to become clients in the future. Instead of investing in a purchased email list, use your resources to write guides, whitepapers, or an ebook so that you can build relationships and grow your list.

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COMPONENTS OF A LEAD NURTURING CAMPAIGN



A Customer Relations Management (CRM) System: Although CRMs are often considered part of the scope of a lead generating website, it is important to understand their function. A CRM will serve as the database of all the leads that your website is generating. It will store their information and, when the time is right, it will be the medium through which you send your nurturing materials.



CRMs come in all shapes and sizes, so choose wisely. Make sure to find one that will easily integrate with your website platform to ensure seamless communications between the two. This will eliminate the need for Excel spreadsheets with contacts and email addresses. Also make sure your CRM is capable of A/B testing so that, when the times comes, you can test different subject lines and colors to continuously optimize your campaign.



A Content Marketing Strategy: Content is the key to effectively nurturing leads. In professional services, prospects want to be educated as much as they can before they make the decision about what to buy and who to buy it from. The content being produced is going to be at the heart of your lead nurturing efforts. Whether you are sending prospects an invitation to your next webinar, inviting them to join an online community, or sending them your most recent ebook, content is king. A content marketing strategy should be the living document behind the scenes, informing marketers and experts within your firm as to which topics they should be writing about to resonate most with your target audience.

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

content is the key to effectively nurturing leads.

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COMPONENTS OF A LEAD NURTURING CAMPAIGN



A Content Calendar: When it comes to any form of online marketing, consistency is key. Having a content calendar for your emails and publications is crucial to ensure that your marketing is consistent. Try to forecast a few weeks ahead so that you will always have marketing materials ready to go. Make sure that you are giving your leads new and insightful content on a consistent basis to ensure that when they are ready to buy, they will come to you.



Also mix different types of content and offers into your emails so that things don’t get too predictable or boring. You don’t want to lull your contacts to sleep. You want to keep them educated and openly talk to them about the issues you know they are facing. We will discuss the different types of content and offers available to you later in this guide. For now, just keep in mind that a good mix of content types is essential to keeping prospects engaged.



An Understanding Of Your Target Audience: While this component can be hard to pin down, it is still very important. Know what your target audience is interested in, and what problems you are helping them solve. Then write your content around those topics and help prospects understand why they can’t afford not to use your service. This issue of topics will be explored further in a later chapter, so if you are struggling with it, hang tight!

Once you have prepared all of these components, you should be ready to start nurturing your leads. Remember, leads take time to mature and become sales opportunities. Allow time for them to read and digest your content. Before long, they will be lining up outside your door to talk with you.

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5 types of email offers for PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEAD NURTURING

When writing emails to send to a list, the most often asked question is, “what is our email offer”? The offer is the action that we want our leads to do when they get this email. There are many different types of emails that companies send. They could send a new piece of content, a piece of news about the firm, or they could offer their leads a new product or service. With all of these different email choices, this decision can be more difficult to make. Hinge is here to help with our list of the five types of email offers your firm should be sending. To get more people to sign up for your emails, here is our free guide to generating leads online1: 1. Announce New Content

If your firm is following a content marketing strategy, you should be writing new guides, kits, and whitepapers pretty frequently. Email these out to your list. Sending out educational content is a great way to ensure that people will continue to open emails from you. Why wouldn’t they? Every time they do, they get to learn something new. Are you wondering what the benefit to you is? You are the one teaching them about the new trends and how to think about their biggest challenges. That means, when the time comes to buy a service, you will be at the top of their mind.
 2. Promote Webinars

Much like new content, webinars are a great way to keep the list engaged. Send webinar invitations to your email list for all of your webinars. Chances are, a good percentage of them will attend and you will be able to talk

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www.hingemarketing.com/library/article/online_lead_generation_guide

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5 TYPES OF EMAIL OFFERS FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEAD NURTURING

to your audience about the issues affecting them. If you are the one educating them about how to overcome the issues facing their business, they will trust you and let you guide them through the issues as well.
 3. Hard Offers

Send your list an offer to get a conversation started. Most often, “hard offers” come in the form of free consultations. These allow you to get in front of your prospects and openly discuss ways you can help their business. Offer to spend 30 minutes to an hour with everyone that signs up, and be as helpful as possible. You will be amazed at how many people will take you up on it and be willing to pay for the next one!
 4. Social Media 
Aggregate a list of the top content from around the web related to your services. This is a quick and easy way to keep your leads informed and to promote your firm as a thought leader. Be sure to let the people whose content you are sharing know, and ask them to return the favor. Lastly, include a link to your social media profiles. Remind your leads that if they follow you on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, they can get a constant supply of articles that are useful to them.


keep the content approachable and make sure you are offering value to those that open the email!

5. Blog Subscription

Share a few of your best blog posts. You can use the ones that you like the most or those that get the most traffic on social media. Package the links together in an email and share your top blog content with your list. At the bottom, include a link to subscribe to your blog, and remind people that more great content can be delivered to their email. All they have to do is subscribe to your blog.

This list of email offers are a few of the strategies we employ to stay top-of-mind with our leads. By sending emails out regularly and holding a consistent dialogue with your leads, you remind them of your brand and keep them educated on the relevant trends in the industry. Try to keep your emails educational in nature so that leads will continue to open them. No one likes to feel that they are being “sold.” Keep the content approachable and make sure you are offering value to those that open the email! They will return the favor by remaining engaged and staying on your list.

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developing your CONTENT STRATEGY

Content marketing1 is being rapidly adopted by professional services firms. The fit is natural. A steady flow of valuable content not only allows you to build your brand and generate new leads, but it also allows you to nurture them so that they can blossom into long-term clients. But how do you develop your content marketing strategy? What should you write about? What topics will resonate? Will it be basic or advanced? Should you share your proprietary approach? Oh, so many questions.

content marketing is being rapidly adopted by professional services firms.

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www.hingemarketing.com/library/article/B2B_content_marketing_guide_for_professional_services_firms

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DEVELOPING YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

CH. 4

Here are some answers to help you get your content strategy started down the right track.

How to Create Great Content 1. Your content must be audience-specific. Your content strategy should always start with your audience in mind. Who do you want to influence? What if you have multiple audiences? You will have to develop multiple streams of content if the audiences have fundamentally different interests and priorities. For example, if your firm works with clients in the health care and civil engineering industries, you will likely need two content streams, as their issues and concerns are quite divergent. 2. Content should be driven by empathy for your audience. Start with an understanding of the issues facing your audience on a day-to-day basis. If you are not clear what those issues are, you need to step back and do some research1. Your goal should be to demonstrate that you understand their situation and to be genuinely helpful. This will build trust. Too many writers try to scare potential clients or talk down to them. Fear or arrogance are not good foundations upon which to build a content marketing strategy.

don’t force them into a higher or lower level of engagement then they are comfortable with.

3. Content should target a range of stages in the buying process. Most folks focus first on late-stage leads and target topics directly related to their service. This is a bad idea. By then it may be too late to influence their selection. Your relation to the potential client will be limited. Develop content that helps people diagnose a problem and consider alternative solutions, as well as select a service provider. This allows you to reach a much broader audience and to develop a level of trust well before the client is considering a specific solution. 4. Topics should be covered at various levels of depth. You will need content that covers topics at a superficial level (such as blog posts or brief videos), an intermediate level (such as guides, white papers or webinars) and more in-depth (such 1

www.hingemarketing.com/library/article/hinges_professional_services_guide_to_research#

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as e-books, consultations, or workshops). This allows your audience to start anywhere in the sales ladder and become more engaged over time. They are likely at different places on different topics. Don’t force them into a higher or lower level of engagement then they are comfortable.

do not turn educational content into marketing copy.

5. The content should be relevant to your services. There are various schools of thought on this point. Some folks believe that content should be about anything that interests your audience. Our experience is somewhat different. We find that content related to your services produces better results. For example, an accounting firm can safely talk about cost saving measures or issues related to regulatory compliance. But when it comes to sales and marketing tips, not so much. A topic about measuring ROI on marketing investments might work, but not a discussion of how to market more effectively. While that last topic may interest your audience, it does little to build your reputation. 6. It should never promote your services directly. The flip side of the previous point is that your content should not stray into direct self-promotion. Do not turn educational content into marketing copy. This will kill trust faster than just about anything else you can do. Your goal should be to educate, inform, and even challenge conventional wisdom. You are developing credibility and sharing expertise, not pitching specific services. Potential clients will ask you for a proposal when the time is right. Don’t try to force it. 7. Don’t be afraid to give away the secret sauce. The more value you deliver, the stronger the bond you forge. Don’t be afraid to share some special sauce. Here’s a little secret: the more you share, the more knowledge potential clients assume you have. Yes, I know your intellectual property attorney is having a fit about now, but your specialized expertise doesn’t do you much good if potential clients don’t know it exists. Besides, if they take that information and do the job themselves, they were never a real prospect in the first place. They will get the information somewhere else.

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DEVELOPING YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

CH. 4

8. Content should be developed in multiple formats. Just as your content should exist at different levels of depth, it should also exist in different formats. Some people like to read it, others like to listen or watch. One format does not fit all consumers of content. If you share your insights across a variety of media and forms you will reach more people. And before you know it, you will have built up an impressive library of content.

each piece of content should include a next step.

9. Content should be optimized for search engines. Useful content must be found before it can be consumed. Use keyword research and SEO techniques to make your content easily found on search engines1. This is perhaps the easiest and most effective way to get the word out. Sharing it on social media is also a great strategy. 10. Always provide a next step. As you are developing your content marketing strategy, don’t forget that you are doing this to increase trust and engagement. Each piece of content should include a next step. What should the reader or listener do next? Avoid creating content cul-de-sacs that lead nowhere. Include offers that lead to a higher level of engagement whenever possible. But don’t overreach. A blog post can easily contain an offer for a guide, research report, or white paper — but probably not a request for proposal. If you follow these guidelines you should be able to attract new leads and nurture many of them until they become clients. Also, don’t forget your existing clients. They need nurturing too!

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http://www.hingemarketing.com/library/article/seo_guide_for_professional_services#

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what

METRICS to track

Once your lead nurturing program is in place and you are sending out email frequently, it will be time to start tracking some key email campaign metrics. These metrics will allow you to understand how well your marketing campaign is working. As with anything in online marketing, there are many different metrics that marketers can track. We have found the following five to be the ones that are both insightful and actionable in professional services.

5 Metrics to Track 1. Size and growth rate of your email list: While this metric isn’t directly tied to your email marketing campaign, it is still very important to know that your email list is consistently growing. Monitor the number of clean email addresses you have and how quickly that list is growing. If you have a lead generating website you should be gaining new email address at a high rate.

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

metrics will allow you to understand how well your marketing campaign is working.

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2. Email Open Rates: “Open rate” is probably the most important metric you can measure. It measures how many times your email has been opened. Typically, open rates are a measure of how engaging your subject lines are and how recognizable your name is to your audience. Monitoring open rates can help you understand: • What days of the week are best for sending emails • What time of the day is the best (Hinge has found lunchtime is very popular) • What subject lines engage your audience more 3. Click Through Rates (CTR): CTR is a measure of what percentage of your email links are clicked on. Once a prospect opens an email the next step is to entice them to take the action described in the email. Many email software providers have trouble tracking clicks, so it is useful to drive traffic to a specific landing page; then later you can check how many unique visits that webpage received to get an accurate measure for the click rate. Monitoring click rates allows you to track:

open rate is probably the most important metric you can measure.

• Which content types lead to the highest click rates (for more ideas about content types check out this post)1 • What topics your prospects are most interested in 4. Unsubscribe Rates: Just as you monitor “opens” and “clicks,” it is also important to monitor “unsubscribes.” While it is not necessary to monitor unsubscribes every week, if you see a spike in unsubscribes for a particular email or campaign it is important to look into what could have caused that spike and make your best effort not to repeat it. What good is an email list if you force people away with every email you send?

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www.hingemarketing.com/blog/story/top_5_types_of_email_offers_for_professional_services_ lead_nurturing

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WHAT METRICS TO TRACK

CH. 5

5. Late Stage Leads: It seems that most metrics dashboards miss this most crucial factor. The whole goal in organizing and running a lead nurturing campaign is turning early stage leads (contacts with email addresses) into people who are ready to discuss your services. Track which campaigns lead to the most late stage leads and do your best to duplicate them. If your campaign isn’t producing late stage leads it is probably safe to say it isn’t working, even if it is off the charts in all other metrics. To help make these email marketing metrics even more actionable check out MailChimps benchmarking report here1. It will help you get an idea for how your email metrics stack up against your competitors and your industry. If you are below average, make small tweaks to bring up your numbers. If you are above the average, way to go, but remember to never stop optimizing and improving. Your lead nurturing can always get just a little better.

never stop optimizing and improving.

Need some help? Hinge offers a comprehensive suite of marketing and branding services to increase your visibility and grow your firm.

Let’s explore how we can help:

[email protected] 703 391 8870 | hingemarketing.com

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http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-marketing-benchmarks-by-industry/

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getting through to the INBOX

When it comes to email marketing, marketing managers have three priorities. 1. We want to make sure we don’t break any email marketing laws. 2. We want our message to get through Spam filters. 3. We want our audience to open our emails and take action.

in order to effectively market you must pass both of their tests.

This post will address the first two priorities. When it comes to sending marketing emails there are two monitoring bodies to consider. The first is the government and the laws they have placed around email marketing, the second is the recipient’s spam filters. In order to effectively market through your emails you must pass both of their tests.

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Email Marketing Laws in the US — The CAN-SPAM Act The CAN-SPAM act details 7 standards that marketers must meet to be considered not SPAM, from a legal perspective. Those 7 standards are: 1. Header information must be accurate: Header information refers to the fields above the message including the “from” address and the “reply to” address. The law states that this information must accurately depict who the message is coming from. 2. Subject lines must be accurate: Just like the header information, the subject line also has to portray an accurate picture of what the message will contain. 3. Messages should be identified as ads: If your message is an advertisement it must clearly be disclosed as one. The law does give a lot of leeway as how to do this, though. It can be in some fine print in the header or footer, or it can be made obvious in the body of the email.

if someone requests to be removed from your email list you must remove them within 10 days.

4. Messages must include a postal address: Emails must include your postal address somewhere in the email. Most firms opt to put this address in the footer section of their emails. 5. Messages must tell visitors how they can opt out: Your message must include a clear explanation about how a recipient can request to stop receiving content. This explanation can be an unsubscribe link or a return email address. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. 6. Unsubscribe requests must be honored: If someone requests to be removed from your email list you must remove them within 10 days and can’t charge any fees for removing them. Hinge recommends removing them as soon as possible to avoid receiving SPAM complaints from a user that has asked to be removed.

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7. You’re responsible for emails sent on your behalf: If you are outsourcing your email marketing, you are responsible for any emails they send on your behalf. This legal responsibility doesn’t get passed along when you hire a marketing firm to help you. These seven standards summarize the email marketing laws that marketers must follow. Not complying with these laws can lead to very hefty consequences including fines of over $100,000. Thankfully the laws aren’t difficult to follow and most line up very closely with email marketing best practices.

email clients use multiple criteria to determine if an email is SPAM or not.

Avoiding an Email Client’s SPAM Filter Email clients such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook include SPAM filters that an email must pass through to hit the target audiences’ inboxes. Email clients use multiple criteria to determine if an email is SPAM or not. The 10 that are the heaviest influences are detailed here: 1. The Subject Line: The subject line shouldn’t contain any language typically associated with spam or marketing such as “free”, “cheap”, “sale,” or “buy”. 2. Who the email is addressed to: Did the sender use the recipient’s name in the email, or is it randomly generated or addressed to the email address? When possible, try to use the recipient’s name so that filters understand that you know them. 3. Proper HTML coding: Is the email properly coded and free of HTML mistakes? 4. Plain text version: Did the sender include a plain text version of the email? Plain text versions must be identical, or as close to identical as possible, to the HTML email. Not only is this good protection from SPAM filters but also a best practice in case the recipient can’t view HTML emails.

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5. The sender’s email address: Emails should come from a real person, not from an email address that sounds like an organization or a marketing department. Choose someone in your office that marketing materials will come from and make them the sender and reply to email address.

emails should come from a real person.

6. Web forms: Emails shouldn’t include web forms in them. Instead, give email recipients a landing page link were they can go fill out a form if that is the desired action. 7. Too many images: Email clients can’t read the copy in images. If you are including a lot of copy in an image file, that will read as blank space to a client. Make sure you are using text in all emails and that, if read alone (the way a client will read it), the email still makes sense. 8. Be wary of colors: Filters are very aware of the colors you are using. When creating an email template make sure to use one of the 217 web-approved colors.

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9. DON’T OVER CAPITALIZE OR PUNCTUATE!!!!: Filters are catching on that extra punctuation and capitalization typically means SPAM. Make sure to only use a single exclamation point if you are going to use one and try to avoid all caps whenever possible. 10. Use a well-known email software: This will ensure that your emails are coming from a recognized IP address. Make sure that this email software has a good reputation and that none of their IP addresses have been blacklisted. Many email marketing software programs will estimate the SPAM score your email receives and alert you if it is too high. These programs are generally pretty accurate at determining if your email will pass through the average user’s SPAM filter.

you should see a much higher success rate with your email finding your recipients’ inboxes.

If you follow all the steps listed above, you should see a much higher success rate with your email finding your recipient’s inboxes. These steps will ensure that you are following both the email marketing laws and the unwritten rules of SPAM filters.

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CONCLUSION

Lead nurturing should not be an afterthought. In fact, it is probably more appropriate to think of it as the centerpiece of your business development strategy. If done properly it can educate, motivate, and even qualify your potential clients. And perhaps most surprisingly, it can form the basis of a solid working relationship. Many professional services executives are afraid of the work involved in generating the quantity and quality of content required to make it successful. But you should not be concerned. Even that challenge can be solved. We’ll show you how. Embrace it. Your investment in lead nurturing will pay you back with a steady stream of well-qualified opportunities just waiting to become clients.

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About Hinge

Hinge specializes in branding and marketing for professional services firms. We are a leader in helping firms grow faster and maximize value. Our comprehensive offers include research and strategy, brand development, award-winning creative, lead generating websites, and marketing outsourcing. Hinge conducts groundbreaking research on professional service companies. We have identified a group of firms that grow 9X faster and are 50% more profitable yet spend less than average to get new business. We can show you how they do it. To view our full library of research reports, white papers, webinars, and articles, please visit www.hingemarketing.com/library. www.hingemarketing.com 703.391.8870 1851 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 350 Reston, VA 22191 Help us make this guide even better. We want to hear from you. If you have any suggestions to improve this resource, please drop us a line: [email protected]. Thank you! The Hinge Team

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How Hinge Can Help

Visible Firm® Program Designed to deliver more referrals, higher profits, and faster growth, the Visible Firm® Program will build a powerful marketing platform to engage your audiences and build your visibility. Based on the most extensive research into high-growth firms ever conducted, the Visible Firm® Program will ground your marketing in science and leverage your firm’s expertise to draw in the right audiences. For more information, call 703 391 8870 or email us at [email protected].

Take the Next Step Choose the option that’s right for you.

Want to do it yourself? From step-by-step How-Tos to indepth courses, Hinge University will give you the skills and know-how to elevate your brand.

Check out Hinge University: HingeUniversity.com

LEAD NURTURING GUIDE for Professional Services Firms

OR

Need some help? Hinge offers a comprehensive suite of marketing and branding services to increase your visibility and grow your firm.

Let’s explore how we can help:

[email protected]

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