The Bottom-of-the-Funnel Challenge

As marketers, we spend so much time trying to generate new leads that we barely have time to worry about how many of them actually turn into revenue. For those truly sophisticated marketers, there has been a lot of effort put into improving the way we target prospects (such as ABM and predictive), hopefully increasing the pipeline derived from our leads. But all of that is far removed from the core issue that determines the bottom line: how do we close more deals?

The ever-ignored bottom-of-the-funnel challenge remains a bit of mystery to most marketers and is often left for sales teams to figure out on their own. Sure, we create some collateral and a few demo tools but the rest is up to sales. Unfortunately, as buyers are self-educating, almost right up to the point of sale, that strategy no longer works. Marketing must take a more active role in accelerating the buyer’s journey and getting them to sign on the dotted line.

The most obvious way that we can affect the buyer’s journey is with content. However, there is a huge difference between an active and passive content experience. Simply getting a prospect to read a case study or white paper as they are considering a purchase is not a strong enough impression and also does not provide us with any data on their sales readiness. That’s why webinars are the perfect tool to help you close business.

Wait, I thought webinars were the best tool for generating new leads? Yes, but it doesn’t end there. When we have a prospect that is considering a purchase but doesn’t want to engage with a salesperson, we have to get the most out of every marketing touch that we can. I have seen a lot of savvy companies build bottom-of-the-funnel webinars where they are demonstrating their products or services, presenting multiple content types (videos, downloadable case studies, guides, etc.), and interacting directly with their audience members to answer any questions they have. All of this interactivity helps the prospect and also helps us further gauge their interest. There are also links to free trials and other demos, and sometimes options to request a sales consultation. I have heard the term “deminars” used and I love it. It’s webinar marketing at it’s very best.

Nurturing prospects towards a purchase with a few pieces of written content or a video or two, simply won’t get the job done. Webinars enable us to present multiple types of content, for up to an hour at a time and interact directly with our audiences in real-time. No other marketing tool can do that. As we work so hard to keep pouring leads into the top-of-the-funnel, it’s time to start figuring out how to get more of them to close. Webinars might be the right tool for the job.

To learn more, register now for How to Use Webinars to Close Business.