MarketStar Blog | Articles (8)

Have you ever noticed how a good story can capture anyone's attention, no matter who they are or where they're from? Stories have this incredible ability to bridge gaps and bring people together. Whether it's a gripping news article, a touching message on social media, or a powerful YouTube video, stories speak to everyone.

Key Takeaways: 

The shift from the traditional offices to the work-from-home (WFH) setup poses an assortment of new challenges for employees all over the world. Of all the professions that require a human touch, sales come right at the top. It’s all about human interaction in sales.

Content marketing is the perfect demand generation platform, allowing you to nurture leads, enhance brand awareness, convert your visitors into customers, and increase your overall reach and sales. It is all about producing content tailored to your potential and existing customers so as to induce their behavior in your favor. 

Key Takeaways

Ad ops was quite straightforward in the pre-digital days, with media companies selling ad spots that ran during TV programming. The landscape has changed.

An influx of sales outsourcing companies in recent years is a sign that many organizations take advantage of this business model as a great way to get the expertise and resources needed to scale, expand into a new market, add specialty roles, or improve their customer's buyer journey.  But the more choices we are presented with, the harder and longer the decision process, and finding the right partner can be the difference between success and failure. To help you make this important decision, here are some key considerations when evaluating potential outsourcing partners.

Key Takeaways

• AdTech allows advertisers to plan, manage, and optimize their campaigns strategically. 

• AdTech includes various tools like DSPs, SSPs, ATD, ad servers, and ad networks to help advertisers serve relevant ads to relevant audiences.

• AdTech streamlines and enhances digital advertising efforts, and the technology is only growing more sophisticated.

• AdTech enables businesses to reach audiences quickly, increase measurability, and run effective ad campaigns.

The AdTech market is full of opportunities for generating leads.

But with so many options and so much noise in the market, it can be challenging to know where to start. This guide will help you find the best leads for your business by considering your specific needs and budget.

When it comes to finding leads, AdTech can be a great option. Using data and technology, you can identify potential customers and target them with personalized messages.

In this guide, we’ll cover the following: 

• What is AdTech?

• The AdTech ecosystem

• Benefits of AdTech 

• Implementing AdTech into your lead generation strategy

• Get started with AdTech

By the end of this guide, you’ll know everything you need to get started with AdTech and find better leads.

What is AdTech?

Advertising Technology, a.k.a. AdTech, refers to the software and tools used to buy, sell, and deliver digital advertising. AdTech includes everything from ad servers and networks to demand-side and data management platforms.

AdTech is rapidly evolving and has revolutionized the advertising industry. It has made it easier to buy and sell ads and track and measure advertising campaigns’ performance.  

AdTech has also made it possible to target ads to specific audiences and deliver them in real-time.

If you’re involved in digital advertising, you need to understand AdTech – it is the backbone of advertising.

AdTech is an exciting and dynamic industry, wherein new AdTech companies are constantly emerging every day, and existing companies are continually innovating and improving their products.

The AdTech Ecosystem

 The AdTech ecosystem is an ever-changing landscape. 

With so many players and technologies, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends. However, understanding the AdTech ecosystem is essential for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in digital advertising.

Here are some major players and the technologies used to power the AdTech ecosystem. 

• Ad Server: An ad server is a program that stores and serves website advertisements.

  Advertising networks use ad servers to track statistics, deliver ads, and act as a middleman between advertisers and website publishers. Ad servers can serve websites, emails, and mobile devices.

• Ad Exchange: Ad exchange is a marketplace where advertisers can buy and sell advertising space.

  Ad exchanges are used to buy and sell ads on websites, apps, and other platforms. They usually work on real-time bidding (RTB), meaning you can bid on ad space in real time. This allows you to target specific audiences, create personalized customer experiences, and optimize your campaigns for maximum impact.

• Agency Trading Desk (ATD): ATDs allow you to trade digital advertising space in real-time.  ATDs use programmatic technology to automate the ad-buying process, making it more efficient and effective.
  
  Using an ATD includes improved campaign performance, transparency, and control. They also provide you with access to valuable data and insights that can be used to inform future campaigns.

• Demand Side Platforms (DSP): DSPs are used by ad agencies and marketers to purchase ad space on digital platforms, including websites, apps, and social media platforms.
  
  DSPs allow advertisers to bid on ad space in real time, which gives them a significant advantage over traditional ad-buying methods. With DSPs, advertisers can adjust their bids according to market changes, allowing them to get the best ROI.

• Supply Side Platforms (SSP): An SSP is a type of software that helps websites and other digital publishers improve the efficiency of their ad operations. By automating many of the manual tasks associated with ad management, SSP can help publishers increase their revenues and improve the overall quality of their ad Inventory.

• Data Management Platform (DMP): A DMP is a software platform that helps organizations collect, process, and manage data.
  
  DMPs can track customer behavior, understand customer journeys, measure campaign performance, and more. They are an essential tool for any business that wants to make data-driven decisions.

The 3 Important Benefits of AdTech

AdTech can be used in a variety of ways to benefit your business.

It helps you to reach a wider audience, target your ads more effectively, track the results of your ad campaigns, and optimize them for better results. 

AdTech can also help you save money on your advertising budget, as you can more accurately target your ads to those most likely interested in your product or service.

Overall, AdTech can be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. If you are thinking of using AdTech to boost your business, consider the benefits carefully and speak to an expert to ensure that you use it in the most effective way possible.

There are many benefits to using AdTech; some of the most notable ones include:

• Targeted Advertising: AdTech can help businesses reach a larger audience with their ads by targeting specific demographics, interests, and even locations. The ad placement can have perfect timing and context, helping marketers save time and resources. 

• Better Performance Tracking: You need the correct information to make informed decisions about campaigns. AdTech helps report and analyze data like impressions, conversions, click-through rates, and more in real time. This information can then be used to improve future ad campaigns.

• Increased ROI: An ad campaign that isn’t monitored may cut into your campaign’s returns – using advertising technology can help automate this process. You can leverage AdTech to improve your bids, eliminate time-consuming work, increase the return on investment (ROI), and generate more revenue.

Implementing AdTech into Your Lead Generation Strategy

AdTech is a powerful tool for boosting your lead-generation efforts. It enables your business to target potential customers with ads relevant to their interests.

By harnessing the power of data and technology, you can create targeted ads that reach the right people at the right time.

AdTech enables you to understand your target audience better, what they’re interested in, and when they’re most likely to convert. By using this information, you can create ads that are more likely to reach leads who are ready to buy.

By targeting ads to specific groups of people, you can increase the chances that your potential customers will click on them and convert them into leads.

AdTech can be a great way to boost your business, but it’s important to use it wisely. When using AdTech to generate leads, there are a few things to remember:

• Make sure your ads are targeted to the right audience. 

• Provide a clear and easy “call to action” for potential customers to get in touch with you. 

• Follow up with leads promptly to convert them into customers.

Get Started with AdTech

This article covered what AdTech is and the essentials of AdTech.

There are a few basics that you should know before getting started with AdTech. Our experts can help you learn them, from choosing the right platform to understanding the jargon like ad buying, ad targeting, ad fraud, and more. 

Get in touch with us today to make the most of your ad spend, and you’ll be on your way to generating more leads and closing more sales.

Churn is inevitable in every customer-centric business – be it a darling of Silicon Valley or a daring startup in a small town. Churn usually refers to the exit of customers in a given period. It can also refer to the loss of business from an existing customer. What matters is how the company identifies and addresses it to minimize the adverse impact.

Key Takeaways: 

• Dropping dead leads and prioritizing high-value and sales-ready ones can help you gain more efficiency 

• The more control you have over your sales pipeline, the better your revenue generation 

• Combining your sales and marketing teams can pave the way for your business’s growth 

• To increase sales, provide more relevant content to your product/service and business 

• Identify and cross out possible bottlenecks in your pipeline to keep your potential customers moving through the sales pipeline smoothly 

Are your sales declining or not growing as you expected them to? The issue could be in your sales pipeline. 

Your sales pipeline is the backbone of your overall sales process and is vital to your business’s success. It delivers a stable feed of qualified leads and enables your sales team to convert those leads into valuable customers.  

However, if you’re unsure about how your pipeline is built or are looking for the best practices to build your sales pipeline – don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! 

Before we get moving, you must be clear on understanding what a sales pipeline is.  

“A sales pipeline is a visual way of tracking a potential client’s status in the sales process. It is a set of actions taken by salespeople to convert a lead/prospect into a customer”. 

According to Harvard Business Review, “there was an 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn’t. Businesses that adhered to best pipeline practices saw 28% higher revenue growth.” 

It is imperative that your company, B2B in particular, has a healthy sales pipeline as it enables you to: 

• Improve the entire sales process 

• Predict your business results 

• Analyze the best sales strategies for your business 

• Evaluate your company’s progress 

• Close more deals 

6 Best Practices for Building a Powerful Sales Pipeline 

We’ve listed below six best practices to help you transform the way you manage your sales pipeline. These tips can help improve your sales process and generate more revenue. Let’s explore. 

1. Define Your Pipeline Stages 

The first step to follow in managing your sales pipeline is to break your pipeline into stages and then define them. Each stage needs to be clearly defined with actionable steps for the sales reps to take.

If you haven’t created a sales pipeline yet, our experts can help you create one.

Map your customer journey by understanding how a lead moves and makes its way through the sales process.

Also, understand what your sales team is already doing. Modify the existing approach if needed and build a new pipeline for better management. 

Related Read: 4 Must Have Tools to Manage Your Sales Pipeline Efficiently 

2. Put Your Customers First 

“Never put the cart before the horse while building your sales pipeline.”

One of the biggest mistakes most sales managers and teams make today is they don’t put their customers’ thought processes first. Instead, they just build their pipeline around arbitrary decisions.

But your product/service exists only because of your customers. So, build a customer-centric sales pipeline that runs alongside your buyer’s journey.

We recommend you break your buyer’s journey into the following stages:

• Recognize the problem 

• Realize the economic impact 

• Specify decision standards 

• Check alternatives

• Select the vendor 

Each of these five stages require a specific action to be taken by your sales reps.

For instance, let’s say your potential customer has reached the fourth stage (checking for alternate sellers/vendors). They might be weighing up your product/service against your competitors. This is the right time for your sales team to quickly jump in and send a brief comparison video or a similar asset to them, which can help them sway back to your side.

Remember, these stages need to be flexible so they can be tweaked later per the customer journey.

3. Bridge the Gap Between Sales and Marketing 

Bridging the gap between sales and marketing may sound cliche or like an adage, and you just shrug it off. But, you might want to reconsider your thoughts as it is crucial for your sales team to be aligned with the marketing.

Yes, their main objective is to forward good and qualified leads. What if they don’t know what a good lead or SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is? The very thought haunts you, right?

However, the good news is that it can be fixed by working closely with experts who can help you identify the problem, fix it, and overcome your lead generation challenges.

4. Identify & Focus on the Best Leads 

It takes about the same time to close each deal in every sales process. It is best practice to avoid getting distracted by leads that won’t move the needle.  

Instead, concentrate your time and efforts on high-value and sales-ready leads. View the activity of your leads, identify the most engaged ones, and focus on them.

It is equally important to drop a lead when you need to!

After spending weeks or even months nurturing a lead, letting it go can be hard. But, when they are not interested and can’t be pushed through to the next stage, it is better to drop them and focus on others.

Don’t waste your time trying to convince leads that simply aren’t interested. Identify dead leads quickly so you can concentrate on the following opportunities in the pipeline.

5. Review and Update Your Sales Pipeline 

Top sales companies know that a technique that works today may not work tomorrow. So, they review their sales process and strategies regularly to ensure things are on point for maximum efficiency. 

Every sales pipeline changes constantly – new leads come in, move from one stage to another, and finally, deals get closed. If you are not prudent, your pipeline can get helter-skelter and lead to lost deals. You must keep your details and information in your pipeline reviewed and updated for each process stage. 

Related Read: 5 Common Mistakes to Avoid in Sales Operations 

6. Deliver More Content 

Emails and phone calls are indeed the pillars of sales communication. However, people require more; in-depth information that can help them better understand your product/service and is helpful for their business. 

Create content that showcases your brand, product/service, and offerings. Send them to your prospects – this will enable your team to take your potential customers to the next stage. A study by Marketing Charts reports that only 27% of sales reps who talk to prospects collaborate with the marketing team on content creation. But, the sales and marketing teams need to work together to create content your potential customers want to consume.

Optimize Your Sales Pipeline Today 

Not heeding your sales pipeline can negatively impact your business growth.

The aforementioned six sales pipeline best practices can help you drive your sales process, focus on sales pipeline growth, gain better control over sales data, and eventually boost your profits.

You need the right sales pipeline management tools, technology, and expert guidance to achieve this, close more deals, and gain more revenue. 

Key Takeaways

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced B2B sales organizations to reinvent themselves at an unprecedented pace. While sales reps are in the relatively unchartered territory of remote selling, organizations must contend with providing training and coaching to the sales teams remotely. Virtual training methods have been steadily gaining ground as the preferred mode for imparting sales training even before the current crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has made this transition more urgent.

As you're coming to the end of Q4 and have more and more reports coming your way, a realization of what this year's numbers mean starts to sink in. Your team won't make it. And you don't know why. You hired promising salespeople; your marketing team seems to know what they're doing, and you know that what you sell hits the mark. You can't blame the economy; seeing how well your competitors are doing. It appears like your team is doing the best that they can. Then why are you thinking "why is my sales team not performing?" and "how do I fix this?"

Let's have a look at some potential problem areas and answer some questions to find out how you can turn your underperforming team around.