It's disheartening to pour money into SEO and paid ads, generate leads, only to see them stall.
It's disheartening to pour money into SEO and paid ads, generate leads, only to see them stall. You know the feeling, right? You’re not alone. Marketers face this challenge every day: generating high-quality leads through channels like SEO and paid search and social, only to see disappointing conversion rates after the handoff to sales. But there's a solution.
If your business operates in Queensland and needs help getting found online, consider investigating your options for local SEO in Brisbane. Ensuring that your site is ranking highly for relevant local searches is key to maximising your conversions.
Sales Engagement Platforms (SEPs) are catching on fast. They standardise, automate, and optimise frontline interactions. They make every lead count. The big idea? SEPs amplify the ROI of both your SEO and paid ads efforts. They enhance lead follow-up speed, consistency, personalisation, and data feedback loops. Think of them as the secret weapon your marketing arsenal desperately needs.
The truth? The traditional marketing funnel often has a weak link: poor post-click or post-form-fill execution. Stats back this up. Average B2B lead response times drag on, call and contact drop-offs happen way too often, and handoffs get forgotten completely. Even the best SEO content or highly optimised ads are wasted if the sales touchpoint is delayed or generic.
Imagine this: A buyer downloads your whitepaper from a Google Ad. Great! …and then hears nothing for three days. That’s where the SEP steps in. It makes sure that potential client receives a prompt and informative follow-up. Think of it as plugging the hole in your lead generation bucket.
Let's be clear: A sales engagement platform is a tool that empowers revenue teams to automate, manage, and measure outbound communications. That includes email, social touchpoints, calls, everything. You've likely heard of some of the key players: Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo, Groove.
But why should marketers care? Simple. It ensures the leads they generate don’t fall into a "black hole." It stops leads from going cold and unloved. As Mark Roberge, former CRO of HubSpot, often emphasises, alignment between sales and marketing is critical for revenue growth. SEPs foster that alignment by providing visibility and accountability across the lead lifecycle. Now that we understand what SEPs do, how can they optimise our SEO and paid campaigns?
SEPs can dramatically improve efficiency and ROI when paid campaigns drive traffic or leads. Think about it: you're already spending money to get people to your site. Why not make sure you're maximising the value of each click?
Let’s break it down. First, lead response time. SEPs can trigger automated follow-up sequences minutes after a form fill. This can drastically increase reply rates. A study by Drift found that responding to leads within five minutes makes them nine times more likely to convert. SEPs also give you personalised sequences. Integrate ad and keyword data into your outreach. For example, "Saw you downloaded our Buyer’s Guide for Fintech CTOs. We help a similar company reduce cloud costs by 40%.” That kind of targeted messaging makes a huge difference.
Consider lead scoring integration. Use data from your CRM plus the SEP to prioritise high-value ad leads. And think about closed-loop feedback. Insights from SEP responses – reply rates, objections – can inform better ad copy and audience targeting in future campaigns. Ultimately, you make more money on the same ad spend.
Imagine a company running high-cost LinkedIn ads. After plugging into an SEP sequence, their lead ROI went through the roof. They were able to personalise messaging based on the specific ad the prospect clicked on, leading to a significant increase in qualified leads. That’s the power of a well-integrated SEP.
SEO is a long-term game, right? A long-term investment. Leads trickle in, yes, but you need a conversion engine post-click. That's where SEPs shine. Because SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, SEPs ensure each lead gets timely attention.
Consider progressive nurturing. Visitors who download top-of-funnel (TOFU) content can be added to long-term, highly personalised nurture sequences, automated via your SEP.
You can also get better feedback. SEP performance insights inform your content strategy. Which assets lead to more email replies or booked meetings? Content-specific personalization also comes into play. SEPs allow sellers to tailor outreach to organic keywords or gating assets, like, “Saw you downloaded our AI Security Checklist…” A real-world example: A marketing agency used SEP data to identify that their "Beginner's Guide to Content Marketing" was driving a high volume of leads, but few were converting. They then revised their SEP follow-up sequence to directly address common questions and concerns about content marketing, resulting in a 30% increase in lead-to-opportunity conversion.
Ultimately you are using your Sales Engagement platform to maximise the efficacy of your SEO efforts.
Listen up, SEPs aren’t just a sales tool. They create accountability and collaboration between marketing and sales. SEPs really can unite your sales and marketing teams.
The teams have unified metrics. Instead of marketing measuring MQLs and sales measuring contacts, everyone sees cadence progress – opens, replies, conversions. There is attribution visibility, too. SEP data complements CRM and marketing analytics to show true funnel ROI. And you can have real-time collaboration. Marketers can build campaigns based on what messaging is landing with prospects, based on SEP replies. It creates a closed-loop system that benefits everyone. This is crucial because, as research from Forrester shows, aligned sales and marketing teams generate 36% more revenue.
Ready to get tactical? Here are five ways to pair SEPs with your marketing strategy:
Ultimately, it’s not enough to generate leads; you must convert them efficiently. SEPs turn top-of-funnel traffic into bottom-of-funnel outcomes. It's time to stop letting valuable leads slip through the cracks. Partner more tightly with your sales team, explore SEP tools, and maximise your campaign ROI. Because in today's competitive landscape, every lead counts.
Now, let's see how to actually make every lead count. By integrating sales engagement with SEO tactics like keyword targeting and content optimisation, you can improve overall digital marketing effectiveness. Also, leverage data from sales engagement platforms to better understand user behaviour and refine both SEO and paid ad strategies for higher ROI.
These platforms will give you the insights you need to effectively target your sales and marketing strategies. Sales engagement platforms can help by providing tools for personalized communication that may enhance customer engagement and retention, which are critical for SEO success in the long term. When used properly, the right Sales Engagement Platform will help turn your leads into clients.
