By Alistair Norman

Pipeline Strategies: How Inbound Marketing Can Drive Up Sell and Cross Sell Opportunities

Don’t ignore your existing client base on the hunt for new leads – or you could risk losing out on genuine business opportunities for growth.

A marketer’s focus is inherently on creating new leads and customers – but your biggest mistake could be forgetting about the customers you already have.

Think about it; your existing customers have already bought into your product or services. If they’re already picking up what you’re putting down, then the hard part is over.

Your existing customer base offers huge potential for up and cross-selling. To develop an effective cross/up-selling strategy, it’s essential to:

Identify key targets in your current client base that could benefit from your other products and services.

Use their purchasing history and enquiries to carry out this identification process; proper research will present natural cross/up-selling opportunities.

Create a strategy for engaging with customers through inbound marketing channels. Don’t intrude on them with your planned messaging; instead, aim to gently educate them.

Once your strategy is in place, deploy it using the following channels and content suggestions/angles.

1. Get into their inbox

You’ve already earned the trust and respect of your existing customers – so they will be open to hearing about your new products or developments of existing ones via their email inbox.

Create a customer list that is segmented by product or service.
Target particular segments when appropriate content is created.
For example, these could be case studies, solutions manuals, guides or special offers on services/products that could complement the ones customers have already bought from you.
Use the customer’s past purchasing history to hone the targeting of your emails further.

Remember, if you feel content created for generating leads could actually help your existing clients, then don’t hesitate to send it – they’ll appreciate it.

2. Show your social side

Create online spaces for customers to share experiences with your products:

Create a Twitter hashtag conversation.
Create LinkedIn group/Answers areas.
Promote all to existing clients to get them involved.
Use these spaces to promote updates, related products and services.
Promote ‘weekly reviews’ of your blogs that contain valuable information and talking points plus strong calls-to-action.

Use social media correctly and your existing customers will act as ‘referrals’ with new customers able to ‘listen’ in on their online conversations.

3. Pimp your product pages

Research what products your existing clients have bought from you and exploit this treasure trove of information to cross-sell them other products:

Draw up a list of customers and their potential needs.
Promote related products in the side navigation bar of your product pages.
Offer showcases and online customer demos that consumers can view as and when they want to, and that show how a particular product will help them and their business.

Product pages are often treated as static lumps of content – by making them dynamic and based on a particular customer’s needs, existing consumers are more likely to take an interest in your other products.

Remember:

Inbound marketing isn’t just about creating leads. It’s also ideal for maximising the potential of your existing client base to ensure you get the most bang from your marketing buck.

Exploit the power of email to deliver targeted marketing to existing customers as well as new ones.
Get social and embrace LinkedIn and Twitter to communicate ongoing developments and products to existing customers.
Make your product pages shine and be relevant to both new and existing customers.

Boost the potential of your existing client base. Download your free eGuide now: How to build an army of customer advocates with lifecycle marketing

The Author

Alistair Norman | Marketing Director

Alistair is responsible for the strategy, design and implementation of our Inbound and Content Marketing, with a focus on developing B2B and B2C markets.