Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
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FEATURE STORY www.outdoorpowerequipment.com OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT JUNE 2015 23 OPE extend the reach of your promotion and opens up the opportunity for additional lead generation. Product landing pages: Finally, and most importantly, you need to ensure that your product landing pages are optimized with multiple CTAs that engage shoppers in every stage of the shopping cycle. Below, check out an example of a product landing page. Note all of the options that shoppers are being offered to engage with this single John Deere product under the Buyer Tools section. This effective product landing page allows prospective custom- ers to select from a multitude of options, all designed to capture the lead. DRIVE IN-BOUND TRAFFIC TO YOUR CTAs Now that your website is a well-oiled engagement machine, you need to ensure your digital marketing strategy is working to drive traffic to your CTAs. Social media: While cool videos and funny pictures can be an element of your social media strategy, be sure that you're using your social channels to point your prospects to the CTA-rich con- tent pages on your site that we've discussed — encourage social followers to engage with your blog posts, promotions and con- tests, as well as take advantage of sponsored social media posts to boost the reach of your social lead generation efforts. Pay-per-click (PPC): If you missed the PPC article titled "Use paid search to target mobile shoppers" in July 2014 OPE, be sure to check it out at OPE's Digital Edition archives at outdoor powerequipment.com and or go directly to outdoorpowerequip ment.com/2014/08/01/use-paid-search-to-target-mobile-shop pers/2505/. As you learned in that article, a strong CTA is critical to encourage your prospects to click through on your ad to ar- rive at your intended landing page. The CTAs that you'll want to employ on your lead generation PPC advertising will differ from CTAs designed to seal an e-commerce sale. Manufacturer websites: Are you up to speed with the benefits of all of your manufacturers' online marketing programs? If you haven't taken the time to fully understand the marketing pro- grams offered by your OEMs, catch up! You don't want to miss out on what may be a very affordable or even free pipeline of in-bound leads. While there are several different lead generation models used by manufacturers, a very common tool used on OEM websites is the Dealer Locator. Be sure your dealership's information is in- cluded on your manufacturer's Dealer Locator, and if you have the opportunity to include a URL, you may want to consider go- ing deeper into your site than simply offering a homepage link. Some manufacturers require you to offer site visitors arriving from their Dealer Locator a branded experience so that you're not showing XYZ brand mowers on your homepage to visitors coming from the ABC Dealer Locator. Even if your manufacturer doesn't require this continuity of experience, consider creating it yourself to drive interested shoppers closer to the product they're interested in submitting a lead for. Third-party classified sites: Third-party classified sites like Craigslist and eBay are excellent tools for driving in-bound leads to your product landing pages. If you aren't using third-party sales channels to promote your inventory, be sure to talk to your website provider about tools that can help you automatically feed your inventory to these lead generating sites. Employing these tactics can help you build a strong pipeline of in-bound leads; but remember, the Internet doesn't sell, good dealers do. While these leading demand generation tactics are great ways to build your email list, it's imperative to implement lead management and follow-up programs to ensure that your sales team is ready to take action to invite customers into the deal- ership and ultimately close the sale. E-commerce CTAs Lead gen CTAs Order today Sign up Buy now Get more information Free shipping on orders over $100 Download our guide today Shop our huge selection Attend our free webinar 30% off today only Get a quote today Colleen Malloy is the director of marketing at ARI Network Services. Prior to joining ARI in November 2013, Malloy served as the editor of Motorcycle and Powersports News. She is dedicated to the mission of helping dealers improve their operations through the implementation of ever-evolving best practices paired with ARI's suite of an award-winning data-driven software tools and marketing services that help dealers "Sell More Stuff!" — online and in- store. For more information, visit www.arinet.com.