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Email Subject Lines: 10 Best Practices to Increase Open Rates

J.C. Granger March 16, 2021

In email marketing, a crafty, engaging subject line is your key to catching people’s attention. This line is the first impression you’ll make on readers; in many cases, it’s more important than the actual body of your email, because all the effort you put into creating an excellent email doesn’t matter if it goes unopened in the first place.

The goal is to hook readers so they click on the subject line and open the email. The more times your email is opened, the better the open rate–which is the number of people who actually opened your email out of the total number of subscribers you sent it to.

How can you create eye-catching, successful subject lines and avoid coming across as potential spam? Incorporate these best practices into your subject lines to make them stand out and ultimately increase your open rates.

Email Subject Line Best Practices

1.) Understand Your Audience

Like many other aspects of digital marketing, it’s essential to be familiar with your audience as you create email subject lines. This familiarity will set your tone and help you cater to specific interests. It’s possible to use funny or shocking email subject lines (ones that use puns or make a jolting statement), but these run a lot of risks and you have to know whether your audience will be receptive to them.

You can also personalize subject lines by using an individual’s first name. Or, utilize retargeting to provide a specialized offer on items that a customer may have looked at or purchased previously. Take time to understand what style, language, and offers your audience will find attractive.

Examples:

Mary, thanks for participating
More art classes offered in your area

Infinity Marketing Group creates high-coverting email marketing campaigns for B2B tech and software companies. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call (303) 834-7344 to learn more!

2.) Keep It Short and Direct

People are busy. Your message should be short and sweet, providing as much information as possible. Keep in mind that most subject lines need to be 50 characters or less, and ones that have 4-7 words have a higher open rate. Even subject lines with just a few words can attract readers.

Examples:

How are things going?
Top suggestions for this week

3.) Use Punctuation and Emojis Sparingly

Punctuation and emojis are great tools to make your subject line stand out and break up the normal text. However, use them sparingly; excessive emojis may alienate some readers, and make sure the ones you use truly are relevant to your subject or sale. Exclamation points can help you emphasize your message, but more than one or two can also be off-putting.

In fact, MailChimp conducted a study that found 3 punctuation marks and 1 emoji is the general limit for a subject line.

Examples:

Remember–sale ends today!!
Reasons we 💚 St. Patrick’s Day

4.) Include Numbers and Lists

There is a reason why “Top 10” blogs are so popular. Listing content helps break it into smaller and more readable chunks, promising an easy and quick read. It also generates curiosity, as people want to see what the #1 thing is. This trick can work in your subject line.

Another way to include numbers in your subject line is to use a statistic. This additionally provides insight and straightforward information.

Examples:

The easiest 7 dinners that kids love
70% of people buy their gifts last minute
Our top 10 lipsticks for fall

5.) Take Advantage of FOMO

The fear of missing out is very common. A great marketing strategy is to tap into this fear and other scarcity tactics such as putting a time limit on a sale; this provides incentive and a sense of urgency. Emphasize this urgency in your subject line with numbers and exclamation points.

Examples:

50% off jeans. Today only!
10 spots left, reserve your place now.
Free shipping! (48-hour offer)

6.) Tap Into Positive Emotions

You don’t have to necessarily make your readers fearful in order to get them to open your email–there are plenty of positive incentives to tap into as well. For example, people enjoy being on top of the latest fashions and trends. An email promising a sneak-peek into something that’s up and coming can get a high open-rate.

Or, offer great incentives that subscribers can’t pass up. This might be exclusive content, the chance to win something, or a free trial. People are likely to open the email just to get more information on the offer.

Examples:

An exclusive look at our new features
Our predictions for trends in 2021

7.) Ask A Question

Posing a question immediately engages your subscribers. Rather than simply stating something, you open the opportunity for conversation. Open-ended questions that don’t simply have yes-or-no answers pique a customer’s curiosity.

Examples:

How’s your new laptop?
How much chocolate is too much?
What’s next for remote workers?

8.) Include a CTA

A CTA (call to action) is another marketing strategy you can use in your email subject line. These are quick, simple phrases that tell the reader the action they should take. They express urgency and are very direct. Following with exclamation points enhances the impact (but remember to use only one or two).

Examples:

New expert webinar. Reserve your spot now!
Subscribe now for daily beauty tips

9.) Go Local

By using location-specific language, you show subscribers that you’ve done your research; you’re familiar with their vicinity and have information or offers that apply to their unique circumstances. It’s an extra step to personalization that can do the trick–many people open emails like this just because they are interested in seeing what’s happening in their local area.

Examples:

The best new restaurants in Los Angeles
Join us at Millennium Park in Chicago

Want to put your email marketing into the hands of trusted experts? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in helping B2B companies leverage their email lists so they can increase their audience and ROI. Learn more here.

10.) Test Your Subject Lines

One of the best ways to learn if your subject line is successful is to run an A/B testing campaign. A/B testing is a simple experiment that compares two versions of one variable and determines which version is more effective, depending on a subject’s response.

In this case, your experiment will involve creating two emails that are similar in every way except for the subject line. Send them to randomly selected subscribers, then observe which email gets opened the most. This tells you what subject line appeals to your readers and how even a small difference can make a big impact on open rates.

The more you run A/B testing on your subject lines, the more you’ll begin to understand your audience and their interests or preferences. It’s a simple yet effective way to familiarize yourself with subscribers and create successful email campaigns.

How Increasing Open Rates Helps Your Business

Generally, the higher your open rate, the bigger your outreach. In combination with other marketing strategies and metrics, this helps to enhance sales. Open rates are an essential metric because they are a good indication of your engagement with your subscribers. If your open rates are very low, you may be sending too many emails or not doing enough to encourage readers to open them.

A great technique to boost open rates is to create great email subject lines that connect with your subscribers’ interests and hook them into finding out more. Create a few experimental subject lines by incorporating the best practices listed above. Run A/B testing to see which ones get the most open rates, then base your email subject lines on what’s successful.

Need to further develop your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group can help you target your emails to boost your ROI. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com today or call us at (303) 834-7344

Create a Custom LinkedIn Background on Canva in Three Steps

J.C. Granger March 2, 2021

Having a LinkedIn profile is an essential aspect of professional networking. Whether your profile is personal or for your business, LinkedIn helps you connect with others in your field and potential employers or customers. The goal is to engage with as many people as possible. Since LinkedIn has hundreds of millions of users, it can be difficult to stand out. Luckily there are a few tricks you can use to grab people’s attention and encourage them to browse your profile. It begins with creating a custom LinkedIn background that’s eye-catching and engaging.

Creating a Custom LinkedIn Background with Canva

When someone looks at your profile on LinkedIn, one of the first things they’ll see is your background. LinkedIn provides a default picture for this background when you first sign up. Although many people simply keep this placeholder, it doesn’t provide any useful information. Creating a custom background will help you utilize this space for branding and connection.

You can personalize your background with Canva, a free design program. Canva helps you build a professional and high-quality LinkedIn background in three easy steps:

1.) Select the Perfect Template

In Canva, you’ll have hundreds of templates for LinkedIn backgrounds to choose from. You’ll find templates for every industry and theme, so you can find one you like and match your profile’s background perfectly to your career or business.

Remember, LinkedIn is a network for professionals. Regardless of your industry, you’ll want a high-quality background that highlights your professionalism. Keep in mind these best practices as you create your LinkedIn background:

The simpler, the better. Stick with minimal text that provides a quick and specific message.
Use high-resolution images. These won’t blur or become pixelated.
Ensure your background fits the theme of your brand. If you’re creating a business profile, match it to your business’s website.
You can use colors and images to grab people’s attention, but keep things friendly and professional.
Your LinkedIn background will be in a shape that’s a lot wider than it is tall, so be mindful of this space as you complete your design.

Want our experts to drive warm leads to your sales team using LinkedIn? Infinity Marketing Group provides LinkedIn lead generation services to B2B companies like you! Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us today at (303) 834-7344.

2.) Choose Your Images and Other Features

Canva offers hundreds of thousands of pictures for free that are easy to insert into your template. You can also insert a photo you’ve taken yourself or images that you’ve found that are licensed for open usage from Google Images. Make sure you use images that are high resolution (or more than two megapixels).

Canva also provides illustrations, graphics, and image filters. You can experiment with font combinations, color schemes, and the layout of your template as you settle on a LinkedIn background that’s professional yet uniquely you. You’ll be able to further personalize by adding branding elements, your company logo, and more.

One of the most important factors to remember is that an area at the bottom of your background, a small half-circle, will be blocked by your profile photo. Like the rest of your profile, you should have something professional here that creates a strong first impression. Use these tips for a professional profile picture:

Take a headshot–a photo that includes your head, neck, and top of shoulders.
Dress professionally. Consider what you would wear to work or for an interview.
Keep it simple. It should be of only you–no group photos or pets. Make sure you’re standing against a solid background such as a white wall.

3.) Get Ready to Upload to LinkedIn

The required dimensions for your LinkedIn background is 1584 pixels by 396 pixels. Keep in mind that you may have to click “customized dimensions” and make sure your background will be compatible. Even if you are using a template on Canva, check your dimensions just in case.

Save your background as a .png or .jpg so you’re able to upload it to LinkedIn. Add your professional profile picture, then tie your profile together with a dynamic headline–which is the description following your name that describes who you are and what you do.

LinkedIn provides another default here: your headline will automatically list your current job title and employer. You can customize it, however, to make a powerful and creative statement about your expertise, achievements, and what you have to offer. This is another opportunity to stand out.

Crafting a Successful LinkedIn Profile

Canva makes it easy for you to shine on LinkedIn with customized backgrounds. By strengthening your headline and adding a professional profile picture, you’ll be able to use your comprehensive LinkedIn profile to promote your business or personal brand to as many people as possible.

Now that you know all about creating a custom LinkedIn background, do you need more advice on LinkedIn marketing? Infinity Marketing Group’s LinkedIn lead generation strategy helps your business drive leads and close sales. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us today at (303) 834-7344.

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Email Marketing Frequency: How, When, and Best Practices

J.C. Granger February 16, 2021

A common problem that many businesses, big and small, grapple with is how often they should be emailing their customers. When does it become one too many emails?

You don’t want to annoy customers and unwittingly make them unsubscribe from your email list. On the other hand, you don’t want to let your customers disengage or go so long without communication that they end up forgetting about your products or brand.

The key to email marketing that every business needs to evaluate for itself is its successful email cadence (another term for email frequency). You can find the “sweet spot” for your business by using metrics to judge how your email marketing campaigns perform, basing frequency on customer lifecycle, and segmenting your subscriber list.

This all helps you determine the perfect number of emails you can send per week on average to maximize conversions without losing subscribers.

Common Metrics for Email Marketing

Email marketing involves campaigns that are sent out in bulk to your subscribers. These are different from the automated emails that customers receive when they make a purchase, such as order confirmation or notifications about an abandoned cart.

Email marketing is tailored, triggered messaging that is sent to specific subscribers on your email list—not everyone. The content that goes into your campaigns will be carefully selected or even personalized.

A successful email marketing campaign involves more than simply preventing customers from unsubscribing. You can measure the performance of your campaign using two common metrics:

Open rate, which is essentially the number of people who opened a specific email, out of the total number of subscribers who received that email.
Click rate, also known as click-through rate. This measures how many people clicked on the links within your email—through an image, hyperlink, or call to action (CTA). To calculate your click rate, divide the total number of clicks a specific email gets by the total number of subscribers who received that email.

Other important metrics include how many sales your email campaign generates and your unsubscribe rate. Keep in mind that typically your email marketing strategy won’t be determined by one metric alone, but rather by several of them.

How Often to Send Emails

A good rule of thumb for email cadence, in any industry, is that as you increase email frequency you’ll begin to follow a curve of diminishing returns—studies have shown that a high number of emails is the #1 reason why people unsubscribe.

What this means is that at some point, you’ll send too many emails and your customers will disengage. The key is to figure out what that point is for your business.

Generally, people do not like daily emails. But how many messages per week is too much? According to Smart Insights, the average sweet spot for companies tends to be 1-2 emails per week.

To determine your business’s optimal frequency, you can run tests to find the best number. Split your email list into three groups:

One is a control that will receive two emails per week.
One is a test group that gets one email per week.
The last is a test group that gets three or more.

Send emails over several weeks and analyze which number tends to generate the metrics you need.

A great way to get started is to identify the specific goals you are aiming for. Are you trying to boost your open rate? Do you need to enhance traffic to your website? Your goals will determine the specific metrics you use and how you’ll consider an email campaign to be successful.

What’s considered a “good” open rate or click-through rate, anyway? According to Mailchimp, the average open rate for all industries is 21.33% and the average click rate for all industries is 2.62%.

You can also find the averages for your specific industry. These averages provide a helpful baseline for you to aim for.

Need help refining your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group specializes in running B2B email campaigns. Our team of email experts creates campaigns that grow your email list and increase conversions. Interested in learning more? Check out their Email Marketing Service now.

Basing Email Marketing Frequency on Customer Lifecycle

An important factor to consider when adjusting your email cadence is the typical lifecycle, or purchase cycle, of your customers. If your customers don’t make purchases that often, inundating them with constant emails will likely cause them to unsubscribe. If your customers make frequent purchases, you can send more emails to retain their attention and engagement, without as much risk.

For example, fashion brands have a quick customer lifecycle because clothing is very frequently purchased. Clothing companies can get away with sending emails several times a week.

Other industries, such as technology, have a much shorter customer lifecycle. Tech companies need less email frequency and should try not to inundate their subscribers with emails.

Generally, the customer lifecycle goes through five stages, from before to after someone completes a final purchase:

Reach; during the first phase, you develop an awareness of your brand with potential consumers.
Acquisition; you contact customers directly with relevant messaging so they fully understand your brand and what you have to offer.
Develop; after the first purchase is completed, you develop a relationship with the customer by keeping in constant contact.
Retention; customers return and purchase again as you satisfy their needs and continually send relevant messaging.
Advocacy and loyalty; over time your customers will tell their network, friends, and family about your services or products. They become brand advocates as they continue to make their own purchases.

Segmenting Your Subscribers

Once you’ve identified your customers’ lifecycle, the next step is to segment your subscribers.

Not every customer is the same—people will respond to email campaigns for different reasons, so tapping into these reasons can help your campaigns be successful. Give customers a personalized experience of your brand by delivering emails that are tailored to their needs and interests, or even their engagement level.

For example, most subscribers won’t open every single email you send—but that doesn’t mean they’re not interested in your brand. They may have less time to read emails, prefer top offers, or only purchased something from your website as a gift. They’ll still engage, just not as often. Unfortunately, if you don’t segment your email list, these types of subscribers will bring down your overall rates.

It’s possible to tailor your marketing campaigns so you can send different emails to different customers. Many email platforms make it easy to manually segment customers based on certain factors. Or, you can use an algorithm to complete this for you.

By segmenting your list, you’ll be able to send those top offers to targeted customers or slow the email frequency down specifically for the subscribers who don’t look at your emails very often. All of this depends on the collection of data and careful analysis, so be sure to monitor your campaigns.

Tips to Boost Engagement with Emails

As you adjust your email marketing frequency and figure out what’s right for your business, there are more things you can do to help ensure its success. It’s important to maintain your relationship with your subscribers, and aim to turn them into long-term, loyal customers.

Increasing engagement with the emails you send can make all the difference and bring those open and click-through rates you’re looking for. In this case, it’s all about quality content.

Email Subject Lines

An attention-grabbing subject line increases the chances of your email being opened in the first place. For your subject lines, create a sense of urgency, ask your subscribers a question, or give them a special offer. In the content of your email, include a strong CTA to follow up on your subject line and further motivate customers to take action by clicking on the email.

Personalized Promotions

You can also personalize promotions and offer content based on a customer’s previous purchases. Depending on your industry, this may not simply be a suggestion to buy a product again. You might offer helpful hints for getting the most out of the software they purchased, or highlight an important upgrade so your customers have the best and newest versions of their tech.

If it’s their very first purchase from you, start by sending an engaging welcoming email. This establishes a good relationship right off the bat and gives you an opportunity to introduce what type of emails they can expect, increasing chances of engagement in the future.

Email Marketing Best Practices

As you get started with email marketing or adjust the email cadence you have already established, here are some things to keep in mind:

Remember that the number one reason customers unsubscribe is because they’ve received too many emails.
For most businesses, sending 1-2 emails a week is ideal. This is an especially helpful baseline if you are just getting started.
Communicate your intentions with customers as early as possible. They should know what they’re signing up for—are you going to send monthly newsletters? Do you host weekly webinars? If this is clear from the beginning, the number of emails won’t be as surprising—or annoying—to your subscribers.
Personalization is often the key to engagement. Even addressing the subscriber by name can make a huge difference in whether your emails are opened or clicked through.
Since the best average number of emails per week for your business depends on a number of factors, make peace with the fact that it may take a while for you to find that successful email marketing frequency.

Ready to Improve your Email Strategy?

It is possible for every business to find its sweet spot when it comes to email marketing frequency. Once you’ve analyzed the performances of your email marketing campaigns and settled on your perfect number, stay up to date not only with changing technologies but also with your customers and their needs.

Your email cadence may need to change over time—or you may be able to hone the exact number down further with new analytics. What works once may not work forever, so keep monitoring your campaigns and their results, and keep collecting data so you can improve your email marketing in the future.

Need help developing your company’s email marketing strategy? Contact us today at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us at (303) 834-7344

J.C. Granger on The Hot Mic @ Arch DevOps Podcast

J.C. Granger November 20, 2020

Our CEO J.C. Granger joins The Hot Mic @Arch DevOps podcast to talk about marketing at scale. In 2020, messaging means everything. J.C. discusses automation and creating lead-generating messaging on his favorite platform, LinkedIn.

The Hot Mic @ Arch DevOps is hosted by Michael “Fritz” Fritzius. The podcast shares the story of business owners, the hurdles they face, and how they began pursuing their passions.

Listen to the Full Episode Here

On Infinity Marketing Group’s Concentration

We focus on B2B SaaS. […] Software makes the world go round and you get the right combination of stuff you can buy and use, you can do the same amount of work as 100 people if you only have 20. I took my passion and turned that into our target market. B2B tech is our jam.

With COVID, we’ve dialed in and focused on our LinkedIn B2B lead gen eco-sphere more than anything recently. We’re still doing all the services that we use to, but now we’re doing that in the context of B2B leads on LinkedIn.

On His Upcoming Book

A chapter that I wrote in a recent business book discusses marketing during a crisis. This gave me the idea to write an entire book on the topic, which I’ve started. It will be called Crisis Marketing: How to Survive & Thrive During Pandemics, Bubble Bursts, & Corporate Scandals.

Marketing has changed completely. For example, if you’re starting an SEO campaign, it’s going to take nine months before you see any results. Right now, more companies don’t have nine months, let alone nine weeks. […] If you stick with the old way, you’re a ticking clock about to run down to zero.

Has Messaging Changed?

First, you have to instill that initial trust. You’re here today, but what about tomorrow. Right now, it’s about making people feel safe – that you’re here to stay.

This is what we did, and what we helped our clients do.

For example, if one of our clients is a software company that does proposal documents. We want to make sure that not only are we reaching out to the right people, but that the messaging shares that you’re surviving. We want to establish certainty for our clients and their leads.

The advice that I’m giving to everyone: Take whatever has the fastest results, even if they’re not the biggest results, to instill confidence in your target market.

Tune in to the full episode of The Hot Mic @ Arch DevOps Podcast for more marketing insights!

Have questions about our lead generation services? Reach out to me on LinkedIn!

#BeRealShow Podcast: J.C. Granger Gets Real About The Future of BizTech

J.C. Granger November 11, 2020

The Be Real Show Podcast invited our fearless CEO, J.C. Granger, to be a guest on the podcast. In episode #255, J.C. discusses creating sustainable marketing systems and infrastructure, generating ROI, and making room for the option to sell your tech company.

Be Real Show podcast focuses on helping ad agencies, PR firms, digital agencies, and marketing consultants with business and social strategies.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Infinity Marketing Group exclusively helps SaaS & Tech companies grow their businesses faster by developing proven digital marketing strategies and campaigns.

I know how hard it can be to grow a company. Most of the time, it feels like you’re throwing money out the window and seeing no return. When Infinity Marketing Group was started, I wish I had someone to guide me in the right direction.

Our goal here at Infinity Marketing Group is to be the resource for you that I wish I had for myself years ago.

Having the right marketing strategies and campaigns in place is one of the major things that separate the most successful companies from the ones that struggle to survive. SaaS and Tech companies are generally excellent at what they do, but they struggle at creating the right marketing strategies for scaling and generating a steady pipeline of new paying customers.

I built a business that develops the exact marketing campaigns SaaS and Tech companies need in order to grow quickly and be profitable. We can help you show the people who need your product exactly where to find it!

If you’re still reading, then maybe I’ve struck a cord in you? Let’s connect.

Send me a message on LinkedIn and we can discuss any marketing issues you might be having. My team and I are here to help.

Learn more at www.infinitymgroup.com

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CEO & Author J.C. Granger Releases Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success

J.C. Granger September 25, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common: strong leadership skills. Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success, co-authored by our CEO and author J.C. Granger and entrepreneur Adam Torres, explores leadership through the lens of a variety of industries.

Find Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success here.

The Story Behind The Book

In March of 2020, J.C. appeared on the Mission Matters Marketing podcast, hosted by Adam. After a riveting conversation on “Doubling Down” and marketing priorities during COVID-19, Granger and Torres thought they’d make an excellent team.

As co-authors, J.C. Granger and Adam Torres share their unique experiences and perspectives with readers. Additionally, 18 other professionals from numerous industries share their expertise, making this book a treasure trove of knowledge for all entrepreneurs. If you want to grow as a leader, this book is a must-have!

On Leadership: From Author J.C. Granger

Great leaders are formed through failure and success. Learning from those mistakes and wins is what creates great leaders. As business models, technology, and best practices change, leadership must evolve as well.

J.C. Granger, who has decades of marketing experience, has seen the concept and role of “leadership” change first-hand. In writing this book, Granger seeks to share his deep knowledge, passion, and help readers understand what makes a leader flourish.

In addition to authoring the introduction, Granger has a special chapter on “Crisis Marketing.” Of the chapter, he says, “I discuss how your business can survive and even thrive in the midst of any crisis […] if you change your mindset and think about it in a more child-like, simple, and logical manner, you can not only survive the war…you can win it unconditionally.”

Only a few days after publication, readers are already finding the book useful. One review reads:

“I got at least one actionable idea from every single chapter by a different entrepreneur on a different topic. My ROI on the book purchase will be 1,000X!”

Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success

Ready to unlock your leadership skills, grow your business, and find tangible takeaways for business growth?

Through inspiring stories, you’ll discover:

How patient care and technology meet in the medical field.
How digital transformation is imperative for companies.
What creating your dream retirement looks like.
How to create a result-driven culture in your company.
How to pivot your marketing to survive crisis situations.
Why cohesion is more important than engagement in an organization.
And much more!

No matter your industry or prior experience, this book contains critical ground-breaking knowledge that all entrepreneurs can utilize and implement.

Author J.C. Granger says, “…remember, don’t just consume the expertise in this book. Put it into action. Ideas are cheap – execution is everything.”

Ready to Develop Your Leadership Skills?

If you’re ready to expand your knowledge and further develop critical leadership skills, it’s time to put Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success onto your bookshelf. Author J.C. Granger, Infinity Marketing Group’s CEO, is here to help you reach new heights.

Find Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success here.

B2B Lead Generation Through LinkedIn with J.C. Granger

J.C. Granger September 25, 2020

Infinity’s CEO J.C. Granger recently appeared on the Marketer of the Day podcast hosted by Robert Plank. During their chat, Granger discusses B2B lead generation using LinkedIn. If you’re a B2B tech company looking for new leads, you’ve come to the right place!

Listen to the Episode Here

What You’ll Learn about B2B Lead Generation

Priorities have changed, especially with the volatility that 2020 has caused. Companies are in panic mode and immediate results are critical.

For B2B companies, LinkedIn as a lead gen funnel should be a huge focus. Targeting correctly, reaching out with personalized messaging, and engaging ideal clientele can have huge returns when implemented correctly.

What is the LinkedIn Process with Infinity like?

Infinity Marketing Group has built a LinkedIn lead generation monster.

First, we optimize your profile. Then, we use Sales Navigator to hyper-target your audience. Once narrowed down, we send out 50 connection requests per day, which grows your network fast.

From there, we go into a rapport-building drip-series with these new connections. Simultaneously, these contacts are imported directly to your company’s CRM, where an email drip series also begins. By approaching these relationships from all sides with customized messaging, we find and warm up leads for B2B tech companies. We’ve had some amazing results, and deliver sales-qualified leads for your team to close.

Businesses need LinkedIn because it works quickly. During COVID, this continues to be the go-to platform for lead generation.

Want to learn more about lead generation through LinkedIn?

Read more about our done-for-you Linkedin generation service. Then, reach out to us at info@infinitymgroup.com!

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J.C. Granger Talks Marketing on EGGS The Podcast

J.C. Granger June 18, 2020

EGGS The Podcast is hosted by co-hosted by Michael “DJ Ontic” Smith, a Seattle, WA based DJ and Ryan Roghaar owner of R2 Media Group. The podcast focuses on creativity in all forms. More specifically, the co-hosts explore how creative bring their “egg” from coup to table. Our CEO, J.C. Granger, joins them for episode 160 to discuss his journey in the marketing realm.

EGGS The Podcast, Episode 160

Listen to the full episode if you want to hear more about:

The Top Marketing Resources
Lead Generation Myths
The Keys to Running a Successful Business

What is Digital Marketing?

“Digital marketing” is a broad term. Most things you do on the computer can be considered digital marketing. Think about it like this: companies use graphic design as the outward face of their campaigns or products, so even traditional graphic design can be considered a part of digital marketing.

Now, with the emergence and continued distribution channels that favor video content, video editing is not a part of digital marketing as well. As new technologies are developed, we wouldn’t be surprised to see what we know as “digital marketing” continue to expand its reach.

As far as what we do specifically, Infinity Marketing Group is a full-service digital marketing agency. We focus on providing a depth of solutions to B2B tech companies.

We offer a range of services, including but not limited to:

“I like to know that the impact we have generates million-dollar deals,” Granger says. This is why after 9 years in business, we’ve generated millions in ROI for our clients.

Top Marketing Resources

There are a few marketing resources that every company should be taking advantage of. These tools help you learn more about your sales funnel, which is invaluable in helping you refine your company’s processes.

Make sure that Google Analytics is professionally set up on your website. If you’re an eCommerce site, Google Analytics provides you wire great tools that show you which efforts are driving traffic and how much revenue is generated from each source. If you have an informative business site, Google Analytics allows you to see the funnel for site visitors, helping you to prioritize the highest converting channels.

Each business should also have a marketing CRM tool, like Hubspot or SharpSpring. These tools tell us more about how visitors get to our site, grade your leads, and pull valuable information from website visitors.

These are just two of the many marketing resources that can help companies in all industries grow.

Running a Successful Business

Controlled growth, for agencies, is critical. Many people who start agencies are comfortable with sales. The problem is, it’s not sustainable because there’s no infrastructure to support your clients early in your company’s existence.

On our homepage, you’ll see a client-counter. That’s very purposeful and critical to our success.

For us, slow-and-steady wins the race. Right now, amidst COVID-19, companies who moved too quickly are crashing right now. Our system works because when we take on clients, we build sustainable and growth-focused processes around them. This ensures that we take on the right clients and serve them to our highest potential.

Marketing Strategies by Infinity Marketing Group

Want to learn more about our marketing services? Have questions about something you heard on EGGS the podcast? Each page of our site has a unique, downloadable, and free pdf. If you have questions about how we can help explode your business’ growth, reach out to our team of experts.

Call us at (303) 834-7344 or email us at info@infinitymgroup.com

Building My Legacy Podcast: J.C. Granger Discusses Successful Lead Generation

J.C. Granger June 15, 2020

Our CEO, J.C. Granger, joins host Lois Sonstegard, Ph.D on the Building My Legacy podcast. The podcast, which focuses on leadership, results-driven practices, and showcases emerging leaders, asked J.C. to discuss lead generation on their newest episode.

Building My Legacy, Episode 41

Listen to the full episode if you want to learn more about…

How to Invest your Marketing Budget During a Pandemic
Why Long-Term Focus Should be on Marketing Infrastructure
Networker vs. Spammer
Automation Tools our CEO Recommends
How Understanding People Makes You a Better Marketer

Many Companies are Not Optimizing Their Marketing Campaigns

Many companies have excellent websites and a marketing strategy, but they’re failing in one major area. You can run dozens of campaigns and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, but if your campaigns aren’t optimized, how can you learn which campaigns are generating the most leads or revenue?

Set Up Ad Tracking

Let’s say you’re spending $10,000 a month on ads. If you don’t know which ads are generating form fills however, your future ads budgets won’t be optimized. Why waste money on ads that aren’t converting?

Building infrastructure is essential. Now, imagine that your ad tracking codes are optimized. The tracking data may reveal that 85% of your leads are coming from one ad. With this information, you can focus your budget based on the high-ROI ads in the future.

Making simple tweaks streamlines your lead generation. Not only will your marketing budget be better spent, but you’ll make more money in revenue. It’s a win-win.

Optimize Email Subject Lines

Email marketing drives revenue for so many kinds of businesses. Many companies are content with their email campaigns because they result in revenue. With a few changes, however, that revenue could DOUBLE.

Let’s say you send out an email, and it results in $1,000 in sales. That’s great, but changing just the subject line can be the difference between $1,000 and $2,000 in revenue from a single email. If you begin split testing subject lines, you’d be amazed by how much more successful your email campaigns will be. If your open rate doubles, in theory, your sales will double as well.

This just goes to show that the details matter. Paying attention to them can make you money.

Marketing During a Pandemic

During a pandemic, focus on the near-term. Survival is everything for companies. Based on your industry, there are tangible ways to allocate your marketing budgets during a pandemic.

If you’re spending money on SEO right now, stop. Search engine optimization is a long-game marketing strategy.

The only exception is if your paid ads are limited. This happens for companies in the cannabis and CBD spheres. For these types of businesses, we recommend shifting SEO budgets to email marketing. More specifically, we recommend using a tool called Mail Click Convert, which allows you to purchase and clean existing email lists. Once cleaned, you can ramp up your email marketing efforts, which have generally high conversion rates when optimized.

If you’re in an industry that can do paid ads, these have quick returns during a pandemic; the ability to target specific audiences, and measure Cost-Per-Click is incredibly valuable. Right now, many B2B companies are having huge success on LinkedIn as well.

Make Work Easier: Automations We Recommend

Automation can be tricky. While saving time on everything is tempting, some platforms will “punish” you for using certain plugins (like LinkedIn). Some automation tools, however, make work easier. At Infinity Marketing Group, there are a few tools we use to save time.

For example, Gusto is great for running payroll and saves our leadership team a lot of time. Gusto also integrates if you offer benefits to your employees as well. Having everything in one place is not only useful for your leadership team, but also for your employees.

Trainual is also an excellent tool. If during this pandemic you’ve had to let go of a W2 employee, and have had to hire a contractor, Trainual makes onboarding efficient; you can upload educational videos, quizzes, and even see training progress. With this automation tool, onboarding is simplified.

Time is valuable during a pandemic and some automation tools cut-down on time-consuming processes. Even if you just save one hour a month, turning to technology is worth it.

Digital Solutions by Infinity Marketing Group

Infinity Marketing Group provides B2B tech companies with digital marketing strategies that generate leads. Over the last 9 years, our experts have generated millions of dollars in ROI for our clients. If you’re looking to ramp up your marketing efforts or start from scratch, Infinity Marketing Group can help your company grow.

If you want to talk more about anything you heard on the Building My Legacy podcast or learn more about the digital marketing services we offer, call us at (303) 834-7344 or email us at info@infinitymgroup.com

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“Doubling Down” A Discussion with Mission Matters Marketing Podcast

J.C. Granger April 8, 2020

“Mission Matters Marketing” with Adam Torres recently spoke with J.C. Granger talks about how the COVID-19 is the perfect time to consider growing your business. Adam Torres is Co-Founder of Mission Matters Media, a media and publishing company dedicated to the needs of business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. Adam is an international speaker, author of multiple books and host of the Mission Matters series of podcasts.

Now is the time to “Double Down” on your marketing and sales effort by stepping up your game and not letting fear get the better of you.

Our very own J.C. Granger, CEO of Infinity Marketing group, recently discussed why it’s important to increase your marketing efforts during times of a crisis to propel a business forward. IMG has been in business for 9 years, specializing in B2B technology companies. We’ve learned plenty of lessons from the beginning of our agency. Having thrived through the recessions in the past, we’ve found ways to become stronger than ever before by “doubling down”.

Mission Matters Marketing: What does it mean to double down?

You and your company have no other choice but to survive during this pandemic. Infinity Marketing Group looks at committing your company’s strategy and upping your course of action in order to prove that you are the strongest, most reliable and knowledgeable in your business and are here to help with your company’s strategy. Every business will need to thrive in the tech industry, which may mean making a huge pivot in your overall marketing strategy.

We create resources for companies that offer help to those that are in need of technology updates and places to get trusted information. Companies are searching for solutions, efforts should turn to reaching out for prospects. Fulfilling tech demands that are needed and fulfilling your customer’s needs online in a tech environment. Many businesses may consider pivoting who they are reaching out to in order to continue thriving and meet the community’s needs.

Software that makes an impact for people, helping their companies and their people get through tough times right now. If you are in the industry that helps people and your company thrives because of your service, now is the time to push out your information, seek out prospects and start with putting your best foot forward. Go above and beyond. Build your credibility. Prove it with testimonials and stories.

Now is not the time to stop advertising and marketing. Do not let uncertainty hold you back from putting your company out there, it could be the next success story on the other side of our crisis.

Prove your loyalty and experience.

Value helping people with full-service.

Doubling Down with Infinity Marketing Group

We will help deliver marketing products to encourage business growth during this period specializing in:

We will design your marketing plan with your business in mind. There is no “one size fits all” strategy. Every digital marketing strategy is designed with the goal of self-sustainability in mind. Now is the time to double-down, building up your list of prospects and proving your credibility in your field.

4 Reasons Why You Should Be Retargeting Your Email Subscribers on Facebook

infinityadmin August 7, 2019

When I was a kid, my mother taught me how to reuse or repurpose the things we had instead of just always buying something new.

For example, instead of buying shoe cleaner for my white sneakers, I could clean them with an old toothbrush and toothpaste (seriously try it, it works).

Not only did this practice save us money, but it helped teach me about the worth of things. It can be so easy to fall into the disposable cycle of our modern world. But most things have a much longer and versatile life in them than we give them credit for.

And the same type of thinking can be applied to marketing too.

Marketing materials, strategies, and products shouldn’t be viewed with the one-and-done mindset, and there are so many ways you can use one aspect of your marketing to help several different strategies.

For example, instead of spending a ton of money testing out a new target audience on a Facebook Ad campaign, try using your existing email list to retarget your ads to. This utilizes your existing prospect or customer base. That way you will build authority, refresh interest with your product or service, and create opportunities for those who already love what you do to share your business.

And doing this is easy. All you have to do is use the Facebook Business Manager to upload your current email list and create Custom Audiences that you can then show your ads to exclusively. This creates an extremely warm, targeted audience for your campaigns which can be a total goldmine for paid advertising ROI.

Here are the steps to do this:

In Facebook Business Manager, just select create a custom audience, and then select Customer File as the source.

Then you want to use a file that includes the customer lifetime value (LTV). From there you will add your file of email subscribers.

For the customer value column, you will want to select email address as the LTV, and then select all other fields as well for LTV under Preview and Map Your Data.

And then you are all set!

The way it works, in a nutshell, is, when you upload the email list, Facebook will search for all of the user profiles that match the emails in your list. And if you’re wondering what percentage of your list will match Facebook profiles, well that can differ from list to list depending on certain factors: where you got the list, if they’re personal or business emails, etc.

But to give you a ballpark range, my email lists typically come back with 80% or more matches—and this is a pretty standard number.

Now, you may be asking yourself: “Why in the world would I want to spend money to target people I’m already reaching with my emails?” Here’s a few reasons why this is a huge advantage to standing out in your industry:

#1. Connect with people in a more relaxed setting

Most of us get emails while we’re at work, and there are so many that we don’t have time to read them all. Those who open your emails may scan it and star or save with the intention of going back later to click through to your site. But people are people. We forget things sometimes.

And since email is mostly work-related, it’s not really designed for massive engagement. Facebook, however, is perfect for that. People typically browse their feed in the morning, at lunch and in the evening while in front of the TV. It is a go-to for scrolling while they’re waiting for something to happen (think parents at soccer practice or waiting for the train) and when they have some free time.

Since your audience saw your email earlier in the day or week, they’ll be more likely to remember you when they see your Facebook ad pop up in their feed. It might even remind them to go back and open up that email to take action on your offer.

TIP: Make sure that your message in the ad is the same, or very similar, to the message in your emails. This makes sure your customers know who you are and is already primed to follow through.

#2 Always be in front of those you want to connect with

On average, marketing messages need to be seen by prospective buyers multiple times before they’ll decide to take action—this is known as the “rule of seven,” a term coined by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Since the average tech-related shopper uses more than 14 sources of information to arrive at their decision to buy, you want to be seen on multiple platforms.

Using email AND Facebook advertising helps increase the frequency that they see you; so not only will they notice you, but they will (hopefully) remember you when they are making a purchase decision. That’s where the sweet spot is!

#3 Your company will seem large and your reach broad

There’s a funny thing that happens when people see your business marketing in multiple social channels: it looks like your business is everywhere. Although you might not get a lot of traffic to your business’s Facebook page, people these days expect that you have one, and that you are active on the platform.

Additionally, with good retargeting ads popping up all over the place, many people will assume you must be spending a lot of marketing dollars to reach them. This makes it look like your business is large and/or very successful, since you have the time, manpower, and money for so many ads. They might also assume that everyone, not just themselves, is seeing these ads, since Facebook is such a big advertising space.

All of these assumptions help to build your authority.

But guess what… you don’t have to spend tons of money to get this kind of reach online. For just a few dollars a day, you can reach your entire email list daily on Facebook. Not bad right?

When your business looks larger, you’ll also build trust with your customers (potential AND current), since you are there ready to give them the information they want and are showing them products they already like (assuming they are already familiar with your products).

#4 Look-alike audiences are amazing for reach

But the benefits don’t end with just engaging your current audience. Part of the beauty of this strategy is that you can connect to thousands of people who have similar interests, demographics, purchasing habits, and online activity as your current customers.

After uploading your email list to Facebook and creating that first Custom Audience to target, you can also create a “look-alike audience”. A look-alike audience is comprised of other Facebook users that have similar interests and needs to your current audience.

This is one of the most powerful tools in digital marketing today. This is one of the easiest ways to reach new people, particularly if you have a strong, engaged customer base in your email list.

It’s obviously great to retarget your current followers, but having the ability to expand your audience based on that specific demographic could be the difference between doubling or tripling your ROI.

Now that you have all the information, and reasoning, on retargeting your email list, it’s time to take action. Upload your list and launch a Facebook campaign that mirrors your next email. If you can get even 20% more ROI from the campaign as a result, then that’s a big win. But don’t be surprised if it’s much higher. And if it is, you can buy me a beer as a thanks. I’m a cheap date.

—

J.C. Granger is the CEO of Infinity Marketing Group. Infinity Marketing Group is an inbound marketing agency headquartered in Denver, Colorado that specializes in helping SaaS companies achieve their lead generation goals.

Connect with J.C. on LinkedIn and download his free eBook, “3 Essentials of Inbound Marketing”.

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Smarketing: Strengthening the relationship between sales and marketing

J.C. Granger August 2, 2019

As with any kind of relationship, communication and teamwork are the major keys to success. In the world of sales and marketing, this is no exception. Historically, the two teams did not work well together despite sharing the same goal, which is to drive revenue. However, through the ups and downs of their sometimes combative and competitive relationship, sales and marketing can now work together successfully if they follow the four major rules of “Smarketing.”

According to Hubspot, the term Smarketing is “the alignment between your sales and marketing teams created through frequent and direct communication.” With the ever-changing landscape of digital tools and enhancements, it’s time that SaaS companies begin to embrace the concept of Smarketing in order to generate the strongest results.

Here are four rules of Smarketing guaranteed to strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing for your SaaS company.

1) Communication is Key

Life and relationship coach Tony Robbins, states that communication in relationships, at its core, is about connecting and using your verbal, written and physical skills to fulfill your partner’s needs. This definition remains the same in Smarketing. In Smarketing, communicating between the two teams will create an equal playing field, provide more visibility into results, allow for clear insights into operational systems, and will continually refine the processes of sales and marketing.

To maintain open communication, start to implement monthly Smarketing meetings.

2) Share a Common Message and Goal

Successful partners should always be speaking the same language in relationships. Regardless of how different sales and marketing teams may operate, they should learn to get on the same page as well. Whether this applies to the key messages of your products and services, the end goal of your business strategies, or both, it is critical that both teams are aware of the defined messages and goals. Being in agreement with these core pieces will allow each team to support the others’ efforts.

Additionally, defining the shared message and goal will ensure no overlap in work and key functions. Constant communication between the two teams will lead to the utmost productivity and efficiencies in producing strategies and uncovering results.

3) Implement Open Data

Like most relationships, open and honest communication is essential. Similar to sharing the common message and goal, Sales and Marketing must be sharing their data and results as well. Understanding the key metrics and results of both team’s efforts will allow the teams to make adjustments to their strategies if needed and ultimately help drive success for your SaaS company.

For example, when the sales team shares the number of monthly sales and their sources, the marketing team can leverage this information to identify channels and audiences for lead generation campaigns. On the flip side, if Marketing shares geographical data based on engagement from social, the sales team can narrow down their strategies in the most popular locations.

4) Celebrate Success Together

To build strong relationship morale, both Sales and Marketing should be celebrating each other’s success hand-in-hand. Whether the conversions come from a highly defined digital campaign or a strong sales meeting, it is important to celebrate both wins from both teams. Management can help facilitate shared celebrations and jumpstarting organizational alignment through defining compensation based on shared marketing and sales goals.

When these rules are followed and encouraged by both teams and management, your SaaS business will begin to thrive. According to a study by Aberdeen Group, companies that utilize Smarketing strategies in their goals see a 65% increase in top-line revenue over those who don’t. With that number alone, why wouldn’t you consider Smarketing for your SaaS company?

J.C. Granger is the CEO of Infinity Marketing Group. Infinity Marketing Group is an inbound marketing agency headquartered in Denver, Colorado that specializes in helping SaaS companies achieve their lead generation goals.

Connect with J.C. on LinkedIn and download his free eBook, “3 Essentials of Inbound Marketing”.

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Email Subject Line Best Practices

1.) Understand Your Audience

2.) Keep It Short and Direct

3.) Use Punctuation and Emojis Sparingly

4.) Include Numbers and Lists

5.) Take Advantage of FOMO

6.) Tap Into Positive Emotions

7.) Ask A Question

8.) Include a CTA

9.) Go Local

10.) Test Your Subject Lines

How Increasing Open Rates Helps Your Business

Creating a Custom LinkedIn Background with Canva

1.) Select the Perfect Template

2.) Choose Your Images and Other Features

3.) Get Ready to Upload to LinkedIn

Crafting a Successful LinkedIn Profile

Common Metrics for Email Marketing

How Often to Send Emails

Basing Email Marketing Frequency on Customer Lifecycle

Segmenting Your Subscribers

Tips to Boost Engagement with Emails

Email Subject Lines

Personalized Promotions

Email Marketing Best Practices

Ready to Improve your Email Strategy?

On Infinity Marketing Group’s Concentration

On His Upcoming Book

Has Messaging Changed?

Have questions about our lead generation services? Reach out to me on LinkedIn!

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Learn more at www.infinitymgroup.com

The Story Behind The Book

On Leadership: From Author J.C. Granger

Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success

Ready to Develop Your Leadership Skills?

What You’ll Learn about B2B Lead Generation

What is the LinkedIn Process with Infinity like?

Want to learn more about lead generation through LinkedIn?

EGGS The Podcast, Episode 160

What is Digital Marketing?

Top Marketing Resources

Running a Successful Business

Marketing Strategies by Infinity Marketing Group

Building My Legacy, Episode 41

Many Companies are Not Optimizing Their Marketing Campaigns

Set Up Ad Tracking

Optimize Email Subject Lines

Marketing During a Pandemic

Make Work Easier: Automations We Recommend

Digital Solutions by Infinity Marketing Group

Mission Matters Marketing: What does it mean to double down?

Doubling Down with Infinity Marketing Group

Here are four rules of Smarketing guaranteed to strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing for your SaaS company.

DOWNLOAD OUR WHITE PAPER

AND START GENERATING INBOUND LEADS LIKE A PRO.

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