Every business is searching for the all-important lead that will bring them their next sale or client. A successful way of doing this is by using digital advertising. Some examples of this are posting Facebook and Google ads, email marketing, or driving traffic to their website using SEO (search engine optimization).

By definition, a business lead is a person who is interested in the product or service you sell.

Take, for example, marketing on Facebook. You post an advertisement on Facebook and someone reads it. They want to find out more, so they click it. This then captures their name, address and phone number and invites them to call or email.

The same holds true for Google ads. Someone searches for a product or service on the internet and when they find it, click on it to find out more. This also captures their name, address and phone number and invites them to call or email.

In fact, Google & Facebook both offer PPC or “Pay Per Click” ads that you do not pay for unless someone clicks on them.

Now let us look at email marketing.

Say you are sending a promotional email to 2000 customers who you have previously engaged or have done business with.  Or, if you have the right kind of emailing platform, you may do a broad email marketing campaign to potential new customers sending out 100,000 emails.

With email marketing, you track a couple of factors for leads called “opens” and “clicks”.

An “open” means that the email was opened. A “click” means that not only did they “open” the email, but they also clicked on something in the email to find out more about your company and what you have to offer.

Often in email campaigns you already have their contact info and ‘clicks” and “opens” will let you know of their interest.

SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” can also bring you leads by maximizing the number of visitors to your website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.

SEO can get you leads if your website has a way to capture their information and persuade people to call or email you.

Leads from Facebook, Google ads, email marketing & SEO are all viable ways to meet the definition “a business lead is a person who is interested in the product or service you sell”.

Now if you used these methods correctly and have gotten all these leads from your various digital marketing campaigns, how do you turn them into sales?

In digital marketing this is called a “conversion”.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “conversion” is defined as “the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another”.

A conversion could be someone reading a Facebook ad and then clicking on it. Or someone clicking on it and then calling a number to find out more. Or the conversion you really want of someone calling in to find out more and then selling them your product or service.

All leads are not created equally.

Depending on the type of leads you get from your digital marketing, the actions you take can vary greatly to convert them into a sale.

For example, you send someone an email and offer a “½ off buy now” deal and they come immediately to your office with a wad of 100-dollar bills and demand your services.

This would be very different than someone who fills out a form on your website interested in a “1/2 off buy now” deal and when you call them, they do not remember the name of your company.

Most leads fall somewhere in between these two extremes and depending on how “hot” the lead is, may require several steps to actually create a sale.

Too often I see businesses initiate digital marketing campaigns and then expect immediate conversions to sales. This can happen, but more often it takes several actions to make the conversion.

Here is an example:

John has an Electric Company in a major metropolitan area. He sends out 1 million emails to businesses and residents in a 15-mile radius of his office. The email does not try to sell anything, but instead is more of just an introduction and talks about safely using electrical appliances around your home and business.

10,000 emails are opened and 1000 click on a link in the email that brings them to a landing page. A landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. It is where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or similar places on the web.

The landing page has a $25 offer of an electric inspection of their home or business. 5 people call to set it up. 5 others leave a number to be called.

7 appointments are set. 3 new customers get electrical work done.

The other of the 10,000 emails that were opened but the person did not click to the landing page are put into an opt-in emailing system that has a higher open and click rate to drive them to the landing page.

Also, the emails are put into Google & Facebook remarketing campaigns, where they get targeted ads to drive them to the landing page.

This digital campaign took 6 months. But it produced 20 new customers.

So, in conclusion, businesses definitely need a constant flow of new leads and digital marketing is a great way to get them.

But unless you do the necessary steps to convert these leads to sales.  Which can often be several steps and take some time you will just be wasting your time and money and your leads will not “Give You Liberty”, only…

By Carl Schumacher

Recruiting Manager, Author & Digital Marketer

What is a resume?

It is a Marketing piece.

Marketing is about sending the right message to the right person.

Or in marketing speak it is called a Demographic.

An example of a Demographic would be:

• 16 year old athletic girls who live in the city.
• Or senior citizens who are experiencing hearing loss.

Marketing a resume is not very different than marketing a product.

The difference is that you are the product and your skills are what you are marketing.

If I send in my resume to a company for a position as a customer service representative and on my resume it says I am seeking a position as a Sales Manager, I am marketing to the wrong demographic.

This would be like trying to market hearing aids to 16 year old’s.

If you are applying for a specific job you need to include in your resume that you are interested in that specific job.

Usually this would be within your summary.

An example might be:

I am a Customer Service specialist with 15 years experience in assisting clients to better understand my companies products and services seeking a position as a Customer Service Representative where I can use my excellent skills in negotiation and problem resolution to help expand an organization.

If you read this resume it is very clear you are seeking a Customer Service job.

Now just like a Marketing Promo Piece you need to explain why they should buy your products or services.

Or in the case of a resume why they should hire you for the job.

You do this by supporting your claims that you are a skilled customer service person.

By listing your accomplishments that reflect your customer service skills.

I call these your “David Letterman Top 10 accomplishments”, because like David Letterman you list them by what is the most relevant accomplishment first.

Then the other accomplishments are less and less relevant as you progress down to number 10.

The number 1 accomplishment might be:

Saved the company $10,000 by winning back a disgruntled client.

Here is the big question then:

Do I have to customize my resume for every job I apply for”?

The answer is:

Yes. If you really want the job.

But if you do it right you don’t have to rewrite your resume for every job you apply to.

You just need to adjust your summary and your accomplishments.

With people living longer and longer, retirement is becoming later and later and for some not at all. My father lived to 85 years old and continued working all the way up to the day of his passing.

With so many people living so long, the problem occurs on how do people 50, 60, or even 70 years old compete in a job market with so many younger job applicants?

Here are some suggestions:

-Don’t Live in the past

Today you may move a little slower and your hair may be a bit grayer, but if you spend your time dwelling on the good old days, you are missing experiencing today.

-Life has many chapters

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average person changes jobs 12 to 15 times throughout their lifetime.

What you did for work at 20 Is probably different from what you did at 30, and at 40, and now at 50 or 60 or older what you do for work may also be different.

Happiness in your job is as much an attitude as in the work itself.

-Maybe it is time for a reboot

Reevaluate your skills and see what you bring to the table today. Your older and have done more things than when you were younger.

Making money is about exchange, discover what skills do you have that are exchangeable?

-Be Flexible and don’t be afraid to think outside of the box

Working at home, starting your own small business, freelancing or having multiple sources of part time incomes are some great possible options.

There many websites online that offer work that is different from the typical 9-5 job that may be just right for your next chapter in your career.

Some of the top sites that focus on Freelancing jobs include:

Upwork.com

Freelancer.com

Guru.com

There are also websites that are specifically geared for people 50 years or older who are looking for a new job:

RetiredBrains.com

RebootYou.com

BoomersNextStep.com

Workforce50.com

You can also network with family, friends, previous business associates, Church members or other groups you belong too.

The key is knowing what you are willing to do and what you have some skills in doing.

Who knows you may have several chapters in your career yet to be experienced.

You have graduated from College and with your diploma in hand you now seek that job dreamed of for years.

Then you discover that companies are only looking for people with experience.

So how do you get that experience?

One great option to is to get a job as an intern.

Thousands of companies hire interns to try them out short term to see if they are right long term.

Often students will even do an internship before they leave college over the summer.

That way you can show you have some experience in your field right when you graduate.

Sometimes it is paid and sometimes not, but either way it can be very valuable.

Where can you find available internships?

You can use the more common job sites like Indeed, Careerbuilder, Monster.com or Linkedin and just search with words Intern or Internship and the chosen field you are interested in.

You can also use more specialized sites like:

Idealist.org https://www.idealist.org/en/?type=ALL

Idealist.org is a site to find positions as an intern or volunteer, or at a non-profit.

Absolute Internship  https://absoluteinternship.com/

Absolute Internship is a site for those who may be looking to travel to other countries for an internship.

Internship Programs  http://www.internshipprograms.com/

Internship Programs is essentially a landing page of internship openings from anywhere.

Way Up https://www.wayup.com/

Way Up is a site that focuses on jobs for newly graduated or current students.

Another way to find an internship is through your own Network.

Your friends, family, church or social networks. By saying “hey I am looking for an internship” you basically saying I am looking to work for free or for less than people you usually hire to get some experience.

Now that is a pretty compelling offer to someone who may need help but doesn’t have a budget to hire someone fulltime or Long-term.

Here are a few pieces of advice I would suggest to you in your internship search.

-Be flexible. Just as the ultimate job may not be readily available, the ultimate internship may not either. If Google is not available, then maybe doing Marketing for a chain of Grocery stores is.

-Treat an internship search as a job search. Put together a strategy, write a good resume, practice interviewing. Do all the things you would do if you were looking for a Career Job. Intern at looking for a job, the practice will do you good.

-Remember why you are looking for an internship, for experience. You took different classes in college to discover what career you wanted. You have dated different people to find the person you want to marry. Treat internships the same way, don’t be too afraid to make a mistake.

You never know that summer internship you took just to get some experience, could turn into the career job of your dreams!

When I was working as a headhunter one of the key questions I would ask an employer when taking a job order was what is the “Road Map” or “Career Path” of this role?

If my candidate takes this role when can they be considered for promotion?

What are the next steps in the role? What opportunities will he have in 1,2,3,5 or even 10 years down the road.

If you are interviewing for a position, this is a question you need to ask.

I have asked these questions to hiring managers when taking a job order with extremely varying answers.

Sometimes they spell it out very well.

“The reason this position has become available is that we promoted the person who was in it to manager and if he does well he can be promoted to Assistant Director and then Director.”

If you do well you could be a manager in a couple of years and on the same career path”

Sometimes it is not spelled out so well.

You ask: “what is the Career Path of this role?”

And the answer you receive is: “ I have several programmers who work for us and some have been with us for 20 years. This is a very stable company with lots of opportunities.”

What they are basically saying is there is no career path in this role. Which may be fine for maybe you are not looking for one. You have a skill, and you like doing it and do not see yourself as a Manager or a Director or Vice President someday.

But is you do aspire for a career path that moves you up to higher and higher levels in your career, somewhere in the interviewing process you need to ask “what is the career path of the job”.

What if you are already in a job and wondering what it will take to be promoted or to move to that next step and what the long-term future for you is at this company?

The first thing to do is take a personal assessment of what your career goals are.

Do I want to be a Manager, or Director or Vice President, or President or CEO

And if so does the company I work for have that possibility.

Here is what I would do.

Write down what your current job is. Title and duties or what you do.

Then write up what job you hope to be doing in 1 year. Also with a Title and duties.

Then 2 years, and 5 years and even 10 years.

Now evaluate the current company you are in and see if you can see yourself doing these roles 1, 2, 3,5 and 10 years down the road.

If not it’s OK. Maybe the opportunity in this company will only get you to Manager and after 3 years that will be as far as you go.

Does that mean you need to immediately start looking for a new position?

Not necessarily, but it does mean if you hope to move up the corporate ladder within 3 years you will need to find another role.

But at least now you have a plan and a Career Path and Roadmap on how to get there!