This past week over on the Fusion One Marketing blog we’re talking about lead qualification. You may find yourself asking, what is a qualified lead or how you would go about qualifying one. Well, we’re answering all your questions! Lead qualification helps make sure the leads you attract through your marketing campaigns and other ads are those who are most likely to fulfill your business goals. Qualified traffic to your website is more likely to take the actions you’re wanting them to, and qualified leads are most likely to make purchases from your business. Qualifying your leads is important because it helps you make sure your marketing money and energy are being put toward their best use. You don’t want to be wasting time or money on people who have no interest in or ability to purchase your product or services. There is a simple acronym to help you when you’re qualifying leads: BANT. This stands for budget, authority, need, and timing. Below we’ll break down each of these. Budget: Can a potential customer afford your products/services. Authority: Are they the ultimate decision-maker? Need: What needs do they have and do these align with your product/services? Timing: In what time frame will they need a solution for their need? Each of these will help you get to know your target audience better and to get more conversions. As an added bonus, on the blog we’re also sharing 4 detailed ways to implement the information you learn from BANT to better target your campaigns:

1. Be specific in ad copy
2. Add price extensions to your Search ads
3. Optimize lead forms for quality, not quantity
4. Add more questions to lead forms

Head to the blog to learn more about implementing these strategies and what we mean by each of them! For our most recent episode of Marketing Mix, we’re continuing our discussion from last week about the latest updates rolling out from Google and the Google My Business platform. We’re sharing what’s changed, how it’s impacting small businesses, and how it will impact your business’ search engine optimization. We’re also sharing our opinions about the latest change. Now, Google is saying that they’re rebranding Google My Business as Google Business Profile. They’ll be phasing out their application for businesses with one location and allowing businesses to make changes directly through Google Search. Google is known for rolling out changes marketers just don’t understand. They say they’re rebranding to “keep things simple.” Honestly, though, another change only complicates things for businesses as they now must learn a new setup, yet again. There’s nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering about this update, so it really feels unnecessary. Either way, it’s happening, and the changes are something all businesses should be aware of. We’re getting right to the heart of it. Here are the major things that have changed:

• You can now edit and verify your business profile directly from the app.
• Businesses can make changes directly through Google Search and Google Maps.
• Now you can send and receive messages from customers in Google Profile.
• See your call history.

Whether or not you find the Google Profile updates helpful, it is important to know what changes to expect. It does impact businesses and each business will need to learn to adapt to keep their SEO in order. Fusion One Marketing is a full-service digital marketing company headquarters are in Birmingham, AL. Fusion One specializes in Local SEO, Social Media Marketing, Pay Per Click, and Website Designs. Fusion One Marketing was created in 2011 with its focus to help small and medium businesses navigate the digital marketing world. Our goal for businesses is simple “More Calls –More Businesses”. For any questions about this info or services we provide, please contact us for your Free Digital Consultation.