Are you aware that almost 90% of your real website traffic likely wants something similar to what you offer, but after visiting your site, goes away, unconvinced? Would you like to know how to make a simple offering (a ‘lead magnet’) and get people jumping onto your email list?
Not only that, how about keeping them happy and marketing to them in future? Sound good?
Marketing takes a lot of time to build relationships and trust. Sometimes we find ourselves without that time or we just cannot talk to everyone visiting our site. So filtering leads and building relationships on automatic pilot becomes a priority. Plus, content marketing and email marketing are scalable. Firstly though, what do you have to offer online?
Help Others Relate to You… Building Value
Do you think that if people have 21 chances to see your value, they would be more likely to buy? Why only give them one chance then? If you have a regular website, it’s likely that you’re paying for leads to come and see only a superficial part of your specific, hard-earned knowledge. Some only stay for 30 seconds.
So how do you build your prospect list and warm them to you? Well, let’s use an example to explain. Jim is a CRM consultant with many useful services, knowledge of the technology and how it is used. But on Jim’s website, we only see the bare basics of what Jim can offer (his services) – the tip of the iceberg.
At the moment, prospects aren’t going to his website in droves and if they do, most are unsure so they flit off to check out others. It talks at the reader and pretends Jim’s is a large company… this is the first thing to modify. But I digress. He wants to build and warm up cold leads, while he’s busy doing his consulting, so he hires a copywriter to write a lead magnet… also called a subscriber report or white paper.
What is a Lead Magnet?
Basically, it is educational information – getting down to what’s most important to your prospects – which you give away in order to get a new lead. It can be in the form of a one-page list of tools and apps your clients could love using, once you explain. It could be a video showing how you get more advertising leads for less, or it could be a free book. It MUST be something of value that they have not already seen ten times already.
Now he knows about lead magnets, Jim is going to get started with explaining how full CRMs solve real business problems and then comparing his system with other inferior solutions (with a writer’s help). This allows Jim to start relating to the reader at their level, rather than at his. And, if the bait piece uses a neutral voice and no sales pitch, the benefits of this new ‘system’ or ‘product type’ sound genuine and helpful. After all, we are educating consumers, not selling to them. And in a subtle way, we are also meeting common objections, like evidence of return on investment.
What kind of knowledge or specific experience do you have that your prospects don’t yet have any inkling of? Do you think that if they knew, they would begin thinking, “yeah, I have a similar problem and it sounds like these people can help me with it.” Bingo, a new warm lead!
What is Content Marketing?
While lead magnets and offers are something used to build up an email list, Content Marketing relates to many types of content. However many you choose to create, well-crafted educational materials serve to confirm you as a ‘thought leader’… (as I’ve explained in my 2016 book (ed.2), Power Marketing).
Your blog, report, book, white paper, podcast, webinar or video series connects directly to the needs and interests of your potential clients. As a result:
- Prospects, normally quite skeptical, start to understand what you can do for them…
- Many of these prospects show interest and seek more information from you…
- Prospects tend to buy your services with little resistance on follow-up…
- Once satisfied, they refer you more readily to their friends and associates.
For many businesses, from large companies down to smaller consultants, a content marketing system works better than regular advertising for generating new highly targeted leads. If you do it right, of course!
“Creating and disseminating content related to your product or industry is a proven technique for establishing yourself as a thought leader in your field or niche.” – Bob Bly, B2B Marketing Handbook
Having trouble with creating your lead generation offer? Please find our lead magnet writing solutions here.
This is an extract from my free report ‘How to Build a Prospect List with Content Marketing’, 2012. (I have been writing lead magnets and ebooks since 2009).
