In this week's episode of "Inside the Mind", we talk about different Lead Generation Techniques.
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Hey what's up guys, welcome to Inside The Mind where we talk about Online Marketing Strategy, what it is, why it works, and why you should care.
In last week's episode, talked about How To value a Lead in response to by a subscriber question from David Garcia who said: (dream ripple, harp noise)
(insert David's question)
This week, we're going to answer the second half of David's question and talk about different lead generation techniques and give examples of lead campaigns that have a positive and negative ROI. And we've got some really fun stuff planned for this episode, so be sure to watch it all the way through.
There are a number of lead generation techniques out there, each one really deserving it's own episode. So for now, we'll do a brief overview of a few of my favorites, and when we go into more detail in future episodes, I'll be sure to link them so you can learn more. Sound good?
Good.
Before we get started, it's important to note, there are three things that are vital to any lead generation campaign
1. A written profile of your target prospect,
2. A list of suspects containing potential prospects,
3. A method of reaching your sales prospects.
Fortunately for you, we've covered prospect profiling in Episode 5, which you can find by going (Bam) right there.
Ok so let's jump right in. One of my favorite lead generation techniques is Guest Blogging because it allows you generate really great leads and raise your profile at the same time.
Using the tactics we talked about in episode 8, I've been able to write guest posts for a handful of popular blogs that have resulted in pretty sizable deals.
(screenshots of remarkablogger.com, problogger.com, and chrisbrogan.com)
The only real downside to guestblogging as a exclusive lead generation source is that you have to spend a ton of time getting to "know" the blogger's audience, and it can take time to build the relationship with the blogger.
For the long term, the time you spend learning the audience and building relationships is totally worth it though, and if you want to take a great course on how to get guest posts on A list blogs, I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend you take Jon Morrow's Guest Blogging Course, which you can find by going (bmew) right here.
My next favorite lead generation technique is Pay Per Click ads on Google.
Now the standard advice here is to target key phrases that you think your target market will be searching for, and send them to a landing page that addresses their concerns.
And while that is true, I want to take it a step further. My recommendation on top of the standard advice is to target competitive product names or creators (so long as you're not violating copyrights) and make your offer specifically for the people searching for that product.
Now, as tempting as it might be, you want to avoid doing things like this (Show Unbounce is Overpriced ad) because everyone does it, and it makes you look like a jerk.
Not only that, but it puts people in the wrong mindset. If you're saying X product is over priced, or Y product is a scam, you're putting people in the wrong frame of mind.
Instead say something like "Love Brand X? Then You'll really love this!" Does it get as many clicks as the other type of ad? No. But it repels many of the hype seekers and bargain hunters and attracts way more qualified buyers.
Do this with all of the competing products and competitors, and now every time they launch, you can benefit from the buzz they create for themselves.
Next, you'll see this one a lot, which are Webinars, teleseminars, and other live events.
This is a really effective way to generate leads, because you're demonstrating the solution to a problem your audience really wants to solve in a live environment.
With these types of events, it's really important to keep your pacing fluid, and to make sure you're not just jumping right into the pitch.
Many webinar and teleseminar veterans will say you want to spend quite a bit of time helping your audience get in tune with their problem, then offer the light at the end of the tunnel by way of the product.
It's also common for two or more people to team up on these types of calls to increase the perceived value, and to leverage each other's audience.
Ok one more, then we're moving on, and that is our old friend traditional TV and Radio advertising.
Yup.
(V.O over images of Match.com, Iheartradio.com Chemistry.com Carfax.comTravelocity)
Many websites have started taking the more traditional route to advertise their website.
Now many small and medium sized business owners might shy away at the idea of advertising on television because they believe it's going to cost a ton of money (money sack drops from sky)
But it's really worth looking into. Yes it's true that national spots can get very costly, but it's not unheard of for a local spot to cost $5 for 1,000 viewers, meaning you could expect to pay less than $100 per spot and even less for off-peak times.
For more information on Television advertising (Bmew) follow this link. http://www.gaebler.com/Television-Advertising-Costs.htm
But the two most important things to remember regardless of how you generate your leads
is that it's about the message not the medium AND you want to have a good offer to a good list.
(Little Tommy) But wait! What about the ROI?
Ah yes, Ok, so with Guest Blogging, I can only speak for myself.
(V.O) Back in August I wrote a guest post for remarkablogger.com titled "Why You'll Never Be Able To Increase Your Prices" which talked about the common issues solo business owners have with increasing their rates. It resulted in a 5 figure deal which was pretty cool. While the lead itself was free, I spent nearly 40 hours researching the archives of the blog and another 15 hours creating the piece.
Cool right? This was also the first guest post out of maybe 30 I had written that had done this. And the average time it takes for me to write an article is anywhere between 10-15 hours
So even if we were to do an average of 12 and a half hours per article times 30 articles, that means I spent over 375 hours to generate one 5 figure deal. And that doesn't even include the time spent researching, learning, networking, or any of the other aspects related to my business.
Would I trade it for anything? No of course not, and since taking theguestblogging.com course I've been able to gather leads more consistently off of guest posting. but I've learned that guest posting is only one of several methods I should be using to generate leads.
Next, Ppc. I'll be honest, I don't have any specific examples of a campaign with a negative ROI because it's so common. I hear on a regular basis something to the effect of "I tried Ppc and wasted a ton of money!"
The most common mistake people make is assuming Ppc is as simple as picking a handful of keywords, entering your credit card, and watch the money roll in. At one point this was not far from the truth, but no longer.
We're going to talk about PPC in more detail in the future, but for now keep these tips from searchenginewatch.com in mind.
1. Maximize your Quality Score
2. Bid on your brand's terms
3. Test your Ad copy
4. Track Conversions
and 5 Get comfortable with all aspects of the platform.
More often than not people skip over these 5 basic steps when jumping into PPC and because of that they can waste hundreds if not thousands of dollars because they didn't do their research ahead of time.
For an example of Positive ROI however, let's look at Blue Heron French Cheese Company.
In 2009 Blue Heron French Cheese, a local company out of Oregon, wanted to increase their gift basket sales online. Though the company had been in business for 30 years, they wanted to open up a new market and remove the physical limitations of being a "local" business.
After a redesign, and a targeted PPC campaign, the website has received a 55% increase in traffic year over year.
And Finally, here's a special "Inside The Mind" look at what a good offer to a bad list would look like using Television ads.
(Diaper Commercial For Men - Short Version)
Also, Dr Pepper made a bunch of people mad with their Dr. Pepper 10 campaign (look it up)
Alright that's all I've got for today's episode of "Inside The Mind" Thanks so much for watching.
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