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A digital marketing tactic that continues to see success in 2019 is opt-in sales lead generation funnels.
Lead generation funnels are great for two massive reasons:
- You get a direct line to people via their email address. This means you can reach them cheaply without depending on the Google and Facebook algorithms to show your message to people.
- You can track nearly all actions, meaning it’s possible to see and report on conversions and understand the effectiveness of the initiative.
What are lead generation funnels?
Lead generation funnels are basically a combination of digital marketing posts/ads/emails that lead users to a single page (known as a squeeze page), which uses hard working copy and design elements to encourage visitors to provide a name and working email address in exchange for a free guide/webinar/sample/download (this incentive is called a ‘lead magnet’).
They’re called a funnel because, over time, they keep moving potential clients closer to a transaction with your business following the classic AIDA principle of Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
Once a visitor provides their details, they are given access to the promised guide or event and added to an automated email campaign. That campaign starts sending emails at set times – all designed to warm a potential client up for a sale. They can be very simple or super complex (where the actions you take on links in an email impact what email you will receive next). They can also be super annoying, so getting the balance right takes a bit of planning! A lot of the complexity comes down to your CRM (if you have one) and the outcome you are looking to achieve.
All of the emails are really driving your recipient towards doing something about your business by visiting your sales landing page or reaching out to someone in your company directly. The sales landing page is much longer than the squeeze page, and provides more detailed information designed solely to encourage the visitor to commit to something (like a face-to-face meeting at 4pm on Thursday).
All of these things work together to inform your audience, but also to qualify their level of interest. People who jump from the emails to the sales page AND complete all the information have taken themselves from a warm lead to a hot lead, which means your sales team can act with confidence.
How do you use them?
If you’re a service business (maybe like McGirvanmedia, long-time friends of Wyatt Media and the provider of messages on hold to companies like Qantas, Bupa and Aussies Home Loans), your lead magnet may be free things like ‘Guide to preparing your business for messages on hold’, ‘How the right messages on hold solution can increase sales’ or ‘Getting the balance right: How to combine real people and pre-recorded messages on business phone systems for great client experience’.
The best thing about a funnel is you’ve probably got a number of useful articles you’ve published already that you can repurpose into something downloadable like a guide.
Another option is to let people see and talk to you via an online seminar before they commit to a face-to-face demo or sales meeting.
Online seminars – known as webinars – are a fantastic way to educate an interested audience and establish trust as a subject matter expert in your field. For someone like our client Restore Function (a physiotherapist in Greenslopes), Miranda and her team could use a web cam and host an online session for runners wanting to prepare for a marathon, showing the best exercises and stretches to do before and after training, plus warning signs to look out for. They could then field questions from the participants.
Afterwards, an email could go out with a code offering a 10% discount for new clients to come in and get a personalised program developed. Which they would be GREAT at because that’s what they already do for the ladies at the AFLW Brisbane Lions. In looking at their sales, they may instead decide to target HR managers in Brisbane companies, and run a webinar on reducing back and neck pain for people working at desks and screens all day, followed up by a corporate discount for staff choosing to see Restore Function.
Similarly, another recent client, Jones Mitchell Family Lawyers (on the Gold Coast) could run a webinar for people considering getting divorced, where they get to hear real family lawyers talk about what to expect when they’re getting divorced from the comfort and security of their home.
Once you’ve got all that sorted, it’s time to start the automated emails and start steering your audience to the sales page – smart and on-brand copywriting gets you a long way here.
In the case of McGirvanmedia, the emails could send people to the existing sales landing page, which is a clever offer for a free demo recording. For a few more details, a potential client can hear how a custom messages on hold solution could work for their company, and McGirvanmedia know that they have a hot lead. Restore Function and Jones Mitchell both send people to a booking page.
How do you get people to enter your lead generation funnel?
To get people to your funnel, you can advertise on Google and Facebook, but I’d also suggest incentivising your existing contact and clients to tell other people about it through a promotion.
For example, you can say you will draw a random winner of an exciting prize (perhaps a smart watch for the physio session I just used as an example) from the people who like your Facebook page, share your promotion post and tag three friends in it. Or maybe email your mailing list as well using a tool like Mailchimp (which is what this email was sent out with).
A big part of getting people into your funnel is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which can attract people to your squeeze and sales pages just through searches they’re doing.
It’s a big topic and there is a lot more to say about it, but I hope this issue has given you something to think about. If you’d like to talk about it further or investigate how to implement successful sales funnels in your business, Wyatt Media can help.
Simply complete this briefing form (https://forms.gle/dkEVQjXecsYVjc9U9) and we will be in touch.
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