| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
Effective Lead Generation
How to Gain your Prospective Clients' Attention and Generate the Leads You Need to Make Your Business a Success If you've ever tried to get a child who is engrossed in their favorite video to do another task you know you must first get their attention. Often the best way to do this is to use their name so they realize you are speaking directly to them. The process of effective lead generation requires that we communicate with many prospective clients at one time. Before we can communicate with them we must first get their attention. And our prospective clients must each feel we are talking directly to them. Getting a prospective client's attention is not an easy task, especially given the hundreds of thousands of other products and services that are also competing for their attention. Like the mother who has learned to "tune-out" her kids bickering in the back-seat while she is trying to drive, our prospects have learned to tune out all the promotional clutter that bombards them daily. Here is a four step process to gain your prospects' attention and help generate the leads you need to make your business a success. 1. Define Your Target Market: To gain prospective clients' attention you must understand their biggest problems and greatest desires. This requires really knowing your target market. And in order to know your target market you must first define that market. What is the profile of your ideal client? Many people resist defining an ideal client. However unless you know specifically who you want to talk to, your promotional efforts will fall on deaf ears. Not having a defined target for your marketing communications is like yelling into a room full of kids watching TV, "Will someone please take out the trash?" They will all assume you are talking to someone else. The odds of actually having the trash taken out increase significantly when you say, "Bobby, will you please take the trash out now?" 2. Identify Problems and Desires: In conversations with current clients or prospective clients that fit the profile of your ideal client, what are the "themes" that continue to surface and which of these themes can you help with - a desire for a more fulfilling career; the ability to recapture romance in their relationships; a need to get spending under control and eliminate debt; a summer home on Nantucket; tools to better communicate with their teenage kids? The list is endless. The key is identifying the intersection of your target market's most pressing problems or desires and your greatest strengths. If you don't know and really understand the most pressing problems and deepest desires of your target market it's time to do some research. Get out and talk with people who meet the profile of your ideal client. Be really curious about them, ask questions. Find out what occupies their mind, what keeps them awake at night, what they dream of having, being or doing. You're not trying to sell at this stage you are only trying to get to know your target market better. 3. Start Where Your Prospects Currently Are: It is often tempting to paint a picture of a fabulous outcome without first clearly identifying the problem or desire. I used to do marketing for a psychiatric hospital that ran television advertising. The most effective ads were not those that showed happy, well adjusted kids playing on the playground - the outcome of treatment. The parents of kids with emotional issues did not relate to the images of these kids. We first had to show the child sitting all alone in the swing crying because no one wanted to play with him or her. This is what caught the attention of the parents of kids who needed treatment. Only after we captured their attention with an image they could relate to right then were we able to talk with them about the solution to the problem. Another very effective ad showed a woman sitting alone in the woods contemplating taking a handful of pills. Women thinking about taking their own lives related to that ad, they picked up the phone and called for help. Your first goal is to get a prospect to say, "Hey, that's me, that's my exact situation, that's the problem I'm facing right now. If they have helped others in that same situation maybe they can help me." 4. Talk Directly to Your Ideal Prospects: In a personalized letter or a one-on-one conversation you can address your prospect by name. However with promotional pieces such as brochures, flyers, direct mail or advertising this is not possible. In these instances direct response copywriter Alexi Neocleous suggests starting your ad, post card or letter with, "Attention (target market description)". For example, "Attention Renters"; "Attention Business Owners"; or "Attention Parents of Teenage Drivers". Another way of talking directly to your prospect is to ask a question regarding a problem or desire of your target market. For example, "Are you approaching retirement and concerned about what you'll do with all the free time on your hands?"; "Are you considering a career change?"; or "Are you so busy taking care of everyone else that you don't have time to take care of yourself?" The key to effectively capturing a prospective client's attention is to really understand the problems that keep them awake at night or the desires they dream of having met. People buy for two reasons: 1. To get problems solved, or Once you clearly understand the problems your prospects want solved and the desires they have you can utilize this information in your promotional materials to capture their attention and generate an ongoing stream of leads. © 2005 STRATEGIES-BY-DESIGN. Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a Dallas-based firm that helps businesses from independent professionals to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success by attracting leads and turning those leads into loyal customers. Strategies-by-Design provides a unique combination of consulting, coaching and training to help clients improve the return on their investment in marketing and promotional activities. For more information or to sign-up for their marketing tips newsletter, go to http://www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Use The Neglected Weapons In Your Marketing Arsenal Business marketers have a lot of weapons in their arsenals but they often overlook some very important ones. So, let's do a quick inventory. Direct Mail Still Works! Direct Mail CampaignsDespite the proliferation of communication facilitators--mobile phones, faxes, emails, PDAs--the mail still plays a vital role in successful marketing. Direct mail marketing continues to be one of the leading methods for effectively reaching prospective customers because it can be focused, predictable and economical. Fundraisers - How to Raise Twice the Money With Half the Sweat If your members, parents or donors wear clothes, watch t.v. Real Estate Investing - Writing Killer Postcards to Attract Motivated Sellers! So many of you have been telling us that you're ready to get started investing, but "you can't find any deals! and what are the steps and secrets to finding great deals?" Some of you have even written asking us if there still ARE any deals left? OF COURSE there are! We find them all the time. But you ain't gonna find them looking at for-sale ads in the paper, for-sale signs in the yard, or by concentrating solely on short sales, foreclosures, REOs and agent-listed properties. The M-Word It was a real eye-opener to hear the perceptions people have about what it means to market professional services, as well as the anxiety the "m-word" (marketing) conjures up. It reminded me that, just because professional service providers have a lot of expertise in their chosen field, it doesn't mean they have the same level of understanding about the business of growing a practice. The Most Powerful Marketing Strategy Available To Small Businesses Most small business owners want to generate huge profits, with little effort and in the least amount of time. If you fall into this category then joint venture marketing is the fastest, easiest and most profitable way to do that. Postcards: Awareness Tool or Selling Tool? Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?In my opinion, the answer to the above question is, "They can do both jobs. It depends on what type of business you're in. Keeping Pace with Business Marketing Today's business marketing rules are different than they were in years past. Those rules that once focused predominantly on local and regional business marketing have now gone global, thanks in large part to the creation of the Internet. How Can I Get Name Recognition? Some of the ways in which to get your "name out there" are to call your local television and radio stations, and ascertain whether there is a medium you can get your name in. A very good source are public stations that hold auctions, at which you can donate your services. Value Proposition is the Key to Success Value proposition is treated as the standards or service that the organization is planning to offer or deliver to targeted group of customers with the help of some effective strategic planning.In today's multifaceted technologically driven and extreme competitive business atmosphere, the ability to successfully run your business and to have precise and timely insight into the business performance through value proposition, is the key to success. Insiders Secret to Selling Mailing Lists If you've got a mailing list of at least a thousand names or more, you're sitting on a gold mine. All it takes is for you to get the word out that you've got a mailing list for rent, at a competitive price, and you should be home free!First of all, you've got to have a bonafide list of customers - a list of names of people that have responded to an ad or bought from you. Why Trying to Get the Appointment Can be a Recipe for Dis-Appoinment Why Trying to "Get the Appointment" Can be a Recipe for Dis-AppoinmentLast week, this e-mail from Jack arrived in my inbox:To: Ari GalperFrom: JackSubj.: Help! I need to get more appointments Dear Ari,I've just coined a new disease for the medical books,and I'm hoping you can help me cure it. The Anatomy of Hype On a copywriting board I frequent, someone expressedbafflement that several respected marketers criticized thetone of a sales page he wrote. "Why did they apologize to their subscribers while linking to my pitch? This approachsells," he said. No One Gives A Damn About Your Business. Unless You Give em A Reason To The good news is that there are thousands of people looking for what you offer. The bad news is that those people are extremely tough to attract not to mention that your very livelihood depends on it. Perceived Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder Q: My partner and I are having a hard time coming up with what we feel is the perfect price for our new product. We know what competing products sell for, but we don't know if it's better to price our product cheaper than theirs or charge more based on what we think is a superior product. Direct Marketing Puts Information In The Buyer's Hands Direct marketing is advertising from a manufacturer or front-end supplier directed to the ultimate consumer of a product or service. Another way of looking at direct marketing is selling to a consumer directly, whether is from a printed magazine campaign, TV or radio spot, or from a direct mail package. The 10 Cornerstone Principles of Marketing There are four parts to a marketing system and they rest on ten cornerstones. Marketing results are only as powerful as your marketing systems. Testimonials - FREE Quality Advertising FOR YOU! Every business person who has any kind of product or service, and the merest beginning of marketing sense, invites TESTIMONIALS. These might be called "reviews" or "peer reviews" or "customer comments" but they are all testimonials - a third party endorsement as to the merits of a product which helps another potential customer decide whether they wish to engage with this product or service. Marketing On The Cheap: Become a Joiner Recently I wrote an article on the benefits of joining your local Chamber of Commerce as a way of getting exposure for your business. See "Marketing on the Cheap: Join The What?" at this source or at http://sbmag. Marketing Lessons from Santa If a nonexistent man can change the world and millions of people with a message of joy then his marketing plan surely works. Right? Then what has Santa been doing right all these years that we can learn from? Santa's message is short--joy.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
