When Content Isn't Enough: Flushing Out Quality Leads

When we begin the conversation of how to use your marketing materials to find and flush out quality leads, the following question will typically come up:

What's your content marketing and search engine optimization process?

in which case we will typically respond:

If you primarily find quality leads through your referral sources and face to face connections, why would you spend all your time and energy sourcing leads online?

Does that mean we don't use ANY analytics, content or SEO as part of our leads generation process?

Of course not.

But it DOES mean we use them with total intent and purpose.

Here's one example of how we do that.

A. Choose an already-planned event where you know your prospects will be.

Our food flavors company sells primarily to larger food groups and makes their primary connections through the annual and quarterly food tradeshows.

(Knowing this, that DOES NOT make them a prime candidate for implementing a full blown online strategy with the expectation that many great quality leads will come of it.)

Our client was about to attend the LARGEST show of the year.

B. Create a strategy of the BEFORE, DURING and AFTER touch points that will help your prospect self-identify their genuine interest and help you generate the next step.

In this case, our food flavors client knew they had 3 types of folks they were dealing with:

TIER I The Timewaster. Who feigns interest and wastes your time, with no intent to ever become your client.

TIER II The Fencesitter. Who may very well become your client if you can make it easy for them to do so.

TIER III The VIP. Who may already be a past or present client, is serious about engaging you, and genuinely wants (and deserves) most of your time.

BEFORE

1. Determine your 30-Second Story and feature your spotlight offering (in this case their menu and speakers) through series of blasts, direct mail (that includes a QR code), social media and personal invitations -- depending upon which Tier group will determine which touch point they get.

2. Plan your Gifting according to each Tier group and incorporate QR codes to encourage online next step.

3. Personally invite your VIPs through LinkedIn and phone calls to a special experience -- in this case they all got to spend dinner with the speaker.

DURING

1. Incorporate your 30-Second Story by featuring your team and experts NOT just on a professional level, but on a personal one as well on your event landing page.

2. Use eblasts with photos and videos, in combination with social media posts, to your advantage to serve as your prospect's connection away from their personal interaction with you.

3. Have your 30-Second Presentation and Appointment Sign up sheet on hand in tablet format for your face to face

4. Utilize landing pages and offer FREE TIPS as a final touch point and way to capture contact information and interest (and repurpose future content based upon analytics!!)