“Lazy business owners have unpredictable cash flow!”
~ Debra Hilton
Debra: Here’s your strategic marketing overview. This is what we’ll build and automate in the next 6 months.
New Client: That looks like a lot of work… I mean, I don’t have most of that stuff.
Debra: I know, that’s why your pipeline is half full and your cash flow varies. It’s why you’re talking to me in the first place. You do want to solve this problem, don’t you?
New Client: Yes. But, do I really have to do all that?
Divide and Conquer… Not Just for Politicians and Military Strategists
Most businesses make the mistake of putting all their products and services in a single place (website) even though they serve quite different markets. The argument for this goes something like:
“If you go to the supermarket to buy strawberries and see the blueberries and blackberries next to them you might decide to buy them as well
=>
If customers come to me to refinance their mortgage they might be interest in my money management and wealth creation portfolio as well.”
It makes sense… it even fits in with the idea of educating your customers and clients about your total product suite… BUT it creates a problem for you. Instead of working with customers who have already decided to solve that problem, you need to spend your time educating them and convincing them a. that it is a problem; and b. that their life will be better if they solve it.
However, if you create separate entry points for each type of customer and for each set of products you will be talking to people who already care about solving that problem so your sales cycle will be shorter and people who approach you are ready to buy, which virtually eliminates your need to sell.
This may mean separate websites with their own colours, messaging, and funnels. It means thinking more about communication with your ideal prospects than about ‘branding’. Does it take work to set up? Yes, it does, but that work pays off in a remarkably short time by attracting larger quantities of highly qualified customers and knowing exactly what they want from you.
Magnetic Lead Magnets Attract Your Ideal Customers
You need to do a certain amount of preparation before you decide what your most effective Lead Magnet might be and many business owners are afraid of getting this wrong and wasting their investment. In fact, unless you have no clue about your target audience’s problems, challenges, and desired outcomes (in which case you probably shouldn’t be selling to them anyway) your Lead Magnet will not be wasted.
Many property investors would love to know how to create $100,000 cash flow in 10 years; others want to know how to reduce their property management fees; or what type of property they should buy… One lead magnet won’t necessarily attract all your potential customers, but it will attract some of them… the ones who are concerned about the specific problem you discuss.
Before You Create Your Lead Magnet…
Think of ONE particular product or service you offer. Focus on that ONE THING and ignore everything else. You need to identify…
- Your target prospect for this item;
- The 3 biggest problems your ideal prospect faces in this area;
- The 3 reasons or excuses that hold them back from solving the problem;
- The transformation your prospect longs to achieve… and would, if they could only solve this problem;
- What format will appeal to them most? (checklist, report, infographic, video, quiz, assessment, audio etc. – you might experiment with different formats)
Easy Lead Magnet Creation
Your lead magnet doesn’t have to be fancy. It does need to show your prospects that your solution works. This may take visuals (images, infographics, graphs) or it may not. You need to ask the question: How can I best communicate my message to this particular audience? It’s not about what looks ‘pretty’.
So, armed with the answers to the questions in the previous section, here’s what you do:
- Paint the picture of life inside the problem (your prospect’s life right now) as darkly and horrifyingly as you can so that they can really feel how much they need to solve it;
- Talk about why they believe they can’t change the situation and how that is holding them back;
- Share 3 teaching pieces (could be solution or mindset oriented) and give each a unique name;
- In each teaching piece include a heart-felt customer story that shows how the problem was affecting them, how they felt trapped, and how their life was changed by that particular piece of teaching;
- Paint the picture of life without ‘the problem’ as gloriously as possible;
- Give your Lead Magnet a unique catchy title.
Your lead magnet doesn’t have to be long. The most effective lead magnet I’m working with right now is a 5-question quiz with a ‘customised’ 2-page report based on their answers. It’s converting cold audiences at around 32% and delivering very high quality prospects. The second highest converting lead magnet is a simple, rather ugly, report that is delivered as a PDF and as an audio file.
If you’re in Melbourne, why not visit our Magnetic Marketing Mastermind which meets monthly in Box Hill. To learn more and sign up for notifications visit https://memg.com.au