Guest Post by Lead Generation Specialist Lauren Johnson
Content marketing drives free traffic to this website everyday. Michael Brenner posts new blog articles consistently 2-3 times per week and generates a couple thousand visitors every day – nearly a million page views every year.
But what happens once Marketing Insider Group gets that traffic? How does Michael convert them from a website visitor to an engaged lead?
The answer: Lead generation funnels.
These days everyone wants a high-converting sales funnel. And rightfully so. It can automate your lead and sales process. You can capture leads, sell products, schedule appointments, host webinars – all in an online funnel.
But, that’s easier said than done. It’s more than just adding a form to a page and expecting someone to fill it out. To create a high converting funnel, you need a strategy focused on building trust. In many ways, it’s almost like dating or starting a new friendship.
Imagine asking a complete stranger for their email address. First, you’d need to consider if you even want this stranger’s email address. Are they your ideal client? Secondly, what will you give them in exchange for their real email?
Once you have the strategy, then you can start building and capturing leads. But there are a few steps you need to take along the way. In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned as a lead generation specialist for Marketing Insider Group and many of our clients.
1. Avoid Getting a Fake Email Address
In sales and marketing, there’s nothing worse than getting a fake email address. It hurts your email reputation, wastes your time, and make you zero dollars.
When coming up with a funnel strategy, you need to come up with an attractive and compelling offer for your opt-in page. Your offer should deliver something of value.
You’ll want your lead to give you their real email address in return for what you are promising them. It’s a part of the process of building trust early on in the relationship.
Here are some ideas to capture an email address: give them a free guide, tool, workbook or training. Whatever you choose, make sure it packed full of value.
For Michael, we use a combination of different lead magnets such as his ROI Formula Cheatsheet, Ultimate Content Marketing Guide, and Employee Activation Guide.
I recommend creating a variety of offers for different audiences and levels of experience.
2. Don’t Just Say Thank You
Once you’ve captured the lead and have acquired a real email address, your next goal is to keep the conversation going. In other words, don’t just have a basic “Thank You” page in the next step of the funnel.
Use this page to reveal even more about your business or services. Continue to provide solutions to a problem they may be facing — without being too overbearing.
Your end goal is to keep their attention while you still have it. You can sell a product here, ask them to set up a consultation call or take a quiz to learn more about their underlying problems.
Here are a few tips to help you:
- Use the headline copy to make your point. You only have a few seconds. Choose your words wisely and avoid small talk.
- Consider using a video to make your point. Not everyone likes to read. Some would much prefer to watch and listen.
- Begin to define the expectations of your relationship. How will you improve their business, solve a problem, or make an impact?
Continue this process with every step of your funnel. There’s no magic number of the number of pages your funnel needs to be. Just keep in mind that if you want to see conversions then every page in your funnel should be solution-based.
Avoid using technical terms or listing out features on the page. Instead, focus on the benefits of the service or product using stories or real-life examples to sell your product. It’s always a good idea to include testimonials too. This shows social proof and may help your lead take the next step in the funnel. Another idea is to consider adding a money-back or satisfaction guarantee.
A successful funnel thinks of every objection a customer may have and overcomes these objections with copy, images, and smart sales tactics.
They are a number of easy-to-use page builders you can use to build online sales funnels. Some of the popular ones include Clickfunnels, Leadpages, and Kajabi.
These programs make it easy for even a non-tech savvy to build an entire sales funnel in just a few hours.
3. Follow Up with an Email
Once you have your lead generation funnel built, don’t forget about email marketing.
When you get an email address, don’t abuse your privilege. Don’t send too many emails and overload their inbox. And, don’t only send emails asking for a sale.
Emails are your chance to “wine and dine” your lead. Tell them stories about yourself or your business, share tips or secrets they can use, or invite them to a free webinar. Continue to showcase your expertise through emails.
You can still email your leads promotions and offers. In fact, they may be more willing to become a customer after they’ve gotten to you know via email. But if you only send them emails, asking them to pull out their wallets, then they’re likely to unsubscribe from your mailing list. And once they unsubscribe from, your chances are slim to none for turning them into a customer.
Emails are also a great way to gauge your lead’s engagement level. Leads that open and click your emails are your most engaged levels and have a higher chance of converting to a sale.
Leads that do not open or click your emails have probably lost interest and moved on. It’s okay to keep emailing every now and then, but avoid emailing them daily.
Sales funnels are a great way to turn your website visitors into engaged leads. And when paired with an effective content marketing strategy, they can be used to increase your sales and grow your business.
About the Author:
Lauren Johnson is a digital marketing expert specializing in content strategy, email marketing, and online sales funnels. She’s a Two-Comma Clickfunnels award-winner and founder of Messy Creative Consulting. To learn more about her services, visit MessyCreative.com, or follow her on Linkedin.
