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Capture - Because You Can't Have A Conversation With A Crowd

Posted by Richard Bueckert on Oct 27, 2022 8:15:00 AM

Imagine you walk into a busy train station carrying a small stool during the morning rush hour and wearing a T-shirt with your business name on the front and a list of your products and services on the back. You stop in the middle of the rotunda, place the stool on the floor, stand on it and hold up a brochure about your business's product or service.  The number of people that are going to come up and talk to you is pretty much zero.

 

You might be thinking - "Sure, but that's not a real-world example of what business owners are doing to promote their businesses. And that is true but it is an accurate metaphor for what they ARE actually doing - which is:

 

  • They decide to market using a media with large amounts of traffic like Google or    Facebook. This is the digital equivalent of standing in the rotunda.
  • Next, they create ads about their product or service that pronounce    "Houston's Best Hot Tubs", "Toronto's Largest Hyundai Dealer", or "Wichita    Divorce Attorney" - This is the T-shirt.
  •  In the unlikely event that the prospect clicks the Google or Facebook ad,    you're taken to the company's home page on the website. And, you guessed it, this is the brochure.
  •  So they poke around for a few seconds, do not immediately see anything that    addresses their "pain" and then they leave.
  •  PRO TIP - they'll never sign up for your newsletter either.

 

This is what most business owners try to do with their advertising. They use Google ads, social media, radio, newspapers, and numerous other media to do nothing but shout out "buy my  widget". And like the idea of standing on the stool, nothing sells.

 

So what is the alternative?

 

Instead of the previous example of standing in the middle of a large crowd and hoping (FYI - "HOPE" is not a viable marketing strategy), create a marketing message that ATTRACTS the exact person you want (your Avatar) and REPELS everyone else.

 

Here's what I mean:

 

  • Imagine the same scenario except this time, you stand on the stool and yell out "ATTENTION BRIDES-TO-BE!!" Obviously, everyone who is NOT a bride-to-be will continue to ignore you but you will absolutely have the attention of any woman getting married in the not-too-distant future.
  • Now that you have their attention you shout - "I have 20 copies of "The 5 Planning Mistakes Brides Make That Will Turn A Beautiful Wedding Into A Horrific Nightmare! First Come, First Served and they are FREE!" This replaces the useless T-shirt and will cause brides-to-be to RUN to you to claim their free copy. (If you happen to be in a room full of brides, this will actually cause a stampede!)
  • [CRITICAL] The guide (market report / case study / etc) needs to be valuable and informative but should not give them all the information. Instead, it should include several places where the prospect can call in / go online / text message you and request more detail IN EXCHANGE FOR THEIR NAME, EMAIL, AND PHONE NUMBER. 

 

Because once you have their attention, have gotten them to request more information and have received their contact information; you can begin following up and moving closer and closer to them becoming a paying customer, patient, or client.

 

The first thing you need to do is determine what the FUBU is for your prospect. FUBU is an acronym for:

 

 * Fear

 * Uncertainty

 * Doubt

 * Urgency

 

Ideally, you would want to determine an instance for each of these. In the earlier example, we offered "I have 20 copies of "The 5 Planning Mistakes Brides Make That Will Turn A Beautiful Wedding Into A Horrific Nightmare! First Come, First Served and they are FREE!"

 

Fear is the most obvious. No bride wants their wedding to become a nightmare. Urgency is created with "20 copies, first come first served". Uncertainty and Doubt are a little more subtle with the assertion that there may be things about the wedding the bride may have overlooked or there may be pitfalls they could have inadvertently created.

 

Next, once you have identified the FUBU, you go about creating the assets (called Lead Magnets) that your prospect could be interested in. Please note, it is "assets", not "asset". Your lead magnets are like fishing lures. When you are out fishing, the fish may not bite the yellow lure. You may need to switch to the red lure. If they still don't bite, you switch to the shiny chrome lure. The "bite" occurs when they give you their contact information in exchange for the "lure" (the lead magnet) you just presented to them.

 

PRO TIP: Having only one (or zero) lead magnets is one of the biggest mistakes many business owners make.

 

Last, every lead magnet is written to do TWO important tasks.

 

  1. Your lead magnet needs to provide valuable information that your prospect can use to improve their situation and…
  2. Your lead magnet must be copywritten in a way that positions your product or service as "the only logical choice" and should utilize several different additional offers to move your prospect ever closer to becoming your new paying client.

 

Successful owners of established businesses tend to dismiss this as "too much work", "too expensive" or "we've been in business for 20 years and have never needed to do anything like this." We can agree that all three of those statements are true. 

 

Creating multiple, well-crafted lead magnets is not easy, will require a considerable investment in time and/or money and will most likely require you to hire a professional copywriter. And businesses that have been successful in the past without a lead magnet can - at least for a while longer - operate without creating a system to capture prospect information earlier in the sales process.

 

These businesses are relying on their past successes to carry them into the future but unfortunately, the future continues to evolve. 20 years ago, Google was still immature and getting lots of useful information about different products, services, and options was pretty hit-and-miss. No longer. Google is an information behemoth with access to millions of data points about your niche, products, and services. Facebook would not exist for another 2 years and Twitter would not appear until 2 years after that.

 

In contrast, look at businesses and individuals that embraced the changes in information dissemination and where they have gone in the market. Dr. Oz, Elon Musk, Tesla, and Amazon are all household names. Sure, they are multinational and you may dismiss them because you're "just a local business" but not too long ago they were all just "local businesses" too. Amazon started in Jeff Bezos' Bellevue WA garage in 1994.

 

These companies and individuals all grew because they found a way to continually stay in front of their prospects and kept delivering "Hey! Here's what's new!" messaging. Capturing your prospect's contact info is the easiest and fastest way to do that.

 

Starting this is not as hard as you might think. First, sign up to get our weekly "how to" emails HERE. Or, if you think you may want "hands-on" help, find out if we could be a good fit for you by scheduling a complimentary 15-minute call HERE

Topics: avatar, target marketing, eLaunchers Traffic System

 parthiv shah

 

Are you one of the 99% of small businesses who are spending money on marketing but unhappy with results & ROI?

I can help you establish controls and measurements so you can know, understand and MEASURE what is working and what is not working in real time. In one hour I will help you identify your KPI (Key Performance Indicators) and connect all your digital marketing assets (website, social media, finance) to a digital dashboard and a mobile app so you can track and measure everything going forward in real time.

 

 

 

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