Marketing Has Only Two Steps
Posted on July 9th, 2009
The lifeblood of a marketing machine are leads. Creating a two step lead machine will let you save almost everything from time, energy, to money yet allow you to generate all the qualified and permission-based leads from your customers.
Creating a free information product that your prospected target market will perceive as a valuable read or listen is the basic idea behind the two step approach. The free information product can be in the form of evaluation, checklist, newsletter or workshop. Its title should be catchy and should have a relation with your business.
STEP ONE- Let the Report Sell for you
With the value-packed information product ready, each advertising media whether it is through magazine ads, business cards, letterheads, e-mail signatures, direct mail, website, yellow pages or others, should focus on making targeted clients to request, download or pick up the report. Doing anything else with the advertising is not necessary; allow the report to work for you.
This type of tactic is found to be effective for startups for several reasons.
1. Without sharing your entire story, it allows you to draw interest from your clients
2. Your expertise can be demonstrated in a non-threatening way- your relationship with your client can begin if they take time to read and understand your report, while overcoming the fear of being sold to.
STEP TWO- Follow up with an appointment or do series of more advance mailing
Hot leads are prospects who have requested your free information. The hardest part of the sales is identifying the prospects who are interested in your business. The prospects who are visiting your website are like volunteering to be part of your prospects. All you have to do is to obtain contact information of these people and concentrating your effort on taking them and only on them, to the next step of the process.
Free reports might as well include:
Referrals- Newsletter, free report or web page can make it easier for your sources to impart your story to others and introduce your business.
Cold calling- Cold calling is indeed should never be done, but if ever a need to do this comes, remember that it should only be done by calling the prospects on your list and simply offer them address where to find your power-packed free info instead of persuading them to spare you five minutes of their time. That simple! Yet you will have a more productive prospecting time!
