Two step lead generation is a proven way to generate new clients for any business.
The main difference between a lead generation advertisement and a regular ad is that a lead generation ad is not designed to sell anything (and it can easily be modified for online advertising). It is aimed specifically at prospects. Good prospects. Its sole purpose is to generate leads. It works like this.
Here’s how it works:
First, you run the ad in the newspaper, magazine, or trade journal (or online). The ad must have a compelling headline. The body of the ad alerts this targeted group of prospects to a very real problem they may have in their lives. The close of the ad is very important. The close tells them about a FREE offer that will explain how they can solve, fix or avoid this existing or impending calamity.
All they have to do is call a toll free number (or visit a website landing page). The ad explains they will not be required to speak to a salesman. All they have to do is provide enough information so the valuable free report, or video, or CD or booklet can be rushed to them by mail. No salesman will call. There is no company name, no salesperson’s name or address. The only point of contact is a toll free telephone number.
The second step in the two step process is the prospect response. The prospect is asked to provide some basic information when he or she makes the telephone call (or types in their information in a form on a website landing page). This may include a name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and other contact information.
This recorded message or answering service (or landing page) may also ask some qualifier questions such as age, income range, number of dependents and any other non-threatening qualifying questions you decide are important.
One of the most important aspects of this ad, just as with any ad, is the headline.
The headline must be compelling. It announces a problem or crisis that needs to be fixed and offers a solution. It is specific in that it shrinks the universe to a very tight group.
In the case of this ad, the universe is reduced to parents and grandparents who are concerned with making sure their young children or grandchildren go to college.
This ad is designed around the AIDA principle. The AIDA (Attention – Interest – Desire – Action) is a time-tested sales formula or process. This process is as crucial for direct response advertising as it is in face-to-face sales.
The first step in the AIDA formula is to gain the prospect’s attention. People are bombarded with thousands of promotional messages each day. With this overload, people learn to tune out those messages that do not meet a need or desire.
Your first task is to create attention.
Ring a mental bell in the prospect’s mind that this message may be important in meeting a current or future need. Both the headline and the overall appearance of the sample ad, below, are designed to do this.
The general appearance will stand out in the because this ad will look like editorial copy or information rather than another ad. The headline calls to a specific group – parents and grandparents of small children. The ‘FREE report on how to save $300,000 painlessly’ is an attention getter.
The second step is to develop interest in the product or service.
People concerned about the future welfare and education of their grandchildren will be interested in a free report on how to save the money necessary for tuition and other expenses. In this ad the cost of a college education 15 years into the future is estimated.
The third step is to create desire for the service.
Listing the cost of the education and asking how they will save this amount of money is designed to create desire for a savings method that works.
The final step is to encourage the prospect to take action.
The report is FREE by making a free call. It is a limited edition report. No salesman will call. All of these things are designed to encourage action. Now.
Our target market for this ad is grandparents. Specifically, this ad is geared toward grandparents that are concerned about the future welfare of their grandchildren and who wish to leave a lasting legacy in the child’s mind. Nearly every grandparent falls into one or both of those two categories. This is an excellent ad to run in a market area with a high percentage of people age 50 and older.
Here is the sample lead generation advertisement.
Lets Go Over The Sequence Of Events.
1) The prospect reads your ad. This ad already begins to qualify the prospects. The people who will respond to this ad are parents or grandparents of young children.
2) The prospect picks up the phone (or goes to a website). This is an important step. By taking this action, the individual is telling you that he or she is interested in your solution to their problem – how to fund a child’s college education.
3) The prospect gives you information. When the prospect listens to your message he or she will begin to understand what is involved in this offer. With that knowledge he or she will leave information about themselves in response to prompts from your recorded message. It is important that this message be empathetic and conversational. You do not want it to sound as if you are trying to sell something. You do not want to sound the least bit pushy.
4) You give the prospect additional information. By this time you know that the prospect is interested. You have his or her attention and interest. It is time to create desire. Promptly send the report that you have promised. This report is really a long sales letter that is filled with information that you have promised in the ad.
5) Follow up with even more information. The prospect is now a good lead. The final step is to get the prospect to take action. If they do not put the prospect on your mailing list. Keep information in front of him or her. Keep offering solutions to the problem of providing an education for their young children, or invite them to a seminar or webinar.
Begin to introduce yourself, through these mailings, as a person with a solution to their problem. Use a newsletter!
People like to buy from people that they know. People prefer to buy from friends and acquaintances than from total strangers. With this two step method, a stranger has come to you.
That stranger has turned himself or herself into a qualified lead for you. As you introduce yourself as the expert with the answer to their problems, they will have greater trust and loyalty for you because they ‘found’ you. You did not knock down their door trying to coerce them into buying.