Posts from the ‘Lead Generation’ Category

“Robert Dempsey tripled our site activity in one week!”

“The experience we got with Robert Dempsey of Dempsey Marketing was one of the most tangible, results-oriented, metrics-driven processes I’ve ever experienced. So many times you pay for marketing or consulting services, after which you say, “I think that will do some good.” Robert took the guess-work out of measuring his impact, documenting over 350% improvement in site visits, and over 360% increase in page views, along with many other gains. The people who are coming to our new site are actually staying there, reading it, and taking actions that are converting into sales. Only part way through week two after our launch, we’re seeing huge increases in Twitter and Facebook followers, and unbelievably high search-engine ranking, because Robert knows how to integrate our website with social media and search engines alike.

Robert Dempsey grasped our company and our goals. He’s fun to work with and excited about seizing opportunities to help his clients make more money. Robert sees opportunities I could never have spotted, going beyond marketing to systematically create customers and sales. Robert makes big impact quickly, and does most of the work for you, from SEO optimization, sales-letters that integrate with search engines, and techniques that bring in the right customer and connect them to the transaction.

This was faster and more effective than I could have imagined. If you ever think you can do it yourself better, you haven’t experienced Robert Dempsey. Nothing would make him happier than making you more money quicker, by applying his vast expertise to make the web work for you. At SagePresence, we’re glad we gave Robert Dempsey and Dempsey Marketing a chance to show us what we could do on the web. We look more professional and our business is working better because what’s under the hood has got it where it counts!”

- Dean Hyers, Film Director and Principal – SagePresence

Nothing Beats A Testimonial

When it comes down to brass tacks nothing beats a client testimonial. No amount of retweets, likes, shares, stumbles, votes, +1′s, diggs or whatever we come up with next to share content beats a rock solid testimonial from a very satisfied client.

What It Shows

A testimonial like the one above that Dean graciously gave us after we completed a major update (some might say complete overhaul) of the SagePresence website shows a number of things:

1. We are working with actual businesses
2. Those businesses are run by the types of clients we want to work with
3. We can absolutely deliver on what we say we will – a tangible improvement to the bottom line of the business
4. The client is so happy he’s willing to give us a glowing testimonial

The more of these you have the easier it is to get more of them.

How To Get Glowing Testimonials

There is only one way to get glowing testimonials, and that’s to go above and beyond for your clients. Sound simple? Not so much. The project with SagePresence had its bumps, and at the end we had a frank discussion of what went well and what didn’t.

I apologized for things that didn’t go well on my side and they did the same.

That’s the kind of rapport you want to build with your clients.

Now you may be thinking I’m just writing this to boost my ego and show off, and to an extent you could be right But the point I want to hammer home is this: there are many companies out there that claim they can do a lot of stuff. Most of them are horrible and can’t deliver a damn thing.

When you know you can deliver and talk about it you had better not just deliver but over deliver.

That’s how you get what my friend, client and referral partner Lauri Flaquer calls clients for life.

That’s how you build a business, not using shady short-term and short-sighted tactics.

You’re running a marathon here not a sprint. It takes fantastic clients like Pete & Dean at SagePresence to keep a company going. You can attract more of your ideal clients when you over deliver when they come to you.

So go out, kick ass, take names, and focus on massively improving the lives of your clients. You will be rewarded.

Thinking of making website changes for lead generation? Well you’ve come to the right place.

In this post you’ll find out what’s working to convert today’s visitors into tomorrows customers. And everything you read here are steps you can take now, like right now, to increase conversions on your site. If you’re using WordPress you’re in luck – it’s going to be even easier and faster to make the small tweaks we’ll be discussing.

Alright that’s enough lead up let’s get to the meat.

Change #1: Add More Opt-In Forms

This one comes first because if you don’t do anything else, do this.

The bottom line is that if you want to convert more leads you need to capture more leads. In one sense you could call it a numbers game. Not everyone that becomes a lead is going to ultimately choose to become a paying customer. However, your changes are greatly increased if you can capture them in the first place and put them into a lead nurturing program.

So the question becomes where to put your opt-in forms.

Landing pages are the first place they belong, and there’s no need to cover those as the purpose of a landing page is to capture leads (or make sales). However there are many other opportunities to capture leads, for instance:

• On the home page of your blog
• On the home page of your website
• At the top of a single post page (ack WordPress terminology! A single post page is what you’re looking at here, just a page with a single blog post)
• At the bottom of a blog post
• On the sidebar at the very top (if you have a sidebar that is)
• In the footer
• On the about page
• On a resource page such as our How To Blog and How To SEO pages

Basically every page on your site can have an opt-in form unless it’s a roadmap page, meaning a page that someone goes through to get to a destination page, such as a blog post. But even then, you can have opt-in forms.

Change #2: Remove The Sidebar

As Cathy Presland said in a retweet of my post on removing the sidebar from your blog, “too sidebar or not to sidebar,” that is the question.

Whether or not to have a sidebar on your blog is up for debate and I definitely recommend testing your site without one and seeing if engagement goes up or down. But regardless of which side of the fence you’re on with this one it comes down to knowing what Steve Scott calls your most wanted response.

Simply put what is the number one goal on your site? Is it to educate people? Is it to capture leads? Is it to sell affiliate products? Is it to showcase your music and hope for a record gig?

How does removing the sidebar help with this? In a single column layout there’s only a few actions someone can take once they are on a blog post:

1. Share it – doesn’t take them off the site
2. Comment – doesn’t take them off the site
3. Take you up on your call to action
4. Browse to another page using the navigation (if you have that)
5. Leave

If you’re in business you’re going to want 1-4, sometimes in that exact order. Regardless though once you know your most wanted response restructure your entire site to focus on it while still providing a lot of value to your readers. Never forget about them – they keep your business going.

Change #3: Create Resource Pages

The SEO term for a “resource page” is a roadmap page. These pages consist of:

• A headline
• A few paragraphs of content
• Links to resources you’ve created – blog posts, opt-in offers (ebooks, videos, etc.)
• An opt-in form

Resource pages are great for a few reasons. First, they are fantastic for SEO. People are more likely to link to a large page of resources rather than a single blog post. And we’re talking high-quality links. Second, these pages are a fantastic place to send people to as the offer a ton of information.

Here’s an example of a roadmap page:

The key here is to build links to these pages and keep them up to date with the best resources you can provide.

Change #4: Clean Up Your Sidebar

If you’re going to keep your sidebar definitely keep it clean. At one point my sidebar included:

• A large opt-in form with an ebook graphic, later replaced by a single graphic served from our customized ad server
• Links to every social network I’m on, which took up about two rows of six across
• Popular posts via PostRank
• Recent comments
• Even more stuff I thankfully can’t remember

The first thing your sidebar needs at the very top is an opt-in form. This could be for either a free ebook or guide, or updates via email for your blog.

The next thing you might add are banners to your main resource pages. Here’s an example from the Social Triggers blog (which is awesome by the way):

After that Derek has his popular posts, which is something I’d definitely test against “recent posts.” Nope they aren’t the same and terminology can make a big difference.

In all the above examples the goal is to keep the visitor on your site for a longer period of time. You work hard to get them there so why send them away so easily?

What Do You Think?

Have you tried any of these on your blog already? What kind of results did you see from the changes?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

I’ll see you there…

Do you ever wonder if all those social media links are costing you leads?

Now I’m not talking about the share buttons you see hovering over to your left, or that you have access to on your mobile device. What I’m talking about is a typically thick strip of icons that tell people to join you on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and about 60+ other social media sites that can help you display social proof.

Bottom line: all of those buttons are sending people from your blog, your home base, to a site that you don’t control.

So have you been lied to all this time about how to use social media? Does this mean you should stop using Twitter and Facebook?

Not at all. What you need is to put these sites into their proper place, at the top of the social media sales funnel.

The Social Media Sales Funnel

Here’s what this elusive beast looks like. Prepare as I stretch my lack of graphics skill to the limit…

At the top of the funnel we have SEO and social media which in this case does not include blogging. Ideal customers are attracted from social media and SEO into the next stage of the funnel which is your blog. From there vistors are captured as leads, enter into a lead nurturing program where ultimately customers are earned.

As with every funnel only a certain percentage move from stage to stage. Here the only reason that the lead nurture stage is smaller than the lead capture is that we’re sure to see some drop off. If you’re using double opt-in people might not see the emails and verify that they want your freebie. Also, some people are funnel jumpers and might go straight from lead capture to customers.

It could happen. Be happy when it does.

With the exception of funnel jumpers everyone else should go into a lead nurturing program.

This takes us back to the million dollar question…

Once Someone Is On Your Site, Why Send Them Away?

There may be a few reasons, but building a community around your business isn’t a strong enough one.

With each social network you operate on you want to not only provide value but provide a bit of value you don’t offer anywhere else. You may be running a contest on Facebook or perhaps send your Twitter followers a download link for an ebook. In any case, be sure that offer isn’t available anywhere else than that network.

The Two-Week Challenge

Here’s a challenge for you, if you choose to accept it. If you do accept it let us know by leaving a comment down below. Then do the following:

Write down the number of followers you have on Twitter and the number of likes on your Facebook page. Wait a week and write down the number of each you have. This is your benchmark.

Make a full backup of your WordPress site and widgets.

Remove any social media buttons from your site that send people off of your site. This could be a widget or footer links. Be sure you can get them back.

Wait one week.

At the end of the week write down how many Twitter followers you have along with the number of Facebook likes your page has.

Any significant change? Did the growth of these communities slow down at all?

Let us know in a reply to your comment below.

Good luck.

If you’re serious about getting customers for life and building a business that can withstand competition then download today’s free guide: Ultimate Guide To Superior Customer Experiences.

Over 11 pages you’ll discover more than 15 touch points customers can have with your business and how to ensure they are so memorable they’ll become clients for life and send referrals.

Download your free copy of the Ultimate Guide To Superior Customer Experiences now by clicking the banner below.

B2B online lead generation isn’t much different than generating leads in consumer businesses. Many business people I know including Marcus Sheridan and John Falchetto agree, and we had fun debating it on Gini Dietrich’s content development blog post. So the question is, is there any magic sauce you can use when marketing for B2B leads? Yes and no.

There isn’t really a “secret sauce” but there are three secrets I’ve discovered in my journey. They are:

1. Despite What They Say, They’re Still People
2. Language Is Everything
3. Attract The Minions, Catch The Devil

Let’s dig in!

Despite What They Say, They’re Still People

As business owners, we like to think we’re different. To an extent it’s true – not everyone starts a business, and even fewer of those that do build businesses that last. But the one thing none of us can escape is this – we’re human. And because of that, the same psychology and methods that are used to market to consumers can be translated to work for B2B business as well. Let’s take branding as an example.

People purchase brand named items for many reasons, one of which is to be associated with what that brand stands for. Back in the day, there was a saying in business: “No one got fired buying IBM.” That’s 100% targeted to a business buyer, and says that if you purchase IBM, your position at work is guaranteed. You can trust IBM to work, work well and make you look good.

That’s bold, and all business.

Language Is Everything

The devices we use for online lead generation are fairly standard:

• Free reports
• Case studies
• Presentations
• Webinars
• Many others

What’s very important is the language you use in these materials. A quick story on this.

I was talking the other day with Gold Partner Lauri Flaquer (a business coach and consultant) about a technology solution she was looking at. She sent me a PDF brochure the company sent her and asked me to take a look. After reading two pages I still didn’t know what the solution was or how a business owner could use it. And that was exactly the point.

The brochure wasn’t written for me, it was written for an IT person in a large company, someone more focused on stats, jargon and the like. I did corporate IT for years so I’m familiar. So that brochure was written to appeal specifically to the target audience, and would be very effective in that context. Everyone else would be lost.

With all of your materials always be conscious of your customer. Do they like jargon filled copy that takes pages to find out what they solution is all about or are they a busy executive with precious few moments that’s wondering how you’ll improve the bottom line and make them look good doing it?

Attract The Minions, Catch The Devil

Unless you’re the owner of a private company and have all the shares of stock therein, you have a boss. My wife might argue that though I’m in that situation, I still have a boss. When I was the network administrator of a landscape design firm in Orlando, I had two bosses – the person I reported directly to, and the owners of the company. As such, I was always looking for vendors that could:

1. Show me the ROI of their solution and sell me on it
2. Provide me with assistance selling to my bosses, specifically information that would appeal to them I could use

As a company using B2B online lead generation this means you need to have two forms of content:

1. Content that attracts the people that are looking to solve a problem – the minions
2. Content that can sell the bosses who sign the checks – the devil

The easier you make it for someone to sell what you’ve got, the more of it you will sell. Especially in B2B.

What Else?

What else have you found works really well in attracting B2B leads online?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

See you there…

When it comes to online lead generation, there’s a lot to learn from direct response marketing, the type we practice at Dempsey Marketing. At the risk of sounding mercenary, we’re here for business. Never forget that relationships count and we must always treat people like people and provide value. Also never forget that with every piece of marketing you send out it must accomplish a goal – it causes someone to take an action. That’s where direct response comes in.

Let’s look at 15 lessons we can use to get more leads online.

#1: Avoid The Usual

I’m a fan of direct mail and believe it has it’s place in the marketing mix. I was introduced to the 3D Mail company by Bill Glazer. This company can send out mail guaranteed to get attention. In a piece they sent to me they included a whoopee cushion. I haven’t seen one of those for at least 15 years and didn’t realize they still made them. It got my attention because it was unusual and unexpected.

On the right is a picture of me holding said whoopee cushion. Wonder what I should do with it…

#2: Deliver A Promise Right Away

On the front of the whoopee cushion letter from 3D Mail is bold red text that reads:

“You’ll shout ‘Whoopee’ once you read my letter inside…”

The geek in me says that’s kind of stupid, but the marketer in me says WTF is this all about?! Let’s see…

The point being it delivered a promise right away – that if I open the letter I’ll be saying whoopee. As it was a thick letter I did, saw the whoopee cushion, and literally said “whoopee cushion!” out loud. Embarrassing? Yes. Effective? Yes. Hilarious? Very.

#3: Welcome Them Inside With Your Promise

Continuing with this letter, once I opened it up I saw anothe headline welcoming me in:

“Robert, You’ll Shout Whoopee!! When You Lern How to Really Explode Your Sales With 3D Mail”

They continue to deliver on the promise on the outside of the letter with the first thing I see when I open the letter. How this applies to online is this: if you are writing blog posts and putting them on social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) then you’re headline is your promise. Once the visitor lands on your website they had better see that, not a post about something else.

#4: Use A Compelling Headline

There’s a nifty little plugin for WordPress called Headline Split Tester which allows you to test two different headlines on a post. After 200 views it selects the winner and sticks with it. Very cool stuff.

On the Internet headlines – the titles of your posts – are what get clicks. The same goes for PPC ads. The more compelling the headline, sometimes the more crazy, the more clicks you get and the more leads you can generate.

#5: Write For Your Ideal Customer

Many people harp on this one and I’m no exception. Always write for your ideal customer. Indirectly discuss the emotional benefits delivered by your products and services, and use their language. You’ll form a stronger connection faster.

#6: Tell A Relevant Story

People love stories. Danny Brown of Bonsai Interactive wrote an entire ebook in story format. Tell a story when possible, but make sure it’s relevant to the point you’re trying to make.

#7: Be Conversational

Along with the story point, be conversational. The letter I received from 3D Mail read like a conversation. I could almost here Travis telling me what I was reading. Being conversational means using everyday language. If that happens to be geek speak and you’re customers are geeks, go for it. Otherwise break out the thesaurus and look up some alternatives.

#8: Have Some Empathy Will Ya?!

When is the last time you had someone telling you what to do and as you were “listening” your head was saying “WTF does this guy know? He hasn’t ever done what I’m doing, so how can he tell ME what to do?! What an a…..” That recent? Wow.

When we approach others from a standpoint of empathy, of understanding their situation, we position ourselves to better deliver value. Communicating that value is what gets people interested and helps them become leads.

#9: If I Can’t Read It, I Ain’t Buyin It

Humongous blocks of text, letters in all caps, white lettering on a black background – all make it harder to read what you have to say. If I can’t read it I’m going to bounce, perhaps to a competitor site I can actually read. Ways of making large amounts of text readable are using:

• Bullets (uh huh)
• Headlines
• Pictures
• Quotes
• Testimonial blocks

Mix it up.

#10: The Quirky Will Worky

Have you ever received a bank deposit bag in the mail? How about a treasure chest containing a sales letter and a gift? Ever sent a proposal package FedEx to a potential customer? All of these things make direct mail stand out a pile of plain white envelopes just asking to be thrown out.

I’ve seen sales pages written like magazine articles. I’ve seen another that looked like a torn out notebook page. All of these things are out of the ordinary and capture attention. As odd as they may seem, they work, really well.

#11: Write As Much As It Takes

In the world of copywriting there’s an endless debate on which works better – shorter copy or longer copy. What the experts – Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Terry Dead, Dr. Glenn Livingston, others – all say is write as much as it takes. In tests, longer copy has proven to convert better. As with everything it depends so test this one for yourself. Don’t fret over how many words you use – use as many as it takes to get the point across.

#12: Give Them A Reason To Take Action

Why should someone contact you? Why should they fill out that opt-in form? What’s in it for them and what will they lose by not taking action? Give them a compelling reason to take action and the right ones will.

#13: Tell Them About Others That Took Action

Proof is a huge element of successful online lead generation campaigns. Every promise made needs to have proof, or better, overwhelming proof. Proof can take many forms with testimonials being the best. If you can, use video testimonials. Barring that audio can work very well. And lastly, written. If you use written testimonials include a picture of the person, their full name, title, company, and state (or province).

#14: Tell Them How To Take Action

Some people argue that it’s insulting to tell someone to take action, and they would be wrong. After you deliver great information tell people what the next step is. It’s not insulting, it’s necessary practice. It’s the logical conclusion at the end of the message delivery.

If they should call you – tell them. If they should email you or fill out a form – tell them. If they should click a link – tell them. Don’t leave it to chance – the odds are against you.

#15: Talk To Them Until They Tell You To Shut Up

You’ve seen how the money in your business is in the follow-up. You might not get a response the first time someone visits your blog or you send them a tweet. But I’ve heard too many stories of business owners consistently sending mail to high-value prospects and getting a call after a few months. If you’re trying to land a client that’s worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars it’s worth it. It may be worth it to you for tens of thousands. Regardless, keep talking to the people until they tell you to shut up.

Enough Already!

Alrighty that’s it! Go back to work and use these 15 lessons to ramp up your online lead generation. Then come on back and let us know how they worked for you.

Successful online lead generation using social media requires understanding three important factors. Those three factors are:

1. People using social media have short attention spans
2. Deeper relationships are more important than ever
3. More metrics lead to better results

Let’s dig into the details of each of these.

Attention Sp… Sorry, What Did You Say?

“Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until  2003.”

- Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, 2010

We are all dealing with a metric ton of information on a daily basis. All day long our brains are taking in more and more and quickly attempting to filter out what’s important and what’s not. With so much information only one click away, the challenge for marketers is gaining someone’s attention and converting them into a lead as quickly as possible. That’s where calls to action come into play.

There are many types of calls to action you can use on a business blog, but by far the most important is one that gets someone into a lead nurturing program. The best way to do that is offer something of value, such as a report, case study or ebook. Then, put a banner at the bottom of every blog post that links to a landing page where your visitor can read about the ebook and fill out a form to get it.

As an example see the landing page for our most popular ebook: SEO Case Study: Front Page Of Google.

Deeper Relationships Count More Now Than Ever

Mark Schaefer wrote a post on the {grow} Blog titled, “Social media and the end of empathy” where he brought up a question very pertinent to online lead generation:

“I wonder about the long-term implications for business when relationships are negotiated through spreadsheets and emails.”

Every single customer and partner of Dempsey Marketing is someone I either first met in person, or someone I met via social media that I started talking with using Skype video chat. My entire strategy with social media is based on getting people, the right people, out of social media as quickly as possible. When you do that you can form a deeper relationship. And with the number of shallow relationships we all form on a daily basis, these deeper ones count much more.

With a deeper relationship people are less likely to forget you, more likely to do business with you and more likely to refer others to you. Continue to seek out and form these relationships – they aren’t going anywhere but gaining in value.

More Metrics Lead To Better Results

No pun intended here. While it’s easy to fall into the “paralysis by analysis” the more metrics you have the more effective you can be. There are a handful to focus on for your blog:

1. Number of page views for a post
2. Number of clicks from your post to a landing page (with an opt-in form)
3. Number of opt-ins

These three give you a good picture of how well your blog is generating leads. Now if you’re as much a geek as I am, or just love numbers, you can use these same numbers to see conversion percentages, specifically:

• % conversions from blog post to landing page
• % conversions for the landing page
• % conversion for the entire funnel (blog post -> opt in)

Using these you can see what you need to tweek to improve your conversions and generate even more leads.

What Do You Think?

What do you think about these 3 factors? How else do you think social media has impacted online lead generation?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

I’ll see you there…

There was a point in time where I hoped marketing would be simple. The truth of it is that it isn’t, not by a long shot. And while it may be detrimental to myself to say it, inbound marketing isn’t simple. There are a lot of moving parts.

There are 4 main parts to inbound marketing:

1. Getting people to your site (traffic)
2. Creating leads from those visitors
3. Turning leads into buyers
4. Improving over time

Each of these 4 parts has primary and secondary pieces. For instance, we can break down the first part – getting people to your site – like this:

• Traffic -> Blogging -> SEO + Social Media

As you know social media is another rabbit hole. Not only do we have the big three – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – but there are numerous niche forums and sites as well.

Do You Feel Like Alice?

In one of my favorite movies – The Matrix – Morpheus gives Neo a choice between a red bill and the blue pill. If Neo takes the red pill he goes back to his false reality; if he takes the blue pill he goes down the rabbit hole.

He chose the blue pill. You should too.

If you choose the blue pill and come down the rabbit hole with me, I have very good news for you…

Your Unbeatable Competitive Advantage: Marketing Systems

While inbound marketing has a lot of moving parts, you can, without a doubt, make it happen. I am, and you can to.

Here’s a glimpse of my marketing system, titled the perfect customer lifecycle:

Every business has a perfect customer lifecycle. The key is in finding yours, and automating as much as possible using technology. I use Infusionsoft.

We’ll talk more about the perfect customer lifecycle in blog posts and ebooks, but for now let’s outline each of the stages:

1. Generate interest
2. Capture leads
3. Educate / build trust
4. Convert
5. Process the sale
6. Fulfill & wow
7. Upsell
8. Create advocates

No matter what type of business you’re in, who you sell to, or what you’re selling, you have a perfect customer lifecycle. When you have a marketing system that makes it happen, you have an unbeatable competitive advantage that no one can copy.

I’m going to come right out and say it – given the technology today and the amount of information someone will give you to get something in return, there is NO excuse for sending impersonal marketing messages in a one-on-one online medium, namely email.

The only reasons you can honestly give are that you’re unwilling or unable to:

1. Invest in the tools that allow you to do it
2. Put in the time to create multiple offers that you can exchange for more preference information

We’ve talked about how many email auto-responders are a big fail – they are too linear. While lead nurturing campaigns rely on autoresponders, you can still ensure that you only send relevant information to each and every person that opts in to your email list.

How?

Opt-in offers connected to your CRM system.

When I say opt-in offer I mean a free ebook, report, whitepaper, video, audio, etc. that you give someone in exchange for some amount of their information. At the very least you should collect their name and email address.

What you want to do is create a host of opt-in offers that all lead back to one of three things:

1. Your products
2. Your services
3. Industry-related topics

For each offer, create a separate opt-in form. Each of these forms should become a segment on your email list. I use Infusionsoft, and with it, I can tag someone based on the opt-in form they fill in. So, if you grab the SEO Case Study ebook, you’re tagged with “SEO.” If you get the About Pages That Sell You ebook you’re tagged with “blogging.” In this way, I can ensure that I only send you other free content that I’m sure you’ll like.

The Infusionsoft plan I’m on costs $299/month and had a setup fee of $2k – there’s a lot to the app (CRM, email marketing, e-commerce, and much more). That’s a small price to pay to ensure I don’t get you mad at me by sending you information you don’t care about.

The bottom line here is that by creating a lot of opt-in offers and having that connected to a CRM system that allows you to track the behavior of the people opting in to your forms, you can do more personalized marketing and be way beyond most companies out there.

There are two main online sources people come from to find your site:

1. Search engines via search engine optimization (SEO)
2. Social media marketing – blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, forums, etc.

Depending on which source they come, somone can land a few different places on your site, and take a few paths once there.

The inbound marketing sales funnel graphic below shows the typical paths people follow from each of the two main sources. This is very important for lead generation.

In upcoming posts we’ll get into this in detail, and we have an ebook coming as well.

For now, please enjoy the graphic and ask any questions or add your thoughts in the comments below.

White papers are a highly effective way to generate leads for your business. At Dempsey Marketing we’re releasing one each week. So far we’ve released:

• SEO Case Study: Front Page Of Google
• Definitive Guide To Twitter For Business
• Keywords That Convert (And How To Find Them)

Those three whitepapers have generated a total of 108 leads as I write this post.

When most people sit down to create a white paper they’re stumped by one of a few things:

1. They’re not sure what to write about
2. They don’t know if anyone will care about what they want to write about
3. They get caught up in the mechanics – what font to use, do you need a cover, what about social media links?!

That’s the lizard brain trying to hold you back from success! Don’t listen to it. Really, writing a white paper isn’t as difficult or time consuming as you may think. Use these 5 tips for writing a business white paper and get those leads!.

Tip #1: Never Underestimate Your Own Knowledge

Just because you know a lot about your industry doesn’t mean everyone else does. Never underestimate the amount of knowledge you have in your head that you can use to educate, inform and entertain others, specifically your ideal customers.

Tip #2: Brainstorm Ideas Using A Mindmap

Mindmapping is one of the best ways to brainstorm ideas. In the middle of your map is your main idea from which the other ideas branch out. I’d recommend starting with your company in the middle and then adding branches for:

• Products
• Services
• Problems you solve
• Questions that arise during sales presentations

From each of these branches even more branches can sprout. Those branches can then become white paper topics.

I use XMind for mind mapping on my Mac, but there are quite a few out there.

Tip #3: Ensure Your White Paper Is Linked To A Product, Service, Or Your Industry

This is a tip focusing on the lead generation aspect of a white paper. I’m not suggesting you sell at all in the main body of the white paper, in fact I’ll tell you not to sell in the main body, but don’t write something completely outside of your products, services or industry. You don’t want to confuse people or make them think your company stands for something when it doesn’t.

Tip #4: Record An Audio And Have It Transcribed

Some people prefer writing, some prefer video, and others prefer audio. No matter how you prefer to create your content, one easy way to get information out of your head and onto paper is to record an audio. Once you’re done recording, send it to a transcription service. You’ll get back a word-for-word written document that you can then edit and format.

I’ve been using TranscribeNow.net for years and their service is 100% spot on.

Tip #5: Pull In Data From Multiple Sources

Who says you have to be the alpha and the omega on your subject? Is that possible? I think not. Pull in relevant data from reports other companies have put out, and be sure to reference where you got it. Chances are that everyone who reads your whitepaper isn’t following all the same sources you are.

In a recent survey by eMarketer, 55% of respondents said that acquiring leads is their top priority, followed closely by converting leads. And what are those marketers using to get more leads? Content.

Now that’s a plan I can get behind! Content is a fantastic way to generate leads and sales, and at the soon to launch Dempsey Advertising we’ll make your content work harder for you. But with so many types of content to choose from, how do you pick what might work best?

Content comes in many forms. The forms B2B marketers are using are:

• Blog posts
• Webinars & virtual events
• Whitepapers
• Videos
• Data-driven research reports
• User/peer created content
• Vendor-sponsored whitepapers
• Podcasts

Just how much of each is in this graphic from eMarketer:

Here’s My Content Lineup

When you’re goal is leads my top choices are whitepapers (aka free reports) and videos advertised via blog posts. An occasional data-driven report is good to add to the mix as well.

The reason I’m such a big fan of whitepapers is that many entrepreneurs and businesses, including you, have a lot of expertise that’s taken for granted. I bet you could use mindmapping and come up with at least 20 ideas for whitepapers within 10 minutes. That’s 2 ideas per minute! You can totally do that.

It’s a matter of getting the knowledge out of your head and onto paper, so to speak. Once you start typing you’ll find your problem is knowing when or if to stop.

It used to be simple really – a lead was someone that called your business on the phone asking about your product. You would give them the information they asked for, schedule a follow-up call or meeting, and the sales process would continue until that person became a customer.

It’s no longer that simple.

When HubSpot released it’s latest Facebook research they had some pretty interesting numbers on “lead generation” from Facebook. Here a few tasty ones:

• Businesses with 501 to 1,000 Facebook fans generated 4 times more leads than those with 1 to 25 fans
• B2B businesses with over 1,000 Facebook fans received 6.5 times more leads than those with 1 to 25 fans

That led me to ask, “what is a lead and how did they become a lead in the first place?” I’m still waiting for an answer, and threaded comments on their blog…

But here’s the issue, there are now so many ways for someone to become a lead it boggles the mind.

Not feeling mind boggled? Well let me do some boggling.

How Can You Become A Lead? Let Me Count The Ways

Let’s look at all the ways someone can become a lead online:

1. Direct contact – fills out a form on our sales page
2. Email subscriber – joins one of our email lists, either part of an autoresponder sequence or for the blog via email
3. Signs up for a webinar
4. Requests a download
5. Comments on our blog
6. Becomes a friend on Twitter
7. Is someone we proactively seek out and connect with on Twitter
8. Likes our Facebook page
9. Fills out a contact form (not on a sales page)
10. Calls the phone number on our website

That’s only online and what I can think of off the top of my head – I am sure there are more. And let’s not forget all the offline and mobile methods too.

The point here is that there are so many ways for people to initiate contact with a business and provide some amount of information.

Are you ready?

So let me ask you now…

What Do You Call A Lead For Your Business?

Do you have a different definition than the ones mentioned here? What do you think of this number of definitions for a lead?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

I’ll see you there…

Links Mentioned In The Post, And Other Relevant Posts

• HubSpot latest Facebook research
• More on autoresponder sequences
• The last business twitter strategy you will ever need
• Using Twitter For Business? You MUST Have These Tools

If you’re waiting for people to fill out a form on your site or send you an email, you’re missing out on new customers and new opportunities. It’s time to pick up the phone.

No I’m not talking about cold calling. I really hate cold calling, and whether it’s a detriment to my business or not, I’m not going to do it. And there’s really no reason to, if you’ve started building relationships already.

There are a ton of ways to do that. Let’s look at a few.

Social Media

The best thing about social media is the ability to remain physically immobile and meet a metric ton of people. With Twitter alone you can find people by searching using:

• Keywords
• Hashtags
• A name
• A place
• More

The sames goes for Facebook and LinkedIn, which have much more information on their users. Highly-targeted communication is the name of the game here.

Want to know how best to use Twitter? Don’t sit and watch the tweets go by, set up columns in your favorite Twitter client for specific searches, or create private lists of the people you most want to connect with – your next customers and partners. When someone says something that strikes your fancy, tell them you’d like to hear more and line up a call.

I’ve met a lot of people that way, including clients and referral partners.

Face-to-Face Events

All politics is local and all business is personal – there is no substitute for face-to-face meetings. You can see the body language of the other person, gauge their actual interest level, chit chat, and begin to build rapport. It’s much easier to do a phone call follow up if you’ve met someone in person.

Next time you go to an in-person event and get some business cards, rather than send an email follow-up give them a short call. See if you can schedule a time to get coffee or tea. People get a lot of email – it’s easy to ignore email. It will also make you stand out much more, and the ice has already been broken as the phone call isn’t coming out of nowhere.

What Do You Think?

Are you eager to pick up the phone and call people, or is there something holding you back? Do you think your accent won’t make you seem as smart or as knowledgeable as you are? What would get you to make more phone calls?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

See you there.

Your next customer cares more about what your products and services will do for them, not what it does. If you want to increase lead and sales conversions, you need to be talking benefits not features.

Two Types of Benefits

There are two types of benefits you can show:

• Rational benefits – a factual benefit delivered by the product or service
• Emotional benefits – fulfilling a real human need through a feature of your product or service

I’ll leave the emotional benefits to the PhD, Glenn Livingston. He and his wife Sharon created a list of 37 emotional benefits that I suggest you download right now (at the bottom of this post). Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to map the features of your products/services to a rational benefit as well as an emotional benefit.

Here’s an example…

How To Map Features To Benefits

Let’s say you sell this product and want to market it:

What are the features of Red Bull coffee?

1. It’s in a little can
2. It’s a liquid
3. It’s tasty
4. It will wake you up, or help you stay awake

Now tasty and keeping you up may seem like compelling features, but we can do better. Let’s map these to benefits!

1. It’s in a little can –> You can take it anywhere, even in your pocket if you like
2. It’s a liquid –> Gets in your body lickety split so no waiting on the wake up part
3. It’s tasty –> It makes you happy to drink it
4. It will wake you up, or help you stay awake -> keeps you going when you have got to get stuff done

All of those benefits fit the definition of rational benefits. Let’s dig deeper and see if we can connect any of these rational benefits to the Livingston 37 emotional benefits:

1. Portable –> nothing here, it would be quite a stretch
2. Wake up faster –> Excitement or liveliness
3. Make you happy to drink it –> Enjoying humor
4. Keeps you going to get your stuff done –> Sense of accomplishment

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

What Do You Think?

What’s your experience selling on benefits rather then features, or vice versa? Are you using rational benefits, emotional benefits, or both? Any other tips for us?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

See you there.

Content might be king, but history has proven that no empire lasts forever, and so it is with content marketing.

I have great respect for HubSpot. As a previous customer I learned a lot about inbound marketing (i.e. content marketing), content repackaging, and lead generation. They’ve built a continuously growing business around these principles, and have proven that it can work wonders.

However it’s only part of the total equation.

As I was going through my emails today I noticed two HubSpot ads – one in the eMarketer newsletter, and another in two different Help A Reporter Out (HARO) updates.

Interesting.

Here are the ads:

And how much do these spots cost? Let’s see…

I was reading both the industry HARO as well as the master one (which has links to all HAROs for all industries). As I write this current HARO pricing is:

• Master HARO: $1,500 each
• Industry HARO: $300 each

I’m not subscribed to each industry HARO, but I do get one along with the master. So these two set HubSpot back $1,800, unless they purchased a bulk deal. Future emails will tell.

HARO pricing isn’t bad though. Now let’s look at eMarketer.

Current eMarketer pricing for the leaderboard you see above weighs in at a hefty $2,500. As a salesman friend of mine would say, “that’s a lot of duckets!”

Between these 3 emails, unless they negotiated a price (and never pay sticker price for advertising), they paid around $4,300.

Now to be fair, when I was a HubSpot client they mentioned using paid advertising, and a quick search of their site for “paid advertising” brings up a number of results. For obvious reasons (their software and business revolve around the use of inbound marketing) they don’t stress using this as a traffic source.

The Cons Of Paid Traffic

I can understand not stressing using paid traffic like Google AdWords – if you don’t know what you’re doing you can sink your ship faster than you can say “oh shit my ship is sinking,” as your dollars fly into the Google coffers without you making sales.

What I mean by “knowing what you’re doing” is:

• Targeting the right keywords – the ones your buyers actually use
• Using strategies like starting with exact searches, then phrase matching, and finally broad searches
• A/B testing all of your ads like a fiend
• More ninja badassery to be covered in later posts

However, there are always two sides to a coin.

The Pros Of Paid Traffic

The last two information products I’ve purchased on marketing, along with 4 books, have all mentioned using paid strategies, be they online or offline. Frankly there is no faster way to get traffic or to test an idea than to pay for it. And if you know what you’re doing, you can use it to great effect, increasing leads and increasing sales.

Oh HubSpot I Still Love You

This post isn’t meant to bash HubSpot. Quite the contrary. If you want to see a company that was built on inbound marketing using both paid and free strategies, and can convert more leads into sales than many others, check them out. They provide a lot of free content.

However, ensure you have the full picture.

There are many strategies for driving traffic, and when you don’t want to wait, paying for it is the way to go.

What Do You Think?

What are your thoughts on using paid strategies to drive traffic? Have you use Google AdWords or paid placements like HubSpot did? Any results?

Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

See you there!