Most people in a marriage or committed relationship likely didn’t walk right up to their spouse and propose at first sight, right?
It’s amazing how many organizations do this, however, as their primary method for acquiring new customers and selling products.
Instead, married people likely courted their future spouse through a process that looked something like this:
Attention – one person did something that caught the eye of the other person.
Curiosity – one flirted or did something to cause the other person to become even more curious.
Enlightenment – the two spent time getting to know the other person…to learn if there were similar interests, compatibility, and if this is someone they potentially wanted to spend a lot of time together with.
Commitment – then, they eventually made a commitment to each other.
This is a perfect model for organizations to get highly-committed customers. It’s known in the industry as a marketing funnel.
Instead of jumping straight to commitment, most customers will need you to guide them through this journey.
But here’s a fact: if you don’t attract the customers in the first place, you can’t work them through the journey.
You have to catch their attention.
The best way to do that is through a Lead Generator (often called a “Lead Magnet” or “Opt-In Magnet”).
A lead generator is a tool that you use to catch the attention of a future client or customer, then exchange with them for a contact data point—usually an email address, so you can contact them later and nurture the client through the journey to commitment.
It’s often a done-for-you resource, a case study, a webinar or video, a helpful article, etc. It should provide tremendous value so that (a) a client will view it as a no-brainer to want to access and (b) it leaves them with such a good impression of you, they can’t help but want to do more business with you.
It’s worth saying again: it MUST provide value to the client.
Or, to say it a different way: it should address a felt need of your potential customer.
Donald Miller says you should pick a problem your customer has and solve it for them. Then, they’ll trust you to help them solve all their other problems.
Amy Porterfield says your lead generator should, “help people realize what they need to understand, be aware of, or believe, in order to want or need your product, program, or service.”
Ultimately, your lead generator should be something that has enough potential value to someone that they’d be willing to exchange their email address for it. The entire purpose of the lead generator is to grow your email list (or phone text list, or Facebook messenger contact list, etc.) so that you can continue the relationship journey with the client.
Side note: the average person puts the perceived value of their email address at around $20. When you think about the value a book delivers at $12.99, we realize we need to bring quite a bit of value in our lead generator.
If you’d like help with brainstorming, designing, or delivery of a lead generator, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help you out.
Additionally, gathering email addresses is pointless if you don’t have the rest of the customer journey set up. Having alignment through the entire process—attention, curiosity, enlightenment, and engagement—is important to your growth. We specialize in helping with this alignment. Contact us for a free blueprint session!