Hey, Jason Koeppe from SurePath Digital here.
In this post, I’m going to share with you one of the biggest mistakes that I see people and business owners of all types make when they try to do lead generation with their company. Then, after I share what that mistake is, I’m going to help you fix it if you have it and avoid it if you don’t.
The Problem
We’re working on a new program called Leads and what we want to do is demystify this whole lead generation process. One of the things we’re doing when we’re making this program is getting down into the foundational elements first because we find that when we work with customers one on one, everybody wants to start with ads. And really, starting with ads is one of the big mistakes.
Clients say, “Jason, I need help with Facebook ads, or I need this or I need that, I need Google SEO.”
But really, what we do is we slow them down and say,
“Hey, so we can go faster, let’s go slower.”
“Before we go out there, let’s start here.”
We start to simplify things in their minds, and in their business.
If the problem is that we focus on the wrong thing, we’re focusing on ads first, but really, ads are two or three steps into the process. What we need to do is encourage them to take a step back and focus on foundational elements.
What do I mean…
It’s all About Customer Experience
One foundational element that you should focus on is the customer experience, what you want the customer to experience during their interactions with your business.
Let’s say you sell something and a specific type of person buys what you’re selling.
Let’s use a boat as an example and the kind of boat or boat line your selling is purchased by a specific type of person. What’s the experience going to be for most boat dealers?
Most boat dealers are going to market the boat, the deal, the price, the inventory, or a sale. Or maybe they’ll go generic and market the dealership.
But have you heard the expression people love to buy a to b? People love to buy, but they hate to be sold, right?
The Solution
So what we’re going to do here is help them buy and not try to sell them.
Alright, let’s back up.
Let’s say we get to the ads portion of the process and I want to run an ad about my boat dealership or about a boat sale. What am I trying to do? Sell.
If I tell them about myself I’m trying to sell them. If I tell them about the deal, the price, the inventory, the offer, I’m trying to sell them.
But, if I’m your perfect prospect, what do I want?
Well, I might want to look at a boat, know the features, the specs, the reviews, right?
So as a dealer, you’ve got the boat, give them that. Now, that’s one type of content and it’s a specific example.
But here’s another example, a potential customer has a problem, and you as the service provider or the product seller, know how to fix it. Give the solution away to that problem for free in exchange for their information. By doing this they know, like and trust you more. You become the expert in their world because you helped them solve the problem. But more importantly, they’ve given you their information so that you can follow up with them and continue to help them.
It’s All About Value
Now, what I’m telling you is a specific step. But what it means is this…
Let’s say we’re doing Facebook ads. In the ad, I might be promoting a sale, an offer, a dealership, a business, a product or a service. But with the new way, I’m promoting a free checklist, a free video, or a walkthrough video of the boat.
It’s not trying to sell them, It’s trying to give them something that they want.
Now remember this too, with Facebook, you’re competing with cat videos, politics, the kids and friends. These are the things they care about, their world. The same thing applies for YouTube ads. In fact, the only place where you’re not competing with their world are in Google ads. With Facebook and YouTube ads you’re competing with what they already want to be consuming and entertained with. So you can’t compete by selling, again, no one likes to be sold. But you can compete with giving them information, help or entertainment.
Let’s Talk DNA
That’s the biggest problem we see people make and we call this the DNA of your ad campaign.
Let’s move away from the word call to action. It’s a marketing speak phrase and that doesn’t communicate to our customers.
The DNA of an ad campaign stands for desirable next action. So think about that when you want to put an ad in front of someone. It’s not about what you want, it’s about what they want.So always be thinking about what the next desirable action is for them.
If I’m selling photography equipment and I want to get in front of photographers, I might teach them how to touch up their photography. Maybe I give them an ebook, a cheat sheet, or a three page guide. Whatever it is, I’m giving them something they want and the desirable next action is to click or to download the free guide.
The desirable next action, the DNA, is what’s going to turn your campaign around, it’s going to drop your lead cost, your ad cost, your click cost, and increase your profitability.
So just focus on your DNA, the customer journey, and the customer experience. They’re going to see an ad and you’re going to ask them to do some something in that ad. That something is your desirable next action. Your customers don’t care about you, they care about themselves. So if you keep that in mind, you will win and you will win often.
The DNA is the key. So make sure you don’t run straight to ads and when you do start ads make sure you don’t promote yourself or your deal.
If this has been helpful for you, comment below and let us know what’s been your biggest takeaway from this post. Make sure to tune into the video if you haven’t already!
