The first step in the 8-Step Inbound Marketing Method is ‘Entice’, which focuses on demand generation. This step is crucial as it forms the basis for the entire method. This initial step focuses on generating curiosity and interest among prospective clients, prompting them to interact with your business, website, brick-and-mortar store, or office.
The goal is to reach out to your target audience effectively and let them know how your business can help them achieve their goals.
The Attract stage\Entice step of Inbound Marketing campaigns focuses on the customer, not your company, not on how many awards you have, nor how many followers you have on social media or branches you own. It must focus on how you can help the customers to advance themselves.
It is about getting your prospects to hear and see your message, so they can get to know who you are, like you and ultimately trust you enough to do business with you.
There are many ways to attract prospects. You have off-line options that include traditional advertising (television, radio and print). However, these options are expensive and out of reach for most businesses. Also, with these forms of advertising, it is often difficult to track and measure the ROI (Return On Investment).
You do, however, have many online options. Online and digital marketing options are much more affordable, quicker to implement, as well as easier to track and measure in terms of ROI.
It should be obvious by now that the first-place people go to find your business and the products you sell is online. A 2018 report by Bright Local says that 97% of consumers used the internet to find a local business from which to buy[i]. Another research report by Simplilearn says that 55% of people will search for you on social media, while 55% use their phones to see if they can buy what they need from you via Ecommerce.
Therefore, your aim is to be found online, through your website, social media pages and any other platforms on which you can list your business’s products and services. You want to ensure that all these assets and platforms are optimized to drive qualified leads to your site.
The first step to doing this effectively is to clearly identify and define your customer’s profile and needs.
Once you understand your customer’s profile and needs, you will be better informed of the type of content that will have the greatest probability of pulling leads into your Sales Funnel and Inbound Flywheel[1].
This content needs to be educational, helpful and engaging. Its marketing message must cut through content clutter and stand out from competing messages. It needs to create interest in the minds of your target audience and entice them to access it and use it to solve their problems.
You want to advertise and promote your content to attract prospects – even before they are ready to purchase. This is because research by Forrester and many others claim that “B2B clients, and now B2C clients are 65 – 90% of the way through a purchasing decision process before they contact your firm!”[ii]
And so, what you want to do is attract and engage your prospects well before they make that buying decision.
By using Inbound Marketing, you can provide them with valuable, engaging and educational content that is going to guide and help them make that buying decision – hopefully with you!
This is where lead magnets come in.
Enticing leads involves numerous tactics, each of which depends on the nature of your business and its target audience. No matter what those tactics are, there are 2 important things you must have in place to successfully Entice leads –
1. Lead Magnets, and
2. Relevant Marketing Channels.
The key to sparking interest that Entices potential customers lies in the effective use of a ‘lead magnet’. A lead magnet is a valuable and educational piece of content provided to potential clients in exchange for their contact details.
Leads will typically give you their contact details in exchange for this lead magnet because they perceive it to be equally valuable, educational, and likely to help them solve an important problem or to unlock an opportunity.
Examples of lead magnets include free webinars, ebooks, free consulting sessions, or software demos. Lead magnets are usually offered through online forms on your website or landing pages, or through physical forms at events or at your place of business.
Initially, you should aim to gather essential information, such as their name and email address, without making the prospect feel uncomfortable. Ensuring your lead magnet effectively presents its value is crucial, as it encourages visitors to willingly share their contact information.
I. Identify Your Clients’ Problem: Understand your ideal customer person and the primary issues they are facing. They may not be directly seeking your company but are likely searching for solutions to their problems.
II. Provide a Solution: Your lead magnet should offer a clear solution to the identified problem. It should outline how you can help them overcome their issues and the benefits of resolving these problems.
III. Educate Your Leads: Ensure your lead magnet is educational, showcasing your expertise and establishing trust with your leads. Most importantly, it must help the lead solve at least one valuable problem.
IV. Use Compelling Headlines: Your lead magnet’s headline should be captivating enough to convince people to engage. Examples could include “Avoid These 3 Hiring Mistakes” or “5 Steps to Secure Your Business Data Against Attacks and Theft.”
V. Start Small and Expand: Begin with one lead magnet focusing on a significant client problem and expand from there, testing its effectiveness.
By creating an effective lead magnet, you do more than generate leads for your business. You position yourself as a trusted expert in your field, laying the foundation for a robust relationship with potential clients. This step is critical in the 8-Step Inbound Marketing Method as it sets the stage for further engagement and potential conversions.
Chapter 16: Create Compelling Content covers content creation in some detail and includes ChatGPT prompts to get you started.
The second thing you need to successfully Entice leads is by promoting your lead magnet via relevant channels that your potential customers are most likely to see, engage with and want to consume.
Here are several effective channels for marketing your lead magnet:
I. Social Media Marketing: Social media platforms are a treasure trove of potential leads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X have millions of active users, presenting a huge opportunity for businesses to share and promote their lead magnets to generate leads. You can leverage social media organic posting, ads, pages, groups, and even influencers to promote even wider.
II. Email Marketing: Despite the rise of social media, email remains a highly effective channel for reaching potential customers. A well-crafted email campaign can help you reach a large audience, drive traffic to your lead magnet landing pages, and convert traffic into leads.
III. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): SEO involves optimizing your website and its content to rank higher in organic search engine results. This can lead to increased visibility of your lead magnets and more organic traffic to your website, resulting in more leads.
IV. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): SEM involves using paid advertising to increase your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). The most common form of SEM is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. Tools like Google Ads can be very effective if you’re targeting specific keywords related to your lead magnets.
V. Affiliate and Referral Programmes: These programs incentivize existing customers to refer their friends, family, or followers to your educational lead magnets. This can be an effective way to generate leads as prospects are more likely to trust a business that has been recommended by someone they know.
Remember, the goal of lead generation is not just to increase the volume of leads, but also their quality. You want to Entice leads who are genuinely interested in what you offer and are more likely to convert into customers.
By using a combination of these tactics, you can effectively entice potential customers, setting the stage for the rest of the 8-Step Inbound Marketing Method.
Sources:
[1] See sidebar.
[i] https://www.adaptivemarketing.us/97-of-consumers-search-for-local-businesses/
[ii] https://go.forrester.com/blogs/the-future-of-sales-enablement-is-the-c-suite/
