Why moving your lead generation online isn\u2019t as easy as it sounds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Moving an offline business online is difficult if you have incomplete contact information and if you don\u2019t have a well thought-out marketing plan to reach those prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have several clients who count on offline lead generation strategies<\/a><\/span> to get new customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, you can say \u201cjust do webinars\u201d or switch to email marketing<\/a><\/span> or video marketing<\/a><\/span>, but making a shift from offline direct lead generation strategies to more online lead gen strategies is fraught with obstacles once you decide to shift from offline to online marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your website has to be updated and focused on generating leads online. You can start by adding a lead magnet such as a webinar, ebook or checklist that potential leads can sign-up for and land on your prospect list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, your website needs to be mobile friendly — or responsive. This is so that potential leads can see your information easily and sign up for any of your lead generating offers from any device<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t How is presenting online different from live speaking? You have a captive audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve been generating leads via seminars, trade shows or conferences, your audience has been captive while they were in front if you. This is NOT the case during an online presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s one thing to build the know-like-and-trust factor when you are face-to-face with someone. And it’s a completely different game when you have to do it online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you aren’t able to reach out and physically touch potential leads, your online content and your social media presence will have to do it for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you like to write, then write. If not, consider doing videos answering typical questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve been running an offline business, then your leads and customer records probably have missing information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll have leads with phone numbers but no email or email but no phone number. If you played with some element of online marketing you may have leads with just a first name and an email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Start by putting them into a single spreadsheet and create a \u201cmaster list\u201d. Make sure you remove any duplicates and also make sure that each name is formatted correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re likely to find some records with names in all caps and other records in standard formatting. Use standard formatting for all the names, addresses and phone numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next thing you\u2019ll want to know is where these leads came from. A lot of systems will call this a \u201cLead Source\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is important because if you haven\u2019t been in touch with them in a while, you\u2019ll want to make sure you tell them how they got on your list. Here are some typical lead sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just because you have someone’s contact information in your business, doesn’t mean that you can use it anyway you like. You must have permission or consent. There are two types of consent; implied and expressed. Implied consent means that if they are already a customer, you have implied consent to send them information they would want as a customer. You can use emails with \u201cimplied consent\u201d meaning that they did business with you or they gave you their email for one purpose, and you\u2019re using it to contact them for a different reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expressed consent means that they have given you their information for marketing purposes. They’ve filled out a form to receive a download or to register for a webinar. But if they say they don\u2019t want to receive anything from you, you must take them off your list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though we\u2019ve been living with email for decades now, many offline businesses don\u2019t have emails from their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go through your spreadsheet and collect the information that you need from your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where knowing where they came from comes in REALLY handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll want to call them, remind them how you have their name and then tell them you are updating your database and ask them for any missing information. If they say they don\u2019t want anything — take them off your list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The conversation you are having is NOT a sales conversation. It\u2019s a catching up conversation. Here\u2019s how we met, what\u2019s happened in your life or your business since then? What are you interested in that we can help you with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you want to stay in touch? Yes or no. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this stage, you should have a nice clean list that is grouped by how you heard of them and what they might be interested in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your goal at this point is to recreate the live experience and move your customers through the buying process. Only this time, they won\u2019t have to leave their house until it\u2019s time to seal the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything you\u2019ve told them in person, will now be communicated online; either with email or video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s how to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example of what your online lead generation communication plan might look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you\u2019ve got your older leads safely onboarded and lead lists cleaned up. You\u2019re ready to generate new leads online and get them moving through your online sales process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how;<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way to create new opportunities to get leads into your funnel is to create valuable content based on the concern or problem your ideal customers have and your solution to that problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a financial planner and your leads have two main reasons for working with you; planning for retirement, planning for college — or maybe both. Here is an online marketing plan you might use to generate leads online:<\/p>\n\n\n Share great content and gather emails<\/strong><\/p>\n Run a webinar series or course that educates your audience on little known information not shared elsewhere. <\/strong><\/p>\n Stay in communication with these new leads by sending them information specifically based on what their concerns were or where they wanted more information<\/strong><\/p>\n While it\u2019s easy to say that a lot of this is a numbers game, and some of it is. That doesn\u2019t mean that you should treat these interactions lightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each contact you have with an old customer or client is a potential opportunity for new business; either with them or with a If you just go through this for the sake of following some checklist – that isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put yourself in the mindset that every conversation is with a dear friend whom you are eager to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That will make creating these emails, webinars and phone conversations infinitely easier and drive new online prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, if you want to generate leads online, it’s going to take a plan. Use the templates here to get started today.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shift successfully from offline to online lead generation: Update contacts, craft an online marketing plan, and guide leads to become customers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21,31],"class_list":["post-26373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-get-customers","tag-email","tag-presentation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Online lead generation requires incorporating technology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"example](\"http:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/responsive.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\t\t\n\n\nYou have to adjust your presentations from offline to online<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Use content, search engine optimization and social engagement to drive lead generation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What you\u2019ll need before moving your lead generation online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Update your databases with missing contact information<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to get missing contact information from your leads:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Get all of your leads into one database. <\/span><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Segment your leads by where they came from<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Implied vs Expressed Consent<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Fill in missing contact information<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Create an online lead generation communication plan that moves leads through a buyer’s journey<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
How to Generate Leads Online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Create opportunities for leads to get into your online funnel<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Every Touch is a Potential New Online Prospect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n