White Paper Series: Web Based Lead Generation
By: Jeremy Duimstra
I am often asked for concrete answers about creating value and return on investment from interactive marketing. Personally, I believe the majority of this value is created with Lead Generation techniques. There is a lot of information to give on this topic, so get comfy!
The Internet is the perfect way to reach a massive potential audience. It is also a great place to selectively target certain markets and geographic areas very economically. Following is the first of four proven tactics that can increase your net of leads in the digital world:
The Billboard Page
In my humble opinion, the overwhelming majority of web sites currently in existence fail as soon as a visitor reaches the home page. Why do I say that? We have all seen countless sites where the company uses the home page to tell the world why they are the greatest organization on the planet... Ever! The truth of the matter is, the world just doesn't care.
Studies have shown and our statistics verify, that most commerical web sites have approximately eight seconds to interest a visitor. If you clutter up a page with a mission statement, staff bios, news about the company, etc., your eight seconds have done nothing to generate leads. Your prospect has moved on to the next site. Which, coincidentally, is also about the greatest organization on the planet ever.
We use a specific tactic, called the "Billboard Page". The wonderful thing about billboards, which you see while driving down a given road at roughly 70 mph, is that it conveys the most general message, or theme, very rapidly. This is the same kind of experience people should have when they first enter a web site.
The following questions should be answered immediately: What is the overall message that this web site is trying to communicate (the theme)? What can these people do for me?
Customers are selfish – and they should be. They are potentially going to part ways with their hard-earned money in return for your products or services. Why would they do such a thing? Because your Whizzmabob product, fresh out of development, is something they woke up wanting this morning? Because they realized over coffee that they need an "integrated customer-focused solution" (whatever that is)? No. They buy for one simple reason. They have pain.
The billboard page should speak to this pain immediately. It should answer, unequivocally, a prospective customer's number one question— "What's in it for me?"
It's not all about copy. Design is critically important. Your visitors must get a strong sense of your company without even reading the content. Color, graphics, layout, typography…all of these things lend themselves immediately to the emotional reaction of your visitors.
Lead Generation Tactic Two: Email Marketing