They say it’s not the destination that matters, but the journey. Well, in business, both are equally important.
If we think about the buyer’s journey, the destination would be the moment in which the client makes a purchase or converts, which is what every business is after. At the end of the day, that moment will have a direct impact on your bottom line!
That said, we can’t underestimate the power of the journey itself. There’s no purchase without the buyer going through the Awareness, Consideration, and Decision stages. And your mission there is to guide them towards the best destination – your business!
It can be a difficult trip to plan out, especially during the Consideration stage, when the buyer compares your product or service with others. But fret not! You can arm yourself with many useful tools to succeed at this crucial stage: written pieces, custom-made videos, sweepstakes, and promotions.
Today, we’ll talk about how to handle all these powerful tools at the Consideration stage and increase your number of leads. Stay tuned!
Table of Contents
- Provide Downloadable Written Material
- Go with Well-crafted Explainer Videos
- Run a Sweepstake or Contest
- Offer Promotions through Social Media
- What You Have Learned Today
Provide Downloadable Written Material
You’ve probably heard that video marketing is leaving text content behind. Still, there are a few situations in which offering written content delivers a lot of bang for marketers. That’s the case with eBooks, infographics, white papers, and any kind of extensive downloadable written material.
Each of these provides a lot of value by their own nature, especially when they revolve around educational topics tied to your products. Remember that at this second stage of the buyer’s journey, the client is researching possible ways of solving their problem. So, what better way of furthering leads down your funnel than providing them with the information they are looking for? This is an invaluable chance to present your business as a reliable source of information in its field and enhance your brand’s reputation as an expert.
Sounds good, right? Well, it gets even better.
As if attracting leads and boosting your brand’s reputation wasn’t enough, downloadable written material also offers you the possibility of gathering leads’ contact information. This can be done with the help of gated content.
In short, gating your content means that people will only be able to access it if they leave their name, email, the company and industry they work in, or whatever information you consider relevant.
Sure, many will rather not download your material than go through the burden of filling a form. But that makes this strategy even more effective, as only those that are truly interested in the topic – in other words, those that are really hot leads – will accept providing their information to be contacted later on.
Keep in mind, though, that hardly anyone would offer their personal information unless they trust that what they are downloading is worth it. The only content that deserves being gated is the one that offers real value to readers and can’t be found elsewhere. This valuable gated material should also be paired with high-quality posts or videos on your website or blog to boost readers’ trust in your content.
Go with Well-crafted Explainer Videos
Let’s go over the crux of the consideration stage one more time: the buyer is looking at possible solutions to their pain-point… or in plain English, they are comparing your product or service to your competitors’.
So, as if this was some sort of contest show, you need to present the solution you offer – a.k.a.: your product or service – in the most compelling and effective way possible.
If you work in the B2B industry, you may think that “compelling” is not precisely a word that goes well with your product or service. Well, it can be!
An explainer video can help you break down your value proposition, no matter how complex or boring it is, into a fun and alluring message, and in just a few minutes! That goes a long way in the viewer’s eyes since, as 21st-century creatures, they are unlikely to stay tuned for a longer time or a less stimulating piece of content.
So, if your video is done right, the viewer will be perfectly informed about the solution you are offering in just two minutes or less. This would make their research way simpler than if you provided them with tons of text or no information whatsoever.
Producing a video is also a great chance to prove your company holds a high standard in terms of quality. As you may suspect, the viewer won’t get the same impression about your brand through a poorly-made or unoriginal video than through an eye-catching and custom piece.
Whether it is a live-action or an animated piece, your video should have a solid script, aesthetically pleasing visuals, and great acting, or high-quality animations (find out more). More importantly, it should be built precisely for your target audience in this stage of the buyer’s journey. That entails two vital steps to take during the video production process:
- Designing the characters around your buyer persona. In this sense, animation productions allow you to customize your characters to a much greater extent than live-action ones, in which you may undergo an extensive casting process to find the perfect actor to portray your ideal buyer.
- Presenting a story your targets can empathize with. Your relatable character should go through a situation that your audience can see themselves in. The easier it is for your audience to empathize with the story, the more likely they are to see your product or service as a viable solution to their problem.
Run a Sweepstake or Contest
Running a sweepstake or contest is one of the most efficient strategies to generate leads, and a special favorite of small businesses, as it’s very cost-effective.
The beauty of this strategy lies in the strong appeal that free stuff has to your audience… and to anyone, really. A free product or service can lure people to provide their contact information and share the sweepstake or contest with their peers.
Speaking of sharing, one of the best aspects of sweepstakes and contests is the cross-channel exposure they get. There are entire websites dedicated to sharing this kind of content to an active audience of sweepstakes-aficionados. In addition, there are your own social media channels, in which a sweepstake or contest can spread like fire with the help of the right strategy.
Yes, the right strategy. Let’s talk a bit about what these three words entail.
For starters, they involve having a prize that’s valuable enough for your audience to be thrilled by it. It might sound obvious to you, but you’d be surprised by the number of sweepstakes in which the main prize is a t-shirt and a cap with the company’s logo (Seriously? C’mon!).
The prize should also be particularly alluring to your target audience. Sure, if you offer something generic – a smartphone, a car, or the sort of thing no one would say no to – you would definitely drive lots of people into your sweepstake, and it may work great for your brand awareness. But we are not here to talk about brand awareness! We came to talk about high-quality lead generation, and for that matter, you should stay away from generic prizes.
To create a winning sweepstake strategy – no pun intended – the prize should be deeply related to your company and its field. That way, you can ensure that the participants are part of your intended audience, and they can be targeted later on when the sweepstake is over. So, as a result of a niche-oriented sweepstake, you will end up with fewer but stronger leads.
You will also end up with a long list of losers. I know that doesn’t sound nice, but sweepstakes are probably the only arena in which losers matter more than winners, simply because they are more.
So, what to do with all those also-rans? They are clearly interested in your products or services, so you should retarget them with specific ads or reward them with a discount on your shop. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results you can amass with this kind of strategy.
Offer Promotions through Social Media
We have just stated that people love free things. Well, by the same token, they adore lowered prices.
So, if you want conversions and you want them fast, consider gifting your social media followers with a special treat: a discount code, a limited offer, a flash deal, and the like as part of your social selling strategy. You would be addressing an audience that’s already into your brand and its products or services – they are your followers, after all! – so you can be sure this type of move will call their attention.
But besides offering promotions to have multiple conversions overnight, you should consider leveraging them as a long-term lead generation strategy.
Pairing your social media content with regular offers and promotions can give people a powerful reason to keep up to date with your social accounts. Besides, with the right exposure, this strategy can help you win new leads’ attention.
So, consider advertising your promotional deals on social media. Since social advertising is aimed at a selected group of people (based on their behavioral or demographic characteristics), you would be targeting an audience that’s likely to respond well to your efforts.
If you want to make your social ads as attractive as they can be, you should add video content into the mix and create an engaging short piece that can stick into your audience’s minds. Video is usually more dynamic and enticing than images and written copies, so it’s the ideal choice to promote your special offer on social media.
Another excellent idea is to associate with an influencer that can bring high exposure to your business. Even better if that person speaks to a specific audience that matches with your targets.
You see, influencers of specific niches are often regarded as trusted authorities in their fields. So, having your industry’s top influencers speaking well about your brand and promoting your offers can have a highly positive effect on your lead generation rate.
What You Have Learned Today
Every stage of the buyer’s journey is important since there can’t be one without the other. That being said, the Consideration Stage requires special care and attention, as it’s the one in which your leads are weighing their options. As a result, they can move on to the Decision Stage with your product or service in mind or filter it out of their alternatives.
That’s the last thing you want, isn’t it? So, you have to provide them with the right tools to boost their knowledge and confidence in the solution you offer and make it stand out as the most viable alternative. Let’s do a quick recap of how to go about this:
- Offering gated written content of educational value to present your brand as an expert while gathering new leads’ contact information.
- Displaying informative and relatable explainer videos to convey the solution you are offering in the most straightforward, easy, and fun way possible.
- Running sweepstakes with prizes that are significant to your target audience.
- Regularly presenting your social media audience with discounts and promotions to win new leads and keep them glued to your social efforts in the long run.
These are handy tips that are bound to make an impact on your lead generation rate. Still, I recommend you not to follow this road blindly and measure the success of each step you take. Yes, keep track of how these tips work for you and your audience, and shape your strategy accordingly.
Now, all that’s left to do is to wish you good luck in your endeavors. And if you don’t believe in luck, then all the more reason to monitor your results!
