[social_warfare]
SHOW NOTES
Leads – what every marketer wants, but can’t always easily get.
And even if they can, they often struggle with getting them to convert.
Now, like everything else in marketing, the secret to lead generation isn’t some crazy ninja trick.
And you don’t have to have to jump through hoops to do it right.
It’s all about following a (proven) process.
I just so happen to have one of those up my sleeves.
I’m laying down that process for you in today’s episode where I’ll be sharing:
- My ultimate tips for generating leads
- How much of your ad spend you should dedicate to this phase
- The biggest mistakes people (including me) make & how to avoid them
If you really want to maximize your lead generation so that you’re attracting high quality leads that convert, be sure to tune in!
If you need additional support with lead generation and other aspects of your marketing strategy, go to helpmystrategy.com to see if you qualify to work with Team Hirsh!
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Emily Hirsh:
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I am excited today and here’s why, because I looked at the weather forecast and there is an 80 degree day, 10 days away. So I’m so excited that fall is almost here. And for those of you guys who know me and follow me, like I have a hard time. I love Austin, moved from California about almost two years ago. So this is our second summer here. I love Austin all the times of the year, except for June till September, sometimes through September. Last year there was some hot days in September, so we’ll see, but I have a hard time in the heat, which is why I leave for California as much as I can in the summer. And I’m so excited when it starts, it’s raining today, even though it’s like really humid and still 90 degrees outside, but it just feels like fall is coming. And I’m excited for that. So hope you are all doing amazing.
And today’s episode, we’re going to dive into The Hirsh Process lead generation strategy and step, which is the third step of The Hirsh Process. We’ve been really feeling the last month on the podcast in our social media and our content to really walk you through on a deep level of our Hirsh Process and go through like themed each week, the different steps. So if you haven’t noticed, that’s what we’re doing. We’re not doing it super obvious by saying like step three of The Hirsh Process, but more creating content around each step. So creating content around lead generation, and before we created content around brand awareness and visibility, and we created content around setting your goals and your ad goals and your budget and all of that. So if you haven’t gone back and listened throughout the past month, you will kind of notice that if you do.
And today I want to dive into just maximizing your lead generation, maximizing your campaigns and your strategy, maybe some things that you haven’t thought about around it, and just see kind of where you might find some gaps in what speaks to you. So lead generation, if you don’t know what it is, I’m sure a lot of you guys listening do know, but is where you are getting your email leads into usually the top of your funnel. So it typically looks like having a webinar or a challenge or an opt-in like a lead magnet, a video series, something that somebody’s signing up for with value, with their name and email address. And they’re kind of entering the top of your funnel, entering the beginning of your customer journey and experience that’s going to take them to your offer.
So if you were in the physical product space, this will look a lot different for you because your first offer is actually a sale. So if you’re selling a physical product in eCommerce, or if you have a self-liquidating offer funnel where that first thing is an actual purchase of a lower priced product, then you won’t spend a lot of time in this lead generation phase. There are definitely strategies that you can implement if you’re in that space, but if you are selling a digital product or service, so you have an online course, if you have in a digital service, if you’re trying to get even applications to go to a very high level service that you sell on a call, whatever you’re doing to get people into that digital product, digital service, that’s really above a hundred dollars, then you will spend 80-90% of your ad budget in this lead generation phase, because you have to get all those leads in to bring them on the customer journey and the experience, and then hopefully sell them.
And that’s the main goal to your offer. And you create this experience that leads them nicely from the lead generation to the offer. If you are an eCommerce physical product or a self liquidating offer funnel where you’re leading with the product and the first step of your funnel is the actual product, and they’re going ad to buying, you probably only spend 5-10% of your budget here. If anything like you might not even start with any of your budget here, depending on what your budget is. So you won’t spend a lot of that, but I, and I will talk about a few strategies if you’re in that industry in a bit on this episode.
So how do we set ourselves up for lead generation success? The first piece is something that you might not guess, but also is very in alignment with everything I talk about on here, and that is have goals around the lead generation, so that you know going into it exactly how many leads you need and how much you can pay and want to pay per lead to accomplish your sales goals. So before you start any lead gen ads, you have to go back and make sure you understand how many leads per month is kind of a good metric to look at that I want to add to my list. What’s the cost per lead I’m going to pay, or I want to pay as a goal to accomplish those leads? And then that will give you a budget. And those leads should be based on your sales goals. So an easy example is if you think you’ll convert 1% of all your leads to your thousand dollar course, then every sale you want to get, you would need a hundred leads.
And so if you’re going to pay $5 a lead, you’re going to pay $500 to make that thousand dollars. I’m just throwing numbers out there. You might convert 3% of all of your leads. You might convert 2% of them. You might pay $4 a lead. You might pay $7 a lead. So you have to work around that. But before you start your lead gen campaign, go into it knowing how many leads am I trying to get? What am I trying to pay cost per lead, because that will make it so you can optimize your ads so you know what your daily budget should be with your ads and you know how to take action and what you need to do to take action.
All right, the next thing to having lead generation success, and this is probably one of the most important pieces and is a core piece of The Hirsh Process. And this step in The Hirsh Process is making sure that you customize your lead generation strategy to be the exact experience your audience needs to becoming a paying customer. So here is what’s so important when you’re creating a lead gen strategy. When you are deciding to go the route of having a webinar or having a lead magnet or having a video series, whatever it is, you’re creating that with the piece in mind that your goal is to sell to those leads is to get sales from those leads and ultimately convert them into your offer. So it’s really important that when you create your lead generation strategy from the actual like vehicle, like, is it a webinar, a video series or whatever that is from that, but also the content in it and that it really flows as that strateg. Whatever they’re signing up for is showing them, showing the lead, what they need and your product is what they need.
And so you are creating that almost like eye opening kind of awareness around here’s where you’re at. I know you, and you know, here’s why, and speaking their language around like what they’re struggling with, what they’re frustrated about, what they’re stuck with. And then here’s what they need and opening their eyes to kind of the path to receiving that. So an example would be here’s an example of ours, right? So my webinar, I know that my audience wants a successful marketing strategy, sales, they want to grow their business, they want to make more money and they understand the vehicle to do that is Facebook ads, but they’re overwhelmed from all the options for strategy and what they should do and how to implement the Facebook ads and how to actually execute it.
And so they have that overwhelm. So I speak to that overwhelm. I speak to that frustration. I speak to what they need and their hopes and their dreams, and I make it so they realize what they need. And the next step for them is The Hirsh Process implemented in their marketing and in their business. And then we do it for them. So there’s a direct connection with whatever I do from lead magnets, to my private podcast series, to my webinar, where it goes from that content to my offer and it lines it up perfectly for me. It tees it up so that it’s a no question, you know, decision when it comes time for me to pitch them. And so the most important piece of your lead generation strategy is that you’ve customized the way it’s set up for your audience.
So here’s the mistake that a lot of people make is they will follow somebody or go in a course or some sort of training where they, in that training, they’re teaching, you know, here is you go get the leads and here’s your headline template and the way that you set up your webinar, and the way you do this, and they’re teaching it all. And that’s great, but what they’re normally teaching 95% of the time is what worked for that individual. With that individual’s audience, that individual’s offer. That business has a very unique, every business has a unique kind of offer, angle, and product they’re selling and the way that you have to position that product. And so when you go and you, I feel like the word cookie cutter is like, people are like, why don’t use cookie cutter templates? It’s like, well, wait, do you though, because have you looked at your strategy and your funnel and really ask yoursel is this different than what my competitors are doing? Is this actually going to attract my, not only attract my lead, but then be the perfect stepping stone to convert them to sales, or do I need to customize or change something to make it accomplish that goal?
And I think that sometimes we take, we get wrapped up because marketing is overwhelming. People get wrapped up in not copying, but taking a template or taking a format or a strategy and trying to replicate it to a T and they start ignoring kind of the feelings of like, wait a second, this doesn’t feel like me, this doesn’t feel like my brand. I’m going to give you guys an example. This just happened. Okay. It just came to me as I’m saying this. So because I almost do this. So I want you guys to understand, like, you’re probably doing this sometimes because we do it without realizing it. So next month we’re launching, we’re doing a big launch for Ignite and we are right now in the process of I’m going to be recording the videos. We’re, we’re creating all the content. So I’m going through the process of creating that lead generation strategy and, and making sure that the content really lines people up for the sale and resonates with them and is valuable, represents my brand, but also speaks to my customers, frustrations and overwhelm and their dreams, the current state that they’re in. And then what the answer is for them moving forward. And last week I was working on this script. And so I actually did have a template for the script because doing video series, I mean, there’s so many templates out there that are all really based around the same thing, which Jeff Walker came up with the original format and it still works the way they lay it out. So it’s like talks about the objection, objections and dreams comes true, and it really likes speaks to your audience.
So I was going through and creating this script and it’s very scripted and it’s very template because that’s the only way that individuals could sell the script or give it to their students. You’ve to have some sort of template. I understand that, but as I was creating it, I was like, this doesn’t sound like me. Like these pieces, some of these pieces in here just either feel like fluff, or they just, they’re not what I would say. And it might be what worked for this person teaching it, but this is not my brand. And then also I kind of, for a second, for a couple of days, got wrapped up in this idea that like, I need to have this really fun theme to go with my video series. So I was, you know, going down the path of like, should we call it a bootcamp and have all these analogies around fitness or like trying to come up with a theme. Right.
So I got on a meeting with my team, my marketing team and branding, and our copywriter was on there, creative director, and I’m talking through it like, okay, what should we do? Let’s figure out the themes, let’s flush this out. And actually one of my team members said, you know, we can do a fun theme if that’s what you want to do, and like, I’ll totally support with that and of course do it, but I just want to share when I look at your brand and Emily, I don’t really associate like a silly, fun theme with your brand. I associate strong, confident expert, you know, get to the point, give a ton of value. You know, don’t fluff it with this silliness because you’re filling it with valuable content, so I’m not sure if you want to go the route of the silly theme. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, she’s so right. I didn’t even, I was so caught up on like, I’ve got to have a silly theme cause then people will pay attention to it. And it will be more fun and engaging.
But the more I thought about it, I realized, first of all, she’s right. That is my brand. I’m not a very like silly, clowney person. Like I just don’t do that naturally. So that’s why it was feeling so hard and stuck for me to come up with what we should do, because I’m more about, let me give you so much value that this changes your life and your business over the next week, versus let me be really silly and have fun with you. Like that’s just not really my brand and my personality, but I was caught up on trying to like do something else because I, for some reason had it in my head that’s what I had to do.
The second thing is I was like, wait a second. If I do a really silly, funny theme, then I’m going to be attracting people to this video series for the wrong reasons. Almost like, yeah, they might be there for the content. I don’t want to attract people just because it’s a silly, fun thing for them to participate in. I want to attract people who want to go through the content and implement it in their business and see results because that’s my buyer. So I almost went down the wrong path because I had it in my head like that’s how I was going to get people to pay attention. And that’s what, like the, you know, the successful video series launch people are doing. And I was like, wait a second though. No, this is not for my audience. This is not me. And I had to backtrack and go back in and make those templates and the structure my own.
So what I’m trying to say is with your lead generation, it is so critical that you customize the experience and the content so that it perfectly lines up, your offer feels on brand for you and something that you would do. If you’re creating something ever where you’re like, this is so hard for me to create because I’m feeling so stuck, like I can’t come up with what to say, and I can’t, I don’t know what to write and I don’t know what to do, it’s not the right thing. Because when you create something for your audience, that’s true to your knowledge and your expertise and how you show up in your brand. It should honestly feel easy. And that was like the problem. And as soon as I got rid of that, I was like, okay, this is easy and it just flowed out of me. I wrote the scripts. I changed them around. I mean, it wasn’t like easy to write. The scripts are long, but it just like it was, I was unstuck from it. And I was trying, I was overthinking it, trying to mold something to not my real brand. And so that was really eye opening for me, and I know that other people go through that all the time. So make sure to customize your lead generation strategy.
The next tip for maximizing your lead generation is to make sure that you create nurturing and trust building within the lead generation phase. So make sure that whatever you’re creating, whether it’s an automated funnel or an evergreen, or is an automated funnel or a live launch, whatever it is that you’re not a hundred percent solely focused on just getting the leads in the door, but that you’re also considering what happens after those leads in the door. How do you continue to nurture them? How do you continue to build relationships with them? How do you continue to grow that relationship so that maybe they don’t buy this time around or immediately after you’re watching your webinar, but they buy in a few months from now or even a year from now.
And so make sure you kind of flesh that out and you have a completed lead generation phase while you’re thinking about the nurture sequence they should go through and then the regular emails they should receive after that and how you can kind of maximize on those leads that you’re already most likely paying for next week. I’m actually going to walk you guys through a bunch of different nurture strategies that you can do. And we have a new opt-in, which is a swipe file for nurture series. So make sure to tune into next week’s podcast for that. But right now, I want to make sure you guys know that part of the lead generation phase is nurturing those leads because until they reach the sale until they reach the offer and like pitching the offer to them, they should be in lead gen and nurture relationship building, warming the audience up. Okay. So that’s super important.
Now, if you are in the eCommerce space, I want to just touch on this quickly because I don’t want you guys to feel left out because you can do some form of lead generation within the physical product and eCommerce space. So most of your budget within the physical product space should be focused on driving straight to that product, but you can also have, and you should have newsletter coupons that they can sign up for, get 25% off, or different incentives around a sale. Now, if you do have an ecommerce product that some sort of option could go really well with, for example, if you sell stuff in the health and wellness industry, you might be able to have an opt in where you’re actually giving your lead some sort of PDF around, I don’t even know, like the top 15 super foods. That just came to me, but like something around what you’re selling.
So think about what you’re selling and is there actual like content you can build around that. And then that is, you know, an opt in, you could do that. Then you tie in the email series and the thank you page with your product. Now, if that’s not like, if that doesn’t line up, that doesn’t make sense, then you can have obviously that coupon code and some sort of taking advantage of a deal that they put their email in to be able to claim that way. If you grow your leads, you’re able to future market to them. So you can send them emails, you can do flash sales, you can nurture them, building that trust with the brand. And also you’re able to kind of re target those people to who you get in. So if you’re in the eCommerce space and just think through that. I mean, your focus should be selling that main product that you’re driving ads to, but you can always pair and test pairing lead generation to that, and even tie the product right on the thank you page, or like I said, in and or in the email series.
So those are my tips on how to maximize your lead generation. Just a quick recap, make sure you know your goals, make sure you’ve set your cost per lead, number of lead goals, and make sure those goals are based off of your sales goals. They’re not goals you choose out of nowhere. They should be based off of your sales goals and worked backwards. Then make sure you really customize your lead generation strategy to be taking into consideration your brand, your values, your audience, and your offer that you’re actually selling. Don’t just create a webinar because everybody’s creating a webinar or do a challenge because you’ve seen a few people do it successfully really think through the journey. You’re trying to take your customer through to go from a lead to a sale and make sure it all aligns and there’s no disconnection. And then make sure that you create nurturing for those leads and that that is a part of your strategy if they don’t buy what happens. And that you’ve answered that question and really, you know, taking them through that and completed it and not just left them hanging or sitting on your list because then they will kind of become stale. And if we’re paying to get leads, let’s maximize the most out of them and connect everything so that we get the sales.
So that’s how we maximize the lead generation strategy. And like I said, if you are selling some physical, or sorry, digital product or service, you’ll probably spend 80-90% of your ad budget here. And then if you are selling a physical product or even a self-liquidating offer product, you’ll probably only spend 5-10% of your ad budget here.
So thanks so much for listening today, guys, if you want support with your strategy, we are going to be moving into Q4, so start thinking about all of it. The last quarter of the year, your goals, are you moving forward with your marketing, do you need support building your funnel, running your ads, planning out your marketing, creating a strategy that will work following our process? You can go to helpmystrategy.com to see if you qualify to work with Team Hirsh, and I will see you all on the next episode.