I hope I find you well,
Regardless of whether you are promoting something online or offline. The sales process is the same. You need traffic or people coming to your offers. Anyone selling a product is looking for ways to generate leads for their online business. So, how do you go about generating these leads? Well, there are 3 ways you can go about this to accomplish this goal. Let’s break this down.
Three types of traffic
Type 1 organic
Generating traffic organically is a passive, inbound strategy. Meaning your audience reaches out to you. You are not actively pursuing your target audience. This method leaves you, the vendor, with little control in terms of building a list of prospects. With this lack of control, consistent lead flow is difficult. Can it happen? Yes, but it may take a while before you gain any traction. Therefore, prepare yourself for the long haul.
Why would you want to do this strategy if the results are inconsistent? The number 1 advantage is this method is free.
The objective of this strategy is to create useful content that builds a following. As you create content and demonstrate the value of your content, your customer base should grow. This method doesn’t come without own set of challenges. As I alluded to this above, don’t approach this looking for instantaneous results. Especially when you consider you are competing against a lot of other marketers creating content. So, if you are good at creating unique content and post consistently, this strategy can work for you. The key things to remember moving forward is consistency, patience, and your ability to write engaging content.
Type 2 Paid
Generating traffic through paid methods is an aggressive, outbound approach. In this strategy you have more control over your outcome. The reason for this is because you can select who you target, and you can create a message that your specific audience can relate to. With this targeted approach, you can expect quicker results. Now, because you can get quicker results, doesn’t mean this strategy doesn’t come without its own set of hurdles.
Just because you spend money, this doesn’t mean you are going to get the results you desire. You will get a result; someone clicks on your offer. But this doesn’t mean they will purchase anything. You want to look at paid ads as a work in progress.
Before you can focus on refining your paid ad, you need to decide which direction you want to take. There are 2 forms:
Interruption ad
With this type of ad, you are paying to have your promotion placed in front of potential customers. Your goal is to get potential customers to stop or interrupt them from scrolling as they navigate through their news feed.
The second form of ad is:
lead generation
The purpose of this ad is to get them onto your email list. Generally, you will offer something free in exchange for an email address. From here, it operates like a conventional funnel where you build a connection with your audience and sell your product/s.
Either way you go with using paid ads. Do not look at this as spending x amount of money and that this amount of money you have spent will generate a profit. A profit is a result, but it may not be the result you end up with. Like any lead generation strategy, you need to take a long-term approach and be willing to lose money initially. If you take the correct approach, of making the necessary adjustments to, your ad will turn profitable over time. Be patient.
The last form is:
Type 3 Direct messaging
Direct messaging falls under the category of free traffic, but it can also help you with optimizing your paid ad strategy. To me, this strategy is the best of both worlds. It provides quick results, as a paid ad would, and it’s free.
Direct messaging is nothing more than reaching out to people through messenger or any medium offering a texting function. It is a unique way of reaching out to people on an individual basis, develop relationships, and build a following.
This strategy is often overlooked because it is generally done incorrectly, and people come across salesy. Because it comes across as a direct sales method, people go in the opposite direction. Because of the negative impression people have of the sales profession, they don’t want to be associated as someone in the sales profession.
The benefit is that it offers a 2-way form of communication, unlike anything else done online. In one conversation you can find out more about someone’s struggle than you could in 10 emails. This will shorten the sales process. So, find a need, solve a problem before pitching your product.
Well, there you have it. Remember, one strategy is no better than the next. It is what you do with it that matters most.
See you next week,
Paul