To turn your good message into a lead, don’t forget the action item. One of lead generation’s foundational elements is telling your prospect how to respond to your message. Don’t leave things to chance. Push the next step. Tell them what you want them to do. Conversion doesn’t happen (or rarely happens) unless you give that nudge with a call to action.
The customer’s journey has many stops on the way to, say, an upgraded home system. You can get them to visit your site, sign up for your newsletter, share a Social Media post and keep moving them toward “schedule an estimate today.” This is the range from low-friction calls to action (such as the newsletter sign-up) and high-friction calls to action (appointment-setting-time).
Often the low-friction is the warm-up in a multi-step process. And once they’ve initiated contact, you can begin nurturing the lead. Not everyone buys immediately, and some need continued reinforcement in their journey.
Even with your content marketing, don’t just leave the thought hanging on how to follow-up on the great information you provided. At the end of your blogs, let prospects know what they need to do to learn about your company, your products and services, or get more ideas for home improvement projects.
Asking for a response, of course, fits neatly and logically into a fully developed marketing piece that pushes benefits (gives them a reason to act) and reduces risk (gives them no reason not to act).
Benefits turn features into advantages the customer will receive. Risk-reducers, including guarantees and warranties, and social proof such as testimonials help smooth anxiety about response. They maximize your message and minimize your prospect’s risk. And each of these elements works together to lay the groundwork for customer action.