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HOW TO INCREASE THE RESPONSE YOU GET FROM YOUR LEAD GENERATING ADS

by Bob Leduc

I received two postcards in the mail yesterday. One was
cluttered with so much small text I had difficulty trying to
read it. I gave up and trashed it.

The second postcard had a total of 48 words on it including
a website address listed on the bottom of the card. The card
announced a new book on one of my favorite business topics.
Part of one chapter was available to read free at the
website listed on the card. I did... then ordered the book.

The person who sent that second postcard was using the
classic 2 step selling process:

Step 1. Generate leads - in this case traffic to her
website.

Step 2. Provide the requested information - in this case
provided online at the website.

This two step process is proving to be just as effective
online (Internet marketing) as it has been for many years in
traditional marketing.

WHY USE 2 STEPS?

It's easier to generate leads than to sell products or
services. You don't have to persuade anybody to spend money.
Therefore you can use simple and inexpensive methods of
advertising to generate leads. You can also build a list of
prospects who don't buy now and use it for future follow up.

TIP: Always try to get the contact information from your
prospects so you can communicate with them again in the
future. Implement an automatic follow up procedure to
periodically contact previous prospects who didn't buy.
(This one procedure alone can increase your number of new
customers by 50% or more.)

KEEP IT SIMPLE

The purpose of a lead generating ad or message is to
generate a large number of inquiries. You're not selling
your product or service (yet). You're selling the reader on
the action of replying to your ad. The most effective
message I've found for generating the maximum number of
replies includes only 3 things.

1. State the biggest benefit offered by your product or
service.
2. Include a compelling reason for readers to request more
information NOW.
3. Provide a quick and easy way to respond.

Keep your message brief. Most short ads I develop produce
more replies than longer versions of the same ad. For
example, one of the most responsive ads I ever developed has
only 14 words. The version used on the Internet read:

Discover How To Build ANY Small Business FAST! Offer ends
soon. Free information. mailto:address@domain.com

The off-line version of this ad also included a phone number
and postal address so prospects had 3 ways to request more
information. I used it for classified ads in magazines and
printed it on postcards and mailed them to targeted lists.
Every version of the ad produced a large number of replies.

Many prospects responded out of curiosity. That was OK. I
knew they were part of my targeted market and had a
compelling need for what I was offering. I controlled that
by circulating the ad where it would be seen only by
prospects in my targeted market.

Follow this model the next time you develop a lead
generating ad or message. Place your ad where lots of
prospects in your targeted market will see it. The number of
leads it generates from seriously interested prospects will
surprise you.

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