Many people know the benefits of a generous email list: it is an excellent asset and allows the company to drive both the promotion of new marketing content and to do business.
For companies working with more complex sales, the relationship via email with the Leads makes the process easier and more effective. In practice, however, many come across how to create an email list to call your own.
Buying Leads lists is not a recommended practice. The ideal is to build one on your own, because only then will it reflect the expertise of your company before the market and you will have Leads qualified and interested in your subject matter. The path is laborious, but we guarantee that the initiative works and pays for itself.
5 steps to build a mailing list from scratch
Simple steps ensure a flurry of contacts for your business
- Preparation to generate Leads
- Initial configurations and offers for Leads generation
- Creation of Landing Page for conversion
- Landing Page promotion for new visitors
- Evaluation of results and planning of next steps
Let's detail each of the steps to follow:
1. Preparation to generate Leads
It all starts with answers to three basic questions. The first is: Why do I want to generate Leads?
This issue is important to align expectations. The generation of Leads is an investment in the relationship and bears fruit in the long term.
In general, the greater the ticket and the complexity of the purchase, the more educated the Lead should be until he decides to buy.
Let's take as an example the difference in the process of buying a course at a university and a mobile phone cap. While in the former case the buyer ponders a number of characteristics before closing a deal, in the latter, he usually buys impulsively and poorly planned.
In this context it is clear that the education company has much more prospect of being able to direct the Lead by means of information and relationship than the mobile accessory store. But even it can see value in relating to a base and making occasional sales if it thinks long term.
It is time to reflect on the second question: what kind of Leads am I looking for? To answer it, we need to know who the consumers of our product or service are.
A good way to formalize this information is by creating personas, which is the personification of the characteristics of your consumer. The more the Lead resembles your ideal persona, the greater the chances are that it will become your customer.
Being fully aware of the second answer is the basis for the last question: how to attract the interest of these Leads?
Here we have to think about what is the best possible offer for our people and where to communicate it so that the right people find it. We know that every business is unique and that's why these choices will vary according to the segment.
Throughout the text we will better detail the main types of offers and acquisition channels, so that we can put our first hypothesis into practice.
2. Initial configurations and offers for Leads generation
Among so many possibilities of offers to attract Leads, it is up to you to identify what is most interesting for your audience. We separate the possible lures into four large groups according to their cost-benefit and indication of use.
2.1 Content
These are eBooks, webinars and mini-courses, all aimed at educating Leads on how they can solve a problem or seize a business opportunity. Empowering the market gives your company authority over search engines like Google.
2.2 Tools
These are simple spreadsheets and templates, which help Lead to recognize a problem or to solve it. The interesting thing about this kind of offer is the ability to attract advanced Leads in the buying process, who are looking for ways to put their ideas into practice.
A structured nutrition plan is key to thinking about what content to create and how to organize it within an automation stream.
2.3 Promotion
It's a classic but still quite efficient way of drawing attention. Discount coupons or sweepstakes are examples of this type of resource, whose great advantage is the potential for buzz and viralisation.
One important caveat: take care not to attract Leads that have little or nothing to do with your persona.
2.4 Contact offers
Examples are the contact links on the company's website, budget requests and the marketing evaluation request, in the case of New Concepts. Because they are Lead requests to the company, these offers are able to bring more advanced people in the purchase process, who have clear doubts or are evaluating the acquisition of your solution.
It is worth noting that often the company has internal materials that can serve very well as a gift. Whether it is a manual, a training for the team or a spreadsheet used in the work routine, it is up to you to think about what is relevant to share with your audience.
3. Creation of Landing Page for conversion
Once you have defined the most relevant offer for your target audience, ask for user information in return. For this, we use a Landing Page, a page designed exclusively for conversion and designed to generate as little friction as possible in this action. The elements that should be observed when creating a Landing Page are:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Here's a way to make your offer more likely to be found by those who search on tools like Google.
Generally, the offers are interesting and tend to have some repercussions, so the page has a lot of potential to be in good positions.
Optimization for conversion
Here think of the text that explains the offer. It should convey to the visitor the value and benefit of the content and have a professional design.
In the conversion form, include fields that reveal essential user information.
Thank you page
After a conversion, the Lead is usually directed to the company's home page. Our tip is to make the most of this moment by taking the user to a thank you page that offers a second offer, related to the previous one.
We know that this third step can be difficult for those who are starting in Digital Marketing, but ready-made templates can help the technical part of the job.
Also, be sure to create your privacy policy and make it clear on the page, as only then can you use the information for a mailing list.
4. Landing Page promotion for new visitors
This step will help us better understand how to answer the third question in the preparation, dealing with where we will get potential visitors to the created Landing Page.
Below is a survey of the main acquisition channels:
Social media
You can use social networks, yours and the company's, to indicate the offer and the Landing Page.
More than that, remember to encourage people to share the offer: either by buttons on the Landing Page, or via confirmation/advice email, etc.
CTA on website and blog
A cheap alternative that generates results is the use of banners and links on your own website and blog.
Your Calls-to-Action need to be creative to be noticed and clicked on. Links and calls along posts on supply-side topics can work very well.
Paid media
Working with paid media on Facebook, Google, LinkedIn or any other channel is an option with great potential and measurable return.
Each one of them has its peculiarities, but in short they all use the power to segment users to target an accurate message to potential Leads and customers.
The media pays, although it demands a financial investment, it has great power to generate results in the short term.
Subject discussion groups
On Facebook, Linkedin or other specialized platforms, find groups where your potential market is present.
Interacting with users is a cheap and effective way to attract qualified visitors.
Co-marketing
A golden tip is to try to share the action (and the Leads generated) with other companies whose target audience is common to yours. The scope of the offer will be extended with little additional effort or investment, benefiting both parties.
5. Evaluation of results and planning of next steps
Depending on the complexity of the product and the quality of the Lead generated, the sales cycle can vary widely. So don't be hasty when analyzing the return generated by a Leads crop.
Probably many of the users are still being educated or worked on by vendors months after the conversion. It is possible to predict the results that are coming looking at earlier stages of the sale.
It is important to monitor how your strategy is doing, making analyses at each period and understanding the perspectives. We suggest two basic studies to measure and optimize your efforts:
Leads Qualification
Of the Leads generated, how many have the desired profile and seem to be perfect for your company? Does that seem to be enough?
These are the customers you are looking for, and even if they didn't make the purchase, they are a good indication that you are on the right track.
Then there will be adjustments in the nutrition of Leads, in the sales process, etc. But this is a good indicator to know if the actions have worked so far or not.
Origin of results
Among the channels you have worked on, which of them are the big responsible for your result? How much has it cost to generate a qualified Lead in each channel?
This analysis will help you understand what efforts have worked, what should be corrected and what strategies to invest more in.
The analysis becomes more complex as your company evolves and Digital Marketing actions increase. Rest assured, the initial steps presented in this post are already enough for you to go from scratch and generate Leads.
Share with us what kind of result you found after applying the knowledge of the post and, if you need help, ask for a conversation with us to guide you in this endeavor.
