Written By Danielle Fauteaux
It’s 3:07, Thursday afternoon, the 28th of the month. Salespersons Jerry and Natalie are extremely worried.
It’s 3:07, Thursday afternoon, the 28th of the month. Salespersons Angie and Freddy aren’t worried at all.
What’s the difference? Well, it’s the end of the month and sales quotas haven’t been met because Jerry and Natalie’s company website is not generating new prospects and qualified leads. On the other hand, Angie and Freddy’s is, and they met their quota for the month last week already.
Let’s talk about how Angie and Freddy crushed it.
Generating Qualified Leads through Lead Capture Content on Your Website
I’ve shown you how to create a landing page that will convert via form submissions, but what exactly are users converting to get? Cue: Lead Capture Content.
This can be in the form of a no-indexed website page, a downloadable PDF, or another kind of file. The form doesn’t matter so much as the value that you’re providing to the researcher who downloaded the guide. You want to answer their top of mind questions. Whether your business provides a service or sells products, researchers are most often looking for SPECIFIC answers to the following questions:
- How much will it cost?
- What all is included?
- How long will it take? And what can I expect.
Traditional vs Inbound Mindset
Now, in traditional marketing and sales, disclosing this kind of information at any point before a sales conversation with a representative is FORBIDDEN. The “thou shalt not” kind of forbidden. The logic is that if researchers get these answers before talking to a human then they can more easily walk away, never speak with a human, and the company would have less time to persuade prospects into buyers. Traditional sales is structured in a way that the seller maintains control of information. Besides, what else are Jerry and Natalie going to talk to prospects about during sales conversations? But is that how the modern buyer operates? Not 60-70% of them. (If your target audience is younger, read 80-90%).
In inbound marketing, the tables are turned. The goal is to answer researchers questions BEFORE they contact sales. (Jerry and Natalie just lost their jaws). The logic of inbound marketing is that buyers have the power now. Power to compare options, dig into ins and outs of what their best solution is, and power to understand and trust the solution. This creates more buy-in such that once a researcher does contact your sales teams, they are usually already price qualified, understand where you operate from if you’re in a service area, and are more ready to get started. Your business is giving information to help people make an informed decision, not chasing people down and trying to convince them you’re the best, because of course you are. 😉
So, to answer people’s top of mind questions, like cost, without selling the kids with the farm, you can write the information into a lead capture piece, gated via your landing page form. That way people who download your cost guide, for example, have given you their email address that you can enroll into your lead nurture sequences and regular email marketing campaigns.
Email nurturing allows leads the time and space to gather information at their own pace without being pressured by a salesperson. Email nurturing also keeps your business top of mind and, as long as your content is genuinely helpful and not annoying, can build trust with your prospects. (Can you imagine if you didn’t have to make cold sales calls anymore because you have actual leads from your website?)
And when designed with re-engagement in mind, your lead capture content can easily point leads back to your website and to your sales team for next steps.
Components of A Valuable Lead Capture
First thing’s first – your cover page and table of contents. Generally you can use a png or jpg version of your cover page as the image on your landing page. Add imagery as much as you can and limit fluff throughout your lead capture content.
Depending on if you’re writing a cost guide, location guide, service guide, product descriptions guide, mistakes to avoid checklist, or whatever your lead capture content topic may be, you may want to use one of the following layouts to help you get started.
a. Text with Callout Box
Clever name, right. Pages that are primarily text work well when you are introducing the topic and explaining background information. It’s helpful to summarize your main points in a Callout box and then invite readers to take an action via a CTA (call-to-action) button, depicted as the white shape with gray line. This CTA should link readers back to your website to encourage reconversion via your other website content and landing pages.
b. The Photographer’s Delight
Imagery is important and whenever you can reasonably include a photo or graphic representation of your topic, I recommend that you do.
On this page, there are multiple sections and multiple CTAs, depicted as the yellow shape with white line. This format is helpful when your product or service has multiple facets and you want to distinctly cover different angles in a concise manner.
c. Leave it to Venn
Sometimes though, you need to compare and contrast options that your reader has. This example and the next both portray ways to do just that in your lead capture content.
Perhaps you’re noticing a common thread – the CTAs. That’s because they are extremely important and easy to forget on lead capture content, especially when it’s in PDF form. CTAs should be included as relevant and in locations throughout your lead capture content when is most conducive for the reader to be ready to take further action. That action may be to look at more information on your website. That action may be to call your business or contact you through your website form or via another kind of conversion offer.
The takeaway for now is that you don’t want to leave your users stranded. Always give them an opportunity to get to another piece of your content or website rather than close the tab and never go back.
d. Features Comparison
Different tiers of your service, or different versions of your product may be best for different prospects. Now’s your chance to be transparent and give them the information they need to self-qualify.
This kind of layout works well as a summary page and can be supported by additional pages that follow more of the “Text with Callout” kind of layout.
You may be wondering how many pages your lead capture content should be. Unlike most digital marketing answers, I do actually have a concrete answer that works across the board.
Your lead capture content can be as long or as short as is useful to your audience. Your user experience and the degree to which you answer user intent is the supreme measuring stick. Cut the fluff, be transparent, and be helpful.
Then, last but certainly not least, you should end your lead capture content with information about your company, your team, and why the buyer is choosing best when they choose you.
Please try not to be salesy on this page. Humans like to buy, but they don’t like to be sold to.
Be sure to add links to you website, your phone number, your active social media accounts. Then, don’t forget one final CTA to encourage readers to take the next step toward becoming a customer.
So what are you waiting for? Turn your most frequently asked questions into lead conversion offers and start generating qualified leads the inbound way.
Learn more about how inbound marketing works, even during recessions:
