Increase Brand Awareness to wean off of lead-dependency?

I know… The title of this post is a bold one for sure…

And I don’t advise removing online lead generation as one of the pillars of growth for your business. You need leads.  But I have to be honest with you.   For many years, much of my time was spent concentrating on lead generation alone.

Here’s what I mean.  When I first entered the business world, I firmly believed the only reason to advertise was for LEADS.  Anything else was child’s play.

I looked around at all the sign-riders on cars… all the billboards… tv ads… and I just knew they were wasting money.  Now, don’t get me wrong… I still believe those methods are outdated and huge money-pits considering all of the technology we have today to reach a more targeted audience for less money.  But, what about my theory of “advertising just for leads”?

Even back then, it was obvious that the big-boys were going after Top-Of-Mind awareness way before just generating leads online.  Yes, I knew that, but that was for them!  A local business owner or entrepreneur going for brand awareness?  HA!  The thought made me cringe.

Bottom-line – I ‘knew’ that on a smaller scale, brand awareness wasn’t the way to go for the regular guy and gal.

Increase Brand Awareness?  Nah… Show Me The Leads!

So what did I do?  I became a devoted follower of the lead-game.  Day and night I would test methods for generating leads until I got the ‘magic’ formula down to a ‘science’.

Did it work?  Yes, it did… in the beginning.

To be frank, I ate it up.  I knew that if I could just keep these leads coming in… all I had to do was make a certain amount of phone calls, emails, or send enough thank you cards… and I would get sales.  And, yes, the sales came.

I felt pretty proud of myself.  And for years, that’s what I did.  No more lame seminars, no more networking meetings… just me and my online leads.

Things were fine short term… until more and more of my competition started to generate the same leads I was going for.  Eventually, I would call a lead and hear, “Gosh Mike, 3 others called me today about the same thing!”.

This same objection transformed from just a now-and-again occurrence to an everyday ball and chain.  Still, I continued with my leads.

Nothing Changes Until It Hurts Bad Enough

Stupid – no.   Stubborn – yes.   

Like a hardcore drug-addict, I was constantly on the lookout for my next ‘lead-hit’.  But my troubles didn’t stop there. Think about this…

Chances are, even a mega-producing business owner with a healthy (unhealthy) lead-flow has to keep priming the lead-pump.

In other words, when the leads come in… the game is not over.  For many industries, 90% of internet generated leads are 6-8 months from being ready to purchase.  This means that the business owner has two choices.  

They can continue to incubate and follow up with a majority of their internet leads in an effort to stay top-of-mind… or… they can only work with the “now” leads who are ready to buy.

Obviously, the latter is unfruitful with the gloomy 90% statistic I just gave you. 

Here’s the ultimate killer.  The other “follow-up” option?…  It’s a dead end as well. 

Remember those 9 other people who were calling on my one lead?  Seriously, even following up with leads who are not yet ready, is like rolling the dice…  Because your competition is doing the same thing.

When I finally realized this, my business changed.

Increase Brand Awareness + The Right Lead Generation

Again, by no means, am I suggesting to completely rid yourself of lead-generation.  Keep generating those leads.

But alongside your lead-gen campaigns, why not build top-of-mind awareness in your niche?   I know, lead-gen is just so much more sexy sounding, isn’t it?

But let me ask you… Do you like calling on leads every day?  Do you like the neverending follow up routine?  Do you like the fact that you have to do it over and over again… forever?

What if there was a way to condition the collective mind of your market in such a way that made them trust you… and come to YOU when they were ready to buy?  Without you having to send the typical endless nagging emails?  I mean, have YOU ever been spammed into buying something with any considerable value?

Well, there IS a way.   In fact, who says brand awareness marketing can’t generate leads at the same time?  

Now imagine… the potency of your message or advertisement when your prospect sees your ad… and subliminally trusts you because they’ve seen you ‘everywhere’ online.

Here, let me explain.

Top-of-Mind and Trust Driven marketing drives growth because:

• Prospects that come in already trusting the entrepreneur need little to no ‘selling’ or convincing.
• Prospects that are already familiar with the agent are more loyal than typical internet leads.
• Warm prospects who are familiar with the advertiser will Call the business ready-to-buy instead of the other way around.
• The closing ratio of inbound calls from warm leads who are familiar with the brand is multiple times higher.

Bring these mouth-watering benefits to the forefront of a typical lead-dependent business owner’s mind?…

… and they’ll practically kiss you right on the mouth.

In the end, you’ll work less, make more money, and have more time to spend with the ones you love… while your lead-dependent competition wanders aimlessly never to find why their business is suffering… It’s the very thing they are chasing that is killing them.

Next Steps

It’s really very simple.  Use Google, or Bing, or Facebook and create ads that follow your target audience around the web.  I know it sounds creepy.  But it’s not… if you target people who are already interested in your service.

But here’s the best news…

You can do this for a fraction of the price of billboards, TV ads, radio commercials, mass-mailing, and even online lead-gen ads!  And, in my opinion, they are much more effective!

In essence, by doing this, you can permeate the mind of your market in such a way that drives brand awareness faster than those traditional methods.    Take my word.  If done right – nothing can touch it in the paid ads world!

I hope that lightbulb in your head is going off right now…

Of course, to increase brand awareness, there are steps involved that are crucial to the outcomes of these types of campaigns which is why I am here.   All the best!