Do you have a leak in your sales funnel?

If so, you might want to check around the front of the sales funnel…

Many entrepreneurs are great at attracting leads.

Pay per click, direct mail, print advertising, and content marketing all work great – but a lot of those leads are lost along the way to becoming buying customers…

In fact:

79% of marketing leads never convert into sales.
(Source)

It’s true.

And one of the most common areas for this breakdown to occur is the moment right after they capture the lead.

How do you fix it? 

By improving the content that your prospects are exposed to…

Conversion-Based Content Builds The Momentum in the Sales Funnel

The beginning (or nurturing stage) of the sales funnel is where your prospect goes from being newly exposed to your company to trying to understand the value you deliver…

It starts by answering the questions:

• What are the beliefs that prospects need to have in order to buy your products?
• What do they need to believe about you?
• About themselves?
• About your product in order to buy?

(To give credit where credit is due… these 4 questions were inspired by the marketing genius of Todd Brown)

You should also answers the questions:

• Why should I buy from you?
• What makes you different?
• How do I know this is going to work for me?

The content must move them through that progression and educate them on your value and your unique advantage.

…While also establishing your authority and building trust with your potential customer.

In The Predictable Profits Playbook, we call this phase of the funnel – the “dating phase.”

Types Of Content For “The Dating Phase”

Case Studies

People love stories…

And the only thing they love more than stories… are stories about people that are just like them.

Case studies tell a story about how your customers have used your products or services to solve their problems.

They are a great way of proving that you have a solution that actually delivers the results your prospects are looking for.

The more closely the prospect can relate with the problem featured in the case studies the better…

Case studies are often delivered as a downloadable report (aka white paper), but they can also be extended blog posts or videos…

Webinars

Webinars deliver value for your prospect in an engaging and interactive format…

They can be presented live, as a pre-recorded event, or a hybrid of both…

The best webinars deliver awesome and valuable content that – if you weren’t already giving it away for free – your prospects would have been glad to pay for.

If it doesn’t pass the “would someone pay for this webinar?” test, you haven’t delivered enough value.

Webinars are more than just an opportunity for you to talk about your products and services – they are a chance to help your customers move a step (or two) closer to achieving their ultimate outcome.

If you’re unsure what topics you should be talking about in your webinars, survey your customers and ask them about problems they struggle with…

Then pick one of those problems, answer it by telling them what to do – and plug your product or service as the solution for “how” to get ‘er done.

Your webinars should provide standalone value, but also move your prospect toward making a purchasing decision.

Brochures

Not all of your “mid-funnel” content needs to be delivered online…

Brochures are an example of how to add physical content to your sales funnel, allowing prospects to learn about your products and services – on their own time – while aiding them with the selection process.

Requests for brochures are also a clear indication that the prospect is serious about what you have to offer – so don’t neglect to follow up!

(Here’s a tip: When someone asks for a brochure, offer them a compelling reason to give you their contact information so you can follow up with them!)

In-Depth Video Content

Research by Google has shown that the ideal length for a video on YouTube is between 3 and 3 ½ minutes.

Sure, that’s great if you’re showing a dancing hamster – but for marketing, you may want to switch to longer, meatier video content…

Videos are a great opportunity for you to illustrate and demonstrate your product.

Take Billy Mays for example – the (late) master video salesman.

Or – for less of an infomercial feel – a simple product demo.

These videos explore, in detail, how your prospect can solve particular problems or achieve a certain outcome.

This is especially useful if you have a complex or difficult to explain product…

Unfortunately, nurturing leads through the sales funnel is decidedly under-practiced by most businesses…

65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing in their sales and marketing processes. (Source)

Neglecting to nurture your leads is like running water through a leaking hose.

It may work to some degree, but it’s hardly the most effective approach.

Fix those holes and see more of your leads transform into buying customers.

In your corner,

Charlie

Digital marketing solutions are all the rage these days, but is direct mail marketing still an effective strategy in an increasingly digital world? Find out in our related piece on direct mail marketing.