If you build it, will they come?

One of the biggest misconceptions about lead generation funnels is “Build it and they will come”. 

A lead generation funnel is not a field of dreams… (And this also applies to every other kind of funnel). 

I am always shocked by how many business owners really struggle to make their funnels profitable. In most cases, they’ve encountered these challenges because they haven’t applied the same marketing principles to their funnel that they normally would apply to any other marketing strategy. 

I see it all the time. They spend all their time, energy, and money adding all the extra bells and whistles to the funnel itself, and they forget about the basic needs that must be met in order to attract and reach the right target avatar. 

Back in the day, I admit, I was guilty of this too! I used to think the more complicated it was, the more successful it would turn out to be. I literally tried to automate every component, and add every “frill” I could, and guess what? 

It was only when we simplified things that we became more and more successful with our funnels.  

Concentrating on 3 KEY components was all we really needed to focus on to create a massively successful funnel. 

I’m going to break down these components for you– What they are, and how to ensure you nail every single one in your lead generation funnel. 

So let’s start with the WHO. 

Who are the most important people in any business?

Your clients, right?  

In order to attain clients, you must first attract prospects. Yes, I know you already know this…

But not just any prospects, you want to target your ideal prospects. These are the type of prospects who are most likely to convert. 

So who is YOUR ideal prospect? 

What research have you done? What type of time, care, and attention have you invested into really understanding who they are, where they are, and what do they really want? 

If you’re not sure who your ideal prospects are, just take a look at who your best clients are right now. 

Your best clients are prime subjects to study when it comes to defining your ideal prospect; as remember, at one time, they once were your prospect. 

Tip: There are a bunch of tools out there these days that are designed to mine your existing client data and uncover data patterns using a process called predictive analytics. Using a combination of stats, machine learning, and data libraries, this state-of-the-art process helps you to identify your ideal client profile. 

And once you’ve dialed that in, the really fun part comes next…The HOW. 

HOW to reach them, so you can start driving traffic to your funnel. The fun part of this is, there are endless ways to reach your ideal prospects. You just need to know where they are. Part of knowing where they are is knowing who they are. 

What are their interests? What books do they read? What podcasts do they listen to? What publications might they read or subscribe to? What social media platforms do they visit frequently? The list goes on… 

Most people use paid traffic (display ads, sponsored content, social media ads or paid searches) to drive traffic to their funnel. Organic traffic is also used (it’s usually the result of unpaid search results).  

I can’t stress this enough…The best vehicle for your target audience ALL depends on YOUR audience. It’s different for everyone. 

What doesn’t work for someone else may work exceptionally well for you, and vice versa. 

Much of this will be uncovered when you actually take the time, dig in, and really “know” who your ideal audience is. That is really where the real competitive advantage comes into play.

Winning the Traffic Game Pointers:  

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Start testing multiple vehicles. Don’t just test one vehicle and then throw your hands up and kill the entire funnel just because that one channel didn’t return the results you were hoping it would. You MUST diversify.
2. Start small tests with every vehicle you start testing and start scaling and creating split tests when you see positive results. This also means knowing exactly where you stand as far as your metrics (CPL, CPA, ROAS, etc.) Ensure you are confident with the stats being reported to you so can make informed data-driven decisions. 
3. Keep an open mind, and start thinking outside the box. We all know Facebook, Google and YouTube are oversaturated. Unless you have a real expert ads team working to make these platforms profitable for you, consider some other alternatives you can capture your market in.

Here are a few alternatives to just throwing ads up on Google or Facebook: 

• Existing Blogs– Leverage your existing content! Simply promote your blog posts to your social media audience and provide links to your funnel within them and/or at the end.
• LinkedIn–An untapped resource for many B2B establishments. At the very least, add your funnel link to your summary with an attention grabbing headline.
• Podcasts–Your own or be a guest on someone else’s that has a large following. Most don’t know this, but approximately 20% of Americans listen to at least one podcast a month. Out of that percentage, over 60% end up purchasing something promoted on the show. Yes, seriously!
• Direct mail postcards–Another inexpensive way to sift, sort, and screen a list to identify your ideal clients and get them into your funnel. Depending on how many you mail, you can get a standard postcard printed and mailed for as little as $0.31 cents a piece if you go the presorted FC route.

Another huge benefit of knowing exactly who your ideal prospect is comes into play when you are focused on the 2nd key component to creating massively successful funnels…Which I’ll reveal in next week’s Infinite Business blog article. 

Stay tuned!

David