Improving Lead Generating and Conversation Rates: Think Like a Farmer

Written by Charlie Cook


John's a freelance photographer in Ohio who called to tell me of his frustration withrepparttar advertising and promotional campaigns he has tried inrepparttar 140798 last couple of years. Each time he does a promotional mailing to his list of 10,000, he is lucky if he gets one or two inquiries. I had a similar call from a corporation that was spending its time and money driving traffic to its web site. With six thousand visitors a day, they were only getting a couple of inquiries per week.

Both businesses were spending a lot of money to get attention but weren’t converting this attention to leads.

Are you havingrepparttar 140799 same problem?

Marketing is a lot like farming. You can’t just head out to your fields and bring in a bountiful harvest. First, you buy seed fromrepparttar 140800 money you’ve budgeted. You buy enough to be sure that a good crop will germinate and thrive until harvest, and you’re likely to plant several different crops to hedgerepparttar 140801 weather andrepparttar 140802 market.

You may not be interested in becoming a farmer, but if you want to see your business grow there are three ways thinking like a farmer can help you.

1. Learn How to Collect More Leads A farmer needs seed and lots of it to bring in a bountiful harvest. You need a lot of quality leads to increase your clientele.

If your ads or mailings aren't resulting in a steady stream of inquiries, find out what's not working and change it. By changing a couple of sentences of your marketing copy or your offer, for example, you can increase response rates by a factor of ten or more.

Could you collect more leads withrepparttar 140803 right marketing strategy and marketing copy?

2. Learn How to Increase Your Lead Conversion Rate A farmer who had spent his savings on seed wouldn't plant his field, then go on vacation and come back months later expecting to find a healthy crop. While you may berepparttar 140804 exception, this isrepparttar 140805 way most people market their businesses. According to The Yankee Group, between 40% to 80% of new business leads aren't converted simply due to lack of follow-up.

How To Write And Craft Your Online Classified Ads

Written by Evelyn Lim


What are classified ads? Classified ads are essentially just condensed form of solo (full page) ads. They are small as there is usually a limit torepparttar number of lines or number of characters that you are allowed to put in.

Classified ads can be free (certain restrictions are likely to apply) or can cost you as low as less than $10. Forrepparttar 140797 ones that you have to pay, prices vary depending on where you advertise, how largerepparttar 140798 subscriber list is andrepparttar 140799 number of impressions (how many times your ad appears).

You may consider placing your online classified ads on a website that is already generating huge traffic or in someone else’s ezine.

Here are a couple of sites that you may wish to check out:

http://www.classifieds.yahoo.com http://www.5starads.com http://www.isnare.com http://www.web-ads.com

With there being a limit torepparttar 140800 number of lines that your classified ad can contain, it is a good idea to spend some time crafting out an effective ad copy to elicitrepparttar 140801 best response. Your job is to conjure a clear image of a solid benefit inrepparttar 140802 minds of your prospect, based onrepparttar 140803 restricted number of words that you are allowed in your ad.

Here are 7 tips on crafting out your online classified ads:

1) Userepparttar 140804 age-old marketing formula once again: AIDA! Attract Attention, get Interest, Attract Desires, Get Action.

2) In order to attract attention and to get your prospect's interest, you must first know who he/she is and what he/she wants.

3) Sell onrepparttar 140805 benefits and not onrepparttar 140806 features. Rememberrepparttar 140807 saying “Sellrepparttar 140808 Sizzle, notrepparttar 140809 steak”!

4) Make a clear statement that says specifically what your prospects will get when they answer your ad. Show by using facts instead of claims. For instance “Fast service guaranteed” is not as preferred as “Your items shipped in 24 hours”.

5) Get your prospects to act onrepparttar 140810 information immediately. Put a time limit!

6) Userepparttar 140811 word “Free” if possible. For instance, offer a free ebook or free service to attract your prospects.

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