Tech Forward:

This is part 3 of my “Your Website Needs to Get a Job” series. We’re talking about ‘thai chicken’ and lead gen tools. If you don’t know what that means right away, you might want to get caught up with part 1 and part 2.

In part 2, I mentioned the dreaded CAN-SPAM Act. Eek!

It’s not that the Act itself is a bad thing – in fact, it’s great. But, the Act has effectively penalized honest companies that want to market their products and services, right along with spammers. Not so great.

When you’re setting up your ‘thai chicken’ (a.k.a. lead generation tool), you need to get permission to market to the person requesting the chicken sample – both now and in the future. Ok, Lena, how do I do that?

The Now Takes Care of Itself

The fact that the person is requesting the information means you have permission to send them whatever they are requesting immediately – so that effectively takes care of itself.

The Future, However, is Another Story

We’ve all seen how small those sign up forms are. How do you get permission for the future?

It’s all in the wording, dear Watson.

Take a look at what we say on our website for our Technology Strategy Workbook:

Sign-up to receive your free “Technology Strategy & Planning Guide”, along with our regular publication,The X Dossier.

The “along with our regular publication” grants us permission to send our e-zine, updates, etc., in the future.

This languaging is critical to ensure future marketing permission. This way, if someone ever says they didn’t agree to receiving your newsletter, you can show them their IP address (more on this in part 4) and direct them back to the verbiage on your site – and, that solves that.

Bottomline: If you’ve set up your ‘chicken’, are you getting permission to market to requesters in the future? If not, you’re presenting a potential liability for yourself and possibly damaging your brand. What company wants to be known as the company that spams?

To piggyback on part 1 of this blog post series about using lead generation tools on your website, I’m writing today’s post to continue the lesson…

So, you’ve realized that you need to create your ‘thai chicken’ (if you don’t know what this is, go back and read part 1). You see just how important that piece of ‘chicken’ is to your overall marketing plan.

But, you need a recipe. How do I know what to put in the chicken to make it ‘taste’ good enough for people to want more than the sample – how can I get people to want to work with me once they’ve sampled the goods?

First let me share with you the three criteria of a successful lead generation tool. The lead generation tool must:

1. Position you as an expert on the topic. Unless you can stand at the front of a room and give a presentation based on the topic of your lead generation tool, don’t write it. You need to be able to speak to the subject with your eyes closed. There’s a reason that the lead generation tool for my company is a Technology Strategy workbook – because that’s what we do.  Your lead generation tool should address the heart of the solution you offer your customers/clients. It shouldn’t be some rambling document filled with generalities and theory. Make it specific with little-known tips and tricks and people will tell other people and pretty soon, your lead generation tool will have a high word of mouth (WOM) factor – something every business owner loves.
2. Weed out tire-kickers. Let’s look at our example of Cheryl over at CherylMillerville.com again. Cheryl is a wellness coach for super busy entrepreneurs - and a good one at that. (She’s my wellness coach.) Cheryl’s lead generation tool is a Wellness Pack. Now, unless someone is really interested in taking wellness seriously, they’ll never download the wellness pack. So, by making her lead generation tool very specific, Cheryl has in effect cancelled out all the people who are on the fence about wellness and she’s only attracting people who want to take the steps to make wellness a priority. Notice how Cheryl doesn’t pander to the weight loss crowd – that’s too general for her. She focuses on wellness — the overall, holistic sense of being well…not just being skinny.
3. Future marketing permission.

Part 3 of this blog post series will be all about complying with the CAN-SPAM Act and making sure the sign-up for your lead generation tool gives you permission to market to your audience in the future – responsibly, of course.

Bottomline: In the meantime, to figure out what your ‘chicken’ should be ask yourself these questions:

• Of everything that I know about my area of expertise, what ONE topic positions me as an expert the most?
• What question do I get asked over and over again?
• Is that topic specific enough to weed out people who will waste my time so that the list I build is packed to the rim with interested, qualified potential clients/customers?

There are loads of ways you can make your website work better. And, if you think it doesn’t need to be better, you’re in denial.

Today – and probably for the next post of two – I’m going to focus on one small thing you can do make your website start working (or work better) for your business. Even, if you’ve already got tons of people on your email mailing list, you’ll want to read this two-parter to make sure you’re getting it absolutely right.

It’s called Lead Generation – and that’s fancy talk for building (generation) a list of people (leads) who might be are good potential clients.

Who cares?

Your website is sitting there. Sometimes people call/email, sometimes they don’t. It’s your business’ face to the world, why not make it as efficient, effective and results-producing as possible?

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me tell you a story.

You’re hungry – not starving, but you could really use a bite to eat. You’re walking through the food court at the mall.  You’re not in a mood for any food in particular. Then, a man walks up to you with a cocktail napkin, a toothpick (the kind with the swirly colored ribbon on the end) and offers you a sample of thai chicken.

You accept his offer, taste the chicken and head straight for the thai food restaurant.

Whoa, what just happened?

You got a taste. A sample. A smidgen. An amuse bouche (of sorts).

And, that was all you needed to help you make up your mind about what you wanted to nosh on. Notice, how they didn’t have to give you a whole skewer full of thai chicken. They didn’t have to tell you how they made it. They didn’t even have to tell you how much it costs. They just let you taste it.

Your lead generation tool is that piece of thai chicken.

It’s a small sample of what it’s like to work with you, your methodology, your style, your approach. Sort of a ‘mini-you’.

Also notice what they didn’t do. They didn’t ask you to do anything – other than accepting the napkin and toothpick – to taste the sample. They didn’t ask for a donation. They didn’t ask for you to fill out a comment card. They just gave it to you. It’s the time honored concept of giving to get.

How it works:

• You create your lead generation tool (your piece of thai chicken) 
• Upload your ‘chicken’ to your server
• A potential client visits your website – they want to know more about what it’s like to work with you.
• They input their email address on a form on your website, and then your ‘chicken’ is delivered to their email box – with permission to contact/market to them again (more on that in part 3).

Take a look at a company that gets this right:

http://www.CherylMillerVille.com – Cheryl gives away a Wellness Pack. Yours doesn’t have to be this extensive, but as you get better and better at lead generation, you might want to make your lead generation tool as specific as possible (I’ll talk about why this is important on the next post.)

Bare minimum of what you need to make this happen logisitcally:

1) Create your ‘chicken’  and upload it to your web hosting server (more on how to do this next.)

2) Software to keep track of it all. I highly recommend Aweber (aff link). We use it.

Bottomline: How can you use your ‘chicken’ to increase your pool of prospects?

There are 4 key elements to a good website that produces qualified leads:

1) It has to be aesthetically pleasing. Invest in good quality design so your website passes the 3-second-catch-their-attention test.

2) The copy has to be legible and understandible. Don’t fill your website with buzzwords and industry lingo. That will put your company on a rocketship to Whocaresville. No amount of slick design can make up for crappy copy. Take yourself out of yourself and think about what you would like to read and learn if you were a potential client.

3) Leverage quality lead generation. Nothing takes the place of a good in-house marketing list. Remember: people don’t want to just sign up to get another mailing list anymore. No one cares. Give them something that’s worth them giving you their e-mail address – a special report, an exclusive audio interview, an e-mail e-course that delivers one lesson per day… Earn your spot in their inbox.

4) Make it usable. This is the trump factor. No mystery meat navigation – people should know exactly what they’ll get when they click a link. Make sure your website’s layout reflects how people really use the Internet – not how you WANT them to use your site. If you want people to sign-up for your lead generation tool (see item #3), actually give them a box to fill in at either the top-right or top-left of your website’s home page.

Bottom lines:

• Don’t make potential clients work to read your website.
• Give them a reason to keep coming back and/or reading future communication from you.

Positively brilliant.

I especially loved the “goodie bag.”

People don’t want to be sold anymore.

They want reality. They want to be engaged – especially online.

And, you’ve got about 5 seconds to make them want to click around your web site.

Those are the facts. But, just because these are the facts, doesn’t mean companies have to be so serious in their pursuit of eyeballs.

Sometimes it’s about timely white papers and informative webcasts. Other times it’s about…well…see for yourself:

 http://shaveeverywhere.com/

Back in 2004 I attended an event hosted by a local Chamber of Commerce.

Without my permission, they immediately added me to their mailing list (more info on why this is a bad, bad idea).  The networking was sub-par and I knew I would never attend another event so I figured I’d unsubscribe later. 

Fast forward to 2007.  I’ve tried to unsubscribe several times by replying to the newsletter – each request with escalating urgency.  SECOND REQUEST. THIRD REQUEST.

Yesterday I called their office and spoke with the person in charge of the newsletter – as if I have nothing better to do. I explained to her who I was, my futile attempts to unsubscribe and gave her a quick run down of the CAN-SPAM Act. I  informed her that if her technology consultant was not telling her this information, her organization is being exposed to some potentially serious problems.

Her reply?

“Wow, we didn’t know anything about this.  And, I know our [tech] guy doesn’t know anything about this either. He’s just a college kid. Thanks for telling us.”

Here’s an organization that’s supposed to be leading the charge for businesses and they don’t even remotely have their act together.  Wow.

I guess that’s what happens when you leave your organization’s technology in the hands of a “kid”.

I recently attended a conference and met a bunch of powerful, experienced business people.  When I met Edith (that’s not her name), she gave the impression of an experienced professional and I looked forward to continuing the conversation with her after the event.

I just received Edith’s e-zine.

I know for a fact that I didn’t sign up for her e-zine.  Edith had to have added me to the list — without my permission. Now I’m looking at Edith sideways. 

I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm but, this one act to ‘get the word out’ has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Here’s the rule: When meeting people at events never, ever add them to any of your lists – e-zines or otherwise. Don’t email them jokes of the day. Don’t forward prayers or other ‘chain mail’ or ’superstitious’ email. It is perfectly fine to use keep-in-touch e-email. That is, sending the person a link to a story or blog post that you think is straight up their alley and will directly help them in their business. NOTE: This should not be done through a list service but rather via a personalized e-mail.

I wish this could go without saying but alas, sadly even some of the most seasoned professionals make this mistake.

Here’s the exception: The only way you can add someone to your list is if the following conversation occurs – and even then, be judicious!

Lena: Well, it was nice meeting you, Edith.

Edith: Nice meeting you too!

Lena: I want to keep up with what you’re up to…can you add me to your list when you get back to the office?

Edith: Sure. You do mean our e-zine, The Edith Gazette, yes?

Lena: Yes, that sounds good. It’ll tell me what your company is up to right?

Edith: Oh for sure – along with some helpful tips about how to use widgets, too.

Lena: Sounds good! Take care.

Edith: Will do. Take care!

Edith should then go back to the office send me a personal note to make sure I still want to be added to the list and only when she gets the second OK, should she add me to the list.

Unfortunately, this is not what happened in reality in my interaction with Edith. *sigh*