Two powerful lead-generating examples for your SME

In a previous blog entry I introduced you to the power of a white paper.

Today we will look at two powerful and very different examples of white papers.  As you'll see, white papers can be used for almost every industry, from security providers to industrial waste pumps to professional services.

(Note:  If you didn't have the chance to read the previous blog entry, click here and read it first.  There are subtle distinctions on how to write a white paper that you will not pick up in this blog entry.)


Example 1#: Small newcomer takes on big established brands

Watchdog Security Group is an established and successful business in their ‘local patch’ in New Zealand.  But when they decided to expand their market, and venture into new locations, leads were hard to come by.

The big players in the security industry had all but tied up the market.  Being a 'newcomer' made sales tough.

We created two special reports (white papers) that would educate the market and position them as a true authority on security issues.  One targeted business security and one residential security.  It was a 'soft sell strategy' to get a foot in the door AND importantly, to build a database.

  

In the document, we highlighted the various security weak points that are well known within the industry, but little known to the marketplace.  And of course, in highlighting the weak points and how to overcome them, we had a great opportunity to showcase Watchdog Security's range of solutions WITHOUT coming across like just another brochure.

 

Early feedback on the success of these white papers is very encouraging.  The response from the marketplace is exactly as we predicted, with the company being seen as doing a valuable educative service to the community, while establishing themselves as a trusted supplier.  We’ve also crafted some advertisements to trial to endeavour to actively generate qualified leads through the media, as well as having the white papers featured on the Watchdog website as yet another lead generator opportunity.

Example 2#: 'Zeroing in' on a niche target market

What happens when you have a very specific market with only a relative handful of high end, high value prospects?

That was the case when we were approached by a supplier of heavy duty industrial waste water pumps.  While they could actually identify a number of potential prospects ... municipalities, mines, manufacturers, they knew that there would be many more ‘out there’ that were as yet unidentified.

A white paper strategy was the perfect solution here.  Their prospects were typically engineers and specifiers who had a strong technical understanding of their operational requirements, but often DID NOT know of the special unique features of these particular pumps. 

Consequently, although we still used a me-to-you approach, it was more appropriate to use fairly technical industry languaging, supported by technical diagrams and photos.
 


Promoting the white papers was a fairly straight forward exercise, with half page horizontal ads appearing in various industry specific magazines, as well as ‘pay-per-click’ advertising and SEO strategies. 

'Squeeze Page'

To maximise the requests, and therefore to build a substantial database, we designed what is called a ‘squeeze page’.  In essence, this means that visitors are ‘squeezed’ into one action step.  Requesting the reports.  We also secured a new URL to enhance search engine results – www.pumpfacts.com.au.

And while I can’t give you the actual dollar sales potential of this strategy, I CAN say that with 91 requests for the various reports coming in from specifiers and engineers from all over the country, at $50,000 to $250,000 and beyond per sale, THIS is a very powerful strategy for this application.

In a future blog article we'll look at two more powerful examples, so be sure to subscribe to the blog to make sure you don't miss them!

Until then, start penciling down some ideas for your own white paper. If you'd like us to help you create a white paper and build a promotional strategy around it, give us a call on +617 3300 6909.

Or go to our advertising and marketing website and use the contact form to contact us (don't forget to put 'help with white paper' in the comments section).  

You might also want to include a brief summary of your business, a backgrounding of your industry and marketplace, and what you are hoping to specifically achieve with your white paper.

The Concept of ‘Soft Dollar’

The concept of ‘soft dollar’ is a simple concept. But hardly any businesses harness it effectively. 

It allows you to value add to existing clients. It allows you to develop strategic alliance relationships that get you endorsed into other client databases ... and it gives you the tools to take away the focus from price and minimise the need to discount. 

So what IS ‘soft dollar’? 

In a nutshell, ‘soft dollar’ is something you have, or can create, that has a HIGH PERCEIVED VALUE, but costs little to produce or source. 

Take a pizza store. That’s an obvious one we’re all familiar with. 

The first pizza they sell a customer is encumbered with all the overheads ... wages, rent, power, insurance, advertising, etc. 

However, if they were to offer a SECOND Pizza FREE ... what’s the ‘hard cost’ to provide that second pizza? Some flour, water, cheese and a few extra ingredients. Maybe $3. Yet the perceived value is the same as the first ... Let’s say $12.

This is a classic example. That $3 pizza, positioned as a $12 bonus, can be (and has been) harnessed as a potent marketing tool.

In a similar vein, a beauty salon may offer a $20 hair styling as a gift. Perceived value, $20. Yet, the delivery cost of that service may be $2.

We’ve helped countless clients ... in beauty salons, fitness centres, health care, retail, automotive, financial services, real estate, design and construction, travel ... to rapidly acquire new customers through this concept. It is a concept you must constantly seek to apply. Because it IS so powerful.

Let’s have a look at a few more examples. Take the situation of a professional services provider.

Virtually any professional may use this same strategy. Naturally it has to be ‘packaged’ in a professional and appropriate way, depending on the profession. But the concept is equally as potent.

Take an interior designer. This person may charge out their time at say $150 an hour. It’s VALUED at $150. But it doesn’t cost $150.

The positioning of this offer is critical. If the consultant is seen to be promiscuously giving their time away freely without positioning it correctly, then it loses much of its value.

On the other hand, if this professional ...

• positions the hour as an exploratory consultation, valued at $150 and ...
• dimensionalises the value to the prospect of what they’ll be doing in that hour to analyse, advise and recommend, AND they ...
• give reasons WHY they’re prepared to invest that time with the prospective client, an ‘investment’ in the prospect to that the prospect can fully understand the depth and breadth of the designers services and expertise ...

THEN ... this becomes a classic harnessing of ‘soft dollar’ strategy.   The consultant could launch a whole campaign around this strategy, aimed at highly targeted prospective clients.

Every business can harness this very powerful strategy. Apart from positioning an hour of your time in this way, your ‘soft dollar’ could be: 

•  one of your own low cost high perceived value products that is related to, or enhances your main product offering in some way. An extended warranty perhaps.
• a complementary product you source from someone else. You supply fitness memberships, you ‘package in’ a $55 voucher from a local massage therapist or beauty salon.
• information you ‘package’ into a special report. This one is SO powerful, and so few businesses really harnesses it effectively. (For more great tips, grab a copy of our e-book '21 Tips to Creating an Effective White Paper' ... you'll need to put "21 Tips E-Book" in the comments field)
• an audio tape of a seminar you’ve presented to prospects an interview you’ve scripted to give solutions to hot issues of the moment

The possibilities for ‘soft dollar’ are endless. If you don’t feel you’ve got the expertise to do the packaging, don’t let that be a reason NOT to do it! Find someone who can record a seminar, or a marketing professional who CAN put together a report of packaged information. 

 

Offering packaged information has been recorded to produce up to a 3,000% increase in leads. So it is worth doing.

We'll be really delving into white papers soon, so sign up to this blog to make sure you don't miss that series of blog entries.

Could this get you a truckload of quality leads?

Would you like to know about just one idea for your business that has delivered a truckload of qualified leads for our clients, and for our own business? 

Well, over the coming blog articles, I'm going to let you in on just such a powerful strategy.  Especially as it can deliver those leads for less than two dollars a lead.

If executed correctly, this strategy will almost certainly deliver you a stream of high-quality pre-educated prospects - no matter what industry you apply it to.  In fact, it could be the most powerful lead-generating strategy you ever implement.

Best of all, it dovetails nicely into the promotional channels you are already using, online and offline.

What is this strategy?  Well, you may have heard me refer to this before.  It is called 'packaged information'.  More specifically, a 'special report' or 'white paper' that you promote out in the marketplace. 

By the way, don’t be put off by the term ‘white paper’.  It sounds a bit pretentious but it is a pretty good description of the function for this document, so let’s go with that.

What a white paper is, and what is it NOT...

Essentially, your white paper will be a document that presents valuable information that you’ve created and collated.  It ‘educates’ your prospective client or customer on how to address and solve a problem or series of problems they are facing.  Often though, it must start with educating the prospect that they even HAVE a problem.

(That’s why there’s such a huge untapped potential here!  Most businesses fail to tap into the market of individuals who could and would use their product or service.  But don’t because they don’t yet KNOW they need it.)

The next logical step for the white paper is then to demonstrate the solutions you can bring to the table, with subtle proof statements and case studies woven throughout. 

Bear in mind the caveat here.  The white paper must not try to directly 'sell'.   A white paper is not an ‘ad’ for you.  It is not a thinly veiled ‘spiel’ about your services. It is NOT a company brochure or a trumpet-blowing exercise.  Again, this is where most business fail in their marketing.  They try to SELL more than educate.


Specifically, the white paper’s objective is to:

• get qualified prospects to put up their hand, flagging their interest in finding out more about the ‘problem’ they may have.  
• educate your prospect through examples, case studies and logical argument to the solutions.
• through those case studies and examples, to subtly position you as an 'authority' in your field with the track record to deliver the solutions.
• and MOST importantly for your marketing success, it opens up a dialogue with the prospect.  And in doing so, gives you permission to talk with them in a collaborative way.  That permission, as opposed to trying to SELL to them, is priceless as you’ll discover. 

If this sounds a bit ‘theoretical’ so far, then hang in there for the next blog entry.   Next time we'll look at some real life examples of white papers, including our own that has generated 371 qualified lead enquiries for Results Corporation.  In short, we’ll start unpacking the secrets to how you can harness the huge lead pulling power of a white paper in your business.

Make sure you sign up to Chris Newton's Strategy Brief Marketing Course (in the top right), to receive the complete series on white papers.

For two great examples of white papers click here.