I want thank you specifically for allowing me into your earbuds every day for the last 150 days. I don’t take it for granted at all!
Today I want to share with you an important story and lesson that will illustrate the best lead generation strategy.
I had an eye-opening, reality check of sorts recently. See as you know I do client service work, but also help folks like you through coaching and other products such as Feast to help specialize their business and build recurring revenue.
As this part of my business becomes much bigger, which is much different than my services, I’ve learned a lot from other folks who run similar programs and businesses.
See what I tend to do is pay attention to how they do sales, marketing, run programs, etc and if it’s something I like and feels appropriate to me, I’ll try and reverse engineer it or ask them and have a conversation to learn it.
Sales and marketing in this type of space is very much something that seems a bit unnatural to me. Only because it’s a pay-to-play and a push type of game. Meaning, you use ads to drive signups to a webinar and then pitch. Which definitely works and does very well for lots of very smart people. Obviously, I’ve oversimplified this a bit as there’s a ton more that goes into it.
I spent a ton of time and resources and developed systems and campaigns that felt more like myself that allowed me to serve you better and help in ways that you would get value from.
Sure it worked to some extent, but I did feel that wasn’t as successful as it could be. Not just for me, but for you too.
As I started to reflect on what I was doing and how I could better serve you, while still being able to build a business, I came to the realization that all the time spent on building and learning what was working for other people and their massive audiences, I shouldn’t have paid any attention to.
What was working for me was what I’ve built out for my client services part of the business. Having conversations with leads and prospects to a point where they got value specific to their situations and projects and if it made sense, the next step would be to work together.
With that in mind, I went back to having conversations. More folks like yourself started getting value specific to themselves and what their situation is.
Going back to those conversations allowed people to evaluate if it made sense for them to take that next step and work together.
As a result, this process has worked out much better for everyone, my coaching clients, Feast and Sales Kit members, and my business.
I share this with you so you maybe see the value in not getting distracted by the “new”, “shiny”, strategy. Whether that’s Facebook Ads, blogging, speaking, podcasting, or something else that you see working for someone else.
If you have something working right now in your business, own that space, as it’s said in the book Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. As it's said in the book, often we'll find success and then right when we hit 80% of that particular channel, we'll move on to try the next thing.
Work on what you know
Since you’ve explored that channel and know working and what’s not working in it, that’s your best strategy.
Make sure you completely exhaust that channel to the point where you can start to see a decline in the performance of that channel.
Companies still use direct mailers because it works for them. Even though local businesses that you see in those mailers could probably leverage the power of FB Ads, they don’t, at least not yet anyway.
The idea of doing what’s working is the best strategy for you if you decide to target a new type of client or try out a different revenue stream for your business too.
Because it’s something you know and something you’ve already built into your business, you don’t need to spend money and time on learning a new strategy. You focus on trying to sell to leads in the way you know how, then you know if the thing you are selling is viable or not.
When you try and sell something new with a new strategy, if you aren’t closing those deals, you won’t know if it’s your thing or the strategy.
Do what’s natural to you
The best lead generation strategy is what’s going to be natural for you too.
One thing that any freelancer I’ve ever spoken with has said is that they don’t like sales.
So if writing posts is natural and it’s what works best for you, continue to write on your blog.
If video works, stay with that and make sure you leverage YouTube to it’s fullest.
If podcast works, pull up that mic and continue to talk.
If Facebook Ads are working, then stick with it and don’t bother with starting up a podcast.
All these marketing channels work for certain people because it’s what they are good at. Because they are good at them, they get results from them.
Don’t stop at the 80%, completely own the channel until the point where you know it’s declining. You are much better off putting complete focus on what’s working right now with anything new you want to introduce into your business.
I’m not saying to not try and explore other channels, you should. But the best strategy is the one you know works and fits natural for you.
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Marketing for Freelancers
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