How do you gather leads for your business?
With a lead magnet? A quiz? A free ebook?
That’s how most of us do it, but my guest on the Innovator Interviews this week discovered a way to take her lead generation offline and shorten her customer journey dramatically.
Jacquette discovered that because her topics around financial intimacy can be difficult to discuss, doing her marketing purely online didn’t work as well for her as it did in other niches.
She had also tried hosing a BIG offline event, the Financial Intimacy Conference, which was critically acclaimed, but a box office blunder.
Then she had the brain storm to create her Comfort Circle dinners — a safe, intimate, offline opportunity for people to connect, learn, and share with others about money and finances. Here are some of the key takeaways from Jacquette’s discovery:
- When you have a touchy topic, you need to build intimacy and trust and guide the conversation — which is sometimes easier to do offline than online.
- Bigger isn’t always better! Lots of people dream of putting together a conference, but Jacquette discovered that smaller, more frequent gatherings were more sustainable for her and her business.
- Her events aren’t money-makers; but they are excellent lead generators, and therefore worth continuing for her even if she only breaks even. (The same way a free ebook or tripwire offer isn’t a money-maker for an online business, but generates leads and sales down the line.)
- Creating “content” offline in this way also plays directly to Jaquette’s strengths and is a perfect combination of what she brings to the table and the types of people she wants to reach.
- Integrating online and offline content into a system that works together is key. Don’t be tempted to put your offline content into a separate silo from what you do online. Instead, have it all work together organically.
- Meeting with people in person dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes for a prospect to get to know, like, and trust you. Jacquette says that for her, “it happens not only organically but intensely” in the space of a two-hour dinner.
- Get clear on your audience and their needs when putting together in-person “content” events. You do have to get more “buy in” to get someone to get out from behind their computer and travel to an in-person event than you do to get them to opt-in for an ebook, but the results can be better, hotter leads.
I’m curious to know if you’ve ever experimented with in-person events as “content” or considered it for your business? Let me know how it went or what your ideas are in the comments below.
Think this is a great idea. We do something similar. As a digital agency, trying to ask people if they need marketing help did not work as well for us. So we made events at local breweries to teach how to do various things online. We talk about how it works for their business and give free feedback/advice rather than sell them on something. It has been successful in not only new clients, but there is little to lose if few or no one comes: worst case scenario is we talk shop over a beer.
Great idea, John!