When developing a lead generation strategy, it is important to design an approach that is consistent with the expectations of your prospect audience. So, what do they expect? I would argue, based on my nine years of experience designing these systems, that your audience demands two things: Transparency and Testimonials. This is what I call the T&T strategy of lead generation. Here’s what it means.
1. Transparency: How many times have you heard “The client is in control!”? Well, it’s true. The Internet provides a tremendous amount of transparency between you and your potential client. Why? Because search engines like Google and Bing allow the prospect to research everything from your FDD and your management team to how your franchisees feel about your company. My advice? Get on board! Don’t provide roadblocks. Instead, provide information about who you are, why you are different, and how you hope to help your prospect make money! Your potential prospects want to be educated and are counting on you to provide quality content, newsletters, e-books, webinars, tours, and brochures that will tell them everything they need to know about your company. Transparency helps build trust – a very important step in building a business relationship with a potential business investor.
2. Testimonials: Why take your word for it? Let your franchisees tell your story. Fill your franchise website with testimonials! Your franchisees will answer important questions and provide a third-party endorsement that when combined with valuable content (see #1 above) will generate quality prospects. Better yet, videos from your management team, employees, and board of directors help provide a more complete story that will (re -read #1) provide transparency between your company and your prospect. And, one more thing – videos are great for your SEO. Google reports that videos help boost optimization by as much as 54%!
So, if you are thinking about how best to design a lead generation system, use my method of T&T. And, as always, let me know what you think by sending me a note at dstein@producersdigital.com.
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