We are big believers in lead validation — the process of screening website inquiries to separate true sales leads from non-lead inquiries such as spam, personal phone calls, customer service form submissions, etc.
The two biggest values of lead validation: gaining the ability to jump on great leads quickly, and the ability to improve Internet marketing campaigns more effectively.
There is another excellent value in lead validation, one that many companies really need but seldom think of — mining website leads for content ideas.
The biggest challenge in creating online content is coming up with topics and information customers and prospects really need. Because it is so difficult, companies usually wind up talking about themselves rather than their customers, making the content cold, unpersuasive, and in some cases, off-putting.
What better place to find content ideas than in the words customers and prospects actually use when phoning in or submitting a website form? If you review all the forms and listen to phone call recordings — the essential work of lead validation — you put the true needs of customers and prospects at your fingertips.
Companies are often too close to their products, services and industries to get a feel for what prospects are really interested in, what their real questions are, and what their real pain points are.
When prospects inquire, they tell you — point blank.
The questions prospects ask may strike you — the expert — as simplistic, uninformed, off the mark, misguided or irrelevant. From a lead generation point of view, it doesn’t matter! The important thing is to transform these questions into online content — content you can use to fill in the blanks, provide the critical information, steer the prospect to the right way of thinking about the problem, or turning a non-pertinent question into a problem-solving answer.
Content that starts from the prospect’s point of view, that gets you walking in his or her shoes, captures attention, resulting in more traffic via SEO, PPC or social media — or however you promote your content. It also fills needs, resulting in more leads!
Want to discuss other ways to make your online content generate more leads and better leads? Give us a call — we are eager to learn more about your situation and ready to help.