You ask the head of marketing how the team is doing and get a giant thumbs up.

“Our MQLs are up!”

“Website conversion rates are at an all-time high!”

“Email click rates have never been this good!”

But when you ask the head of sales the same question, you get the response that echoes across sales desks worldwide — the leads from marketing suck. 

If you’re in this boat, you’re not alone. The issue of “leads from marketing suck” is a common situation in most organizations. In a HubSpot survey, only 9.1% of salespeople said leads they received from marketing were of very high quality.

Why do sales teams hate marketing-generated leads? And how can marketers help their sales peers fall in love with their leads? 

Let’s dive into the answers to these questions. Then, I’ll give you my secret lead gen kung-fu to ensure your sales team loves their marketing leads. 

Marketers Must Take Ownership

“I’ve hit the lead goal. If sales can’t close them, it’s their problem.”

How many times have you heard one of your marketers say something like this? When your teams are heavily siloed, it’s not hard to see how they get to this mindset — after all, if your marketing metrics look strong, they’ve done their part, right?

Not necessarily. 

The job of a marketer is not to drive traffic or even leads. The job of the marketer is to create messaging and offers that lead to revenue. Marketing is not a 100-meter sprint — it’s a relay race. The marketing team runs the first leg and hands the baton to sales to sprint to the finish.

via GIPHY

To make leads valuable beyond the vanity metric of watching your MQLs tick up, you need to segment and nurture them. Screen the leads to see if they meet the parameters of your ideal customer profile. If yes, nurture them to find out how close their intent is to a sale. Only then should you pass the leads to sales. 

Lead Quality Control is a Bitter Pill that Works

Tighter quality control might reduce your overall MQLs. Still, it will ensure only the relevant leads go to sales, which is a win for your team and your organization.

This shift will require a mindset shift for your marketing team: instead of living and dying by the sheer number of MQLs, you need to create a collaborative culture between sales and marketing. Reinforce that “strong” marketing metrics that result in poor leads going to sales aren’t really strong at all.  

When you foster this culture of collaboration and accountability, it will be easier for the marketing team to receive feedback from sales about lead quality without getting defensive. 

Remember, the sales team is only holding marketing accountable so the entire organization can achieve the right results. It’s not sales vs marketing — it’s sales and marketing working together to get a great result. Nothing more, nothing less. 

We’ve identified the problem and where we need to go. So, how you do you get there?

Fix #1: Focus On High ROI Marketing Activities First

What is more valuable to you:

• One more blog post for a few more views? 
• One great review that prospective buyers strongly relate to?

Hopefully, you’ll choose the latter. After all, talking to customers and getting a solid testimonial can help your sales team close leads today.  Current customers talking about their previous issues, the other solutions they tried, why they chose you, and the results you helped them achieve is marketing gold.

On the other hand, even the best blog content will take months to gain enough traction to impact your revenue.

Still, many marketers who say they want to prioritize customer reviews focus all their efforts on blog content and other “top of the funnel” (Awareness, Acquisition, and Activation) efforts. 

The bottom half of the growth marketing funnel (Retention, Reputation, and Revenue) often gets ignored, even though it’s where you’ll find some of the highest ROI activities.

Most marketers know retaining a customer is easier than acquiring a new one. But knowing this and working with sales on retention and account expansion are two different things. 

When you start focusing on retention, upselling, and expansion, your entire organization will feel it, from sales to customer success. These happier customers will increase your average account value and drive awareness through strong word of mouth, giving you one heck of a win/win.

Winning the Retention, Reputation, and Referral game also helps feed your Awareness, Acquisition, and Activation activities:

• Increasing customer retention means more dollars stay within your organization to help achieve revenue goals and fund lead gen initiatives.
• A fully functioning referral system lowers your customer acquisition cost (CAC) because these leads are already warm coming in the door.
• Case studies and reviews are powerful marketing assets for lead gen and nurture activities as they demonstrate how you’ve solved identical issues for other companies.

Remember that the bottom half of your marketing and sales funnel is just as important as the top half. After all, there’s no point pouring leads into a leaky funnel. Instead, you want to build a frictionless, powerful growth engine that brings in the right leads, nurtures them into customers, and then delights those customers to the point that they can’t help but rave about you.

So, build a strong foundation and start from the bottom up. You’ll find a better return on your investment. 

Fix #2: Join Sales Calls to Better Understand Your Target Audience

You can’t market well what you don’t know how to sell.

Your sales team speaks directly to customers, understands their pain points, and knows the language they use to talk about those pains. Your marketing team needs this information to craft the perfect marketing messaging your target audience will identify with.

When marketers join sales calls or speak to existing customers, they get firsthand introductions to these pain points. Often, marketers realize that customers’ pain points and reservations are very different from those they address in their messaging. 

Once you understand your ideal customers’ objections, anxieties, and pressing questions, you can create content and messaging to remove some of these reservations before the sales call. This effort removes a barrier for your sales team, resulting in more SQLs.

Fix #3: Create Collateral That Closes Deals

One-pagers, landing pages, PDFs, decks — sales collateral could be anything that helps increase the chance of closing a deal. Let me share an example from Lean Labs. 

Our webinar page has a CTA form that allows visitors to talk to our team. Instead of a simple “get in touch” form, we created a drop-down segmentation based on the user’s challenge and need. This step helps the reader feel seen, gives them hope that they’ll receive real value from the interaction, and provides unique content to users based on their selection.

So, if they select I need help with crushing it on HubSpot, they’ll get a landing page with HubSpot-specific content (including a video) and a meeting scheduler. 

Speaking directly to your audience’s needs and pain points through these steps dramatically increases the chances of them booking a call. Why? Because instead of trusting that a generic “expert” will be able to help them with their highly specific problem, they can see through our content and our form design that Lean Labs can solve their most pressing pain point. 

Fix #4: Focus On Reviews and Create an Impact Loop

A lot of people think good marketing is expensive. You know what’s even more expensive? Bad marketing. 

To get the best ROI on your marketing efforts, you need to create a marketing machine that pays for itself. When you create this machine, you need to think about two loops: the growth loop and the impact loop.

• Growth loop — Awareness Acquisition Activation Revenue Awareness: This is where most marketers start. 
• Impact loop — Results Reviews Retention Referrals Results: This is where great marketers start. 

Most marketers start with their growth loop and then hope that traction feeds into their impact loop. However, the reality is that starting with your impact loop is going to be far more likely to set your marketing engine up for success. 

Let me share a client story to show you what this looks like in real life.

Client Story: 4X Website Leads In A Single Quarter

We partnered with a health tech startup looking to grow their website leads. One way to grow website leads is to boost organic traffic, of course, but any organic play is going to take time. If you’re playing the SEO game alone, quadrupling conversions can take up to a year or longer.

But we did it in a single quarter. Here’s how.

We realized that the startup’s demos were converting lower than industry standards. A little more digging showed us why: our client was new enough to the market that the average person didn’t trust them enough yet to want to invest in checking out a demo. So, what did we do?

We prioritized the last part of the funnel: reputation.

We ran a 5-star reputation campaign to collect reviews. Once we had the reviews we needed, we showcased them at critical parts of the website and then made sure those same reviews were posted and shown on other third-party review platforms. 

Remember that reputation plays are vital, and they’re one of the plays startups often neglect at best and ignore at worst. What others say about your business is ten times more important than what you say about yourself. 

By providing customer validation at critical points in the buyer journey, we were able to 4X the website leads in a single quarter!

So, when you talk to customers, always look for opportunities to drive review/referral conversations and use them in marketing collateral throughout the buyer journey. 

Fix #5: Launch Phantom Offers for Higher Quality Leads 

You may be reading this post thinking, okay, my lead magnets and offers might be way off the mark, but how will I get the budget to create a new one that might not even work?

It’s an age-old issue: marketing teams invest way too much time and resources into creating lead magnets that fail to generate quality leads. 

One way to improve your chances of success, remain nimble, and stay aligned with your audience without breaking the bank is to create phantom offers, i.e., gauge the audience interest in your lead magnet before you create them.

For example, if you want to create a “World Security Report” for Chief Security Officers, don’t do all the research and complete the report as Step One. Instead, tease the offer to your audience before you spend time making it. Put an offer on your site asking visitors to join the waitlist for this report. Then wait and see how that phantom offer converts. 

This is precisely what we did for a report by Allied Universal that ended up generating 80 conversions before its release.

The best thing about a phantom offer is that it’s a win/win scenario: 

• Best case: You get conversions even before you create your lead magnet.
• Worst case: You save resources by not creating a lead magnet no one wants.  

Remember, You’re On The Same Team 

We’ve talked a lot about the reasons your marketing leads might suck. However, remember that it’s not all on marketers, either. At the end of the day, marketing and sales professionals are on the same team. They are not in competition with each other. They are allies working together toward a common goal. 

Smaller companies — or anyone under $10M in net new revenue — shouldn’t even separate sales and marketing into different departments. These teams need to be so in sync with one another that your best bet is to align them into a single growth team, one cohesive front with a single goal: profitable customer acquisition.

Interested in learning more about the growth marketing mindset? Check out the Lean Labs Growth Playbook that’s helped 25+ B2B SaaS marketing teams plan, budget, and accelerate growth.

The post Why The Sales Team Hates Your Leads (And How To Fix It) appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Do businesses email their customers too often? According to a recent article on Business Insider, the answer is yes. But not for the reason you may think.

It’s not because customers loathe getting emails from companies. Or because frequent emails are considered spam. It’s actually because most brands nowadays email like this:

They use discounts as their main strategy to persuade customers to buy. But what happens when your customer’s whole inbox looks like the picture above? The inevitable: they stop paying attention to your emails.

Because here’s the thing.

Why would they open your emails if they can already predict the content inside? Why would they buy now when they can clearly see you’ve got discounts all the time? And, most importantly, why would they pick your brand over your competitors?

If you want to stand out in someone’s crowded inbox, you need to do the one thing that everybody else avoids doing: building strong relationships with your email subscribers. Here’s how:

How Storytelling Helps Your Brand Shine Bright in a Crowded Inbox

Storytelling is the most effective way to communicate. That’s not me saying it. It’s the countless studies (such as this one, this one, and this one) that prove it, time and time again. Why?

Because storytelling helps you form positive emotional associations with you and your brand. The emotions you evoke with your stories go a long way in defining how people perceive you, creating a stronger connection in your audience’s mind between you and the problem you solve for them. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. 

The truth is, writing story-based emails makes you more than just a brand that sells a solution to their pain: it makes you an entertainer, too. And as a marketer, being able to entertain while selling is like having a superpower. People hate being sold to. But they love being entertained (ever binge-watched a Netflix show? I know I have). 

Plus, with story-based emails, you can easily add more variability to your email calendar. As a result, customers will no longer be able to predict what your next email will be about: a fun story? A new product? Maybe even a discount? Curiosity translates to increased engagement. And increased engagement translates to stronger relationships with your customers. 

So by choosing the right stories to tell in your emails (which we’ll discuss in a bit) and by writing them in an engaging way, you’re guaranteed to keep your audience hooked and excited to read your next email. As opposed to adding yet another sales email to their already crowded inbox.

Here’s How to Supercharge Your Email Strategy with Stories That Sell:

1. Pick the Right Story 

The storytelling approach will give you little to no results if the stories you’re telling are flat to begin with. No matter how engaging your writing is. 

So the first thing you need to do is to make sure you select story ideas with potential. Okay, but where do you find these ideas? And what does a good story idea look like?

If you’re anything like me, your life isn’t that exciting or eventful. And yet, you may still have a funny conversation with your next-door neighbor. Or your team may geek out about wild adaptogen mushrooms at a team-building event. Or your spouse may accidentally spill coffee on your laptop (true story!). 

Any of these can be turned into fun story-based emails that tell your audience a little bit more about who you (or your team) are as a person. Most business owners assume their customers don’t want to know what goes on in their personal and business life. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

In fact, customers want to know there are real people behind brand names. According to this report from Sprout Social, 70% of consumers report feeling more connected to a brand when its CEO is active on social media. 

And depending on how much you’re willing to share about your life, you can then select the types of personal stories to write about. When in doubt, think about what you’d want to tell your friends/family at the dinner table. More often than not, that’d make a great story for your email list too.

Related Articles

• How Standardizing Your Sales Process Boosts Overall Conversion

• 2 Ways to Take Back the Power in Your Business: Part 2

• 2 Ways to Take Back the Power in Your Business: Part 1

2. Write a Strong Hook

Let’s face it. 

Nowadays, attention spans are short. And no matter how good your story is, if how you write it isn’t engaging enough, your email subscribers aren’t going to read it. 

So the very first thing you want to do is to make sure the first three sentences of your story hook the reader into the action. Once someone reads that much into a story, it’s incredibly difficult for them to stop. 

So how do you do it? Any of these hooks have proven to work again and again whenever I write stories for myself or my clients:

• Start in the middle of the action (and explain the context later). For example:

“RUN!”, the police officer yelled at me.

“Okay, thank you!”, I yelled back, running out of Paddington Station and trying to find a cab.

Except, it was 4 in the morning. And I had no idea where to look for one.”

• Start with ‘x time ago’. Recalling a past event hooks people instantly into your story. For example:

“A few months ago, Joanna Wiebe (the original conversion copywriter) slid into my DMs on Slack completely out of nowhere…”

3. Segue to Your Sales Pitch Seamlessly

By the time you get to this part, your readers are entertained and primed to purchase your solution to their problems. Your brand is no longer just another brand in their busy inbox. It’s someone they now know, trust, and like. And so, buying from you feels just right.

But you can’t just end your story abruptly so you can sell your products/services. That’d feel intrusive. In the same way that, when you’re engaged in a YouTube video, an annoying ad interrupts your stream.

So you must find a way to tie your story to your product or service so seamlessly that your readers won’t even notice they’re now reading a sales pitch. Sounds difficult. But you’ll see how easy it actually is. In fact, what most people get wrong about this part is that they try to find the moral of the story and tie that to their sales pitch. 

For example, let’s say your story is about how your team went to a team-building event and someone accidentally broke a bunch of glasses. And if you’re selling a service, you might be able to spin that incident into saying something like: when you hire our software developers, your app stops breaking.

But that’s a predictable way to transition from your story to your sales pitch. Plus, not all stories will end with a moral. Most stories will be fragments of conversations you have with someone or something ridiculous that happened throughout the day (like forgetting your keys at the office). There’s no moral in that and there’s no need for one.

What you can do instead is to look back at your entire story and find one or a few phrases/words that could help you build that segway. Here’s an example of a full story-based email. Pay special attention to the part where the story ends and the sale begins.

Example of a Full Story-Based Email

“SUBJ: Hacker threatens to destroy my reputation in 72 hours straight

This morning, I was at my laptop reading my emails when suddenly, I came across an unread email from… 

Me.

What in the world…?

Out of confusion, I open it without reading the subject line. 

And once I go past the first sentence, it becomes pretty clear:

I’m being hacked.

“You may have noticed we are using your company’s servers to send you this email: we have hacked into your website, kaleidocopy[dot]com.”

Oh.

Okay… They did send this email from my email address. 

Still, I can’t help but wonder… could this be a hoax?

“This is not a hoax.”

Ah! Well, that settles it then.

“We are willing to forget about destroying the reputation of your site and company for a small fee. The current fee is at $2500 in bitcoin.”

I mean… at least they are nice about it, you know? Their willingness to forgive and forget says a lot about a person’s character.

In the following lines, they take me through exactly what they’re going to do to ruin my company and reputation, step by step.

Then they teach me how to buy Bitcoin (I already know how, but I appreciate their thoughtfulness!).

And finally, they assure me that my Bitcoin payment will be anonymous and that no one will know that I complied with their master plan.

Mmmmkay. 

GET CERTIFIED. Discover the proven plan for effortless, automated email marketing. Click Here

Now that is a bit suspicious, Mr. Hackerman (or Ms. Hackerwoman — it’s 2022, what the heck.)

I’m willing to bet the $2500 on the fact that I’m not the only person they sent this to.

So if the payment is anonymous, how will they know it was ME who sent it? It just doesn’t make sense, y’know? 

Jokes aside, I’ve got to admit: seeing that the email came from my address made me panic a bit. 

But then I checked my Sent folder and the email wasn’t there.

I also checked to see if there were any alerts or logins from different devices on my Google account. There were none.

I also checked with my hosting provider, who reassured me no one has broken into anything. 

Soooo… hoax? Hopefully, lol. 

But if it isn’t, it means you’ve got 72 hours left to get Email Story Alchemy, my mini-course on turning boring day-to-day events from your life into story-based emails that build your fandom and help you stand out. 

After that, my business will supposedly disappear from the face of the Earth. And you’ll no longer be able to buy it. Everrr.”

Conclusion

Story is a structure, not a tale. Which means that you can apply it to anything, including email. And when you do it right, amazing things happen. 

Like building strong relationships with your customers. And turning a casual customer into a die-hard fan who wants to buy from you because they just can’t get enough of your brand.

Sure, discounts work too. But they work when used strategically and in moderation. So if you’re ever unsure about what to email your customers next, consider story-based emails. They’ll make your brand shine bright in anyone’s crowded inbox.

The post Storytelling: The Secret Sauce to Making More Sales With Email Marketing appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

“Email marketing is DEAD!”
“AI is taking over the inbox!”
“Why hire a copywriter when I can just use email templates?!”
“Who needs an email list when I have a large social following?”

Um….. stop right there and listen up, because I’m going to let you in on a little secret…

THREE little secrets to be exact. 

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of misconceptions floating around the cyberspace when it comes to email marketing. So in this blog, we’re going to talk about the three biggest Email Marketing Myths & Misconceptions… 

AND I’m going to fill you in on the SECRET WEAPON that’ll give you a massive advantage and leg-up over any competition. 

Alright, now let’s get started with myth-busting. 

Myth #1 – Email Marketing Is DEAD

This is a myth that I’ve been hearing ever since I got my start in the online marketing industry… over a decade ago! And guess what?

The rumours were wrong back then and they’re STILL wrong today. 

No matter what you heard at the latest online summit you attended… Email Marketing is STILL alive and well—and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon!

In fact, Email Marketing is the single best way to market your brand or business, increase your revenue, and cash in on more conversions.

That’s right. It’s better than ads, better than social media, and better than organic traffic…

I said it.

In fact, I did my FIRST launch back in 2020 and made almost 6-figures by sending just 8 emails to my list of 2300 subscribers. Yup.

But don’t just take my word for it, here are some stats to prove it. It is estimated that there are 4 BILLION active email users right now (and that number is projected to go up, btw).

Email marketing consistently delivers the highest ROI of all marketing channels – earning on average $42 for every dollar spent… and in case you don’t want to do the math on that…

That’s an ROI of 4200%!! I don’t know of a single brand or business that wouldn’t love to see numbers like that. 

And just in case gaining a massive ROI isn’t enough to convince you… this probably will:

According to MarketingSherpa, email is STILL the most preferred marketing channel that most consumers want businesses to communicate with them through. YES, even Millennials and gen-Z-ers prefer email to social media.

And not only is email your consumer’s favorite way of communicating… it should be your favourite too! And that’s because your list is YOURS. It belongs to YOU. Not Facebook, not Instagram. YOU. 

And when you use Email as your preferred method of communication, ALL you have to do to get your message heard is make sure your emails aren’t landing in the spam folder. You’re not held captive by the algorithm Gods, “platform rules,” or having to keep up with the latest trends to get your content seen.  

When you take just a moment to step back and look at the facts, it’s crystal clear.

While I still love and use other marketing channels…

My girl Email Marketing reigns supreme.

Myth #2 – Templates Work Better

This is another myth I’ve been hearing over and over again lately.

Why hire a copywriter when I can just use email templates?! 

Now for the sake of clarity, in this context, I’m referring to fancy and impersonal emails that are all show and no substance. You know those fancy-looking HTML emails you commonly see from e-commerce sites or big corporate businesses…

Listen – they work for brands like Sephora or Apple, well, because they are Seophora and Apple…

But as a personality-based brand (or as the real PERSON behind the brand), you don’t want to get too fancy in your emails. 

Why? Well, because facts: Extensive A/B testing has shown that the overwhelming majority of consumers prefer simple, text-based emails (you know, just like those emails you send to your friends and family).

Not only do consumers prefer plain jane text-only emails, but templates come with a whole list of other cons to consider.

Downsides of Email Templates

• They take a long time to load, depending on your consumer’s internet connection.
• Customization can be difficult and unreliable. You can spend hours finicking with a template, where your time would be better spent just writing and personal, empathetic email.
• HTML templates often get all funky on mobile if not coded correctly.
• They are WAY more likely to end up in the Spam or Promotions folder because of heavy images and design features
• These kinds of emails focus on imagery, not on brand voice or actually connecting with the audience.

On the other hand…. While copywriters might not be able to design a “pretty-looking email”…

They are specially trained to WRITE WORDS THAT WORK. They understand how to craft powerful subject lines that hook your reader and get them to open your email. They know how to open a loop with engaging content to get your consumers to keep reading…

And they know the psychological triggers that get people to CLICK and BUY your offer…

And when you’re a business that RELIES on having a strong, powerful, and intimate relationship with your consumers… 

These factors are absolutely essential to your Email Marketing success. 

Alright, now onto the last—and most controversial—myth on this list… 

Myth #3 – AI Is Taking Over

Look, we’ve all heard it… AI is replacing copywriters at the speed of light—and especially in the Email Marketing world. 

Because I mean, who needs to shell out a bunch of money for an experienced copywriter when they could just spend a quarter of the money on some fancy automation software that “does just as good”?

Right? NO!!! 

Listen, I know AI software and done-for-you templates are becoming more and more prevalent in the email marketing space – there’s no doubt about that. 

But with that said, there’s a whole lot more to the story than what the internet would have you believe…

I’ve said it before, and I say it again and again until the day I die…

A.I. is a tool, not a takeover. 

And as a TOOL—there are certain things A.I. CAN help us to optimize, streamline and improve…

Things like: research, ideation, email automation, personalization, and segmentation. You know, the left-brain, back-end, logistical stuff. The truth is that A.I. can actually make an Email Marketers job A LOT easier. 

But when it comes to replacing the CREATIVITY & EMPATHY that a human copywriter brings to the table…?

It’s just not going to happen anytime soon.

And while it’s true that there ARE going to be some brands and businesses that will choose to get by with A.I… Their emails will be mediocre, at best.

I mean it’s just like anything else that’s being “replaced” by technology…

If you want mediocre results, then sure – go with a plug-and-play tool. If you want exceptional results, hire an expert. 

Mediocre accountants are being replaced by do-it-yourself software like Freshbooks, Honeybook & Quickbooks… but that doesn’t mean we don’t pay a LEGIT PROFESSIONAL when it comes time to file taxes. 

Mediocre graphic designers are being replaced by tools like Canva… but that doesn’t mean we don’t pay a GREAT DESIGNER to design our websites.

And if you want to optimize your email list, increase your revenue, and cash in on more conversions… then you HIRE A COPYWRITER. 

It’s as simple as that. And it’s never going to change. 

So here’s my advice to the copywriters who are worried about A.I. takeover and the other Myths on this list… 

Don’t be mediocre. Position yourself as an expert. 

Do that, and you’ll be INVALUABLE to any brand or business that wants to optimize their Email Marketing strategies. 

THAT’S your secret weapon. 

THAT’S how you make yourself A.I. proof. 

THAT’S how you position yourself as an expert in the industry and get clients banging down the door for your talents and services. 

But now the question is… HOW?! HOW do you become a damned good copywriter and email marketer? One who understands the audience, knows the power of connection, and has mastered the art of conversion?

Well… you develop the skills, techniques, practical EXPERIENCE, and knowledge needed to make yourself an expert! 

And after months and months of listening to this community ask me question after question about email marketing… I decided it was time to do something about it. 

Now up until recently, I never really thought this was needed. Mostly because I already teach an entire module all about Email Marketing inside my 8-week Copywriting Coaching Program.

But the truth is, not everyone has the time, money, energy, or desire to invest in a two-month coaching course…

And that’s why I created a FREE email guide—to help you cut through the B.S. 

My Ultimate Email Marketing Cheatsheet will help you future-proof your biz from the throes of unpredictable algorithms and the never-ending threat of A.I. takeover by teaching how to master the art of impactful inbox messaging. 

• You’ll discover the 7 must-have emails to build and monetize your list (with real-life examples straight from the Posse’s private vault)…
• Discover the right way to build and monetize your email list, without relying on templates or standardized messaging. 
• Get the secret to sending engaging emails that won’t drive away subscribers or lose you any brand loyalty.

Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!

The post Is Email Marketing Dead? appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Need to write a sales page for an upcoming launch? Looking to improve the existing copy in your funnel or website?

If so, I’m going to teach you the 10 things your sales page MUST include if you want to make sure your copy creates trust, builds authority and converts like craaaaaaazy.

Hey Posse! What’s up? It’s Alex. 

Coming to you this week with a super quick sneak peek into the full sales page training that I teach my students inside my flagship program – the Copy Posse Launch Files. And inside my 5-day Write & Ignite Challenge.

In this video, I’m sharing 10 conversion triggers that I always look for when writing – or reviewing – a sales page. 

But first, if you’re new to the crew – welcome!

Here on my blog, you’ll find tons of tutorials on copywriting, digital marketing, and freelancing – to help you out on your entrepreneurial journey.  Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, so you’ll get my next tutorial right to your inbox. 

Now – today I’m going to teach you exactly how to optimize your sales page – from the bottom to the very top. 

This tutorial is perfect for any coach or entrepreneur with a service-based or education business. Think of things like 1:1 coaching or consulting, in-depth online programs, or other services. 

Now – ya ready to dive right in?

All great Sales Pages need to start with… 

#1. Headline 

The headline may be the shortest section of a sales page, but it definitely takes the longest to write. In fact, I usually write my headlines LAST.

But, because it’s the first thing a prospect sees on the page, it’s the first conversion trigger we’ll talk about here.  

You want to be sure that your headline is strategically written to:

• Hook your prospects’ attention
• Introduce a core pain point, benefit, or USP of the offer 
• Open a loop that entices the reader to keep scrolling below the fold

YEP. That’s a big job for such a small section of text. 

Another thing you need to consider when writing your headline is…

Speaking directly to your target audience – and more importantly – to their specific level of customer awareness.

Now if you have no freakin’ clue what I mean when I say “Customer Awareness”, here is another tutorial that explains all of that for you. 

Moving on to the next conversion trigger you must include… 

#2. Indoctrination

Essentially this is what comes immediately after the headline. It’s the lead-in portion of your sales page – the build-up before you actually start selling anything.

This copy is insanely important because this is when your reader self-selects and decides whether or not you’re actually talking to THEM! And yes, like the headline, it can be very difficult and take the longest to write…

But it’s worth taking the time to do it right because when done well it can make a MASSIVE impact on your conversion rate.

Your indoctrination needs to “indoctrinate” your readers on who you are, why they should listen to you and why they should care at all. This is where you empathize, educate, and validate your reader – you can do this through storytelling, sharing stats and facts or painting a picture of what’s to come…

And of course, the most important thing is that you speak to your prospects’ immediate needs and fears, which takes us to the next conversion trigger…

#3. Problem & Solution

Of course, the whole point of your sales page is to sell something that solves a problem for your audience. So you need to get really clear on what that is.

As human beings, we’re (unfortunately) wired to avoid pain above gaining pleasure. This means that in our most natural state, we respond to problems more urgently than we do solutions. 

Because of this, the sales page needs to address your prospect’s problem – what I like to call the aggravating status quo – early on…

Your copy should evoke an emotional response – but be careful not to put salt in the wound.

You don’t want them to feel alienated, misunderstood or attacked you want your copy to make them feel safe, understood and heard.

That’s why you should effectively and accurately communicate ONE core problem in your copy before introducing your promising solution, or the “big promise” your reader is looking for. 

In this case, specificity goes a long, long way. No one is going to believe you have a solution that does EVERYTHING under the sun. Think of how your solution is the BIG easy button for what your client is looking for.

Now, a very important distinction to make is that the solution is not the product… at least not yet.

Rather, at this point in your sales page, the solution should just be the specialized method, approach, discovery or tool that can solve your prospects’ problem.

Remember – they FIRST have to believe in the solution, before they buy your product – whether it be coaching, mentorship, guidance, expert services…

Now, once a believable solution is presented, you want to pivot into…

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#4. The Offer

This is where you introduce your specific version of that solution – aka product – as the easiest, simplest, fastest, or best way to attain the big promise that you just talked about. Here is where you want to have a clear and concise USP – or Unique Selling Proposition. 

This is also where you want to include the value breakdown and all those left-brain details that make up your product: 

• What it is
• How it works
• Where to get it
• When to expect it
• How much it costs 

The most important thing to remember in this section is that the value of your offer should always be greater than the price. 

The greater the gap between value and price—the more irresistible your offer becomes.

This is why you often see campaigns that use bonuses, price juxtaposition, or discounts to increase the offer appeal and, therefore, conversion rate. 

Alright. Now you have all the left brain stuff out of the way. It’s time to address…

#5. Juicy Benefits

Or bennies, as I like to call them. This is where you stop talking about the what of your offer and start talking about the why. Or in other words… WHY your prospect would want to buy your product. I mean, what’s in for them – really?

This is where you can do deeper into all the amazing things your product or service does on top of the big promise you already shared.

It’s not enough to simply show them what they’re getting. It changes the game altogether when a prospect believes they have to have it. 

You answer this question in sales copy by presenting the specific and relatable benefits that the product can provide. 

And remember, features are NOT benefits. 

Features are something a product HAS or IS, whereas benefits illustrate desired results that solve REAL pain points. 

For example, a FEATURE would be “batteries included”. 

Whereas the corresponding BENEFIT would be “no disappointed child on christmas morning”. 

Now it can be pretty difficult to convert features into benefits – especially when you’re writing for your own product or service. It takes practice!!

If you need help squeezing some juicy bennies out of your features, I have a FREE feature-to-benefit converter that you can download at the end of this video! 

Alright, next up you want to make sure you’re including…

#6. Social Proof & Authority

A common objection in the minds of consumers is whether or not a brand is the RIGHT company or person for them. 

Trust is a huge factor that determines a customer’s decision to buy from you. 

So it’s important that a sales page communicates social proof and authority through testimonials, social media stats, press coverage, credentials, experience and any other credibility factors.

However, authority is not just something you slap into a single section on the salespage — I like to see it communicated throughout the copy as much as possible.

Alright now on to lucky #7…

#7. Scarcity

In marketing, scarcity refers to the idea of making products or services limited in some way, making people more likely to act because the offer is scarce or exclusive. 

The 4 most common types of scarcity are:

• Price: limited-time discount
• Quantity: limited amount left
• Premium: limited-time bonuses
• Offer: limited-offer/cart closing

The most effective sales copy communicates scarcity that compels the prospect to act while the offer is still available. 

And – this is insanely important – your copy also needs to clearly and effectively communicate a big reason WHY the offer is limited, without it being hypey, pushy, or misleading. 

Is it because of a special event like an anniversary? A passionate mission to touch 1000 lives by the end of the year? A global cause such as World Mental Health day? 

Having a reason why massively increases trust and believability. And, this goes without saying… but always use REAL scarcity. Never lie and say and offer is limited when it’s not.

Before we move on to the next conversion trigger, I want to make sure I clarify that NOT ALL sales pages need scarcity all the time. 

If you want your sales page to be 100% evergreen for anyone to purchase anytime, scarcity can be left off the table. Instead, use urgency and provide benefits as to why someone would want to act right away. 

Ok moving right along to #8… 

Related Articles

• How Standardizing Your Sales Process Boosts Overall Conversion

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• 2 Ways to Take Back the Power in Your Business: Part 1

#8. Risk Reversal

In other words, how does the copy make the purchase process seem easy, safe and risk-free?

People like to be told exactly what to do and what is going to happen next, so the copy needs to assure them that they will be taken care of every step of the way… 

From the moment they add the product to cart, to when it will be delivered, to how it can be returned if it doesn’t work out. 

This is where you’d want to include any:

• Security language
• Verifications
• Return or exchange policies
• Next steps & delivery details

In other words, this is where you want to debunk the fear of,“Am I going to be screwed over by this company/person?”

Now onto #9…

#9. Call-to-Action

Whether it’s a single button or a multi-tiered order section — the call-to-action, or CTA, needs to pack a serious punch. 

It must only take a second for the prospect to understand exactly where to click and how to buy the product. 

Your CTA should be clear and straight to the point. For instance:

• “Order Now”
• “Get Instant Access”
• “Enroll Now”

The most important rule of copywriting is to have one clear and concise call to action. 

It can appear multiple times though.

For example, if you have a longer sales page, then you’d probably want to include your call-to-action button 2 to 3 times throughout the copy. And always always always make a CTA the very last thing someone would see if they scroll to the very bottom of your page. 

And finally, number 10… 

#10. Overall Feel & Flow

This is less about the copy itself and more about the readability of your sales page which is an insanely important factor to consider.

Once you have the first 9 conversion and optimization triggers covered, it’s time to sit back, look at the entire picture, and ask yourself:

• Is the sales page messaging consistent and coherent throughout?
• Is the page easy to skim with clear section titles that guide me down the page?
• Was everything easy to read or did I stop to read any sentences twice? 
• Were there any glaring gaps or illogical links?

Make sure that the copy is simple and effective. 

I’ve said this a few times before and I’ll say it again — studies have shown that the average reader reads at a 7th-grade level. So there’s no need for wordiness, fancy explanations, or long lists of adjectives in a single sentence.  

I personally find that reading the entire sales page out loud helps me answer these questions. 

Now here’s one more bonus tip for ya…

Make sure you read the page on your cell phone!!!  

With far more than half of online readers consuming sales pages on mobile devices, you want to make damn sure that your copy is easy to read and navigate on small screens… 

And there you have it — an exclusive insider look at the 10 triggers I include on all my sales pages.

Now if you need help connecting the dots and taking your sales page from theoretical to tangible…

Make sure to check out my 5-day program, the Write & Ignite Challenge. 

Where you won’t just learn the parts of writing a sales page…

But I will actually help you IMPLEMENT it all so that you can write your own high-converting sales page in just 5 days! 

In this challenge, you’ll get…

• My 5-question copywriter checklist to help create a bomb-ass sales brief. 
• My Wheel of Persuasion – which includes 6 proven writing prompts to help you build trust, create believability and inspire action.
• My simple 4-point Offer Matrix to help you craft an irresistible offer. 
• My 16-step formula for putting it all together.
• Plus my H.O.T. headline formula and 3 proven hook templates to help you capture and keep your prospects attention. 

If you want help crafting the perfect sales page – from start to finish – you can learn more about my 5-Day Write & Ignite Challenge.

I hope this video has been helpful. 

Now as promised, you can grab your free copy of my feature-to-benefit converter by following that link. 

Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!

The post The 10 Must-Have Elements for a High-Converting Sales Page appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

The world is full of strategies for media buying. Here’s one for coaches and consultants that is simple AND it works.

Hassan Bash is a DigitalMarketer Certified Partner and the owner of Bash Revenue. Since 2014 he’s been helping companies increase their revenue by crafting user-friendly marketing funnels. 

Here is Hassan’s simple 4-step process to get started with paid advertising.

• Step 1: Get to know your customer avatar.
• Step 2: Create an irresistible offer.
• Step 3: Set a budget and test.
• Step 4: Layout your sales process step-by-step.

In this video:

If you don’t know THIS about your target audience, do you really even know them? 0:25 – 0:33

This is the name of the game for a successful paid media strategy. 00:46 – 00:56

The ONE thing coaches and consultants leave out of the equation. 1:21 – 1:29

Helpful resources:

Start with your customer avatar! FREE Download https://www.digitalmarketer.com/lp/customer-avatar-worksheet/

Turn clicks into customers with a professional VSL. Learn more https://www.digitalmarketer.com/workshop/craft-a-high-converting-vsl/

Master the art of the sales funnel. https://www.digitalmarketer.com/certifications/conversion-funnel-mastery/

The post A Better Strategy for Media Buying with Hassan Bash [VIDEO] appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

What makes an influencer, speaker, mentor, or leader successful? What’s different about them?

Is it the mysterious “X-FACTOR??”

Our friend, financial expert, master influencer, teacher, breakthrough mentor, and fellow digital marketer – Kris Krohn- is definitely qualified to speak on the subject and weighed in on the topic to discuss his philosophy on how to develop the X-factor and what that really means.

Kris shared that having the X factor comes down to the skills you become proficient in. The ability to possess what some call “the X-factor” occurs when skills develop and build layer upon layer.

Malcolm Gladwell said, “It takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert.”

It’s not by luck that you become successful. Typically you’re not just “born with it.” Everyone’s ability to become an expert depends on the hours of mastery they put into it.

In Kris’s case, he first became an expert in sales. He started as an entry-level telemarketer working on commission and developed the skills to sell. He moved his way up in the company and became more valuable. That was the foundation for his next big move.

He then began buying real estate. However, at first, he didn’t have the money to get started, so he sold the idea of investing to others who financed the deals. His ability to sell propelled him into this next phase of building his real estate portfolio to hundreds of homes (and now thousands).

Once he had mastered sales and real estate, he knew he wanted to get his time back. He began developing his skills in business and learned how to delegate and hire out the work. Now Kris invests in hundreds of companies because his level of knowledge is so extensive. He often partners with businesses to help them grow and scale.

Once Kris had become an expert in sales, real estate, and business it was time to develop his ability for speaking. It was a rocky start. He was scared and nervous and didn’t know how to pull it off. Eventually, after some practice, mistakes, and getting back up again, he was up to 3-4 presentations a week. He religiously presented that frequently for years.

He’s now done over 1,000 presentations and is an incredible speaker, teacher, and breakthrough mentor.

Now that he was an expert in sales, real estate, business, and speaking, it was time to take his skills to the world by leveraging social media.

Kris learned how to spend 3 hours a week creating content to produce millions of organic views around the world. He now has millions of followers across his social media platforms and doesn’t plan to slow things down any time soon.

Kris’s next target was marketing, funnels, and monetizing his following. He learned as much as he could, implemented, and found great success as he grew his marketing company to 9-figures. While Kris continues to progress, he helps other businesses and influencers share their message to the world and monetize their courses, products, and various offers.

Kris admits that developing the X-factor takes time and dedication. He currently has a list of 17 skills he feels he has developed to the level of proficiency, some of those being physical fitness, optimal health, a dedicated, selfless marriage, a loving father and provider (and the list goes on!) Kris plans to work his way to proficiency in 100 areas of life.

What can we learn from the example Kris Krohn has set?

Having the X-factor doesn’t happen overnight – BUT, that doesn’t mean you can’t have HUGE success before you become your superhuman self.

Kris works every day to get just a little bit better at a certain skill until eventually he’s mastered it. He aims to win every single day.

It’s about taking step after step until you’re at the top of the mountain (and then finding another mountain to climb).

What’s the playbook for how you stand on the shoulder of giants?

Become a giant.

Every day ask yourself, “what am I mastering?” And, “what are the benefits of it?”

If you can laser focus on what you’re trying to master, you’ll conquer it that much faster.

Kris shared that recently he closed on a massive business deal with a solar company because in 2 hours he was able to map out a plan for them to double their business in 3 months.

At that moment he thought, “how did I get here?”

It was through the mastery of many skills that he was able to spend only 2 hours of his life and make more money than most people earn in years.

Mastery of sales, speaking, breakthrough training, finance, business, real estate, profit sharing, and social media all came together in a perfect storm that day.

So the question we should all ask ourselves is, “what X-factor/skill do I want to develop that will turn me into a superhuman?”

That’s for everyone to decide for themselves!

The post THE X FACTOR – Do You Have It? appeared first on DigitalMarketer.