Last time we talked about ways of marketing in a tighter economy.

Consider this. There are essentially 3 ways of getting leads for most service businesses and those marketing to businesses.

Prospects can respond to an Event, a Consultation or Trial offer, or they can request a Report (get something in writing).

So which one is probably the most-underutilized while also being the most cost-effective per lead?

I would argue the report. Why?

Free Reports, checklists, White Papers, articles, whatever variation you want to use (We'll refer to them as Free Reports.) are generally the most cost-effective when compared to other lead generation offers. Also, they can be very powerful in adding new prospects to your database.

(For example, when media companies generate leads for you, the Free Report leads take about 50% of the marketing effort versus an event lead, which is in itself a lot easier to generate than a free trial or consultation leads.) 

They are relatively easy to create for many, and virtually free to deliver by mail or electronically.

For example, a products company was offering only consultations and free trials in its marketing. It added a Free Report to its marketing, "The Top 10 Mistakes (its market) Makes and How to Avoid Them," and started promoting that. Leads increased 300% within 7 days for this company, with sales up 70% in the 12 months following the launch of this report.  

Keys to profiting from these free reports . . .

1. The Title of Your Report is Your Ad for the Report

The most important words in your Free Report are your title.

This is similar to a book title which gets your attention. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Winning through Intimidation" are both great book titles that led to best sellers. 

The better your title (consider featuring a big benefit to the prospect in the title), generally the more leads you will get. For report titles, use active and winning copy words such as How To, Easy, You, Avoid, Get, and Money.

Here are three examples of Free Report titles using these types of words:  "How to Create More Sales Leads with White Papers," "7 Secrets of Winning Webinars," and, "How to Save Money in Your Technology Budget with Virtualization."

2. Offer the Report In Exchange for Lead Information

It may seem counter-intuitive, but rather than just posting the report on your website for all to see, or publishing an entire article in a magazine, you generally want to promote the fact that you have the report, and ask the prospect fill out a lead form to actually get the report.

I've tested placing the entire article over and over and generated a trickle of calls, maybe one or two, sometimes from vendors. In contrast, advertising the full article will on average produce 8x (or more) leads.  

That keeps you in control, and generates what you want -- prospects and a little information about them you can use to convert them into customers.

3. What's Your POV? - Offer Some Personality
Aand Opinion in the Free Report

Many marketers make the mistake of providing generic information, which is bland or boring.  They are afraid to take a stand in their writing. The best reports offer valuable advice, have a strong Point-of-View or personality, as well as give some success tips to the audience.

4. Engage Your Audience Emotionally in the Report

Remember, even for very large purchases, people buy on emotion and justify with facts.

So make sure your report focuses on the prospects' hopes, dreams, and fears and through providing valuable insights in the report calling them to action. (Hopefully that action includes contacting your company to learn more about your solution).

5. Use a Web, Lead Capture Form Similar to the Two Examples Here

While you may have a phone number or 24-hour voice mail response option to capture Free Report leads, web lead forms will always increase your number of leads and lower cost to convert to clients because you have an email address.

Example of a Checklist, Article - More Sales with Webinars

Check out the links above and below for examples of successful,
free reports by QLM. The checklist above, and the White Paper below.

Example of a White Paper Offer

"Top Trends in Business Marketing and Lead Generation in 2008"

By lowering cost-per-lead and with delivery of reports virtually free, this Free Report strategy can, for many, help attract new prospects to their lists, re-activate dead prospects, or help upsell current clients.

We invite you to contact Bob to help put marketing strategies like these in place