Lead Generation Best Practices Inspired by Steve Jobs
There?s a wonderful interview, here, with John Scully?past CEO of Apple??where he unveils the precise qualities that made Steve Jobs a business success.
It?s a long interview (52 minutes) so I?ve extracted the particulars of what is said and correlated Jobs? best practices at Apple to the Four (4) Best Practices of Lead Generation.
1) Build from the Vantage Point of the Buyer
The best practices of Lead Generation always start with the end-users in mind: their problems, their wants, their resources, their hangouts?online and off, the things that intrigue them, entertain them, and benefit them.
2) Hire the Best People
This step is obvious but it’s also too often ignored. If you don?t have the specific talent you need to craft engaging, compelling and consistent lead generation content on staff;
- hire it,
- grow it, or
- sub-contract it
And don?t be too quick to throw it to an ad agency. Lead Generation and advertising are different. Sales messaging and copywriting are different. Each of them have a different name, and it’s probably for good reason.
3) Be a Systems Thinker
Lead Generation Communications grows your revenues by carrying your customer through every step of the sales cycle. It?s a process?a system, not a ?one-off? task. And as such it needs to be designed in a way that each part in the system supports all previous and subsequent parts. Each new bit of content your customer consumes should solve another problem, relieve a bit more anxiety, and make it a joy for them to take the next step closer to purchase.
4) Simplify Complexity
Effective Lead Generation and Sales Process Management is not easy.
But it can be simplified.
It starts with a Strategy and leads to an easy-to-read blueprint of tasks, timetables and lead generation messages?including the editorial calendar which lays out, step-by-step, what content is being produced for which customer segment, when, why and by whom.
Will following these core four best practices turn your company into the next Apple?
Maybe. Let?s find out.
There?s a wonderful interview, here, with John Scully?past CEO of Apple??where he unveils the precise qualities that made Steve Jobs a business success.
It?s a long interview (52 minutes) so I?ve extracted the particulars of what is said and correlated Jobs? best practices at Apple? to the best practices of Content Marketing.
1)Build from the vantage point of the user experience.
The best practices of Content Marketing always start with the end-users in mind: their problems, their wants, their list of influencers, their hangouts?online and off, the things that intrigue them, entertain them, and benefit them.
If you don?t already have this information, a great way to obtain it is through the creation of ?buyer personas? (more on buyer personas coming soon).This information is the catalyst that?ll enable you to build a positive user experience.
2)Hire the best people
This step is obvious but also too often ignored. If you don?t have the specific talent you need to craft engaging, compelling and consistent content on staff;
?hire it,
?grow it or
?sub-contract it
And don?t be too quick to throw it to an ad agency. Content Marketing and advertising are different. Content writing and copywriting are different. That?s why each has a different name.
3)Be a systems thinker.
Content Marketing grows revenues by carrying your customer through every step of the sales cycle. It?s a process?a system, not a ?one-off? task. And as such it needs to be designed in a way that each part in the system supports all previous and subsequent parts. Each new bit of content your customer consumes should solve another problem, relieve a bit more anxiety, and make it a joy for them to take the next step closer to purchase.
4)Simplify complexity.
Effective Content Marketing is not easy.
But it can be simplified.
It starts with a Content Marketing Strategy and leads to an easy-to-read blueprint of tasks, timetables and content?including the editorial calendar which lays out, step-by-step, what content is being produced for which customer segment, when, why and by whom.
Will following these core four best practices turn your company into an Apple??
Let?s find out.
