Avoid Losing Leads by Using the Scavenger Hunt Principle of Marketing

By: Stephanie Tuesday February 14, 2017 comments Tags: Marketing, Copywriting, Blogging, Client attraction, Email marketing, product launch, Content marketing, Public relations, Business planning, Lead nurture, Social media

 
Are you giving your leads the best possible chance of becoming customers, or are you needlessly losing them somewhere along the way?

The answer to that question partly depends on how well you use the "Scavenger Hunt" principle when creating your sales funnel.

What is the Scavenger Hunt principle?

As kids - or as adults - you may have played a game where one person made and hid a series of clues, and the others had to find them.

Each clue led to the location of the next clue. Sometimes, if you were lucky - or unlucky, depending on how you look at it - you could accidentally stumble across one of the clues early, but that was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Generally, your best chance of finding each clue was to use the clue you already had in order to find it.

How does this apply to your marketing?

Each step in your funnel is like a clue in a scavenger hunt. It helps people find the next step toward becoming a client.

For example, a blog post could lead to an opt-in page, which leads to a newsletter, then a webinar, then a sales page for a product.

There is a chance that they could stumble across one of the later clues on their own, especially if the page on which that step is hosted contains keywords that they search for.

For example, they might find the sales page first if it contains the answer to a question they typed into a search engine.

But if you bet your business' success on that, you're probably going to end up poor at best, and out of business at worst.

If you want more people to reach the end of your "marketing scavenger hunt" and become clients, there are four things you need to make sure you do:

1. Put the first clue where they're likely to see it.

Don't bet your success on people visiting a part of the internet they've never been to before.

Instead, put at least some of your content marketing - the first "clues" in your "scavenger hunt" - in places where they already look.

This includes sharing helpful advice in social media groups related to your topic, posting guest articles on blogs or ezines they're already reading, and doing cross-promotions with people whose emails or videos they're already looking at.

Ask yourself: "Where do my ideal clients go when they're looking for information like mine?" Then put interesting or valuable information in those places, and end each piece of content by telling them what more they can get by taking the next step, and what next step to take.

2. Make sure you have enough clues.

It can take time to earn people's trust. According to SalesForce.com, it takes 6-8 contacts to bring a person from being a total stranger to having enough awareness, interest and trust in your business to be ready to make a purchase.

Granted, this isn't written in stone. Some people will purchase right away. Others take more than 8 contacts before they pull out their wallets.

Either way, don't expect all of your customers to go straight from your home page to your sales page. Give them blog posts, newsletters, consultations, conversations, and other forms of value and interaction to nurture their interest until they're ready to buy.

3. Don't make them figure out the clues.

This is where marketing differs radically from a scavenger hunt.

In a scavenger hunt, you're expected to solve a riddle in order to find the location of the next clue. Removing this challenge would remove the fun.

But in marketing, it's the opposite. People don't want to have to guess what to do next.

Their time is limited, and their interest is often tenuous, so don't waste it by making them wonder how to take the next step, or why they should take it.

Always give them specific instructions for how to take the next step in their journey, and tell them exactly how they'll benefit from taking that step.

4. Give them a reason to want each next clue.

Each step in the process should be valuable, entertaining, or both. At no point should you ask your potential client to do something without making it clear how that action will benefit them.

When speaking about these benefits, speak in terms of the "symptoms", or the specific experiences they'll have as a result of taking action, not the root cause of their problem or the process they'll go through.

For example, don't say "You'll improve your relationship patterns and take the next step in your relationship journey."

Maybe they don't know that their relationship patterns need improvement, and "the next step in your relationship journey" is far too vague to be tantalizing.

Instead, say "You'll stop having arguments that hurt your relationship and resolve nothing, feel more connection and love, and enjoy the safety of knowing that your partner understands you and wants to support you."

It's important to be specific about how they'll benefit from taking the next step, and what they'll gain through that step that they don't already have. Don't just say "you can't get the whole picture from this newsletter, so buy my book" - I've seen that, and it wasn't convincing.

Instead, tell them which topics they'll learn about, which problems they'll solve, and which positive experiences they'll enjoy, in terms that they can see, hear, or feel.

Want more people to complete your "scavenger hunt" and become clients?

If you don't have the time, desire or training to create your own emails, blog posts, website pages, capture pages, and other "clues" in your scavenger hunt, I'd be happy to do it for you!

In fact, I have a special opportunity for you to not only get your materials created, but to get a team of people to help send leads to your business!

Click here to get the details.
 

About the Author: Stephanie

Stephanie is a writer and coaching program design specialist. She helps coaches to design lucrative and life-changing group programs, so they can help more people, make more money, and have more time freedom.