The Stone Cutter’s Secret
In a Reader’s Digest issue, Jacob Riis just hinted at the invisible quality I want to talk to you about today. See if you can tell what this invisible quality is from what he said…
“I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow, it splits in two. I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
Jacob Riis in Reader’s Digest
Persistence is the invisible quality you need to possess if you want to see success with follow up, the third marketing fundamental. (Read more about the third marketing fundamental here.)
You must be persistent in following up in your efforts to gain attention, attract your prospects, and convert them into customers.
The question is: How do you follow-up with prospects without being annoying?
How to Effectively Follow-up with Your Potential Customers and Clients
When it comes to following up with the people you hope to convert to customers or clients, there are two groups you will focus on:
- Prospects – When I say prospects, I’m talking about anyone who isn’t on one of your email lists. They’re not an email subscriber or they haven’t signed up for any of the lead magnets you offer. They might know about your company or products. They might not. They might have consumed your articles, blog posts, podcast, or videos or not.
- Leads – When I say leads, I’m talking about anyone who is on one of your email lists. They have raised their hand and have shown enough interest to be willing to exchange their contact info with you.
Alright, now that that is clear, let me share with you ways that you can follow-up effectively with prospects or leads.
Follow-Up Tactics for Prospects
The key to following up with prospects is to continue to stay in front of them until they are ready to become a lead or a customer.
The most effective way to do this is through the use of content marketing. Why is content marketing so effective at multiple marketing touches with prospects?
Have you ever had a salesperson constantly contact you and ask you if you’re ready to buy? Annoying, huh?
Well, content marketing allows you to continue to be in front of prospects and have something more to say than just asking, “Wanna buy from us now!?!”
It helps you to not sound like (or feel like) that annoying salesperson.
Content marketing enables you to provide helpful information so that you’re viewed as an expert, not a pest.
Follow-Up Tactics for Leads
The key to following up with leads is to continue to provide them with content related to the lead magnet they originally signed up for.
While in the process of providing that information, you want to continue to educate them, encourage them, and explain to them why and how your solution is the one they’re looking for.
The most effective way to do this is through the use of email marketing. Why is email marketing so effective at multiple marketing touches with leads?
Have you ever met someone in a loud, crowded room (pre-COVID days) and tried to have a conversation with them? It wasn’t easy, was it?
But what if you got their contact info and texted or called them later? That’s a whole different story. Now your conversation isn’t drowned out by the distractions of a crowded and noisy room.
It’s now much easier to have a one-on-one conversation. That’s how you can build a friendship with someone whose messages and calls you look forward to.
Well, if you use email marketing effectively, it will enable you to speak one-on-one with your leads, through a channel that is much less crowded and noisy, instead of trying to communicate through the crowded space known as the internet.
Again, if you use email marketing effectively, your leads will look forward to your emails. They begin to enter into a relationship with you where they start to know, like, and trust.
When that happens, it’s only a matter of time (while you tap into the invisible quality of persistence) until they become a customer.
Two Resources to Help You Use Email Marketing to Effectively Follow-up with Leads
I don’t have the time in this article to go into all the details of what it takes to use email marketing effectively so that your leads will get your messages and even look forward to them.
But I can point you to two resources that can help you with that…
1) Case Study: How Brian Dean (From Backlinko) Built a Massive Email List (and How You Can Too)
Back in March of 2020, I wrote an article that revealed how SEO expert, Brian Dean, focuses on building an email list.
Yes, you read that right. He’s a SEO expert whose secret to success is building an email list of prospects that he can follow-up with.
You can read my case study that reveals what I discovered when I signed up for Brian’s lead magnet. You can see it here.
How to Grow Your Business with Email Marketing
Aweber is the company I use for my email marketing. It allows me to easily create different email lists for different lead magnets. It also makes it easy for me to create automated email nurture follow-up sequences and send email broadcasts.
They’ve put together a guide called “How to Grow Your Business with Email Marketing.”
You’ll learn everything you need to know to get started with email marketing.
You’ll walk away knowing how to:
- Create sign up forms and landing pages
- Write and design beautiful emails
- Build your email list in creative ways
- Measure email performance
- Avoid the spam folder
Plus, you’ll get access to tons of fantastic templates that help you get up and running quickly.
You can learn more about the guide and sign-up to get access to it by clicking here.
*AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: I proudly feature affiliate links for some products that I love. It adds no extra cost to you but enables me to earn a commission if you purchase. This is just one way I can continue to provide you with valuable information on this site.
Want to Catch Up on This Series?
If you missed the previous articles, you can go to this page I’ve created for the series.
In case you’re wondering, there are currently 15 previous in this series.
