In order to create a Lead Generation Plan, it is helpful to define your target market in advance. A target market is defined as a group of people that you aim to attain as your customers. An effective brand identity is needed to attract the customers. It cannot be all things to all people.
In today’s lead generation efforts, our market has changed. With 5 different generations of customers in the market as well as our technology advances, these efforts can be confusing and frustrating to the business development professional.
We see the generational differences creating perhaps the most confusion right now. Organizations are trying many channels, oftentimes without a strategy or follow-up plan. Frustration grows and marketing resources dwindle. An overall attitude change takes place as the marketing channel takes the blame for the failure when in fact it was a “spray and pray” attempt that was the breakdown.
This is when staff members who have generational diversity, as well as allies in business, can help you. Mastermind and peer groups are also a great resource. Be careful of becoming almost addicted to every marketing and lead generation seminar available. Over time, these can end up confusing you with the differing approaches being presented. At the end of the day, someone standing at the front of the room proclaiming to be able to market and generation leads for your business, from the front of the room, doesn’t know YOUR business. It is not surprising that your business seems to have the problem that their solution or product will solve. They are in the business of business development too!
Before you design a lead generation campaign, take some time and research your target market from a different perspective. Every individual has five basic senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste). There is one other sense that often gets lost in our campaigns, and that is Common Sense. For the most part, most we are only engaging one or two senses at a time. The main ones are sight and sound. This strategy may work for some generations but not for all.
We know for some individuals the concept of engaging as many of the senses as possible becomes a determining factor for creating ads. Who can resist the new car smell or the aromas that come from entering a Yankee Candle store? What might that be for your product offering?
When facing the dilemma of what appeals to the generation you are focused on, taking time to look at all the various senses can be very illuminating. Studying the demographics of the various generations can give you clues to which senses dominate their lives and thus permeate their buying style. Design your lead generations efforts with a customized approach to each generation as opposed to the traditional “spray and pray” efforts that burn time and money.Generations’ values can also be either promoted or belittled in an your efforts and can be a detriment to getting a product or service sold.
The concept of common sense is often disregarded when lead generation campaigns are designed. This sense is very important to the Traditionalists and Boomers as this is part of who they are.
In any lead generation campaign, determining your market is the paramount goal. Combining a team of people who represent all the various targeted markets becomes fundamental in any lead generation strategy. Give this team the goal of ascertaining which of the senses most appeals to the target audience. It may be helpful to survey small groups to validate your research.
If you structure your campaign in a way that addresses the primary senses of that generation, it will endear you and your product or service to that group. People of all generations want to be heard and listened to regarding their needs. When you engage their senses, they feel that you have connected to them on more than one level. An organization or service that can create this involvement of the senses will always be a success.
This takes time and this takes effort. This is lead generation at its very best when each individual’s needs are addressed. This is the recipe for greatness for any lead generation campaign.
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