One initiative within your overall franchise development plan likely includes a digital campaign to generate leads. Your lead magnet – the downloadable content, online quiz, audit, etc. that users provide their information in exchange for – is a key part of this plan. When it comes to leads, quality always trumps quantity. Generating qualified leads is imperative for your franchise development team’s success. Consider these six tips when implementing magnets into your franchise lead generation strategies.
Single out each persona
Persona development is marketing at its core. Who is your target audience? If you have more than one that’s fine, but pick one — and only one — target for each piece. You can’t easily talk to second-career educators and entrepreneurial millennials in the same magnet.
Consider the format they use
Lead magnets take many forms. Is your target market more likely to take a quiz or download a guide? There are a multitude of options when it comes to lead magnets — tutorials, checklists, infographics, etc. Choose the format that is most likely to attract your target audience.
Make sure your content solves a problem
The primary message in your magnet needs to solve a problem for a potential lead. In franchise development, that might be providing steps to help a person become their own boss or offering a content in the form of a guide on how to gain financial independence by becoming a franchisee with your business. Most users know that if they provide their email address, they will be remarketed to. The more valuable the lead magnet content, the more likely they are to engage and eventually buy from you.
Call to action
The potential franchisee has given you their contact information in exchange for the valuable, free content. Your franchise development team can cultivate leads through remarketing and sales calls, but what do you want the reader/user to do after they have read or viewed your lead magnet? Whether it’s an invitation to request a consultation, a reminder to visit the website for more information or an offer to sign up for a webinar, always include a call to action at the end of any magnet. Also, consider where the lead magnet falls in the sales funnel. If these are top-of-funnel audiences, a “how-to” or “best-tips” guide is probably best because that audience is merely exploring and gathering information. If this is an audience that has already downloaded your magnet or engaged with your company before, a free audit might work better.
Evergreen
It’s always good to provide content that is timely and relevant, but consider creating pieces with a little more staying power. While articles, blogs and social media post calendars range from monthly to hourly, lead magnets can be produced every few months, and only need to be changed when data or offerings change or conversions drop. They can be a big investment, but at least they don’t need to be created every month.
Complete A/B testing
In a matter of seconds, consumers will decide whether to click on your ad or link for your lead magnet. Readers will base their decisions to click on both the visual layout of the ad and the title of the magnet. Run an A/B test to see which ad or link title has the highest conversion rate.
Lead magnets are important pieces of your digital franchise development campaigns. Use these franchise lead generation strategies to develop magnets that convert, and then coordinate with optimized ads, landing pages and follow-up emails to complete the franchise development campaign.
