The #1 Most Important Component of Your Online Marketing Blueprint

 

“The #1 Most Important Component of Your

Online Marketing Blueprint”

 

Have you ever been told that you need to “get your name out there?”  Advertising experts will typically tell you that your prospects need to see your ad at least 7 times before they take action.  This is the kind of thinking that leads business owners to throw away tons of their hard-earned money on branding, fancy brochures and websites, and expensive advertising (like this billboard) and wonder why they have very little to show for it at the end of the day.  Unless you have a huge business like Coca-Cola, this is probably not the way to go. 

In fact, even if you DO have a huge marketing budget, that doesn’t mean traditional advertising will work for you.  For example, many people loved Taco Bell’s ad campaign with the Chihuahua saying “Yo quiero Taco Bell!”  However, after 3 years of running ads with this Chihuahua, it didn’t help Taco Bell’s bottom line.  (A friend told me that sales for Chihuahaus went up though).

What I’ve always found to be more powerful and effective than “getting your name out there” is to “GET THEIR NAME IN HERE.”

What I mean by “get their name in here,” is that it’s more important for you to have your prospects’ name and contact information than it is for them to have yours.

If they have yours and you don’t have theirs, you’re powerless.  You have to sit around and hope that one day they’ll get around to calling you.  How likely is that to happen?  People are busy!  Aren’t you?  Have you ever taken someone’s card or flier fully intending to follow up and never doing so?  If you have, don’t feel bad.  It happens.  And it happens to your prospects, too.

When you have THEIR contact information, you can proactively take steps to provide value for them and develop a relationship, which means that they are WAY more likely to do business with you when the time is right.

In order to “get their name in here,” you need what I consider to be the most important component of your online marketing blueprint: your Opt-In Page.

You might have also heard it called a Squeeze Page or a Landing Page.

An Opt-In Page is a simple website that allows your prospects to enter their contact information (usually first name and e-mail address) and give you permission to follow up with them.

Here are some examples:

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Usually, your prospects will give you their contact information in order to get something in return, like a free report.

You’ll want to have your Opt-In Page link to a follow up system like Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, 1Shopping Cart, or Infusionsoft so that your prospects’ contact information gets entered into your system and your prospects start getting messages from you automatically.

Hopefully, I’ve inspired you to get your Opt-In Page up, if you haven’t yet.  And if you do have one up already, take a moment to see if you can make it even hotter and more enticing.

Now that you have “their name in here,” you can focus on following up with and providing great value to your prospects, which makes them exponentially more likely to become your new happy clients.