Wait, what?
Doesn’t that statement fly in the face of common wisdom, that the more people you add to your list or more leads that you generate the more money you are going to make?
Sure does…
And it’s the truth, the reality is just adding to people to your list willy nilly is not going to suddenly make you a ton of profit just because the numbers are going up.
But what about the whole $1 per subscriber per month income target/promise?
Well, if you’re not generating leads in the right way then that goes out the window too.
The missing keyword is QUALITY.
Let’s face it, anyone can put together a marketing funnel and throw leads onto a list, it’s not actually that hard when it comes down to it.
Ad > Landing Page > Opt In > Offer > Offer > Offer > Offer and so on.
The problem with this is unless the people you are adding to your list are targeted properly and are in the right frame of mind for what you are offering, you aren’t going to achieve much.
What’s the point of having 10,000 people on your list if they aren’t looking for what you have to offer?
And this goes for any business, online or offline.
Getting the wrong leads onto your list is like randomly handing out flyers at the mall or stuffing letterboxes with circulars.
The chances that anyone who gets a flyer is actually interested is pretty slim.
So what can you do to swing things in your favour (particularly online)?
Well, firstly you need to understand your audience… what does your ideal customer look like?
Male, female, young, old, employed, unemployed, good income etc.
What other interests could they have that are complimentary to your offer, what else could they be looking at which might give you an indication that they are ready to buy?
What are they really trying to achieve?
If you’re offering training or a business opportunity think about WHY someone might be looking for your solution… what’s the problem you can solve?
Do they want more money or are they really after more freedom?
Spend the time to understand what your audience wants and how to talk to them.
Secondly, be prepared to invest time and money testing your marketing and offer and don’t just focus on cost per lead as a way of measuring success.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say I can get leads for $1 each or I can get leads for $10 each.
Many people would say you’re better off getting 10 x $1 leads rather than 1 x $10 lead… right?
What if I told you that those $1 leads go on to spend an average of $2 each, so you’re return from getting 10 leads is $10 (10 x $2 income minus 10 x $1 cost per lead).
That’s great, spend $10 and get $10 profit… that’s not bad as you’re effectively doubling your money.
Now, what if I told you that on average a $10 lead spends $50 with you because they are far more targeted and likely to be open to the offer (and subsequent offers) you are making.
Now you’re getting a $40 return on your $10 investment, 4x what you’re making on the $1 leads.
I know I’d certainly prefer the $10 lead over the $1 in the long run.
So…
The moral of the story is to recognise that sometimes you’re better off getting fewer leads, at a higher cost in order to build a more valuable business in the long run.
Now of course that’s not to say that $1,000 leads are going to make you a millionaire, it all comes down to understanding your return on investment and having a product funnel that delivers.
But that’s a conversation for another time.
Until then, get to know your target audience and really focus in on how you can help them and don’t get bogged down in trying to get < $1 leads just to create a massive list.
