Ultimately, stories give us clues about how to solve our own problems in the real world. And stories are attractive because they’re concrete. They’re visual, easily pictured in the mind’s eye. We all would much rather learn through a story than through a lecture.

Prospects Learn Through Stories Too

But the power of stories goes much deeper. Psychologists believe that stories have served humans in their quest for survival since the earliest of times — our species has used storytelling to warn and learn of dangers in the world around us. Storytelling is a part of our primal psyche.

In 2010, neuroscientists at Princeton University discovered the ability of stories to “sync” the brains of storytellers and their listeners. The fMRI imaging revealed that when one person told a story to another, both individuals’ brains displayed nearly identical activity across most areas. This phenomenon was repeated with each of the pairs in the study.

Is it any wonder that stories sell better than a list of facts?

Illuminating Insight Makes Stories Produce Buying Behavior

Many marketers and salespeople have realized that storytelling plays an important part in gaining new customers, so they’re using case studies and customer stories in their marketing and sales conversations.

But not just any story has the ability to motivate a prospect to buy now, and buy from your company rather than a competitor. There are two traps that marketers and salespeople fall into when telling customer stories: not understanding the danger of the status quo, and not truly differentiating the value of their product or service.

To result in a purchase, a story has to illuminate the cost of the status quo and the benefits of change as well as demonstrate that the prospects’ pain cannot be fully solved with any other solution. Let’s look at each of these requirements and how to use them to boost the effectiveness of your case studies.

1. Reveal the Cost of the Status Quo

Several studies show that 60-70% of enterprise sales opportunities end with the prospect not making a decision. The status quo is your biggest competition for two main reasons:

• Time Scarcity: Today’s companies are operating “lean and mean” — there’s more work and fewer people to get the work done. Prospects are stressed about everything that they need to accomplish in the time that they have available, and it’s easy to put off buying decisions that take up additional time.
• Loss Aversion: We are all wired to avoid loss. We fear making buying decisions because it involves risk: a potential for loss.

If your customer stories are going to result in a purchase by the listener, they have to clearly communicate why the status quo is so terrible. Your case studies need to bring prospects to the realization that the risk of keeping the status quo is worse than the risk of taking the action necessary to purchase your product or service.

Let’s Get Practical: You can accomplish this by really digging into the pain and suffering that the protagonist (your client) was dealing with before they began working with you. Describe this pain in detail — not only the amount of money being lost, time being wasted, and other numerical stats, but also the emotional consequences that the key players were dealing with.

2. Differentiate Your Value

By now, we all know that 60% of the buyer’s purchase decision is complete before connecting with a salesperson. But what does this mean? Buyers are researching on their own, forming their thinking based on information gleaned online, without additional input. They come to the sales conversation with opinions already in place.

Because most companies don’t do a good job differentiating their value on their website and other online communication channels, prospects believe that most providers are pretty similar. They come to the sales conversation thinking of your product or service as a commodity.

Your case studies (actually, all of your materials, but especially case studies) need to reframe the situation so that prospects understand two things:

1. Why they need your particular solution
2. Why they’re not going to find it elsewhere

Let’s Get Practical: If you don’t already have a clear picture of how your solution is truly different from the alternatives available, ask yourself this question: “What aspect of the prospect’s problem is my company better equipped to solve than my competitors?” There’s some element of the problem that you can fix better than anyone else. Once you know what that element is, uncover all the pain points associated with it. Peel back all the layers of those pain points and dig into all the ways that the prospect feels that pain and the consequences of it. Next, get very clear on exactly why and how you are better equipped than your competitors to solve those particular pain points. Your case studies should make your prospects realize that those pain points are the most important ones (by clearly communicating the pain and the consequences) and show how you can solve them better than anyone else.

Make Your Case Studies Powerful

Stories connect, and stories are memorable. But when you incorporate these two insights into your customer stories, they become even more powerful. Powerful enough to move prospects to take action and sign contracts.

Need help creating case studies that generate new business? Let’s talk!

The post Powerful Case Studies: Buying Decisions Are Made at the Intersection of Insight and Customer Stories appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

A 2016 study of 316 executives from large global companies, conducted by Forbes Insights and sponsored by Teradata in partnership with McKinsey, found that 90% of organizations report medium to high levels of investment in big data analytics, and about a third call their investments “very significant.” Another study last year conducted by New Vantage Partners, a management consulting firm, revealed that 62.5% of respondents said they now have at least one instance of big data in production, nearly double the number of those (31.4%) who reported the same in 2013.

“Data-driven strategy” is the latest buzz phrase being tossed around by marketing professionals in companies large and small. And while the value of data is clear, there’s a limit to what hard data can reveal.

Data is about numbers. It reflects quantifiable information—how many survey participants selected this or that response option, how many customers chose Product A over Product B, which demographic said they would value this or that feature at this or that price point.

What Data Can’t Tell Us

What data can’t tell us are the stories, the nuances behind that quantifiable information. The background behind why the preferences are what they are and the factors that influence decision-making. And, ultimately, what will cause these preferences to evolve in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

The stories behind the data are, arguably, even more valuable than the easily-quantifiable. How many missteps are made by marketers who look at data and make incorrect assumptions about what the data means or apply the data in ineffective ways? We can be so sure about a plan of action based on data, only to discover that we were incredibly off the mark.

How to Go Deeper

To get the story, to learn the nuance, you have to get out from behind the computer screen and have real, live conversations with people. This is why award-winning journalists insist on one-on-one, in-depth interviews and spending time in the day-to-day lives of people. They aren’t content to rely on data alone. They understand that the real story lies deeper, and their mission is to uncover what’s really going on, what’s beyond the obvious—which may completely change the understanding of a situation.

Marketers can’t forget the importance of the one-on-one in-depth interview. Interviews can reveal motivations, subconscious desires, otherwise-unvoiced fears, and alternative viewpoints of problems (and solutions). Mass-collection methods, data, and numbers can’t deliver these golden nuggets of truth.

The post Don’t Be Blinded by Big Data: Get into the Minds of Your Prospects appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

That’s a big problem, because most B2B marketers are trying to attract the attention of decision-makers who are subject matter experts. They don’t need to be educated on the basics. Content that doesn’t go deep on a topic doesn’t interest them. If you want to generate more B2B leads with your content, you’re going to have to go deeper.

Start with an Understanding of Your Audience

I harp on this a lot, I know, but it’s essential—you have to have a thorough understanding of your audience. You need to get a clear picture not only of what their concerns and pain points are, but also how much they already know about those needs and the topics you’re writing about. 

You also want to make sure you’re speaking their language, not yours. What jargon do they use? What terminology might differ from what you’re familiar with? Again, if you go basic with your language, you’ll lose your decision-makers because they’ll assume the piece is not for them.

Be Credible

Much of the content that falls into the category of “thought leadership” is written by those who don’t have real expertise in the subject. This isn’t a problem if you rely on those who do have expertise to back up your thought leadership. The tools of journalism can be invaluable here—interviewing experts, quoting primary research, even doing your own studies.

If you’re an in-house marketer, you can interview those in your company who do have the expertise. Also, check into what research has been done by companies like CEB, Forrester, or industry organizations that you can reference. If you’re at an agency, you have to insist on those interviews! Many agencies skimp on this step because it takes time that requires a higher cost to the client, but you can’t produce content that gets decision-maker attention without it. Unless you have the credentials, back up all your points with credible source material.

Be Unique

To capture attention and get a response, your content needs to offer a perspective that’s not already out there. Decision-makers want to learn something new and valuable that impacts their business or their day-to-day. Before you create a piece of content, hop onto Google and see what already exists—you don’t want to be re-inventing the wheel. Ideally this insight leads back to your UVP—what you can offer that your competitors can’t. When your new insight leads decision-makers to realize you alone can fully solve their need, they’re more likely to take action and contact you, rather than a competitor. 

While there’s a lot of high-quality content out there, there’s still plenty of demand for content that goes deeper and connects with target decision-makers. Most marketers just don’t get that deep, so those who do stand out.

The post To Capture the Attention of Decision-makers, Your Content Has to Go Deep appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

Most B2B companies now understand the role that content plays in marketing, to generate leads. But many companies are still relying on “hard work” methods of converting those leads to customers. The reality is that content can create just as much magic for the sales process as for marketing. It can build the relationship, persuade, and convince.

When content is used effectively in the sales process, the role of the salesperson changes from pursuer/hunter (hard work that takes up a lot of time) to facilitator/educator (smart work that requires significantly less time). The sales process is made easier and shorter — because content can work 24/7, when the buyer is available and ready.

What content does your sales team need? These three essentials are workhorses that will propel your team’s productivity forward.

1. Share Challenging Insight

To convince buyers to act quickly, you need to challenge assumptions that are blinding them to the urgency of solving their pain points.

Your biggest competitor isn’t the market leader in your industry — it’s the status quo. Buyers are taking a big risk by making a purchase, especially an enterprise-level one. What if something goes wrong? They’ll lose valuable time and, quite possibly, money. You need to present the painful costs of not taking action. When the risks of purchasing your product or service are viewed in light of these costs, the risks are small in comparison.

This type of content should “look customers in the eye and tell them that what they’re currently doing is wrong.” Ideally, this content will also lead prospects back to your unique value proposition, so they’ll decide not only to act but to purchase from your company instead of another. What does your company do better than your competitors that enables you to solve your prospects’ pain points in a more thorough/faster way? Insights around that “what” are the ones you’ll want to focus on.

Types of Content to Use: White papers, research, statistics, and case studies that demonstrate just how much prospects have to lose by putting off a decision or by buying any solution other than yours.

How to Use It: Share on social media, send (links, not attachments!) in prospecting emails and nurturing emails, and include in presentations and proposals.

2. Communicate Your Unique Value

The last thing you want is to educate prospects on the impact of pain points only to have them buy from a competitor. You’ll need to clearly communicate why your solution solves your prospects’ problems better than your competitors’ solutions do. CEB research that surveyed 3,000 B2B buyers across 36 brands across seven industries found that only 14% of buyers perceive enough meaningful difference between brands’ business value to be willing to pay extra for that difference. Obviously, companies are not doing a good job communicating their UVPs — which gives you an opportunity to create a competitive edge.

Types of Content to Use: Case studies, white papers, ROI comparisons, consultative analyses, demos, testimonials.

How to Use It: After you’ve captured a prospect’s attention with your challenging insight, you should offer content that communicates your UVP. Share this content through CTAs in nurturing emails and as follow-ups to phone calls. Some types of UVP content are ideal to follow others: for example, you can follow up an email where you shared a case study with an offer for a white paper or an ROI comparison.

3. Answer Questions

You’ll need responsive content during the final stages of the sales process. What questions do prospects ask? What objections do you frequently hear? You’ll want to make it easy for your sales team to access and share the answers to these questions. This content should still communicate your UVP, but be more detailed.

Types of Content to Use: Talk tracks, FAQs, one-sheets, capabilities brochures, product information sheets.

How to Use It: This type of content is valuable at the bottom of the sales funnel. It should follow your insight and UVP-focused content. You’ll typically send this content via email after an initial presentation or use it in a follow-up call.

This workhorse content pulls a lot of weight quickly. It aligns your prospects’ needs and motivations with your company’s solutions and adds an urgency that gets the deal done. Using this content in the sales process will boost your sales team’s productivity and your company’s revenue.

If you’re not sure how to find challenging insight, how to communicate your UVP, or how to create content that moves prospects to action, let’s chat. 

The post Work Smarter, Not Harder: Let Content Do the Work of Selling appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to their town. None of the men were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said, “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable.”

So, they sought the animal out, and when they found it, they each reached out to touch it. The first man, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake.” For another man, whose hand reached its ear, the animal seemed like a kind of fan. Yet another, whose hand was upon its leg, said, “The elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk.” The man who placed his hand on its side said, “The elephant is a wall.” Another who felt its tail, described the elephant as a rope. The last man felt its tusk and stated that the elephant is hard, smooth, and like a spear.

Which man was correct? They were each basing their conclusions on primary research. But none of the men had the complete picture. They didn’t have all the data.

We Now Know Everything

We have access to more data today than we ever have. Big Data is a term that marketers use to describe the extremely large data sets that can be analyzed by computers to reveal patterns, trends, and associations related to human behavior and interactions. Big Data is used to determine what target audiences desire and to predict how any given market segment will develop.

Or Do We?

But this unprecedented access to data has lulled us into thinking we can know everything there is to know about a group of people via analytics. Yes, Big Data is a function of truly complex computations, and the data scientists who work with that data are intelligent and innovative. But there’s only so much we can learn about a person through a computer.

Werner Heisenberg, a German theoretical physicist, said, “We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” When we’re seeking to understand a group of people, are we absolutely sure we’ve asked all the right questions?

How to Get a More Complete Picture

So what’s the solution? We have to recognize that people are complex beings that aren’t easily reduced to a set of quantitative data points. In our quest for quick knowledge, we’ve focused almost exclusively on the data that can be easily measured. We’ve forgotten about qualitative data, where real insight is hidden.

Gathering qualitative data is a time-consuming process that’s inherently inefficient. It requires having old-fashioned conversations with people. It’s almost impossible to automate. But it’s the only way we’ll find the missing pieces of the bigger picture.

Qualitative data takes us all the way around the elephant, from trunk to tail. And this type of data goes far beyond describing the outward characteristics of the elephant’s physical being. To continue the analogy, qualitative data gives us a glimpse of this magnificent animal’s astounding intelligence and reveals that elephants are also surprisingly emotional creatures. 

Let’s not get star-struck by Big Data and its mirage of quick knowledge. Let’s do the hard work of qualitative data—the interviews, the conversations—and dedicate ourselves to truly understanding the people we’re trying to communicate with, attract, and sell to. In marketing (and in life!), our success depends on it.

Convinced you need copy that attracts and communicates more effectively? Let’s talk! Book a 15-minute call with me.

The post How to Understand What Your Audience Really Thinks appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

Your prospects are also busy and also surrounded with the mundane. They’re sitting at their desks each morning, going through dozens of emails, just like every other morning. Their to-do lists are too long, and they’re waiting for the caffeine from their last cup of coffee to kick in. So when they encounter your email, which sounds just like all your competitors’ emails that sit next to yours in their inboxes, they aren’t likely to be motivated enough to click.

Here’s how to fix that. 

Because your prospects are busy, getting them to open your email (much less read it) is a tough challenge. But the good news is they’re also subconsciously looking for something to break the monotony of their routine. (This is why grown, successful people still open forwarded emails from their friends with the latest batch of dogs wearing signs.)

But you don’t have to resort to sending your prospects animal memes. The key to success is to pique your prospects’ curiosity about something that matters to them. 

1. First, identify what your prospects care about, related to your email offer.

Do they want to improve their top-line revenue? Do they need a better, faster way to track income and expenses? Are they frustrated with how much time they’re wasting with inefficient project management? Do they want to be more respected in their industries and viewed as the experts they are? You’ve got to pinpoint the desire they have that you can fulfill with what you’re offering in your email — your eBook, webinar invite, etc.

2. Next, identify what’s holding your prospects back from getting what they desire.

Are they too overwhelmed with the options? Do they not understand the risk involved in the status quo? Do they not know how to sell the solution to their problems to the higher-ups? Whatever it is, get very clear on what’s holding your prospects back and be very specific.

3. Incorporating the two things you just identified, craft a subject line that raises a question in the prospects’ mind.

Your goal is to make your prospects curious, and a promise that you’ll help them achieve one of their top desires is just too much to resist. For example, if you’re a marketing manager at a staffing company and you’re sending an email inviting small business owners to a webinar on how to attract top talent, your creative process for the subject line would look like this:

1. What the prospects care about: Getting top-producing employees on board.
2. What they think is holding them back: Their competitors are offering higher salaries.
3. Subject line that raises a question: “Here’s What Recruiters Don’t Tell You About Why Candidates Turn Down Job Offers (Hint: It’s Not Salaries)”

The recipients immediately wonder what it is that recruiters are keeping under wraps. And they’re doubly curious because they always thought that their inability to offer the highest salary was preventing the best performers from accepting their job offers. Of course they’re going to open the email to find out the answer, hopeful that they can solve their concern.

If you’re going to get prospects motivated enough to click your email in the midst of their busy days, you can’t just type in the standard stuff you see in your own inbox. You’ve got to go beyond what your competitors are doing. So take advantage of what the field of psychology teaches us about desire and curiosity. I guarantee you’ll see your open rates rise.

The post Write Email Subject Lines that Your Prospects Will Click (Even if They’re Beyond Busy) appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

Creative Communication Isn’t a Luxury Item

In an age where content overflows the Internet, the value of creative communication has never been higher. Companies that understand how to clearly convey their UVP will attract more leads and close business more easily. To put that value into perspective, consider what it would mean if your marketing copy could work just a bit harder, converting 20% more of your site visitors into quality leads for your sales team to target. Creative communication isn’t a luxury item you need just for the sake of looking cool — it’s a revenue turbocharger.

How to Escape the Cliche Trap

I experienced my first escape room a few weeks ago and quickly realized why they’re so popular. Escape is ecstasy. You experience a feeling of euphoria when you struggle, puzzle, and finally succeed in breaking through. Escaping the cliche trap will leave you not only with that incredible feeling, but also with more money in the bank. Here’s how to do it.

1. Understand the real value your products and services deliver to your customers. So often marketing and sales teams think they know why their customers buy from them, but they miss key nuances of the thought processes that really sealed the deal. There’s a limit to what surveys and ratings reports can tell you. To dive deep into the minds of your prospects and clients, you need one-on-one interviews. When you understand what’s truly driving buying decisions, you can craft your marketing copy to reflect that insight — which will result in copy that converts leads into clients.
2. Figure out what actually sets your company apart from competitors. Enough with the “We do xyz so you don’t have to!” “Do more with less!” “We go the extra mile!” “Innovative solutions for growing companies!” and my personal pet peeve, “Best-in-class!” If any of your competitors could put the same copy on their homepage (whether or not it’s actually true, since none of these generic claims are even provable), you need to keep thinking. What do you do that no one else does? What can your customers get from you that they cannot get elsewhere?
3. Use sensory images in your copy. Abstract terms cause glazed eyeballs and nodding heads (and not ones that are nodding in agreement!). Liven your copy with descriptions that prospects can experience in their minds. Use metaphors, synonyms, and words that enable readers to mentally see, taste, hear, smell, feel what you’re talking about.

Is this process hard work? Of course it is! Creative communication isn’t for the faint-hearted. But when you exterminate the invasion of cliched copy and emerge victorious with new, fresh words that move your prospect to action, you’ll be smiling — pest-free and revenue-rich.

The post Creative Communication is a Revenue Turbocharger appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

If your goal is to generate leads and conversions, you’re going to have to go deeper. Here are four steps to the type of content that attracts interests.

1. Know your audience.

As a marketer, you know the importance of developing personas. But to create high-quality content that gets the attention of your audience, you have to have a complete understanding of that audience, beyond the typical data included in persona profiles. You need to get a clear picture not only of their demographics and their concerns and pain points, but also how much they already know about those needs and the topics you’re writing about. You need to know this audience like you know a close friend. How can you gain this level of knowledge?

• Check out your audience’s social media pages and groups, and watch for how they describe their frustrations as well as things they get excited about.
• Look at the case studies of your competitors or other companies targeting the same audience for information on shared pain points.
• Interview individuals within your audience, asking questions like the following:
  • When did you realize you needed help with [the problem your product or service solves]?
  • Tell me more about that problem—how it manifests itself in your work week/life.
  • What do you look for in a product/service provider?
  • What’s your typical method of researching potential products/service providers?
  • What websites do you use on a regular basis?
  • What social media platforms are you active on?
  • What publications do you read?
  • How do you prefer to learn information? Webinars, podcasts, eBooks, blogs, videos, one-sheet PDFs, infographics?
• Survey your email list with the same types of questions as those listed above.

One-on-one interviews are the most valuable technique in that list. They take time, but the information you’ll learn is gold. People communicate more effectively over the phone than they do via surveys, and you’ll discover nuances you would never have found otherwise, including how they phrase what’s important to them and the terminology they use.

2. Decide your objectives.

What do you hope that your audience will do when they consume your content? You understand the importance of strategy, but it’s easy to gloss over when you’re on a deadline and you have deliverables due.

Before you start creating content, outline your objectives. Which part of the funnel do you want this content piece to address? Is the purpose to build the brand, create thought leadership, or trigger an action? The process of deciding your objectives will give you clarity that will result in a better piece of content that has a much higher likelihood of achieving success. As the old saying goes, “You’ll never reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.”

3. Look at what’s already out there.

Does the content you plan to create already exist? Rehashed ideas won’t generate attention. People are looking for fresh ideas and something they haven’t seen yet. Before you create a piece of content, get on Google to see what’s already out there.

If you find a lot of material on the topic you’re planning to focus on, consider how you can differentiate. Look at the topic from a different perspective. Connect the topic to a current event. Take a contrarian position. Offer detail when the existing content paints in broad strokes, or put a topic in context when existing content is in the weeds.

Ideally, the insight you share will lead back to your UVP—what you can offer that your competitors can’t. When your new insight leads your audience to realize that your product or service alone can fully solve their need, they’re more likely to take action and buy from you, rather than a competitor.

4. Bring in experts.

For your content to be credible, you’ll need expert opinion and facts backing it up. The tools of journalism can be invaluable here—interviewing experts, quoting primary research, even doing original studies if budgets allow.

How can you find the experts you’ll need? As an agency marketer, one of the easiest ways is to interview experts on staff at the client company. You can also reach out to your LinkedIn network and/or your client’s network. Check out local chapters of industry organizations as well.

Also be sure to look at industry research and studies that have been done by companies like CEB and Forrester. Unless the author of the content has the credentials, back up all your points with credible source material.

Creating quality content that actually accomplishes what it intends does take some forethought. But because so few marketers are following these steps to publish next-level quality pieces, a little effort goes a long way.

The post 4 Steps to Improve Your Content Quality for Better Leads and More Conversions appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

1. You aren’t targeting the right audience.

Too often, business owners and marketers try to appeal to the masses. But to really connect with your prospects, you have to speak to them specifically, describing their unique needs in a way that makes them say, “That’s me!” If you need to reach different verticals or markets, segment your site into separate areas with content designed especially for each (or use landing pages). The other pitfall is picking the wrong target niche. Maybe you know you can solve a need a particular group has, but if they don’t feel the pain of that need or if they don’t have the money to pay you to fix it, then they’re not a good target. It will be an uphill battle to get them to buy.

2. You aren’t digging into the right pain points.

Maybe you have the right audience, but you’re not addressing the right pain points. Pain is a strong motivator, and if you can identify the needs that cause the most pain and help your prospects feel what will happen if they don’t solve that pain, you can move them to action. Your solution or product may solve multiple pain points. To identify which ones are the most painful to your particular niche, conduct interviews with customers and ask questions that will give you the answers you need.

3. You aren’t writing from your prospects’ perspective.

We all like to talk about ourselves. It’s human nature. But it’s terrible for conversions. Your prospects don’t care about your cool company culture or how many awards you’ve won (at least not initially). When prospects arrive at your website, they’re thinking one thing: “I have a problem to solve.” If you can’t convince them in three seconds that your solution solves their specific problem, then they’re going to hit the back button. Yes, you need to communicate the information that will help them trust you (and see that others trust you) to deliver an amazing product or service, but that has to come later — after they understand how you can help them.

4. You aren’t using concrete, specific words and descriptions.

How many websites have you seen that talk about how great a product or service is, how “life-changing” and “ultimate in performance” (I just copy/pasted those terms from two agency sites that showed up in a Google search for marketing companies in my city, believe it or not.) What do those over-the-top terms even mean? HOW do they change your life? What results do they produce? If you don’t explain in detail what people can expect to get from  your products and services, they’re going to look elsewhere.

5. You aren’t writing conversationally.

No one wants to wade through corporate-sounding text. It’s boring and not motivating. To connect with potential customers, you need to write as if you’re speaking with them in person. You can be professional without sounding like a robot.

6. You aren’t including proof.

The world is full of people claiming things that aren’t true. Your prospects aren’t stupid, and they don’t believe something can “change their lives” just because a website says so. You need proof. Proof can take many forms: believable testimonials, case studies, reviews, endorsements, etc. To diminish skepticism, you’re going to have to show, not just tell.

7. You aren’t asking for action.

You can’t expect people who are in a hurry, overwhelmed with the demanding tasks on their desks, to waste time figuring out what the next step is in their relationship with your company. You need to guide them through your buying process, and you need to make it easy for them. Use calls-to-action to tell them what to do next.

8. You’re asking for money too soon.

Unless you’re selling widgets under $50, your calls-to-action shouldn’t ask for money. It’s not likely that people will be ready to buy the first time they’re on your site, especially if you’re selling B2B. Prospects need to research, gather information, learn more about the solutions to their issues. Your job is to prove yourself so valuable throughout this process that the no-brainer decision is to buy from you. To know what you should be asking for on each page of your site or landing pages, consider each stage of the buying journey. What do you want prospects to do the first time they visit? Sign up for a series of education emails? Call for a demo? Download an eBook? Map out your buying journey with the desired actions you want people to take, then craft your CTAs accordingly.

9. Your CTAs are hiding.

Your CTAs need to stand out. Yes, they should coordinate with your design, but if they’re the same color as several other elements on the page or if they’re too small, they won’t capture attention. Everything you do on a page should drive toward that CTA.

10. You’re ignoring the role of UX.

You can have the most conversion-optimized copy in the world, but if your design doesn’t support that copy, it won’t do you any good. Is your site easy to navigate? Can people find the information they’re looking for quickly? Does your site look good on mobile? Is everything working properly, and does your site load fast? People have little patience with poorly-designed websites.

11. You’re focused exclusively on SEO.

Google has gotten a lot smarter in the last five or so years. Copy written for search engines not only isn’t necessary, it’ll also kill conversions. Write for your readers, and work keywords and synonyms in naturally.

If you’ve got these eleven elements right, your website should start delivering the leads, appointments, and customers you’re looking for.

The post 11 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Generating Leads appeared first on Laura MacPherson | Conversion-Focused Copywriter and Content Writer in Greenville, SC.

So why is all this content that’s delivering engagement not delivering leads or sales?

The logic of providing free, helpful content in order to generate leads and sales relies heavily on the principle of reciprocity: if I do something nice for you, you’ll be motivated (and feel obligated) to do something nice for me (like agree to a conversation with a sales rep). But according to psychologists, reciprocity has an expiration date. The more time that passes, the weaker the draw to reciprocate becomes. So when a prospect downloads your content, files it in his or her “to read” folder, then finally sits down two weeks later to read it, reciprocity really isn’t in play.

We know the problem isn’t content quality or a poor promotion strategy, because many marketers are seeing excellent engagement metrics. The problem is that the content doesn’t motivate prospects to take action on the next step in the funnel.

To move prospects to action, your content needs these three elements:

1. Connection to a personal pain or gain
2. A reason to act now
3. A clear call-to-action that guides prospects to the next stage of the funnel

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</p><br /><br /><br /> <p><strong></strong></p><br /><br /><br /> <p><a href=’http://ideallymarketing.com/improve-your-b2b-lead-quality-by-adding-these-3-elements-to-your-content-infographic’><img src=’https://i0.wp.com/ideallymarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/venngage-ideally-infographic-0221.png?w=2340′ alt=’3 Elements to Re-tool Content That Isn’t Converting the Right Leads’ width=’600′ border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /><br /> <p>

Infographic design courtesy of graphic design software Venngage.

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