Step 3: Build Your Assets
Step three in your lead-generation campaign is building your assets. And here, I need to define a few terms:
Assets are the creative materials that you send out or employ to try to connect with your potential customers. (You might refer to them as creatives.) If you’re doing a direct mail campaign, the asset is the direct mail piece you send out. If you are attending a trade show, your assets are the trade booth, the displays, the one-sheet information flyers, and the giveaways you have for prospective customers.
Asset building is the task of designing and producing marketing materials for the purposes of lead generation. Building your assets involves completing a series of tasks in order to create each asset.
Tasks are the individual components of each asset. For a direct mail package, the tasks include designing the package, determining the unique selling proposition, writing the headlines and sales letters, etc. For a trade show, you need to design the trade booth, displays, giveaways, and other assets.
Each lead-generation tactic has a series of assets that you need to create in order to effectively build your tools for that tactic. I will examine asset building in each of the chapters devoted to the individual tactics.
Before I leave the subject of asset building, I want to introduce three more terms. You may already be familiar with these terms, because they are standard concepts of marketing. But I want to introduce them here because they should be included in every creative asset you produce.
A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered to customers if they accept your offer. For example, if you are using e-mail marketing to advertise car insurance, the value proposition in your creative may read, “Save up to 20% on car insurance today.” Or, if you are sending out an e-mail invitation to a webinar, your value proposition might read, “Join this webinar, and hear our CEO explain the six ways our new accounting software can help your company save time and money.”
A call-to-action (CTA) is a statement that tells the customer what to do right now to accept your offer. For example, in an e-mail creative, your call-to-action might say, “Click here to sign up for our service.” Or, “Click here to sign up for this webinar.”
Include an offer in the creative to entice the customer to buy your product or service, sign up with you as a lead, or take some action. Usually, the offer is a combination of the value proposition and the CTA: “Act today, and get 25% off your next purchase.” Or, “Act today, and get free shipping on purchases over $25.” Or the ever-popular “Buy one, get one free.” Including a special offer is a very effective way to prompt your potential customers to take the action you are seeking from them.