B2B Marketer Shares How These Steps Brought Him 80,000 Leads,
Millions in Revenue & Much More
Finding quality customers during tough times really is achievable. Here are some repression-proven steps any business can take to attract great customers–directly from a leading marketer whose business was nearly crushed by the economy. I can attest to all of this, because he’s a good friend of mine and a trusted colleague.
Following the dot com crash of 2002, entrepreneur Michael Stelzner had a crazy idea. Scrambling with few leads, a sinking business and a family to feed, he decided to woo customers by literally putting his trade secrets in writing and giving them away for free.
Unsure whether his big risk would pay off, Stelzner’s skepticism quickly turned to wide-eyed amazement as the results first trickled in–then exploded. Despite the economy, Stelzner’s “crazy idea” is still putting money in his pocket.
Giving away his best ideas propelled him right through tough economic times, delivering more than 80,000 leads, a steady stream of “ready-to-buy” customers, millions in revenue, a best-selling book and business ventures beyond his wildest dreams.
Stelzner went on to launch a successful 25,000-subscriber newsletter and a thriving conference business and wrote the best-selling book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. Now he teaches business owners and marketers how to grow their companies using the very techniques he pioneered.
What’s Stelzner’s secret to quadrupling his business during not one, but two major recessions?
Using educational white papers as a way to sell “under the radar.” By packaging the right information in the right way, Stelzner has taught thousands how to transform anonymous readers into paying customers. The press calls him “The grandfather of white papers.”
“My business was sinking faster than the Titanic before I used this simple method. It’s the one marketing tool that allowed me to make more money and grow my business beyond my wildest dreams,” said Stelzner.
Studies show white papers remain the most effective lead generation tools, bar none.
Prospects turn to white papers when making large purchasing decisions. These marketing tools are so powerful that corporations repeatedly pay up to $10,000 to professionals to craft them.
But you don’t have to spend a lot of money or hire someone else to put the power of white papers to work for you. Anyone who can pen a business letter can learn to successfully market his or her business with white papers.
The Ten Rules
Here are Stelzner’s 10 essential rules to help you create “ready-to-buy” customers with white papers:
1. Embrace readers by talking about their issues. Actually write about your prospects’ fears and frustrations. What are their problems? Lay it out in writing. Then go ahead and tell them how to solve their challenges.
2. Share your proprietary secrets. Don’t hold back. Tell readers the very secrets that you’d normally only share with paying customers. The response will blow you away. It’s often, “How much more will I gain if I hire this company or buy this product?”
3. Accept that your audience isn’t a clone of you. Your readers don’t think the way you do. Get inside their heads, meet their needs and use language that doesn’t make you sound self-serving. Kill the fancy words, stop talking about yourself and simply speak your reader’s language.
4. Use the movie trailer open. Your first words matter most. Craft an opening that sounds like a good movie trailer—it creates an interesting drama in the minds of readers without giving away the whole story, ensuring they keep reading.
5. Fire your silver bullet by writing a list only YOU can satisfy. When you use educational content, there’s always the chance readers will compare you against the competition. You virtually eliminate your rivals when you tell readers how to shop. Generate a list of requirements that only your company can meet. The result: you provide great value your readers and help them filter out your competitors.
