Harvesting Leads

Congratulations, you are now booked to speak in front of your very first live audience! No doubt, you are super excited about the prospect of your first paid gig. Even if it is not paid, the opportunity is the same.  

What you are about to learn here is a tool like no other that will maximize your time at each and every event and create a ‘long tail’ of leads and opportunities like you never thought possible. Outside of this tool and technique, there is no other way to secure your ‘road to revenue’ as a speaker, coach, author or mentor. 

Scenario: You have 200 – 1000 people in your audience and have 30 minutes in your allotted time slot.  How will you capture detailed information from those in your audience that are interested in speaking, hiring you for their next event, or contracting you for your services? 

The Solution:  You could gather business cards from interested people in the room, but this would be rather tedious, not to mention time consulting and disruptive. You could use the ‘old tech’ way and have people fill out a paper form but really, you are better than that and frankly, your audience demands a touch more professionalism 
these days.

Options for lead capture at your events

In front of you is an audience that has either paid money, invested in time or both to hear your keynote or presentation. They are willing participants for the knowledge you are sharing.  Why leave this valuable audience information at the event when you leave? 

So let’s assume for a minute you don’t. That’s a great first start. You are on your way. Let’s say the event company has been kind enough to supply you with the 5,000 names and email addresses of people that attended the event. They have sent this valuable (so-called) list to you two (2) weeks after the event date itself. Now what?

Email

You could send them an email blast! However, consider this. Of these, less than 10% of people will actually receive and open these, and only 1% may read them.  Not great odds, but if that’s all you have then you that will have to do. Think of the opportunities lost though! 

Email and Custom URLs

Let’s assume now that you are fairly clever and have some knowledge of email marketing principles. With your email address on the closing slide of your presentation, you are all set to have people send you a message. Err, you might be waiting a while! Alternatively, you could add your website address on this same closing slide ready for people to sign up to receive your ‘newsletter’. Good on you, that’s an excellent start. 

Now let’s assume you are super clever and have a custom URL on that same slide for people to write down. When they enter this URL on their mobile browser, they hit your sales or ‘squeeze page ’ and presto, they can opt in from there. There are custom URL services like www.bit.ly that enable you to create simple, short and memorable URL links to make it easier for your audience to remember. 

The aforementioned process is a great start, and I would totally recommend this approach (as well) in your presentation deck. Unfortunately as speakers, you often do not have the luxury (or hindrance!) of support slides. Most professional speakers I know of do not use supporting material at all. So now what?

Mobile Messaging and Marketing

Unlike email, where spam, junk filters and promotions folders block most marketing messages, the mobile SMS network does not (in the main) suffer from this problem. Text messaging in itself is not a great marketing platform, but in fairness, it was not designed for this purpose. Its true place in the world is for fast notifications, alerts and other information that needs to get out to an audience fast and without blockage.  

It remained this way until 2014 when MOBIT launched onto the world stage, added the missing components to this super-efficient network, which created a unique service for marketers around the world.  

Compared to email, the open and engagements rates of text messaging are astonishing. There are also no apps to download, you don’t need to be part of someone’s Facebook or Snapchat group to receive content and virtually everyone on the planet can send and receive a text message, assuming they have a phone of course. Look at the image below and compare this against email open and engagement rates. 

So what is MOBIT?

MOBIT is a cloud-based mobile messaging and marketing application. It enables you send rich media content (video, image galleries) using the power of the text message networks around the world. You can engage with your audience via short or long term ‘nurture’ campaigns, which are a series of messages, linked to mobile pages that display your message or marketing content. MOBIT has five core components: 

1. SMS and MMS (picture and video) messaging

2. Integrated mobile pages for rich content delivery

3. Integration to email marketing, CRM and other applications

4. Automaton for the delivery of short and long term nurture campaigns

5. A CRM system to store, manage, segment and view historic information about your mobile lists. 

MOBIT is a cloud-based mobile messaging and marketing application. It enables you send rich media content (video, image galleries) using the power of the text message networks around the world. 

You can engage with your audience via short or long term ‘nurture’ campaigns, which are a series of messages, linked to mobile pages that display your message or marketing content. MOBIT has five core components: Of the five components listed above, 99% of the world providers have the first component only as their service offering. Whilst this is great for sending text messages, it is not a great platform for marketers and certainly not, where the value lies for speakers, authors, coaches and mentors. 

Text to Join

MOBIT have worked with, and helped thousands of speakers, coaches and mentors from around the world to maximize their opportunities at live events and networking functions. Our unique offering was designed from the ground up to do one thing extremely well; to present your information in rich mobile format and capture leads instantly.  Whilst there are a few copycat solutions out there, like the good ol’ McCoy, there is only one MOBIT. We call this process ‘TEXT to JOIN’. Sound simple? It is. 

The solution is simple, fast and has the unique ability to capture ANY level of information from your audience, instantly.  Anyone with a smartphone can receive your content without the need to download an app or search for a web page.

How MOBIT works

In the following example, I am using our good friend and client Steve Napolitan. Steve is one of the most sought after speakers in the USA and has appeared on many of the top networks including NBC, ABC, ESPN, CBS, just to name a few. 

Steve uses his personal keyword ‘gratitude’, which he asks his audience to ‘text in’ to the number 72000.  Whilst Steve is on the stage or networking after his keynote, he effectively has a live calling card for people to register via their smartphones to receive a copy of his latest book ‘Capture Clients and Close Deals’. 

1. The Objective: Steve looks to capture the interest of people in his audience that would like to receive a copy of his latest book ‘Capture Clients and Close Deals’ and subscribe to his mobile VIP list. Steve has very special content that he only provides to his VIP mobile lists. His main objective though is to capture their interest and have them provide their name, email, address, and topics of interest. He does this to segment his lists for future marketing activities. 

2. The Invitation: When Steve is on stage, he prompts his audience from time to time to text in the word ‘gratitude’ to 72000 using the text function on their mobile phone. 
He also highlights the call-to-action across various slides during his presentation. At the end of his address, Steve closes with the traditional ‘thankyou’ and also reminds his audience to ‘text to join’ his mobile VIP list using the keyword 'gratitude’ to 72000. 

Now, at the point, I must point out that there are hundreds of text providers that can offer this basic service. If you would like a simple text response back with the persons email address, then this is a perfectly useful solution. You will then need to integrate the text service to your CRM or marketing system. Once you have done this, you have an email address, congratulations! Your next challenge is to send out your emails and have them read. Welcome to the 10% club.

3. The Sizzle: As a professional speaker, coach, author of mentor, you no doubt wish to stand out from your peers. If not then you should. Your brand is you, the clothes you wear, your voice, your content, message and the delivery of your presentations. Your audience are looking for you quality information and inspiration. It makes sense then that you should ‘sell the sizzle of you’! 

You simply cannot do that with a text message, but you can do this with the power of MOBIT. Outlined below are these two examples. Which message would you like to represent your personal brand? 

4. The Opt in : With your mobile ‘keyword’ now in the hands of your audience, they simply text your word (e.g ‘gratitude’ – note: they are not case sensitive) to your number. Let us for this example call the number 72000, as this is MOBIT’s USA short code number. 

• When the ‘keyword’ is received by MOBIT (in your account), an automatic message is sent back instantly to the requester. 

• A text message arrives on their phone asking them to respond YES for their permission for you to send them your material. This process is called the ‘double opt in’ and is very important, particularly in the USA and Canada where there are strict laws around who you can send SMS messages to and how you obtain permission. In other countries, the legislation and rules are more relaxed. 

Once the YES response is obtained (and only then), the marketing message from the campaign is automatically released. At any point in the campaign cycle, MOBIT is tracking the behavioral interactions on your pages and forms. Based on the rules of your campaign, your prospect can be added into other mobile or email campaigns based on the action taken or inaction.

NOTE: In the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the double opt in is not required. You can jump straight to the marketing message.

What is a keyword?

We sometimes refer to these as ‘textwords’. Regardless of what you call them, they are designed to be easily remembered and simple to add in to your text message and this is why. 

Example a): You are driving down the freeway and see a sign advertising free dental assessments. The call-to-action is Text TEETH to 72000.  Your back tooth has been giving you problems for weeks and it is finally time to do something about it so you text in. Easy! 

Example b): Same scenario as above but the call-to-action is, visit www.dentalcentercheck.com for a free assessment or call (800) 324 – 2123.  Now I don’t know about you, but if I tried to remember all that I would have been halfway up the tailpipe of the car in front of me in no time. 

See what I mean then? The mobile keyword is quick and easy to remember and delivers an immediate response.

TIP: Mobile Keywords should be as short as possible and easy to spell. The other thing to keep in mind is that various types of smartphones try to autocorrect fancy words so don’t get too clever and creative. Use the KISS method – Keep It Simple Stupid! When you are crafting your marketing keywords, try them out on your phone and make sure they are not auto-corrected

OPT IN FROM OTHER SOURCES

Whilst this guide is focused mainly on obtaining ‘opt in’ whilst at live events, there are many other great ways to obtain opt in permission from prospective new clients and event companies for your next speaking engagement. Other great channels for mobile opt in to your lists are:

• Print – Using QR codes or URL links that resolve directly to your mobile page is a common option. You may for example print out a few hundred of your books or copies of an article you wrote or contributed to in a magazine and hand these out at your event to ‘the first 100 people that register’. Why not take the opportunity to add a QR code to the front or back cover and have this resolve to your opt in page on your website or MOBIT campaign page. 

• Send-Out Cards: In preparation for your event, I would highly recommend that you consider printing postcards as handouts when you get to the event itself. These can be placed on the seats of the event theatre, available at your table (if you are signing books), or as a handout in the ‘event bags’ or just as handouts to people you meet and mingle with at the event. 

If you are not using post cards, then consider adding your keyword call-to-action on the reverse side of your business card.

There are a number of companies that offer this service. In the USA and Canada, www.sendoutcards.com or www.amazingmail.com are good options for you to consider. You can design your card in minutes online and have it printed and delivered within 48 hours for any quantity you like. 

They can even mail these out one-by-one as part of your automated email or SMS (MOBIT) campaigns. Their fees are very reasonable.  I am not sure if other countries offer this same degree of service but certainly, bulk printing of post cards (send out cards) is available for sure.

Another couple of service providers to consider is www.vistaprint.com and www.staples.com . My marketing team have used many providers over the years and have found these two companies to be very good indeed.

• Business Cards – When business cards are almost relics of the past, why not ‘change it up’ and provide people with your mobile card instead?  Whilst your peers are handing out physical cards that get lost in cavernous event bags, have your audience TEXT IN your name or keyword (e.g. Text SALLY to 72000) . When they do, you can take them right to your page.

• Social Media – This is a great channel for people to interact with you of course. It is also a great way for you to obtain opt in’s for your mobile lists.  You should add your opt in URL links to any of your posts and advertisements that automatically resolve to your website or mobile forms. 

• Email – As odd as it sounds, yes, email! Whilst most will not receive your messages, for those that do, why not offer them something special to sign up to your mobile channel. Make sure you let them know it’s exclusive and again, let them know how many times they can expect to hear from you.