How An Information Product Strategy Develops Lead Generation Beyond Your Current Borders

Businesses with strong international sales know how to use information products effectively in their lead generation strategies.

Your business is probably already using information products. But are you getting all of the sales value you possibly can with your information products?

This article is part of the Guide To International Lead Generation, which is just one of the marketing strategies in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy essential for effective international business development. Be sure to check them both out.

Offline Information Products

Businesses traditionally use information products offline in the following ways:

• Special reports
• Case Studies
• PowerPoint presentations

These offline information products are often used on a one-on-one environment, at a conference or at a trade event. And these special reports, case studies and PowerPoint presentations only have limited pass along value.

Wasted Opportunity Online

Most businesses simply put these same information products online. It is quick and simple. And that is all they do with it. The limited choice of information products used offline is simply transposed online.

This is a terrible waste for your information. You need to give this information more sales power.

The information products you have highlight your company’s knowledge and expertise. They represent your company. They are sales documents and should be treated as such.

Online Information Products

Online information is promoted differently than offline.

Online, there is a wider choice of information products. The simple report can be promoted in many different types of information products:

• A PDF document
• An E-Book
• A Special Report
• A Guide

Choice Of Online Information Products

There are also a wider variety of information products. The same special report can be re-formatted and presented online as:

• An E-Course sent in multiple emails
• A Video
• An Audio
• A Teleseminar
• A Webinar
• A Newsletter
• And even a software.

This wide variety of information products combined with internet marketing creates a dynamic environment where you can incite your readers to go on to another one of your information products or your landing page.

This way you can create a real sales presentation to prospects before even meeting them.

Example Of Using Information Products

If you give one information product at an event for example, you can start your sales presentation there.

Ask him to go to a newsletter and continue your sales presentation there.

You can then ask him to continue with a teleseminar and then an e-course and so on.

Each time you build on your sales presentation.

The Special Ingredient

In order to this you need to place links and call to actions in each of your information products. This is what is usually missing in the offline report you simply place on your website.

You must think about what your prospect needs to hear and when he needs to hear it in order to buy from you. Then create information products to respond to each one of these needs and include the necessary links and call to actions to get your prospects from one step to the other.

Types Of Links

The links you can include into your information product can have different goals:

• Get your reader to the next point,
• Create traffic to your website
• Generate feedback for your market research
• Generate referrals to other prospects

But don’t be confused by this choice of links. You should not link to everything from one information product.

Link Strategy

You need to give some thought into the links you choose to incorporate into your information product.

It all depends what your information product is supposed to do. You will get better results with fewer choices.

Internet marketers typically create one information product for one specific action.

Information Product Strategy

This is why internet marketers create an information product strategy. There is an information product for various points of contact with your prospects. Each information product targets the most obvious need for the prospect at that particular point of the sales process.

The easiest way most people find to start, is to start with a free ebook in exchange for signing up for a free newsletter. The newsletter is then used to promote other information products.

The B2B newsletter will also include some form of interaction device to get feedback from readers. This feedback is used to create another information product.

Ideal Lead Generation Tool

A good lead generation process includes:

• Both online and offline information product interlinking
• Using a variety of information product formats
• A steady call to consume other information products
• Both online and offline promotion of the information products
• Regular promotion

Information products can be used for more than branding tools and one on one persuasion tools. Promote your information products both online and offline to create an active lead generation process.

Target your information products to foreign markets and you have an easy cost effective way to get international clients.

Download this Cross-Cultural Communication Tool
powered by translate.google.com