CRAFTING PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS THAT SELL ON ETSY

 In the Etsy marketplace, where countless creative minds showcase their crafts, standing out can be a challenge. One of the most powerful tools at a seller’s disposal is the product description. It’s more than just a summary; it’s your pitch, your brand’s voice, and often the deciding factor for potential buyers.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the art of creating compelling product descriptions tailored to your audience. We’ll cover how to captivate, inform, and persuade with words, ensuring your products don’t just get viewed, but get purchased.

Write your Etsy product descriptions for your target audience

Entice your Customer with tangible, but concise details

Get shoppers to buy more from you

Master the proper formatting

Google SEO for Etsy Sellers

In Summary

FAQS:

WRITE YOUR ETSY PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Understanding your target audience is the cornerstone of crafting a compelling product description. It’s not just about describing what you’re selling, but connecting with the very heart and mind of the person you’re selling to.

Don’t start with how great your product is, start by telling your customers how your product can help them or what problems it can solve.

By delving deep into the preferences, needs, and aspirations of your ideal customer, you can shape your content to speak directly to them. This tailored approach ensures that your product doesn’t just become another item on a digital shelf but stands out as a solution, a must-have, or a cherished possession.

When your description resonates on this level, it not only captures attention but also fosters trust and encourages purchasing decisions. Out of a ton of other Etsy listings, understanding and connecting with your audience can truly make all the difference, turning casual browsers into loyal customers.

Engage your potential customers

The first few lines of your product description are pivotal. They act as the hook, drawing your potential customer into the world of your product.

Think of your opening line as the headline of a news article or the first note of a song—it sets the tone for everything that follows. By leading with an attention-grabbing statement or a thought-provoking question, you’re not just presenting a product; you’re telling a story or solving a problem.

For example, posing the question, “Looking for the perfect gift for a loved one?” immediately taps into a universal sentiment. It evokes emotions, memories, and even urgency, especially if an occasion is nearing. Such an engaging start for a jewelry listing not only highlights the product’s potential as a gift but also invites the reader to envision the joy and appreciation it could bring to someone special. 

Develop your voice

Every brand has a story, and how you tell that story is your voice. It’s the distinct flavor in your words, the rhythm of your sentences, and the emotions they evoke. Whether you’re the playful artisan crafting whimsical jewelry or the dedicated craftsman producing minimalist, sophisticated furniture, your voice should be a reflection of who you are and what your brand stands for. It’s not just about the words you choose, but how you string them together. A consistent, relatable voice creates a memorable brand image, making it easier for customers to connect with you. Remember, people don’t just buy products; they buy stories, emotions, and experiences.

Keep it Authentic, Respectful, and Polite

In a world saturated with marketing gimmicks and sales pitches, authenticity stands out like a beacon. When your product descriptions are genuine, they resonate more deeply with potential buyers. Avoid the temptation to over-promise or exaggerate features. Instead, focus on the real value and uniqueness of what you’re offering. Authenticity is the foundation of trust, and trust is the bedrock of customer loyalty.

Moreover, always approach your descriptions with respect. Whether you’re addressing common questions, potential objections, or simply describing your product, a respectful tone ensures your brand is seen in a positive light, fostering goodwill and repeat business.

ENTICE YOUR CUSTOMER WITH TANGIBLE, BUT CONCISE DETAILS

The devil is in the details, as they say. When shopping online, customers can’t touch, feel, or try out products. Your description is their virtual touchpoint, bridging the gap between digital and physical. While it’s essential to be descriptive, it’s equally crucial to be concise. Overloading with information can overwhelm and deter potential buyers.

Use Bullet Points for the High-Level Info

In the fast-paced world of online shopping, clarity is king. Bullet points serve as a visual break, organizing information into digestible chunks. They allow customers to quickly scan and grasp the essential features of your product, aiding in decision-making.

Example:

• Handmade with love: This not only speaks of the product’s quality but also its uniqueness and the passion behind its creation.
• 100% organic cotton: In an eco-conscious world, this detail emphasizes sustainability and quality, appealing to environmentally-aware customers.
• Available in three sizes: This provides clarity on options, ensuring the customer can find the perfect fit for their needs.

By presenting key details in a structured, scannable format, you enhance user experience and increase the chances of a sale.

Share Your Dimensions and/or Materials

Because customers can’t physically touch or try products, details like dimensions and materials become paramount. By clearly stating the size, weight, and materials used, you’re offering the buyer a virtual “feel” of the product.

For instance, if you’re selling a handcrafted wooden table, mentioning its exact dimensions can help a buyer visualize its fit in their space. Similarly, specifying that it’s made of “reclaimed teak wood” not only speaks of its quality but also its eco-friendliness. Such tangible details reduce uncertainties and can be the difference between a customer hitting ‘buy’ or navigating away.

Be sure to include any Terms of Purchase

This is where you can list your shop policies, and provide any limitations of what is/is not included, and any prerequisites for your products. It is also a good idea to include any other relevant information your buyer might need to know. 

Over time, if customers frequently ask questions or if there’s a common point of confusion, consider updating your listing to provide clearer information.

Entice with Sensory Words

The power of language lies in its ability to paint vivid pictures in the mind. Sensory words tap into this power by evoking the five senses, making descriptions come alive. Instead of merely informing, they allow the reader to experience the product through words.

For example, rather than saying “This scarf is soft,” describing it as “Wrap yourself in the velvety embrace of this luxurious scarf” transports the reader. They can almost feel the softness against their skin, the warmth it provides, and the comfort it promises. Such evocative descriptions create a deeper connection, making the product more enticing.

Add Details About What Makes It Unique

On the very crowded Etsy marketplace, what makes your product stand out? The unique attributes, the story behind its creation, or the special techniques used in its crafting are all details to set your product apart. Highlighting these aspects can elevate your product from being just another item to something special.

For instance, if you’re selling a piece of jewelry, mentioning that it’s a “limited edition piece, inspired by Victorian-era designs” immediately adds value and exclusivity. Or if you’re selling pottery, sharing that it’s “crafted using traditional Japanese Raku firing techniques” not only educates the buyer but also showcases the artistry and tradition behind the product. Such details resonate with buyers who value uniqueness and craftsmanship, making your product more appealing to them.

GET SHOPPERS TO BUY MORE FROM YOU

The art of encouraging customers to purchase more is a delicate balance between suggestion and subtlety. It’s not just about pushing more products, but about enhancing the overall shopping experience and offering genuine value.

Upselling and Cross-selling

These are tried-and-true strategies that can significantly boost your average order value. While they might sound like jargon, they’re straightforward concepts:

Upselling is when you encourage customers to buy a more expensive version of the item they’re considering. For instance, if they’re looking at a basic handbag, you might suggest a premium version with additional features.

Cross-selling is when you recommend related products that complement the main item. If someone’s buying a laptop, a cross-sell might be a laptop case or mouse.

Add Links to Related Products or Categories in Your Shop

This is a form of cross-selling. By strategically placing links to related items, you’re offering customers a holistic shopping experience. For example, if you’re selling a necklace, linking to matching earrings or bracelets can be enticing. It’s like telling a story with your products, where each piece complements the other. This not only encourages buyers to explore more of your offerings but also makes it convenient for them to find related items, enhancing their overall shopping experience.

MASTER THE PROPER FORMATTING

The presentation of your product descriptions plays a pivotal role in how information is perceived and retained by potential buyers. Proper formatting ensures that your content is not only informative but also visually appealing and easy to digest.

Use Headers and Subheaders

Breaking your content into sections with clear headers makes it scannable and helps buyers quickly find the information they’re looking for.

Utilize White Space

Avoid large blocks of text. Spacing out your content makes it more readable and less intimidating.

Highlight Key Information

Whether it’s through bolding, italics, or using a different color, make sure essential details stand out.

Consistency is Key

Ensure that the formatting is consistent across all your product listings. This not only looks professional but also provides a cohesive brand experience for shoppers.

Remember, attention spans are short. Proper formatting ensures that your message gets across quickly and effectively, increasing the chances of a sale.

GOOGLE SEO FOR ETSY SELLERS

While Etsy provides a platform for artisans to showcase their crafts, tapping into the broader potential of search engines like Google can exponentially increase your reach. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play.

Understanding SEO

At its core, SEO is about making your online content discoverable and understandable to search engines. When done right, it ensures that when someone types a query related to your product, your Etsy listing is more likely to appear in the search results. This organic visibility can lead to increased clicks, and subsequently, sales.

Optimize Your Etsy Descriptions for Google:

Keyword Research

Before you even begin writing, it’s essential to understand what potential buyers might type into Google when looking for products like yours. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest can provide insights into popular search terms related to your product.

Natural Incorporation

Once you’ve identified relevant keywords, the next step is to weave them into your product description naturally. For instance, if you’re selling handmade wooden clocks and discover that “rustic wooden wall clock” is a popular search term, ensure that phrase finds a place in your description. However, avoid keyword stuffing, which means overloading your content with keywords in an unnatural way. This can be counterproductive and harm your SEO efforts.

Meta Descriptions and Titles

While the main product description is crucial, don’t overlook the importance of crafting a compelling and keyword-optimized title. Additionally, while Etsy automatically generates meta descriptions for listings, ensuring your first few lines (which become part of this meta description) are engaging and keyword-rich can be beneficial.

Stay Updated

SEO is not a one-time task. Search trends evolve, and Google’s algorithms change. Regularly revisiting and updating your product descriptions to align with current best practices can keep your listings optimized and competitive.

While Etsy provides a niche platform, leveraging the power of Google SEO can open doors to a broader audience. By optimizing your listings, you’re not just waiting for customers to find you on Etsy; you’re actively reaching out to them wherever they might be searching.

IN SUMMARY

Crafting standout Etsy product descriptions requires a blend of authenticity, clarity, and strategic optimization. As the e-commerce landscape shifts, sellers must stay adaptable, prioritizing both their unique narrative and the evolving needs of their audience. Remember, success on Etsy hinges on passion, creativity, and fostering genuine connections with shoppers.

FAQS:

How often should I update product descriptions?

In general, while you don’t need to update listings constantly, staying proactive and making adjustments based on feedback, analytics, and market changes can help keep your listings fresh and competitive. It can also help if your items are seasonal to stay on top of the upcoming holidays and incorporate language that will capitalize on future trends.

How can I identify the most relevant keywords for my Etsy product descriptions?

Utilize tools like Etsy’s search bar, Google’s Keyword Planner, or paid tools like Erank or Marmalead to research popular and trending search terms related to your product. Monitor what terms buyers commonly use and incorporate them naturally into your descriptions.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing product descriptions?

Avoid being too vague, using jargon, overloading with technical details, keyword stuffing, and copying descriptions from others. Ensure authenticity and clarity in every description.

How do I balance creativity with clarity in my product descriptions?

Start with clear, concise details about the product, then weave in your brand’s voice and story. Prioritize essential information while adding creative touches that resonate with your brand’s identity.

How can I measure the effectiveness of my product descriptions in driving sales?

Monitor your product’s sales and view metrics before and after updating descriptions. Use Etsy’s built-in analytics to track changes in views, favorites, and conversions. Feedback and reviews can also provide insights.

Are there any tools or resources that can help improve my Etsy product descriptions?

Beyond keyword research tools, consider grammar checkers like Grammarly, readability tools like Hemingway Editor, and online courses or workshops focused on copywriting and e-commerce best practices. ChatGPT is also a great option to help when you get stuck.

How to promote your website for free in 10 effective ways

 So, you create a website you’re proud of—now what? It’s time to share it with the world. After all, what good is your site if no one is around to see it? Website promotion doesn’t have to cost you a ton of money in order to reach your target audience. In fact, it doesn’t have to cost you any money at all.

We’re sure you’ve encountered articles similar to this one that promise to show you “x amount of tips” to do something for free, only to have a big, red price tag at the end. This isn’t one of those posts. All of the following marketing ideas listed will ensure your wallet stays closed.

Read on to discover the 10 best ways to promote your website for free.

1. How to promote your website
2. Solidify your website SEO 
3. Take advantage of email marketing 
4. Start a blog 
5. Try guest blogging 
6. Harness the power of social media 
7. Submit your site to online directories
8. Post on forums 
9. Reach out with outreach marketing 
10. Say it with your signature 
11. Focus on quality 

01. Solidify your website SEO

Leveraging SEO and integrating it into the website creation process is vital. Various studies have shown that organic search is the single greatest provider of traffic to websites.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the most effective ways to promote a website, as it helps improve a site’s ranking on Google and visibility in other search engines. Unlike paid search ads, SEO is totally free –  the competition is open to everyone, based on the quality of the content you publish, the fluidity of the navigation you offer to your visitors, and the number of links you receive from external sources. 

You can achieve strong SEO by placing certain keywords and phrases throughout your website, adding alt text to your images and optimizing your headings so that your website can get found on search engines. 

Because SEO requires time and effort, from your initial keyword research right through to implementation and tracking, so automated SEO tools make the process more efficient. 

02. Take advantage of email marketing

There’s a reason you always see email marketing placed high up on articles that talk about how to drive traffic to your website. Why? Because it’s proven to be effective over and over. In fact, its average rate of return can be as high as 4400%, or $44 for every dollar spent.

Newsletters are a particularly effective form of email marketing, since they are a direct form of communication between you and your potential customers. They also help you get subscribers and can help drive traffic to your site. To create an engaging newsletter, keep your content punchy and direct, and use prominent calls-to-action that encourage readers to click. That will help your content stand out from the sea of other newsletters your subscribers may receive. Don’t forget your UTM links when planning your email marketing, you’ll need these to track the implementation of your KPIs and how well your campaign performs. 

03. Start a blog

When considering how to promote your website, a good practice is to create a free blog to bolster your SEO and increase your site’s rank on search engines. Blogging and content marketing in general makes it easier for people to find your site and discover your business. On top of that, it helps you establish yourself as an authority in your field and can dramatically improve your conversion rate.

Writing blog posts forces you to research your market, and in turn broadens your knowledge and professional skills. It can also help you build an online community who engages with your content and each other, this is particularly impactful if your site targets a niche market. As for the technical side of starting a blog, 

Even if you’re not much of a writer, you can still benefit from including a blog on your site, as it helps generate brand awareness and increase your website traffic. You can also monetize your blog and promote it further with affiliate marketing. 

04. Try guest blogging

Expand your website promotion even further by collaborating with a guest blogger. When another writer in your industry writes a post on your own blog, you expand your reach to their target audience and gain quality leads. In addition, connecting with writers who are already established in their field helps you grow your own network. This can bring you more exposure, traffic and social media shares.

On the flip side, you can also promote your website by becoming a guest blogger yourself. If you choose to go this route, you’ll be writing articles that will be published on sites other than your own. 

This is a crucial marketing strategy that yields huge benefits. First, it strengthens your SEO when you include a link to your site in a guest post or author bio. Second, it generates awareness of your brand by encouraging new audiences to click on your site and browse.

05. Harness the power of social media

Social media isn’t just a way for your friends from high school to show off pictures of their children or snap photos of what they ate for lunch. It’s also an effective way to promote a website, as it helps businesses reach a diverse audience and build brand awareness.

Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn or Instagram, social media marketing is important for engaging followers. Importantly, posting compelling content increases the chances that your audience will share it – which is free promotion for your website. And the more people click on your content, the more chances you’ll have of getting website traffic and improving your conversion rate.

Don’t forget to cross-promote so all of your networks benefit from as much of your content as possible. For instance, you can share your Instagram video to Twitter or your latest blog post on your Facebook page. You can also use a link in bio tool to promote your website from your social channels, or create social bar to your website so that visitors can easily find your social profiles and share your content. Find more advertisement examples here. 

You can also tap into the power of influencer marketing, and have social media celebrities on meta platforms such as Instagram, share your site as well as your products or services to their followers. 

06. Submit your site to online directories

In addition to optimizing your SEO to help people discover your website, you’ll want to submit your site to online directories. Online directories, can act as news aggregators, and make it easy for people to find your URL and navigate to your site. Depending on your industry, there may be a directory for your specific business type.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, submitting to local directories is even smarter. Free services like Google My Business allow you to claim your business so that when someone searches for your business, a complete set of details – including your website, opening hours, contact details, and a map of your location – appear on the results page. Other locations you should consider placing your website are Angie’s List, Yellow Pages and Yelp. 

07. Post on forums

When deciding how to promote your website to a new crowd, try using forums. One method is to start a thread on a well-known forum like Reddit and let others decide if it’s worthy of getting upvoted. Another option is to engage in an existing conversation thread and refer to your website when relevant.

Whichever approach you choose, be mindful that you should only add your website to these posts when it serves as a genuinely helpful resource to supplement your response. Otherwise, you risk coming across as spammy.

Try to find forums that are specifically about your industry so that you can reach people who are already interested in your niche. 

08. Reach out with outreach marketing

Outreach marketing involves connecting with others in your business niche, such as bloggers, influencers and other professionals, in order to promote your website. Ideally, you’ll be able to build a lasting relationship with these professionals that will help you increase your site’s exposure.

The technique starts with identifying your marketing goals, and then finding people who can help you achieve those objectives. This involves reaching out with a pitch, and following up when necessary. Try sending your pitch over email or via certain social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter. 

09. Say it with your signature

Your email signature is an underrated but powerful tool that essentially serves as an online business card. Make sure that your email signature includes your business logo, links to your social accounts and website, plus any other contact information. This puts your brand’s stamp on your emails and promotes your website to your recipients.

10. Focus on quality

When learning how to promote your website, your focus should be on publishing expert, informative content. This is true regardless of which promotional strategies you choose, whether that’s posting on social media, writing blog articles or partnering with influencers. Though you may be eager to get the word out right away, prioritize quality over quantity, as this helps build trust among your audience and drive them through the marketing funnel. This is one of the best things you can do for your business in the long run.

Why website promotion is important

Website promotion is crucial for businesses of all sizes to establish an online presence, reach their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. Here are some compelling reasons why website promotion is essential for success in the digital landscape:

Increased brand awareness: Website promotion helps businesses showcase their brand, products or services to a wider audience through search engines, social media and other online channels. By enhancing visibility, businesses can attract new visitors, generate interest and establish a strong brand identity.

Improved search engine ranking: Effective website promotion strategies, such as search engine optimization (SEO), help websites rank higher in search results when users search for relevant keywords. This improved visibility leads to increased organic traffic, driving more potential customers to your website.

Enhanced user engagement and conversion rates: Well-promoted websites attract more visitors and keep them engaged with compelling content, clear navigation and a seamless user experience. This increased engagement can lead to higher conversion rates, whether it’s newsletter signups, product purchases or other desired actions.

Effective lead generation: Website promotion plays a vital role in capturing leads and converting visitors into customers. By implementing calls-to-action, contact forms and other lead generation strategies, businesses can gather valuable contact information and nurture relationships with potential customers.

Cost-effective marketing channel: Compared to traditional marketing methods like print ads or television commercials, website promotion offers a more cost-effective way to reach a large audience. With targeted online advertising, social media marketing and SEO strategies, businesses can maximize their return on investment.

Measurable results: Website promotion enables businesses to track their progress and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns using analytics tools. By analyzing website traffic, visitor behavior and conversion rates, businesses can identify areas for improvement and optimize their strategies accordingly.

Competitive advantage: In today’s competitive online landscape, businesses that actively promote their websites gain a significant advantage. By staying ahead of industry trends, adapting to changing algorithms and continuously refining their strategies, businesses can attract more customers, generate more leads and achieve their overall marketing objectives.

How to Get Clients from Instagram

 Use Instagram as a portfolio for your work

If you’re a designer, photographer, artist, stylist, interior designer, home organizer, or any other type of professional whose work is visual, Instagram is the perfect place to showcase your work. Just like you might have a portfolio on your website, Instagram is a way to show examples of your past client projects, mood boards or works in progress while also connecting with potential clients and customers. Let people see the type of work that you do so they know what you have to offer! 

Pro tip: the more specific you can be with your style / aesthetic, the more likely you are to attract your ideal clients. So if your preferred design style is modern and minimal, you may not want to share that rustic farmhouse project you worked on last year if it’s not the type of client you want more of.

Share content that’s helpful for your target audience

If you still think Instagram is just a place to document your everyday life, you’re not thinking about it from a business perspective. Think about how your Instagram posts can help your potential customers and clients. How can you educate them? Inspire them? Encourage them? Help them save time / money / energy? Even if your business isn’t inherently “visual” – for example if you’re a coach, consultant, strategist, accountant, attorney, project manager, virtual assistant, etc. – you can still use Instagram to share helpful content for your target audience. In fact, we find that many of our graphics like this get more engagement (and more shares) that some of our photos – Instagram is definitely not just for visually-focused brands!

Don’t forget to use calls-to-action

When you’re sharing helpful content, don’t forget to tell people what to do next. When they get to the end of a post, make it easy for them to take the next step – do you want them to click the link in your bio to read your blog post / learn more about your services / book a call? Do you want them to comment and share their thoughts with you? Do you want them to save your post for later or share it with a friend? Whatever you want your followers to do – tell them to do it AND make it easy for them. If you’re sending people to your website, make it easy for them to find what they are looking for. If you want them to engage with you – give them a question that they can answer. 

Make it easy for people to contact you

On a related note – if you want people to contact you, make it easy for them to do so! Make sure your email is linked in your profile, invite them to DM you, or direct them to your website if that’s the best place to get in contact. This may seem like an obvious tip, but you might be surprised at how often we come across businesses and can’t find any contact information for them! Make it easy for people to reach out to you to learn more / book a call / hire you / etc. 

Pro tip: If you have an Instagram business account (which you should, if you’re a business), there’s a place to enter your email in your profile so people can click directly from Instagram to send you an email.  

Focus on quality not quantity

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with posting regularly, showing up on stories, commenting on other people’s posts, etc. but if you’re focusing on attracting the RIGHT people (who could potentially hire you) versus any people, it’s really a much simpler marketing tool. So rather than spend hours liking a ton of photos in hopes that people notice you, take the time to regularly leave a few genuine comments for people in your target audience. Instead of worrying about creating a ton of content just to have something to post every day, focus on creating a few truly helpful pieces of content in order to get clients from Instagram. You don’t need a TON of followers to have a full client roster!

Influencer Marketing Guide

Influencer marketing, also known as branded content or working with creators, is a surefire way to expand the reach of your brand on social media.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to making this strategy work, but with the right planning and research, just about every business can benefit. Let’s look at how to make a social media influencer program work for you.

How to Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy

1. Determine your goals

2. Know who you’re trying to influence

3. Understand the rules

4. Consider the three Rs of influence

5. Compile a short list of influencers

6. Do your research

7. Reach out privately, and personally

8. Collaborate with your influencer to develop effective content

9. Measure your results

What is influencer marketing?

At its simplest, an influencer is someone who can influence others. In influencer marketing, a form of social media marketing, brands pay that person to promote their product or service to their followers.

Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer marketing. But in today’s digital world, social content creators with niche audiences can often offer more value to brands. These smaller accounts often have very engaged followers on social media.

So, a social media influencer is someone who wields their influence through social media. When you hire an influencer to promote your products or services, that’s influencer marketing.

Not convinced that advertising with influencers can lead to real business results? Civic Science found that 14% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 11% of millennials had bought something within the last six months because a blogger or influencer recommended it.

For now, Instagram remains the platform of choice for social influencers. According to eMarketer’s estimates, 76.6% of U.S. marketers will use Instagram for their influencer campaigns in 2023. 

Types of social media influencers

When you think “influencer,” does the Kardashian-Jenner family pop immediately to mind?

While these famous sisters are certainly some of the top social media marketing influencers, not all influencers are celebrities.

In fact, for many brands, influencers with a smaller but dedicated or niche follower base might be more effective. Influencers with 15,000 followers have some of the highest engagement rates on all platforms*. The cost, of course, can also be much lower.

Let’s look at the different types of Instagram influencers based on audience size. There’s no strict cut-off for audience size, but generally the types of influencers are broken down as:

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers have 10,000 followers or fewer

Micro-influencers

Micro-influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers

Macro-influencers

Macro-influencers have 100,000 to 1 million followers, like food and travel creator

Mega-influencers

Mega-influencers have 1 million+ followers

How much does social influencer marketing cost?

Influencers with extensive reach rightly expect to be paid for their work. Free product might work with nano-influencers, but a larger influencer campaign requires a budget.

For large brands working with celebrity influencers, that budget may be quite large. U.S. spending on influencer marketing.

Think about what kind of payment structure makes the most sense for your goals. But be willing to consider the influencer’s needs, too. For example, an affiliate or commission structure might be an option instead of a flat fee, or to reduce the flat fee.

In fact, 9.3% of U.S. influencers said affiliate marketing (through affiliate links and promo codes) was their top source of income.

That said, the most common baseline pricing formula for influencers’ Instagram posts is:

$100 x 10,000 followers + extras = total rate

What are the extras? Check out our post on influencer pricing for all the details.

Remember that micro-influencers and nano-influencers will have more flexible payment terms.

How to create an influencer marketing strategy

1. Determine your goals

The number-one goal for brands using influencer marketing is to reach new target customers. This makes sense, since an influencer campaign extends your reach to that person’s followers.

Notice that the goal is simply to reach new customers, not necessarily to make a sale right off the top. Driving sales is actually the third most common goal of influencer marketing campaigns, after increasing brand awareness and product consideration.

Think about how your influencer marketing plan will fit into your broader social media marketing strategy and create measurable goals you can report on and track.

2. Know who you’re trying to influence

An effective influencer marketing strategy requires you to speak to the right people using the right tools—and the right influencers.

The first step is to define who your audience will be for this specific campaign.

Developing audience personas is a great way to make sure you understand who you’re trying to reach. Maybe you’re trying to reach more of your current audience—or an entirely new audience.

Once you’ve decided, create a matching set of influencer personas. This will help you understand the qualities you’re looking for in your influencers.

3. Understand the rules

Before you dive into influencer marketing, it’s important to understand the rules. In the United States, those rules come from the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC takes disclosure very seriously. Make sure you build disclosure guidelines into your agreements with influencers.

Influencers must identify sponsored posts. However, they do not always do so. Or they might do so in such a subtle way that the disclosure is effectively hidden or incomprehensible.

In the UK, for example, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated “hidden advertising” on Instagram and pressed parent company Facebook to commit to changes that make disclosure easier and more clear.

The specific rules vary slightly by country, so be sure to check the most current requirements in your jurisdiction. For the most part, you just need to be clear and upfront so viewers understand when a post is sponsored in any way.

Here are some key points from the FTC:

• Video reviews must include both written and verbal disclosure of the partnership. It must be within the video itself (not just the description).
• The built-in tools on social media platforms alone are not enough. However, you should still use them. Instagram itself now specifies that any branded content (aka influencer marketing) on the platform must use the Branded Content tag to identify the relationship. This adds the text “Paid partnership with [your brand name]” in the post header.
• #ad and #sponsored are great hashtags to use for disclosure. But make sure they’re highly visible and not just tacked on to the need of a long string of tags.

4. Consider the three Rs of influence

Influence is made up of three components:

• Relevance
• Reach
• Resonance

Relevance

A relevant influencer shares content relevant to your business and industry. They need to have an audience that aligns with your target audience.

Reach

Reach is the number of people you could potentially reach through the influencer’s follower base. Remember: a small audience can be effective, but you need to make sure there’s enough of a following to align with your goals.

Resonance

This is the potential level of engagement the influencer can create with an audience relevant to your brand.

Not to belabour the point, but bigger isn’t always better. As we said above, a huge follower count is meaningless if those followers aren’t interested in your offer. Niche influencers, on the other hand, can have very dedicated and engaged followers.

5. Compile a short list of influencers

When thinking about who you want to work with, the key is trust. Your audience must trust and respect the opinions of the influencers you partner with. Without the trust component, any results will be superficial. You’ll struggle to see a tangible business impact from your efforts.

How do you tell if your potential influencer is trusted? Engagement. You want to see plenty of views, likes, comments, and shares. Specifically, you want to see these from the precise follower segments you’re trying to reach.

A good engagement rate also means a loyal following, rather than an inflated follower count bolstered by bots and fraud accounts. You need to find someone who’s producing content with a look and feel that complements your own.

The tone must also be appropriate for the way you want to present your brand to potential customers. This will ensure things don’t feel disjointed in either party’s social media posts.

6. Do your research

Take a look at what your potential influencers are posting. How often are they sharing sponsored content?

If they’re already hitting followers with tons of paid posts, their engagement rate may not last. Look for plenty of organic, non-paid content to keep followers interested, enthusiastic, and engaged.

Keep this in mind when thinking about what you’ll ask the influencer to post, as well. Asking for too many posts in a short timeframe will make your offer hard for the influencer to accept, even if it comes with a large paycheck.

In-demand influencers get lots of offers. When you first approach an influencer, you’ll need to show that you’ve put in the time to learn what they do.

Make sure you know exactly what their channels are about and who their audience is.

7. Reach out privately, and personally

Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by interacting organically with their posts. Like their content. Comment when appropriate. Be appreciative, not salesly.

When you’re ready to suggest a partnership, a direct message is a great place to start. If you can find an email address, try that too. But don’t send a mass email or generic DM.

It may take a little longer to write a personal message to each influencer. But, it will show you’re serious about the potential partnership. This will in turn increase your chances of striking a deal.

Provide as much information as you can about your brand. Tell them what you hope to accomplish with your Instagram campaign. Make it clear how the influencer will benefit, beyond the paycheck.

One key thing to keep in mind during this process: You may not actually want to use the word “influencer” when reaching out to potential partners. Content creators prefer to be called just that—creators—and may view “influencer” as a bit of an insult that belittles their work.

8. Collaborate with your influencer to develop effective content

A social media influencer who has worked hard to build a following will not accept a deal that makes their own personal brand seem inconsistent.

After all, influencers are content creation experts. This is why they prefer to be called creators. You’ll get the best value from their work by allowing them to showcase those skills.

It’s a good idea to provide some guidelines about what you’re looking for, of course. But don’t expect to stage-manage the entire campaign.

9. Measure your results

When you launch your influencer campaign, it can be tempting to focus on vanity metrics like likes and comments. If your influencer has a much larger following than you do, you might feel a little dazzled by the sheer number of likes that can rack up.

But to measure the effectiveness of a campaign, you have to understand its value in terms of return on investment. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to measure your campaign’s success.

UTM parameters are one way to track the visitors an influencer sends to your website. They can also help measure how much engagement the campaign receives.

When you assign each influencer their own unique links with UTM codes, you’ll get a clear picture of the results. That allows you to calculate the impact on your bottom line.

Giving influencers their own discount code is another easy way to track the sales they send your way.

If you use the branded content tools on Facebook and Instagram for your influencer campaigns, you’ll get access to insights for both feed and Stories posts. You can access these through Facebook Business Manager.

You could also request that the influencer send you detailed reports on the reach and engagement levels of their posts.

Lead Generation

 We’ve all been there. You finally sit down for dinner at the end of a long day. You’re about to take a bite when the telephone rings. It’s a telemarketer asking about your oven preferences.  

This frustrating interruption doesn’t need to happen. Inbound lead generation offers a solution. 

Let’s start with defining a lead. Then, we’ll cover why you need lead generation and how to qualify someone as a lead. Soon, you’ll know exactly why inbound lead generation is much more effective than simply buying leads.

What is a lead?

A lead is any person who indicates interest in a company’s product or service in some way, shape, or form.

Leads typically hear from a business or organization after opening communication (by submitting personal information for an offer, trial, or subscription) … instead of getting a random cold call from someone who purchased their contact information.

Let’s say you take an online survey to learn more about how to take care of your car. A day or so later, you receive an email from the auto company that created the survey about how they could help you take care of your car. This process would be far less intrusive than if they’d just called you out of the blue with no knowledge of whether you even care about car maintenance, right? This is what it’s like to be a lead.

And from a business perspective, the information the auto company collects about you from your survey responses helps them personalize that opening communication to address your existing problems — and not waste time calling leads who aren’t at all interested in auto services.

Leads are part of the broader lifecycle that consumers follow when they transition from visitor to customer. Not all leads are created equal (nor are they qualified the same). There are different types of leads based on how they are qualified and what lifecycle stage they’re in.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Marketing qualified leads are contacts who’ve engaged with your marketing team’s efforts but aren’t ready to receive a sales call. An example of an MQL is a contact who fills out a landing page form for an offer.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales-qualified leads are contacts who’ve taken actions that expressly indicate their interest in becoming paying customers. An example of an SQL is a contact who fills out a form to ask a question about your product or service.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

Product qualified leads are contacts who’ve used your product and taken actions that indicate interest in becoming a paying customer. PQLs typically exist for companies who offer a product trial or a free or limited version of their product with options to upgrade, which is where your sales team comes in.

An example of a PQL is a customer who uses your free version but engages or asks about features that are only available upon payment.

Service Qualified Lead

Service-qualified leads are contacts or customers who’ve indicated to your service team that they’re interested in becoming paying customers. An example of a service-qualified lead is a customer who tells their customer service representative that they’d like to upgrade their product subscription; at this time, the customer service representative would up-level this customer to the appropriate sales team or representative.

These lead generators are just a few examples of lead generation strategies you can use to attract potential customers and guide them towards your offers. (We talk about more strategies later.)

Whenever someone outside the marketing world asks me what I do, I can’t simply say, “I create content for lead generation.” It’d be totally lost on them, and I’d get some really confused looks.

So instead, I say, “I work on finding unique ways to attract people to my business. I want to provide them with enough goodies to get them naturally interested in my company so they eventually warm up to the brand enough to want to hear from us!”

That usually resonates better, and that’s exactly what lead generation is: It’s a way of warming up potential customers to your business and getting them on the path to eventually making a purchase.

Why do you need lead generation?

When a stranger initiates a relationship with you by showing an organic interest in your business, the transition from stranger to customer is much more natural.

Lead generation falls within the second stage of the inbound marketing methodology. It occurs after you’ve attracted an audience and are ready to convert those visitors into leads for your sales team (namely sales-qualified leads).

As you can see in the diagram below, generating leads is a fundamental point in an individual’s journey to becoming a delighted customer.

Lead Generation Process

Now that we understand how lead generation fits into the inbound marketing methodology, let’s walk through the steps of the lead generation process.

First, a visitor discovers your business through one of your marketing channels, such as your website, blog, or social media page.

That visitor then clicks on your call-to-action (CTA) — an image, button, or message that encourages website visitors to take some sort of action.

That CTA takes your visitor to a landing page, which is a web page that is designed to capture lead information in exchange for an offer. An offer is content or something of value that’s being “offered” on the landing page. This can be an ebook, a course, or a template. 

Once on the landing page, your visitor fills out a form in exchange for the offer. 

See how everything fits together?

To sum it up: Visitor clicks a CTA that takes them to a landing page where they fill out a form to get an offer, at which point they become a lead.

By the way, you should check out our free lead generation tool. It helps you create lead capture forms directly on your website. Plus, it’s really easy to set up.

Lead Generation Marketing

Once you put all of these elements together, you can use your various promotional channels to drive traffic to your landing page to start generating leads.

But what channels should you use to promote your landing page? Let’s talk about the front end of lead generation — lead gen marketing.

If you’re a visual learner, this chart shows the flow from promotional marketing channels to a generated lead.

There are even more channels you can use to get visitors to become leads. Let’s go into depth on these and talk about a few others.

Content

Content is a great way to guide users to a landing page. Typically, you create content to provide visitors with useful, free information. You can include CTAs anywhere in your content — inline, bottom-of-post, in the hero, or even on the side panel.

The more delighted a visitor is with your content, the more likely they are to click your call-to-action and move onto your landing page.

Email

Email is a great place to reach the people who already know your brand and product or service. It’s much easier to ask them to take an action since they’ve previously subscribed to your list.

Emails tend to be a bit cluttered, so use CTAs that have a compelling copy and an eye-catching design to grab your subscriber’s attention.

Ads and Retargeting

The sole purpose of an ad is to get people to take an action. Otherwise, why spend the money?

If you want people to convert, be sure that your landing page and offer match exactly what is promised in the ad, and that the action you want users to take is crystal clear.

Blog

The great thing about using your blog posts to promote an offer is that you can tailor the entire piece to the end goal.

So, if your offer is an instructional video on setting up Google Search Console, then you can write a blog post about how to select your marketing metrics … which would make your CTA highly relevant and easy to click.

Social Media

Social media platforms make it easy to guide your followers to take action, from the swipe up option on Instagram stories to Facebook bio links to bitly URLs on Twitter.

You can also promote your offerings on your social posts and include a call-to-action in your caption. Learn more about social media campaigns in this post.

Product Trials

You can break down a lot of barriers to a sale by offering trials of your product or service. Once a prospect is using your product, you can entice them with additional offers or resources to encourage them to buy.

Another best practice is to include your branding in your free versions so you can capture other potential customers, too.

Referral Marketing

Referral, or word-of-mouth, marketing is useful for lead generation in a different way. That is, it gets your brand in front of more people, which, in turn, increases your chances of generating more leads.

Whatever channel you use to generate leads, you’ll want to guide users to your landing page. As long as you’ve built a landing page that converts, the rest will handle itself.

Why not just buy leads?

Marketers and salespeople alike want to fill their sales funnel — and they want to fill it quickly. Enter: The temptation to buy leads.

First and foremost, any leads you’ve purchased don’t actually know you. Typically, they’ve “opted in” at some other site when signing up for something, and didn’t actually opt-in to receiving anything from your company.

The messages you send them are therefore unwanted messages, and sending unwanted messages is intrusive. (Remember that disruptive call I got when I was trying to eat my spaghetti? That’s how people feel when they receive emails and other messages from people they didn’t ask to hear from.)

If the prospect has never been to your website and indicated an interest in your products or services, then you’re interrupting them — plain and simple.

If they never opted in to receive messages specifically from you, then there’s a high chance they could flag your messages as spam.

Once enough people flag your messages as spam, you go on a “blacklist,” which is then shared with other email providers. Once you get on the blacklist, it’s really, really hard to get back off of it. In addition, your email deliverability and IP reputation will likely be harmed.

It’s always, always, always better to generate leads organically rather than buy them. 

How to Qualify a Lead

As we covered in the first section, a lead is a person who has indicated an interest in your company’s product or service. Now, let’s talk about the ways in which someone can actually show that interest.

Essentially, a sales lead is generated through information collection. That information collection could come in many ways.

Perhaps a job seeker shows interest in a position by completing an application. Or a shopper shares contact information in exchange for a coupon. Maybe a person fills out a form to download an educational piece of content.

Gauging a Lead’s Level of Interest

Below are just a few of the many ways in which you could qualify someone as a lead. Each of these examples shows that the amount of collected information used to qualify a lead, as well as their level of interest, can vary.

Let’s assess each scenario:

Job Application: An individual that fills out an application form is willing to share a lot of personal information because he/she wants to be considered for a position. Filling out that application shows their true interest in the job, therefore qualifying the person as a lead for the company’s recruiting team — not marketing or sales teams.

Coupon: Unlike the job application, you probably know very little about someone who has stumbled upon one of your online coupons. But if they find the coupon valuable enough, they may be willing to provide their name and email address in exchange for it. Although it’s not a lot of information, it’s enough for a business to know that someone has interest in their company.

Content: While the download of a coupon shows an individual has a direct interest in your product or service, content (like an educational ebook or webinar) does not. Therefore, to truly understand the nature of the person’s interest in your business, you’ll probably need to collect more information to determine whether the person is interested in your product or service and whether they’re a good fit.

These three general examples highlight how lead generation differs from company to company, and from person to person.

You’ll need to collect enough information to gauge whether someone has a true, valid interest in your product or service — how much information is enough information will vary depending on your business.

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is a way to qualify leads quantitatively. Using this technique, leads are assigned a numerical value (or score) to determine where they fall on the scale from “interested” to “ready for a sale”.

The criteria for these actions is completely up to you, but it must be uniform across your marketing and sales departments so that everyone is working on the same scale.

A lead’s score can be based on actions they’ve taken, information they’ve provided, their level of engagement with your brand, or other criteria that your sales team determines. For instance, you may score someone higher if they regularly engage with you on social media or if their demographic information matches your target audience.

Borrowing from the examples above, you might give a lead a higher score if they used one of your coupons — an action that would signify this person is interested in your product.

The higher a lead’s score, the closer they are to becoming a sales-qualified lead (SQL), which is only a step away from becoming a customer. Scoring criteria should be tweaked along the way until you find the formula that works. Once you do, you’ll transform your lead generation into customer generation.

Lead Generation Strategies

Online lead generation encompasses a wide range of tactics, campaigns, and strategies depending on the platform on which you wish to capture leads. We talked about lead capture best practices once you have a visitor on your site … but how can you get them there in the first place?

Let’s dive into lead-generation strategies for a few popular platforms.

Facebook Lead Generation

Facebook has been a method for lead generation since its inception.

Originally, companies could use outbound links in their posts and information in their bios to attract strangers to their websites. However, when Facebook Ads was launched in 2007, and its algorithm began to favor accounts that used paid advertising, there was a major shift in how businesses used the platform to capture leads.

Facebook created Lead Ads for this purpose. Facebook also has a feature that lets you put a simple call-to-action button at the top of your Facebook Page, helping you send Facebook followers directly to your website.

Twitter Lead Generation

Twitter has Twitter Lead Gen Cards, which let you generate leads directly within a tweet without having to leave the site. A user’s name, email address, and Twitter username are automatically pulled into the card, and all they have to do is click “Submit” to become a lead.

LinkedIn Lead Generation

LinkedIn has been increasing its stake in the advertising space since its early days. When it comes to lead generation, LinkedIn created Lead Gen Forms, which auto-populate with a user’s profile data when they click a CTA.

PPC Lead Generation

When we say pay-per-click (PPC), we’re referring to ads on search engine result pages (SERPs). Google gets 3.5 billion searches a day, making it prime real estate for any ad campaign, especially lead gen.

The effectiveness of your PPC campaign relies heavily on a seamless user flow, as well as your budget, target keywords, and a few other factors.

B2B Lead Generation

B2B is a particular business model that requires a particular approach to lead generation. SmartInsights found that referrals are the top source for capturing business leads. Not to mention, effectiveness varies by channel.