Lead Generation For Your YOUR IPTV/OTT Service

Lead generation is, basically, the process of turning a “suspect” (member of your target market you suspect needs what you are offering) into a “prospect” (one who needs and wants what you have to offer). This process has no one way it works. You need to create several lead-generation activities to maximize the results.

Advertising Your Service

To start your lead generation process you need to let the prospects know that you are out there on the market. Hence the need for advertising. Your advertising must be targeted, direct response, and measurable. Below are the first steps to creating your advertising plan.

AD TYPES, PLACEMENT, AND COSTS

If you have current subscribers, survey them to learn where they get their news; ask them what social networks they use and which portals/sites they read, to help determine where you should consider placing your advertising. List their responses.

Contact all these portals/sites, as well as every other media outlet in your market, and request a "media kit" to start comparing different forms of advertising. These kits should list ad and file formats accepted, prices, and contact information. Same thing applies to advertising on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or other networks where your potential subscribers spend time.

AD CONTENT

Look to your customers and their needs, problems, and frustrations to create content information that describes how your IPTV/OTT service solves those needs and problems.

If you are targeting several segments then you need to advertise differently to each segment, e.g. older people, teenagers, or perhaps families. Note which of the free offerings you listed in the Product/Service Innovation section can be used in advertising. More detailed information on Product/Service Innovation can be found in the Core Strategy section of our Marketing Strategy for IPTV/OTT service.

Once you've got an idea of the different advertising options, their cost, and their relevance to your target markets, create an advertising plan on this topic based on your desired results and budget. The plan should include which media outlets you will use, a budget estimate, a timeline, and a list of the kinds of offers your ads will present.

Remember that the content of your ads needs to be the first step in a two-step process. In Step One, you run ads that offer the reader free access to service, sample, limited-time features for first subscribers, or something of high perceived value, to gain permission to market to them. Step Two (sending them the offering and then marketing to them) will be covered in our blog about Lead Conversion Plan, next week.

Public Relations

Public Relations, or PR, is an important element of your overall lead generation foundation. Activity primarily consists of gaining positive mention of your company and your video streaming service in newspapers, magazines, news shows, newsletters, websites, blogs and on social media read by some portion of your target market. 

Media coverage can come in the form of a feature story, news brief, or announcement. These are more likely to happen when you know, and cultivate relationships with the journalists who cover your industry or area of expertise.

Major story ideas: list at least three major story ideas that you could potentially pitch to your most important journalists with the idea of creating stories that support your core message. One idea might be about the trend of more and more viewers globally spending time watching streaming services without ads and interruptions. Other might be about catchup services and how they can improve viewing experience of the subscribers, and on their own terms and the third can be about the specific content that you offer.

Minor story ideas: list at least 12 minor PR opportunities and map them out for distribution to your media list over the next 12 months.

Finally, create a media list, a detailed list of media contacts for your PR outreach.

Referrals

Using a specific set of strategies and tools designed to bring new subscribers, qualified leads, and repeat business without the aid of, or in addition to, other advertising methods is a great, inexpensive, and very often, untapped way to generate more business.

If you really do deliver something people like, then all you need to do to start managing your referrals is target your referral sources.

Here’s how:

Each new client lets you introduce the idea of making referrals as part of the client relationship. Use this topic to outline the kinds of referrals you will ask for at each stage of the client relationship, and how you will do it. These will work best if they arrive at roughly the same time that you have exceeded the client’s expectations. How will you target referral sources and create relationships with them? Maybe offer your subscribers a free service for a month for each new user that subscribes through them, or maybe you give them a discount for each new subscriber. How will you incorporate this strategy on your social media networks (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)?

Referral marketing can help you borrow trust from existing clients, add perceived value to your offerings, and make you do business better – because you know someone is watching.

Email Marketing

Keep in touch with your customers.

Collecting your own email addresses and mailing addresses will always produce the most valuable list, as these customers are the most qualified. The free offerings you give to suspects in exchange for their contact information are the first step in your permission marketing. Once you've got permission, you need to craft a good message.

Strategies for developing a good email:

• Create reasons for them to click through to your website. If you include tips, for example, title the email "Top 10 Movies this week," but only give two in the email, so they click through to get the rest.
• Notify users about new episodes coming in next month or remind them they still have some movies that they started watching but have not yet finished.
• Create a sense of urgency--hold a short-term or email-list-only sale. 
• Include valuable or exclusive information so that your email continues to be welcomed by your recipients. For instance, regularly send out bits of information on how subscribers can most efficiently use certain features to get the most out of their service.
• Choose a look and a voice and stay consistent. Don't be funny in one email, then a month later send a serious "hard-sell" email. Creating consistency will help your recipients welcome your message. Also, be consistent in how often you send them--once a month, once a quarter, or maybe weekly if you have a lot to say. 

Strategies for developing your "Sticky Sales Letter"

The headline is the most important part; it must convince the prospect to keep reading. Try one of the following options:

• Ask a compelling question: "Do you know why..."
• State your offer: "Free month of service if you…"
• Identify the target: "Millenials find that..."

When you've got the headline down, write the letter content:

• State the prospect's problem
• Stir up the problem
• Paint a hopeful future
• Outline a solution
• Answer objections
• Make an offer
• Create a call to action
• PS (your second headline)

You may want to tailor different versions of this letter to different prospects.

Lead Generation Tracking

Always know where your potential subscribers come from.

Tracking the effectiveness of all of your lead generation activities is essential if you are going to best understand where to put your resources as you grow. If you effectively map out and measure each ad, you can discover which advertising you should drop and which you should keep. You can use an online service, but you can also create a simple spreadsheet to keep track of where your leads are generated.

Finally, summarize your different lead generation methods in one place to have a clear overview.

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