I have never been good at fishing and the times I tried to fish I never had much success. The one fish I did catch wasn’t big enough and I had to put it back, I then ended up getting irritated with the midges (little flies in Scotland), so I gave up and went home. It got me thinking of an analogy that fishing and lead generation have a lot in common.
Catching a shark
If you are shark fishing, you need various tools and resources such as a good rod, a big boat and some other people/friends to help out. Much like if your business was to land a big customer (a shark) they will need some good tools (software, great content, inbound website) and resources (a team of people and premises). When you have all the right things, then you have a better chance of being successful. If you are lucky and you manage to catch a shark with your fishing rod and small boat, then you may end up getting bitten by the big shark as you cannot handle it.
Fishing in the wrong pond
If you are fishing in the wrong pond, you will usually get the wrong fish or no fish at all. If you want some salmon and you are fishing in a pond of carp you will not get salmon. Similarly, if you promote your marketing messages in the wrong areas such as LinkedIn groups with the wrong audience, have the wrong social media followers on Twitter, using the wrong keywords in your PPC or search campaigns, then it will result on you not attracting the right catch and not generating the right type of leads.
Using the right type of bait when fishing
The analogy here is the bait is your marketing message – if you are using the wrong type of bait you will attract the wrong type of fish. If you have not worked out who your personas are and use the wrong messaging (which affects SEO terms, content) then you will attract a lead that is not right for your business.
Just get your fish from the fisherman
Fisherman. They use big nets, which in marketing can be website and the right messaging. They have the experience and know where the fish are in the sea. With their big net and knowledge of the area they catch a lot of fish and sell them. The analogy here is you hire a marketing specialist agency, like Marketing Mavens, to generate you the marketing leads that right for your business.
So if your marketing is like my fishing (who doesn’t know how to fish and has failed at catching fish except the really small ones that I had to put back) you will struggle in marketing and feel like you are spending a lot of time being busy without much success.
Finally, you know the midges that bothered me when fishing. The analogy there is they are the sales guys or the managing director that are moaning at you for not giving them leads.
