In today’s special episode, LeadsCon Podcast host Ian McRae speaks with fellow guest and me, Collin MacMillan, of Riverwood landscape. We are tackling the ever-large and relevant topic of lead magnets. Collin starts us off with an insight into the landscaping industry, its boom, and the early days of operation of his company. He observes that the landscaping industry has experienced rapid growth over the last decade but remains fragmented. Most landscaping businesses are in the US$500 -1 million revenue bracket, mostly owner–operated. In this regard, the marketing budget allocation to generating successful lead magnets is generally limited.
My first question from host Ian pertains to the cost and quality of lead magnets. As I always insist, the goal is to find lead magnets to get you the lowest cost per lead. You then want to leverage these lead magnets to attract people off social media to a more controlled environment i.e., email. In other words, the lead magnet topic is bait for the audience.
Collin gives his perspective on the effects of Covid-19 on his landscaping business. In unexpected ways, the pandemic was largely a blessing in disguise for the landscaping industry. Due to the lockdown, many people forced to remain in their homes found themselves with relatively more money that could be channeled into landscaping projects. As such, his company realigned its marketing efforts by toning down on ad words and paid clicks. Instead, they focused more on brand awareness and longer-term needs. I chime in with what Merged Marketing did on its part: we pivoted into the home services industry with such landscaping businesses as Riverwood.
Host Ian takes me on my digital marketing journey with a question on how I leveraged emerging social media during the early days. In 2007, while I was head of a music band, Facebook was only starting, and many businesses still needed to leverage the platform for marketing. On my part, however, my digital journey evolved with the evolution of Facebook by pivoting and trying out new ad placements as they emerged in that space. Then I had my epiphany that Marketing was where I wanted to go forthwith.
Host Ian seeks Collin’s thoughts on the tactics for assessing the success of our lead magnet generation. Collin underscores the need to generate data and track where your leads stem from. He argues that you stand to benefit a great deal if you track your leads with CRM.
Finally, host Ian seeks our thoughts on what we look forward to from the forthcoming LeadsCon Las Vegas 2023. As a frequent attendee of digital marketing conferences, I am most excited about attending one focused explicitly on leads which will be my first. On his part, Collin admits that, unlike myself, he has only been to a few marketing-focus conventions, but he is looking forward to the entire convention and learning a lot.
Time Stamps
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(0:40) Background introduction of guests Colin MacMillan and Jason Hunt
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(2:10) The growth of the landscaping industry and challenges
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((4:37) Cost and quality challenges of lead magnets generation in the landscaping industry
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(8:10) Marketing readjustments in the landscaping industry during covid-19 pandemic
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(11:05) Digital marketing journey for Json Hunt: Leveraging social media for marketing during the early days
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(13:10) Tactics for assessing the success of your lead magnet generations
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(15:05) What are you looking forwards to in the forthcoming LeadsCon Las Vegas 2023 marketing convention
