Turn your pop-ups into social good — here’s how [PLUS BONUS TOOLKIT]
Some enterprising do-gooder geniuses are realizing a hidden opportunity in content marketing. Let’s steal their ideas.
(Note: just in it for the freebie? Scroll to the bottom of this post to download the “High-Voltage Content Upgrade Toolkit”)
A popular mantra among content marketers that I’m particularly fond of is “give away your best ideas.”
Offering free content in exchange for a prospect’s contact information is one of the fundamental tactics off of which the rest of the inbound marketing funnel is built.
It’s the inherent generosity and investment in providing value to customers that I love about content marketing. The marketing experts and business makers who live by those tenets have taught me not only about creating content but also about keeping one’s purpose at the center of one’s business decisions.
But the thing about great ideas in marketing is when they’re adopted by the masses, they often become clichés.
One such marketing cliché: the lead magnet opt-in pop-up that noodges us every time we visit a new website for the first time. The annoying rectangular form obscures our view of the content we’re trying to access, demanding that we click a button for an offer we don’t even know if we want yet.
We move our cursor around the page, seeking to click the “x” that will close the pop-up— but the “x” is either microscopic (making it tough for fingers to tap on a smartphone screen).
OR the the interstitial ad takes forever to load so you don’t even have an option to close the ad. You just stare at a big, black screen and a spinning circle. So you click away.
I know you’ve been there. We’ve all been there.
What’s your initial impression of a company that would subject first-time visitors to the virtual equivalent of an over-eager mattress salesman?
My impression? Let’s just say I’ve gestured toward my laptop screen with my middle finger more times than I’d like to admit.
Now: I’m not disparaging the companies out there who have genuinely helpful, relevant lead magnet offers.
For example, here’s a pop-up on the Creative Live website prompting me to join the community so I can see on-air classes. They make it easy for me to join with their social media sign-up options, plus this acts as a warm welcome that’s relevant to the content I’m interested in reading (unlike the above ad on PC World for a data backup capabilities report that had zero to do with the article on pop-up ads I wanted to read) so…sure. Why not.
Nor do I think it’s a bad idea to request an email address in exchange for access to the value-added content you’ve created.
This is a pop-up that appeared after I scrolled to the bottom of a LeadPages article about, well, content upgrades. Relevant, helpful, meaningful…heck yeah I’ll give them my email address.
But to hold your web content hostage unless your visitor agrees to your offer?Not cool. Not cool at all.
This interstitial on Search Engine Journal interrupted me as I read an article entitled…you guessed it: “What Counts As An Intrusive Interstitial?” What does Video SEO have to do with the content I was reading, I ask you? Zilch.
Then, right after I clicked on a different tab and came back to the article, look what else popped up — this was before I got a chance to even scroll down to read the damned thing:
Jeez, SEJ. As SEO experts, don’t you know that Google penalizes sites with too many interruptive pop-up ads?
But, Alaura, I hear you thinking (because I’m psychic like that), our tests have shown that pop-ups get more email addresses. We need email addresses to grow and sell!
Ah. And how many of those reluctantly-given email addresses were for inboxes stuffed with other junk mail that never gets opened or clicked? How many of those emails are you able to convert into customers? Hmmm?
…
Thought so. Quality lists and strong relationships built on trust cannot grow in tainted soil.
But there is another, better way to grow your email list and make it flourish — and help your social mission.
I just found out about it today. I cannot WAIT to steal this idea. And I want more than anything for you to shamelessly steal this idea, too.
Ready?
Don’t give your visitors free downloadable content. Make them pay for it.
“What, Alaura??” You’re probably thinking. “Did you not just say to give away your best ideas??”
I did indeed.
As someone whose power word for 2018 is “GENEROSITY,” I’m totally down with charging someone zero dollars for a piece of content that took you hours (or even hundreds of dollars) to produce.
The point isn’t to get your visitor to pay for your content with money. It’s to get them to pay for your content by giving back.
Check this example of pure genius out:
The team at customer marketing communications platform, Intercom rolled this offer out today. It’s a pretty typical free download ebook offer designed to help prospects improve their marketing skills.
But unlike most free ebook lead magnets, you can’t just pop in your email address to download this baby. Oh, no: the deal is, you have to share Intercom’s offer with a friend or donate $5 to Black Girls Code, a nonprofit that seeks to “increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.”
When you put your email address in and click the “Get The Book” call-to-action button, you see this:
And when you click on Donate To Charity, you see this:
Or if you’re not into the charity thing (or just don’t have the money) and you choose “Share With A Friend” you get this:
(Note: I chose both options because I wanted to be sure Intercom got more exposure and Black Girls Code got my support. )
In this scenario, everyone’s a winner:
- I get a copy of a beautifully designed and well-researched resource that will help me become a better marketer.
2. Intercom gets my email address so they can continue to send me content targeted to my needs.
3. Black Girls Code gets a little help not only because of my small charitable donation, but also because one more person is now aware of their cause.
4. If I choose not to donate money, Intercom gets an email address of one of my friends.
Bonus: Everyone spreads positivity.
So here’s what I’m going to do: STEAL THE CRAP OUT OF THIS IDEA.
This makes me want to create a content upgrade just so I can help raise money for a worthy cause — and hey, I’ll grow my email list while I’m at it. (Note: if you scroll to the bottom of this post you’ll find a free download — a content upgrade checklist for startups).
And in the interest in giving away our best ideas, Intercom marketing folks: if you’re out there reading this, I’d like to offer a couple content marketing optimization recommendations:
- Include a bit more info about what Black Girls Code does (or at the very least a link to their website) to help folks understand why you’re raising money for them.
- Most people — especially startup founders — have multiple email addresses and will use them as dummy addresses for viral sharing offers like this one. If you want someone to not game the system, consider asking your visitor to share the e-book offer on social media OR share with three friends. Test this of course, but you want to make sure the email addresses you’re getting aren’t multiples. This campaign is just too smart to waste on someone’s junk mail address.
By now, we’re used to seeing “Donate to Download” prompts on websites for musicians, artists and writers, and the donations typically go to the creator of the work. But this is the first time I’ve seen marketing content used to create social good in this way.
As I said before, when great marketing ideas catch on, they often become a cliché. I’d love to see that happen in this case.
PS: Curious as to how I set up the “Share or Donate” lead form sequence? Sign up and I’ll let you in on the secret.
