Getting new clients with a ‘bait piece’

The free information offer is one of the most effective on and offline marketing tactics for getting new clients. Here's how to create a cheap and versatile educational "bait piece" that you can use to increase the effectiveness of your marketing.

What's a bait piece?

A bait piece is some valuable free content – an informative article, e-book or report – that you use to bait the hook when you go fishing for sales leads. It should address an aspect of the problem your product or services solves.

For example, a mortgage broker could produce a report on how to pay off a home loan faster and save thousands of dollars.

Why is it effective?

Offering a bait piece builds up goodwill as you're providing valuable information for free. It can also help to differentiate your business from your competitors and positions you as an expert in your field. If your bait piece is very useful it can also have high "pass-along" value.

What do I write about?

Your bait piece should fill an information gap in your clients' knowledge. It's a "how-to" document. It offers ideas and information that promise a desired solution to your clients' problem. It tells them how to do something and why they should do it.

Obviously you don't want to give the game away. You don't reveal in nitty gritty detail how your product or service solves the problem. Rather, you give a 50,000-foot overview which makes them want to find out more. By giving a tantalising taste of your expertise you make clients curious enough to talk to you.

What else can I write about?

Alternatives include fascinating research or survey data, a mini course or tutorial, pocket guide, buzzword guide or comparison chart.

What call to action do I include?

As part of the process of getting new clients, you must include a call to action at the end. Don't make your call to action a request to buy your product or service at this stage. You just want to move prospective clients along to the next step of the buying process.

Create some urgency by explaining the consequences of not doing what you recommend. Then outline the next step they can take to get your help e.g. request a free phone consultation.

How do you format it?

Depending on your budget you can either create it yourself in Word or have it laid out by a graphic designer. Then you should convert it to PDF format so you can deliver it via email and over the web.

How do you use it?

You want to get your bait into the hands of as many of your prospective new clients as possible. Here's how:

Offer to send a copy to anyone who makes a phone or email enquiry, and people you meet at networking events – much better than handing out business cards.
Make it available for download on your website, but only if people register their contact details. You can even promote it with a Google AdWords campaign.
Create a direct mail campaign offering your bait piece. Free information is an example of a ‘soft offer’ which is known to increase response rates to direct mail and other promotions.
Send out a media release about your bait piece and make sure you mention it in all your marketing materials.

Does a bait piece have to be a document?

No, these days digital bait pieces are quite common e.g. software applications and online calculators and tools. You can also offer a CD or DVD or a multi-part course delivered via email.

Have you used bait pieces to help you with getting new clients? If not, what sort of things are making you hesitate? Share your thoughts below.

Charles Cuninghame is a copywriting expert and marketing trouble-shooter who helps business owners and marketing managers whose websites aren't delivering as many customer enquiries as they would like.

27 Nov 09

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6 comments | Add your own

Bait piece is a great idea and yes, very effective for any business. You would be surprised that nearly any industry can use this tactic to obtain some great leads.
Using Google Adwords to promote it wouldn't be for everybody, you would have to really control your budget and also have a product that when it "sells" gives you a ROI that covers the adwords costs. Otherwise Adwords could really hinder your budget. If you are not an expert or not confident in that area, see a specialist for help. Amanda Griscti - my business help from Sydney
Great points Amanda.
Re AdWords: If you're selling professional services - where the lifetime value of a client can be substantial - the ROI can make it worthwhile.
Also, an information-based offer can also stand out amongst the competing advertisers.
Totally agree about getting expert help to set up AdWords. Charles Cuninghame from Bondi Beach | Read my articles
Great piece, Charles.
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A good rule of thumb is to offer the what and the why, with a little snippet of the how. This demostrates your empathy with the client - and offers an invitation to proceed with you to solve their problem.
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Including a snippet of a case study or a sharp testimonial to complement the content of your piece also reinforces your expertise, and that you have, in fact, solved this problem before! Amanda Gonzalez from Coogee, New South Wales | Read my articles
Great article on the bait piece Charles. Free information is always popular and a great way to target new business. Mini-courses are often effective, as they offer you the opportunity to pop into your prospect's Inbox more than once. The most important thing is to make the content useful, timely and preferably written with your ideal customer in mind. You want them to come back for more,or better still, pass it on to others (with your permission of course), rather than deleting it! Lyndall Guinery-Smith from Tweed Heads, Australia
Such a simple yet great idea and I think the ways to get your product or service noticed, such as the direct mail would definitely bring in some leads.
I've never heard it called this before but it makes sense.Thanks for the great tip. Jenny Pilley from Leicestershire/UK
Thanks to all for the comments.
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@Amanda: "Offer the what and the why, with a little snippet of the how" Exactly! Very well said.
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@Lyndall: I agree about e-courses. Frequent impressions build trust.
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@Jenny: For a cost-effective direct mail campaign (especially for B2B) you can combine a one page sales letter with your bait piece. Postcards work well too, but are a little more expensive. Charles Cuninghame from Bondi Beach | Read my articles

6 comments | Add your own

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