Shayna and Evelyn are back, and this episode is all about the stage that every designer wants to skip straight to: lead generation.
It's the most expensive stage of the marketing journey, and also the most dangerous one to rush. In this episode, they break down exactly what needs to be in place before you spend a single dollar on paid advertising. Because if your sales process isn't airtight, your funnel isn't converting, and your analytics aren't tracking, you're not paying for leads. You're paying for lessons.
Shayna walks through the pre-lead-gen checklist in real time: a tested, tried-and-true sales process with a paid consultation built in, a complete informational journey with email templates, questionnaires, and welcome packets, and a CRM connected to your website that responds the moment someone submits a form. And if you're thinking about paying for leads while skipping the paid consult, think again.
Evelyn also takes you through the visibility and website requirements that have to be locked in before you start sending paid traffic anywhere. A beautiful website isn't enough. Your calls to action have to be unmistakable, your conversion tracking has to be live, and your brand presence has to be strong enough that when someone leaves your site and comes back three days later, they can actually find you again.
The episode also breaks down the platforms worth your money: paid-per-lead options like Thumbtack and Bark as an approachable entry point, and Google Search campaigns as the long game. And the ones that look like lead gen but aren't.
They also get real about what this process actually costs: the 10 to 30 hours of foundational setup for a lead magnet and landing page, the 90 days you need to write off before Google's machine starts working for you, and why your budget is never a fixed number because your market sets the price.
And if all of this sounds overwhelming, they close with a reminder: the organic route works. Five years of consistent, unglamorous effort, the blogs, the web pages, the visibility foundation built slowly and on purpose, and today their business doesn't need to run a single paid ad. That's what the long game looks like when it finally pays off.
This episode won't tell you that lead generation is a shortcut. It will tell you whether you're ready for it, and what to do if you're not.
Listen to EP 28 | How to Build a Sales Machine
Listen to EP 23 | Rich or Famous with Donna Hoffman
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