Moving from Attraction to Relationship Building via the Capture Zone

I have been posting a series of articles describing what I first referred to as an Internet Message Delivery System (IMDS). Recall that from my perspective, anyone trying to deliver a message via the Internet is really marketing and therefore my IMDS could also be thought of as the broad view of an Internet marketing system.  They are effectively, one and the same to me.

IMDS - aka Internet Marketing System

My previous post described the Attraction Zone portion of the IMDS flowchart, today’s post focuses on what I refer to as the Capture Zone.  Members of the Target Audience are ready to enter the Capture Zone after multiple constructive contacts with valuable content.  When they reach a certain level of comfort and enough interest has been generated, the nature of the interaction can shift and become more focused and personalized.  When that point is reached there is a transition from attraction building by repeated exposure to valuable content to more direct and focused contact as they shift into the Relationship Building Zone after passing through the Capture Zone.

Let’s stop and evaluate a few examples describing what happens as people encounter and pass through the Capture Zone from different avenues of attraction marketing:

• One group of people arrives after multiple exposures to valuable content (articles, webinars, videos, etc.) in the Attraction Zone. When first encountering the Capture Zone, they are usually offered an incentive (free e-book, video series, consultation, newsletter, etc.) via a simple squeeze page (lead capture page) in exchange for providing their basic contact information (name, email as a minimum).  Once they provide their contact information they leave the Capture Zone and enter the Relationship Building Zone.

• Another group may arrive via social networking activity (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.). The transition through the Capture Zone to the Relationship Building Zone may occur as it did with the first group (squeeze page offer) or might come from direct interaction and an offer/request for more information during social dialogue.

• Some people use Pay-Per-Click advertising (more for marketing than message delivery) to connect with the Target Audience using select keyword phrases and focused ad copy. Once clicking on the link, the person may either be directed to a squeeze page or an information-oriented page with a link to some lead capture feature (widget on page, pop-up window or squeeze page).  After providing the contact information, they also enter the Relationship Building Zone.

The main purpose of the Capture Zone is to help those members of your Target Audience with heightened interest to commit to the next level and enter the relationship building phase by providing their contact information.  Once the commitment is made, more focused interaction begins leading to a stronger relationship, which is the topic of the next and final blog post associated with this series.