Last month while vacationing with my family at Disneyworld, I observed first-hand how Disney draws customers to its theme parks…no matter what the economy is doing.

In fact, despite significant downturns in the economy, Disney theme parks have not only maintained attendance rates but at some of their parks, attendance has actually gone up!

They do not spare any expense in creating an experience that will bring people back. In essence, they understand that to attract customers, they have to spend money in multiple places. They also realize that once someone decides to attend the park, they are more likely to spend a lot more money not only on their current visit, but on future visits as well.

From souvenirs to Mickey Mouse shaped ice-cream bars…to themed hotels conveniently located on the property. Plus there’s the business of repeat customers, which is big business. Not to mention the referral business that goes on when customers show their photos they had taken at Disneyworld to their family and friends.

Of course, Disney isn’t unlike most businesses…in that the key to success is how to get a hot lead to your door the first time. Because as you know, getting a lead to your business is more than half the battle. Get potential customers to your business and based on your sales closing ratio, you’ll know how much new business you can expect. And once you close a sale, as long as you deliver, you’ve automatically increased your chances of your newly acquired customer spending more money with you.

Understanding the potential worth of your customer is clearly an important take-away lesson from Disney. However, what I really want to share today is how they keep prospects flowing to their business.

You see, it’s because of this potential customer worth that Disney understands they really can’t afford not to spend money to get a lead and keep a consistent flow of traffic coming to their door. In addition, they know how to crank up the volume of leads when something like the economy is affecting the amount of traffic that shows up at their door.

Just like Disney, it’s important to know how to keep a consistent flow of business showing up at your website or business…no matter what happens.

So today, here’s what you can learn from Disney about how you can eliminate your worries of where your new customers will come from forever…

Don’t rely on free traffic from a single source.

You’d think that Disney could just stop advertising all together…I mean everyone knows who they are and what they do. Plus think of all the free publicity they must get from guests…pictures on Facebook™, stories shared by guests, and more. But they don’t rely on free sources of traffic alone or just one source for leads and neither should you.

Here’s why: Internet marketing has been a great addition to marketing tactics, but one of the downfalls is the belief that having a website and using free marketing resources such as social media is all that they need to attract leads, brand their company and increase sales. The problem is if your free source dries up, you are left fumbling to find a way to replace it.

How might your free source dry up? Here are five common examples:
1. Google or other search engines make an algorithm change and you lose your first page rankings. Suddenly your prospects can no longer find your website by typing in search words related to your product or service.
2. Social media stops driving traffic because you aren’t able to engage or push information due to a busy time in your business or personal issues that prevent you, such as sickness or vacation.
3. A slow economy stifles repeat and/or referral business because people are spending their money differently or more cautiously.
4. A store featuring similar products or services opens nearby.
5. Competitor websites add more relevant content that cause them to outrank you in organic listings.
Not being able to instantly drive traffic to your business causes you to run the risk of major problems…and not just loss of revenue.

Like in the case of Mahalo.com. Recently, according to Sistrix.com, Mahalo lost rankings for nearly 70% of their keywords overnight due to a Google algorithm change. Unfortunately, because they relied too heavily on free traffic and just one supplier, they had to lay off some of their workforce, affecting hundreds of lives.

Just like Disney, paying for leads from multiple sources means you’ll always have a steady stream of traffic flowing to your door.

So if you’re looking to avoid the loss of revenue and the problems associated with that loss, advertising on several online properties beyond Google and sending that traffic to high-converting landing pages created by internet marketing professionals can be your ticket to success. That way you’ll always be certain you can immediately generate traffic and instantly replace any leads you lose.

To your online success,

John Pfeiffer

P.S. Can you really afford not to spend money to keep leads coming to your business through online advertising? After all, leads are what generate business and keep your business growing (or shrinking if you’re not getting any). By installing a repeatable, scalable and proven system that guarantees prospective clients coming to your front door, you can eliminate your worries of where your next customer will come from, no matter what loss of traffic you experience. If you’d like to learn more, just give me a call at (800) 861-3776 or contact me directly.