So, you want to reach new potential customers for your business.
Maybe you want to build your email list or make more sales. No matter your goal, the first step is to identify and cultivate those potential customers for your products or services. This is called lead generation – the initiation of customer interest in your products and services.
Lead generation can be the result of a new marketing campaign designed to spark customer engagement. Here are the top four tips to ensure successful lead generation.
1. Differences Between Inbound and Outbound Lead Generation
There are two types of lead generation marketing: inbound and outbound lead generation. While both channels have the ultimate goal of generating leads for your business, each is a bit different.
Outbound lead generation creates leads through motivated efforts to build and reach your audience. Print advertisements, billboards, lead lists and pay per click marketing efforts can be utilized to create leads.
Inbound lead generation involves attracting leads through online content. A website or blog can be optimized for search engine optimization (SEO), such as implementing keywords, title tags, and metadata. Content that can easily be discovered and digested is a way to generate primarily organic leads.
Gavin utilized both inbound and outbound lead generation in an integrated marketing campaign for Porter and Chester Institute (PCI). Gavin’s work shifted public perception, built brand credibility, and promoted student enrollment. Using search habits and social media tools, PCI garnered 91,000,000 media impressions resulting in $312,000 in media equivalency value in publicity.
Knowing the type of lead generation that will aid your business is essential to begin the lead generation process.
2. Get Inspired with Lead Generation Ideas
Now that you’ve identified the best ways to reach your customers, it’s time to execute your lead generation marketing strategy. But what content is best to attract and engage potential customers?
Some examples of popular content to successfully generate leads:
- Product videos that inspire the customer to take action. 65 percent of people identify as visual learners, and a short video that grabs the customer’s attention and concisely explains your goal can increase leads up to 33 percent.
- Pop-up forms that appear when a customer enters a website or triggers a certain page. These can be used to collect emails and connect with a potential customer.
- Updating your blog on a consistent basis. We realize content creation can take time, but it pays off. When you consistently update your blog with fresh, optimized, and relevant content, you increase the opportunities for organic traffic interaction on your website.
Social media content that is accessible and targeted. Targeting your desired audiences with content on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can push widespread lead generation.
3. Improve Lead Generation by Knowing Your Customer
Classifying your leads can give you the insight you need into what kind of lead generation is most useful for you. Picture a sales funnel: potential customers who know nothing about your business are at the wide top brim of your funnel, narrowing down to those who are aware of your business in the middle of the funnel.
At the bottom are potential customers who are familiar with your brand, as well as those who may already be customers.
Leads at the top of the funnel need brand awareness. This may involve crafting a conversation about your offerings and operating sphere, without outright selling your product.
The goal here is to initiate brand recognition and interest. Leads at the middle of the funnel know what you do but need engagement to push them to become customers. Leads at the bottom of the funnel are already educated in your business and your products, but now is the time to promote your offerings directly and clearly to them.
4. Test Your Campaign to Determine Lead Generation Success
Congratulations! You’ve successfully developed a campaign to promote lead generation. But it doesn’t stop here. By implementing A/B testing to gauge what campaign aspects are garnering leads (and which ones aren’t), you can fine-tune your campaign to draw in the most leads possible.
An A/B test compares your current approach and your new approach to see which one performs better. By assessing which approach had the bigger payoff, you can fine-tune your campaign.
Lead generation can be trial and error. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you
