The digital era has completely transformed the way we do business. Gone are the days where promoting your business simply meant advertising in newspapers or launching a brochure distribution campaign and knocking door-to-door. In these modern times, you can focus on your target audience and research their habits using various analytical software. This also allows you to reverse engineer your campaigns with your starting point being the end goal- the customer. In order to stay relevant, businesses have to keep upgrading themselves and continuously adapt to develop their digital marketing strategies.
In this article, you will learn much more about lead generation and also why it should be at the forefront of your digital marketing plans.
What Is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is defined as the process of attracting and converting prospects into someone who has indicated interest in buying your product or service. It is all about building trust with your audience while educating them about your offerings and expertise along the way. Modern businesses make use of various lead generation strategies such as:
▶ Blogging
▶ Email marketing
▶ Social media marketing
▶ Networking
▶ Coupons
▶ Live events and seminars
▶ Website landing pages
These are just a few strategies that can be used to attract potential customers. Most businesses prefer to stick to what works best for them, as lead generation strategies differ from industry to industry.
For a business to grow, they need customers. Now in order to get those customers, they need to market themselves and attract the attention of the people who may become potential customers. This is why lead generation in digital marketing is so important. Once a lead has been generated, it can then be passed onto the sales team to nurture and then convert those leads into a buyers. From adding a customer’s email to an email newsletter for further follow ups to making phone calls, this can be done in a variety of ways
Due to the advances in technology, there is a lot more that can be done with the information gained from your lead generation and digital marketing efforts. There’s software that can track product demand and customer habits. Trends can also be analyzed which make engaging your potential customer via social media advertisements much more easier.
Tips for Lead Generation
In any given lead generation campaign, there can be a lot of factors that come into play. It can be difficult to tell which factors are working and which of them need some fine-tuning. So, here are a few tips on how to build effective lead generation campaigns:
▶ Use the right lead generation tools
The most successful marketing teams use formal systems to organize and store their leads. That’s where lead generation tools and lead generation software come into play.
Ø How much do you know about the people visiting your website?
Ø Do you know their names or their email addresses?
Ø Which pages have they visited?
These are questions you should be able to answer and you can with the right lead generation tools.
▶ Create intriguing offers for different stages of the buying cycle
Not all of your potential customers are ready to talk to your sales team or have a look at a demo of your product .Make sure you’re creating offers for different phases of the buying journey and offering a ‘Call-To-Action’ or CTA for these offers on your website. It takes time to create valuable content that teaches and nurtures your leads but if you don’t offer anything to visitors who aren’t ready to buy yet, then they may never come back to your website
If you want to take a step further and create a much more personal experience, you can try using ‘Smart CTA’s. Smart CTAs detect where a person is in the buyer’s journey, whether they’re a new visitor, a lead, a customer, etc. and display an appropriate CTA accordingly. Personalized CTAs have a much higher conversion rate as compared to basic CTAs .
▶ Keep your messaging consistent and deliver on your promise
The highest-converting lead generation campaigns are the ones that deliver on what they promise and create a seamless transition from ad copy and design to the delivery. Make sure that you’re projecting a consistent message throughout the process and providing value to everyone that engages with you. Your campaign should be about more than just obtaining an email address-it should be about gaining a new customer.
▶ Link your CTA to a dedicated landing page
This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many marketers don’t create dedicated landing pages for their offers. CTAs are meant to send visitors to a landing page where they can receive specific offers. Do not use a CTA to drive people to your homepage. Even if your CTA is about your product or service, you should still be sending them to a targeted landing page that’s relevant to what they are looking for. If you have the opportunity to use a CTA, send them to a page that will possibly convert them into a lead.
▶ Involve your sales team from the start
Your sales team’s input is also imperative during the process. Your marketing and sales teams need to be aligned on the definitions and the process before you even begin to capture leads. You will also have to be open to evolving your relationship with sales and make sure to keep everyone involved up-to-date. Your definitions will likely need to be refined over time.
▶ Use social media strategically
While marketers think of social media as best for top-of-the-funnel marketing, it can still be a helpful and low-cost source for lead generation as mentioned in the lead generation strategies above. The key is using social media strategically for lead generation. You can start by adding links directly to the landing pages of high-performing offers within your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media posts. You can tell visitors that you’re sending them to a landing page which in turn helps you set expectations.
Another way to generate leads from social media is to run a contest. Contests are fun and engaging for your audiences and they can also teach you much more about them that you don’t know.That makes it a win-win.
▶ Keep re-inventing and constantly iterate
Your lead generation strategy needs to be as dynamic as the people you’re targeting. Trends change, behaviors change, opinions change and so should your lead generation marketing. You can use A/B split testing to see which CTA performs the best, which landing pages convert better and which copy captivates your target audience the most. You can also experiment with layout changes, design, UX, content and advertising channels until you find what works best with the audiences.
Final Thoughts
A good lead generation process has a number of factors, all of which are equally essential in order to attract, nurture and convert leads into customers. You will need to remain open minded about the assumptions you made regarding how to run your lead generation process and constantly be willing to try new approaches along the way. As the marketplace changes, so will your customers and leads.
If used well, lead generation can prove to be a boon in converting prospects into buyers while making the journey memorable and overall, satisfying.
