Generating leads is the number 1 concern of most businesses. This is especially true if you rely exclusively on organic search traffic. Which seems to be the case lately, based on my client-first experience. Fortunately there are a few great tools that can help you speed up the lead generation process, even without any paid advertising.
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I presume you already know lead generation is no longer a walk in the park. That it is now highly competitive and takes some solid strategy to get to the stage of generating incredible leads and eventually customers. If that’s not enough, you only have limited time and resources with which to do this.
You might read a lot of articles, watch videos and attend seminars all about generating leads. You probably like the idea of making money from home and avoid leaving your house or office. But, if you are just starting out, it can be confusing to determine which method is best for you. There are many methods to generate leads. Some will work best for you but others won’t. If you choose the wrong method, you may waste time and money and receive no results.
What is a sales lead?
Sales leads are the life blood of sales teams. A lead can be either a person or company who you hope to win as a future customer for your service or product.
What is a warm lead?
This is where a person or company has indicated interest in your company’s service or product
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is the process of sourcing sales leads e.g. buying lists. For companies heavily focus on inbound, it is the creation of awareness and the initiation of a person or company’s interest into your company’s product or service.
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are one of the best ways to drive leads. If you’re willing to “pay to play,” you have access to specific targeting options, including age, location, interests, and more.
To make your ads successful, and drive qualified leads, use best practices and follow your data. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you create your first Facebook ad:
- The ad should be closely related to the content people are clicking through to. If there’s any confusion, people are more likely to click away, assuming there was a mistake.
- Use eye-catching, bright colors, rather than blues or whites. The latter tends to blend in with Facebook’s branding, suggests James Scherer of Wishpond.
- Run your first ad based on a “lookalike audience,” which uses your list of imported customers to find similar Facebook users.
- Know the difference between CPM (cost per impressions) versus CPC (cost per clicks). Read through Facebook’s guide on this before choosing one or the other.
Personalized email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to drive leads, especially when your emails are personalized to the person receiving it.
A study by Experian found that personalized emails generated up to six times higher revenue than non-personalized emails and campaigns.
Use your email platform to personalize your email greeting to include the recipient’s name. Group your contacts by name location, purchase history, or expressed interests.
This small touch can help you drive more leads while building brand loyalty with potential customers.
As you begin sending emails, it’s important to track your success. This allows you to test, modify and evolve, driving more leads with each send. Compare your open and click rates to the average for your industry, as well, to determine if you’re on par or behind.
Don’t forget to check where people are clicking within the email itself. If you place links in more than one place in your email — which you should to increase total clicks — track which ones are being clicked more often. Learning your subscribers’ habits allows you to be more effective.
Discounts and coupons
To drive leads with discounts and coupons, focus on “new customer coupons.” In a 2016 CouponBox survey, 75 percent of retailers polled said this was the best coupon/discount for increasing long-term revenue.
Once you’ve created your deal or coupon, it’s time to distribute — you can’t expect customers to find these discounts and deals themselves.
Share with current and future customers via all your online platforms, including social media and email.
If possible, create a banner ad or pop-up for your website as well, enticing potential customers to buy right then and there.
If direct mailing is part of your marketing budget, use this as a way to distribute discounts and coupons as well.
High-value content
Content is a great way to build search engine optimization for your website, show your knowledge as a business, and generate leads.
The first step in using content as a lead-driving tool is to remember that this term encompasses more than just blog posts. Content could be an ebook, guide, white paper, graphic, in-depth study, or video.
The content is then gated, so potential customers give you their contact information in exchange for access to it.
To make the most of this content, consider how you can make it most valuable and targeted.
For example, if your ideal customer is in the healthcare industry, create a piece of content for healthcare leaders. Learn about this audience, write about a topic that you’ve found to be most important to them, and in a format they prefer (I.E. ebook versus white paper) and then promote it accordingly.
eBooks
These work great for B2B companies or a business that works in a very technical space, as people love to read and gain expertise about their industry. Make sure you don’t promote your services or products. People don’t want to be sold, they want to be informed. So write it from a neutral perspective and give actionable insights. Share the eBook socially and ask your network to share it for you.
You’ll want to ensure that you have a landing page set up that requires visitors to input their name, email and phone number for a chance to download the eBook. Pages like this can be built easily with tools like Unbounce.
Newsletter
Do you have a newsletter yet? If not, you’re missing out on one of the simplest way to generate more leads. Make sure you put a newsletter sign up in every possible place that makes sense on your website.
With these newsletter, not only do you have a captive audience (people have to opt-in to your newsletter) but email pathways are a great way to avoid getting lost in all the Internet noise. Again, don’t make it all about you. Instead, share with your contacts your insights, recent wins you created for your customers and industry news.
Blog
Having a blog is one of the best lead generating tools you can use, as it not only allows a company (or person) complete control of what is said but also an opportunity to have the undivided attention of the reader. Make sure that your blog is optimized to generate leads by having a sign-up section for your newsletter and by using the margins to promote your products and services. And I feel like a broken record, but don’t make the blog all about you! Give real value.
Twitter is a dream for generating leads. Use it to reach out to influencers in your industry and get into conversations with them. Their followers, who are probably some of your potential customers, will see your interactions and follow you or visit your site. You can also follow trending subjects that pertain to your business and interject your thoughts into the general discussion by using the # symbol. For instance, if you are in the mobile world, you may use #iphone to find and eventually get leads.
Networking events
While a lot of action happens in the digital world, the real world still provides a lot of advantages — especially networking events. Even events that didn’t directly pertain to my business have provided me with some of the most valuable contacts and leads. You’ll meet more people, expand your network and gain referrals. Plus, it’s a great way to build your brand. Make sure to bring business cards and don’t be afraid to ask the people you meet for their patronage.
Develop an engaging video
Please don’t produce another terrible commercial and post it on YouTube. The world doesn’t need any more of these. What people always want more of is entertainment. So, spend some time on developing a great idea that promotes your business and engages your customers. Once you’ve uploaded the video, you can get the ball rolling on making it go viral by using services like StumbleUpon to drive traffic to your video for pennies per viewer. Video sites like YouTube allow you to put links directly into the video. Use these to link back to specific landing pages on your website.
Webinars
Webinars are an inexpensive way to get your message to thousands of potential customers. There are many services that allow you to broadcast a webinar quickly and easily. And if you make it a recurring event, you’ll continue to grow your following. So, come up with a great idea that helps your customers and promote it using social media, your network and your newsletter.
At the end of the webinar, feel free to ask the attendees to download an eBook, sign up for your newsletter, or visit your site. This will bring the leads flowing in.
Media coverage
Do you know what journalists hate? Being hit up by dozens of PR agencies hour after hour, day after day. Do you know what journalists hate a little less? Having an owner of a company reach out to them and tell their story in a real and authentic manner. In fact, your chances of being covered go up significantly if you do the reach out yourself (as long as your pitch is on point). A few tips regarding reaching out to journalists: Don’t mass email them, do not open with “to whom it may concern” and don’t pester them (one follow up email is sufficient).
By getting your name out in the media, you begin to develop a following, increase your personal brand and come off as an expert in your domain – all that can help you get leads.
Strong branding
Customers love authentic companies. They like it when a company has a strong and clear message and that message is consistent across all of their marketing platforms. So, don’t try and be everything to everyone. Customers want the experts and the company that is the best in their industry. Focus on communicating that through your branding and your conversion rates will go up, resulting in more leads.
What does MQL vs SQL mean?
A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) is a sales lead whose engagement levels suggest that he is likely to become a customer.
In terms of your website, this could be a visitor who has demonstrated interest in your website’s content. This could be the visitor has filled out a web form, have downloaded content, have signed up for a newsletter or filled up the shopping cart and then left the site. Each type of interaction is assigned a lead score, a metric that is intended to help sales and marketing personnel determine where the visitor is in the buying cycle. If the potential customer is early in the buying cycle, it is usually the marketing department’s job to nurture the lead.
MQL differs to Sales Qualified Leads (SQL). SQLs often indicate immediate interest in a company’s products or services, and a best practice is for a sales representative to act on an SQL within the first 24 hours of discovery This could be a customer signing up for a trial of your platform. MQLs, by contrast, are leads of more general interest that may require more education and follow-up to be converted into sales opportunities.
Conclusion
There is a huge amount of business online that is being transacted. In fact, the internet has turned out to be one of the biggest sources of income and business. Hardly any business can even exist without a strong online presence. That’s why we as marketers, need to continually think about ways to gain more profit and clientele from the ever-expanding customer base, thanks to the internet.
With thousands of businesses now putting content into the internet for their prospects and customers to read, your gain is going to be far easier than you could have imagined. We have experts that can help you define the best way to generate leads. And we can also teach you the fastest ways to generate leads and get your business off the ground while also supporting it with a high rate of conversions, too!