I feel you. Lead generation has got to be one of the most stressful elements of being in business. It’s a trade-off too between quantity and quality – too many leads means too many unqualified buyers who need lots of persuasion – but at the same time, you need enough leads to grow your business.
To improve your marketing efforts, here are some proven lead generation tips:
- Before you pay for a single ad… before you post your first blog – Know your target audience!
You must know how they speak, where they hang out, and use the format that they like to receive information (Social media? Email? Printed brochures?). Create a marketing persona (a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer and ‘speak’ to that ONE persona rather than to everyone.
- Have a strong call to action.
You would be shocked to learn how much social media and content marketing gives the reader information, but no instructions on what to do.
What do you want? A site visit? Their contact information? A sale?
Always tell your viewers what you want them to do – help them buy from you! This is especially important in your blog. Remember to include a call-to-action to give your visitors a chance to interact with you! Too many blogs don’t even try to convert, meaning too many missed opportunities.
- Make sure your focus is on engagement, not on lead generation.
Your content has to stand on its own. Make it useful. Offer valuable content without worrying about giving too much away. “Wow” content gets shared, noticed and acted on!
- First fix your conversion rate and then work on getting more traffic.
You only have ONE chance to make a great first impression and if you have thousands of people visiting your site but they are all turned off by something, it’s worse than if you have one person who visits, loves what you do, and buys. Test, test, and test some more until you are converting well – and only then focus on spreading the word.
- See the world through the eyes of your customers.
What captures your attention? We are all inundated by marketing messages that don’t add anything to our lives (“buy this!”) so to grab their attention, add value.
- Engage your employees.
They are the face of your business, and they must share your passion and vision, so they can be involved with generating new leads. There is no reason why your receptionist, customer service representatives or administrative support staff cannot ask customers, vendors and suppliers if they know people who might be interested in the company’s product/service.
- You do not have to pay for leads.
You can generate leads through an engaging social media presence, cold calling, article marketing, referrals, networking, and through the power of testimonials. Treat your customers like gold, and they will do your lead generating for you!
If you follow these seven steps, chances are you will increase your chances of generating quality leads and nurturing them through the sales process. We live in a hyper-connected, content-rich world so it’s important to stand out from the crowd by focusing on the one thing that is the basis for the steps you just read: HOW MAY I SERVE YOU?