Lead Generation Strategies to Grow Your Business
If you want to grow your business and earn more revenue, you need to attract and convert new leads.
In this guide, we’ll take an in-depth look at the lead generation process and some tips you can use to improve your lead generation strategy today.
What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the process of finding and attracting qualified potential customers to your business. A “lead” is a potential customer who is interested in buying from you.
Once you’ve earned a lead, you then give them the information they need to eventually buy from you.
This is also known as moving them through your “sales funnel.”
The Importance of Lead Generation
Today, most customers research products and services online before they ever speak to a salesperson. And they are really good at tuning out unwanted marketing messages.
This means that businesses need an online presence to attract potential customers, and marketers have to find innovative ways to reach new leads.
Instead of relying on traditional marketing tactics like cold calling, billboards, and mass emails, lead generation lets you target potential customers that want to buy from your industry, but haven’t decided where to buy yet.
That ensures you only spend your marketing budget on people who are most likely to become new customers, which gives you a better return on investment (ROI) and helps you grow.
Lead Generation Process
Next, we’ll take a look at each step of the lead generation process.
Lead Acquisition and Qualification
First, you need to find prospective customers and capture their attention.
You can do this by creating high-quality content that answers common questions about your industry. That helps your site rank well in search engines like Google, and it shows customers that your business is a reliable source of information. Be sure to highlight your unique selling proposition, and encourage leads to choose your business by including clear calls-to-action (CTAs) that direct them on what to do next.
For instance, if you’re a florist, you could create an infographic or video tutorial about how to arrange bouquets. You could also write a blog post about using flowers to decorate an office for each season.
You can also require people to give you their email addresses to access your best content, like a purchasing guide.
In order to determine the value of leads, you can set up buyer personas — detailed profiles of your ideal customers’ jobs, incomes, and goals.
You also need to know the difference between interest and intent. In other words, are people browsing your website to research their options or are they actually ready to buy? This will help you determine if they’re ready to take the next step toward becoming a customer.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing ensures that you deliver the right information to the right people at the right times. And it ultimately helps you establish lasting relationships with customers.
It’s important to remember that not everyone is going to be ready to buy when they first hear about your business. In fact, 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to make a purchase.
By establishing relationships with your most qualified prospects, you can move them through the sales funnel and ultimately encourage them to purchase your products and services.
You will need to understand your leads’ interests, goals, and objectives. Then, if someone fits one of your personas, you can give them targeted information based on their needs and interests.
Lead Generation Strategies
Next, we’ll take a look at some lead generation strategies to reach new customers and grow your business.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization, also called SEO, is the process of improving your website to make it show up in search engines for keywords related to your business.
Did you know that the top five listings in Google’s organic search results receive around 68% of all clicks, while results from six to 10 receive only 4%?
SEO ensures your site shows up in those top results when potential customers search for terms related to your business driving more clicks, views, and revenue.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising lets you pay to show your company’s ads to qualified groups of social media or search engine users.
In Google AdWords, the most popular PPC platform, you choose which keywords you want to trigger your advertisements.
For example, if you are an event planner, you may want your ads to display when people search for “event planner in [your city].” This means that the people who click on that ad are already interested in the products and services you provide, making them great leads.
PPC advertising is also cost-effective, and you won’t pay a cent if nobody clicks on your ads.
One of the main benefits of PPC advertising is that you don’t have to wait for results. As soon as you start an ad campaign, it starts showing up in search results.
So if you’re looking to quickly boost traffic to your site, PPC is a great option.
Content Marketing
Content is the foundation of your lead nurturing strategy. Content marketing is the process of creating everything on your site, including blog posts, videos, ebooks, and marketing guides.
By creating and publishing content online, you create awareness of your business, educate your target audience, and encourage your audience to convert into leads.
Stellar content sets you apart from competitors and establishes your company as a leader in your field. This ultimately earns you the trust of potential customers and develops relationships with them.
You can start by optimizing the content on your website. First, you’ll need to do some keyword research to discover what terms people are searching for when looking for your products and services online.
Then, you can decide what kind of content to pursue for a certain topic, whether it be a blog post, article, video, or graphic. Remember, not everyone prefers the same type of content. Some people are visual learners, while others learn best by listening to podcasts and watching videos. This is why it’s important to have a mix of content that appeals to different people.
You can also create a blog to post additional information about your industry or recent news. For example, you can post about the latest trends in your industry, promote a new product or service, and highlight your company’s culture. All of these things will help you establish trust with customers and show them you’re an authority in your industry.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to keep in contact with your leads, provide them with important updates about your company, and encourage them to convert into customers.
With email marketing, you can reach your leads right in their inboxes with personalized information based on their interests.
For example, if someone enters their email address to download an ebook, you can follow up with more helpful information on the topic and encourage them to contact a salesperson.
Encourage people to sign up for emails on your landing pages, blog, and social media. Then, after you compile an email list, you can segment and target customers, focusing the most energy on the leads that are most likely to convert.
You can also include special offers, promotions, and discounts in your email campaigns that encourage customers to learn more about your business and buy. Include links in your emails, and set up custom landing pages where people can enter their information. Using your email platform’s analytics, you can track who clicked to learn more about your promotion.
Social Media
Social media allows you to directly interact with prospects.
It also allows you to increase awareness and buzz about your brand as people interact with you online.
To start, create profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. YouTube is also a great place to post videos that highlight your business and provide an inside look at your company.
If people have questions about your business, they can ask directly on social media, and you can provide prompt answers to build relationships with them.
You can also create ads on social media sites that are specifically designed to help you acquire new leads. When people click on the CTA button, they are directed to a lead form where they can enter their information.
This is also a great way to promote gated content. For example, if you want to promote a new product, you can create a social media ad and hyper-target your audience by selecting age range, gender, location, occupation, and interests.
Webinars
You can also consider hosting webinars to generate new leads for your business.
Webinars are cost-effective alternatives to in-person events. They allow you to showcase your business, answer common questions, and even pitch large groups of potential customers.
Engaging, informative webinars allow you to quickly turn prospects into leads and provide them with the information they need to become paying customers. And if people registered but were not able to attend your webinar, you can send them a link to the recording.
Generate More Leads for your Business
Next, we’ll take a look at some tips you can implement today to start earning more qualified leads for your business.
Claim Local Business Listings
In order for new leads to find your business, you need to develop a consistent presence across the Internet.
You can start by claiming your local business listings on major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Then, do a quick search for your business, and review the first few pages of results to determine if your business is listed on other websites you haven’t yet claimed.
Claiming your listings shows potential customers that you’re open for business, and you can include important information such as your business hours, phone number, and directions.
Guest Post on Blogs
Guest posting on other blogs allows you to tap into their audience and get your message in front of more people.
You can start by reaching out to industry influencers and bloggers in your niche to see if they are willing to let you post on their blogs. This is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate new leads. In addition to creating guest posts, you can comment on other blogs to get your name in front of potential leads.
If you have a blog, you can also invite people to guest post on your site. Then, they can promote the content to their audience and send more people to your blog.
Optimize for Mobile
Today, more people are using their smartphones to access your web content, and you need to make sure it’s optimized to display on mobile devices.
Filling out forms is sometimes difficult on mobile devices. Make sure that you limit the number of fields in your forms, and make it as easy as possible for potential customers to input their information. For example, you can use progressive profiling forms that allow you to automatically fill out fields with information the user provided during their last visit.
You will also want to include clickable phone numbers that allow potential customers to easily contact your business without having to memorize or copy and paste your number.
Create a Strong Brand
People love authentic companies.
If you want to attract and convert more leads, it’s important that you create a strong message and remain consistent across all marketing platforms. Don’t forget to communicate what makes your business unique and why customers should choose to purchase your products or services.
This will help to get people excited about your company and make them feel more confident in their decision to do business with you.
Developing a strong brand identity can help you attract more leads and boost conversion rates, resulting in more revenue for your company.
Learn More About Lead Generation
Interested in learning more about how lead generation can boost your website traffic and revenue?
We understand how to help your business attract and engage qualified prospects online.
Contact us today to speak with one of our lead generation experts and receive a free quote.
