Lead generation is a top priority for many small businesses. But you may be overwhelmed with day-to-day operations, making adding lead generation to your to-do list seem unattainable.
The good news is that when lead generation is optimized, it doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. Many tactics and tools can help you master your lead generation, no matter your business size or niche.
In this guide, we share five proven tactics that have helped our clients (and our business) generate quality leads who are ready to buy.
But…before you start!
Before you can create your lead generation plan, you need the following:
- Analytics: You need to have basic analytics set up to track prospect behaviour across your digital properties and “tag” leads to monitor as they go from the discovery of your business to being ready to buy. This may include website analytics (like Google) and analytics built into your social media channels and email marketing platform.
- Goals: It’s important to know how many leads you want (or can handle). A goal could be to sign two premium package clients and do five one-time consultation projects every month. Set a realistic goal that’s only slightly out of reach but within your capacity to fulfill should it come true.
- CRM or lead capture tools: You must have a way to capture leads and add them to your marketing database. This could be through CRM software (like Hubspot) or a lead management tool (like campaign landing pages from Unbounce).
Once you’re ready, begin attracting and nurturing your leads using these tactics and tips:
Personalize and segment your marketing
In today’s AI and mass production world, having something personalized to a lead’s needs makes them more likely to buy. Look for opportunities to personalize the content they see online (through retargeting ads) and in your communications (such as using segmentation in your email marketing database).
According to the email marketing experts at Constant Contact, 64% of marketers send personalized emails by segment. This means they’re sending content that’s catered to their subscriber’s demographics (including location-based content) or based on their preferences (current customers or customers who have not purchased yet, how often they purchase…etc).
The key to successful lead generation is meeting your leads where they are and giving them what they’re looking for. You can personalize your content, offerings, and calls to action to meet these needs. This not only helps you nurture quality leads but also builds trust in your brand (an essential element to making a successful sale).
Nurture leads
Do you know your business’s typical customer’s lead cycle? For most businesses, it requires 8-20 or more touchpoints (times customers see or interact with your business in person or online) before they’re ready to make their buying decision. To achieve these many touchpoints, you must capture leads early and nurture them until they become hot leads (i.e., prepared to buy).
You can nurture them by identifying them in their first few touch points, creating and delivering the content they need to make buying decisions, and personalizing it based on their behaviour or demographic.
Remember, just because someone isn’t ready to buy now doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. Stay top-of-mind so you’re the business they think of when they’re ready to make a purchase.
Create valuable content
Quality over quantity. Your lead nurturing process will include many touch points requiring different types of content. Consider the buying process of your typical customer and the marketing funnel, and create content to guide them along this journey.
Valuable content for lead nurturing may include:
- Lead magnets (digital freebies for signing up for your mailing list — a great entry point for a new lead)
- Engaging social posts (interacting with your customers)
- Hosting webinars (or participating as a thought leader panellist for other events)
- Newsletters (regular communications and valuable content from your business directly in their inboxes)
- Blog articles (educating your customers about your niche, perspective, and specialty)
Fun stat: Did you know that companies with blogs produce about 67% more leads than companies who don’t blog regularly? It’s true (which is why blog ghostwriting is a core picnic social service).
Partner with complementary businesses
Co-branded marketing can have great reciprocal benefits. Look for businesses that share the same customer base and work together to plan a marketing campaign or referral program to benefit both companies. You can reach their nurtured audience, and they can reach yours.
Consider running co-branded online contests or offer packages that include offerings or products from both companies. This lead nurturing strategy can be a great way to extend your lead database to new leads.
Never leave them wanting…with a call to action
The biggest lead generation mistake we see people making is producing lots of great content without calls to action. After someone reads your blog post or email newsletter, give them something else to do or somewhere to continue interacting with your content.
Without relevant calls to action (hyperlinks in online content), your leads may read your content and then get on with their lives. Measuring the effectiveness of your calls to action can help you determine whether your content resonates with your leads or if you need to change it to better meet their needs.
Never leave them hunting for the next opportunity to engage with your brand. Nurture them with relevant, natural calls to action (think to yourself, “What’s the next thing they need to know or do to move towards a buying decision?”).
Finally…Monitor and revise to optimize
As with any digital marketing strategy, your lead generation strategy requires monitoring to ensure it’s working to generate successful leads for your business. Track and analyze your lead generation analytics and ask customers for feedback about what leads them to buy from you. Make changes over time to optimize this process and customize it to your prospects’ needs.
Creating content for a lead generation campaign can feel overwhelming if you don’t have a clear plan. picnic social can help you create a marketing roadmap to help you target the right people, at the right time, with the right content. Then, we can help you create that content, whether it’s quality blog posts, engaging social posts, newsletters, or paid ad campaigns that convert.
Erica would love to chat with you about how we can help you generate consistent leads for your business. Book your complimentary consultation today.
