Marketers often focus most of their attention on design aesthetics, ignoring the many other factors that could turn website visitors into valuable leads. Lead generation is more important than ever, and businesses shouldn’t underestimate the power of web design skills when preparing to invest in a new lead generation website.
Improving conversion rates sounds simple enough, but many marketers struggle with the most basic aspects of lead generation and quality. How do you know what kind of leads you really need? And how do you know if your inbound leads are high quality?
Lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers to a website and collecting relevant information that can be used to convert interest into sales. In short, it’s the fuel that any sales machine runs on. The right lead generation strategy is the differentiator that separates any business from its competitors, so understanding what makes a strategy effective should be a top priority in any industry.
Marketers must adapt to new strategies to differentiate themselves from competitors and cater to a new generation of customers. Here are some new lead generation strategies that could help channel and convert leads into customers.
Create content to attract your audience: Many companies spend most of their time creating a headline and very little on the actual content. You need to understand what content will work for your specific audience. Weak content and good headlines can work in the short term and generate leads, but instead you should think long term and make sure the content is consistent with the quality of everything you do.
Use digital events to collect quality data: Digital events, such as webinars, concerts, and live streams, are now at an all-time high, allowing marketers to drive traffic to their platforms. These events are a unique way to generate leads and collect quality data. Creating engaging digital experiences meets customer needs and captures their attention. Consumers who would otherwise be unwilling to share information are happy to provide an email address and accept cookies when they receive something in return.
The rapidly changing digital world creates unique new opportunities for digital marketers and provides a great opportunity to gather quality data on potential leads. Salesforce is an example of a company that has seen huge success with its digital events. When their event schedule was uprooted, they adapted quickly and as a result, their World Tour virtual event garnered over 1.2 million views on their social media. This is 1.2 million potential leads.
Target niche audiences: Casting a wide net catches the most fish but it is also the most expensive. Identifying a niche audience is a key part of any digital strategy. Target marketing is therefore the key to success as online communities become niche spaces.
Offer value to niche customers in terms of insight and advice, as this will pay dividends in terms of data and trust. Plus, use account-based campaigns to target specific customers with personalized messages. Strengthen your existing relationships and pursue new relationships by integrating account-based campaigns into your digital strategy.
Also, because the walls between personal life and professional life are collapsing, many business people are looking for a more personal touch in their digital strategy. People want to feel like they’re doing business with unique people. Don’t be afraid to show your unique personality through distinctive personal branding and personalized services.
Most importantly, use digital video platforms – it lets customers hear about your business and puts a friendly face on it. Leverage the popularity of platforms such as TikTok and YouTube to deliver personalized and informative content to your audience. In reality, 86% of digital marketers say video has helped them generate leads.
As personal life becomes increasingly centered around the profession, professionals are following TikTok creators, joining Facebook groups and subscribing to industry newsletters. Become a voice in these communities or even consider starting your own digital community.
Marketing emails: Once you have a potential customer’s email address, it’s critical that your marketing materials stand out from the other hundreds of emails people receive every day. Filling your sales funnel with non-convertible data will not meet your needs or those of your customers. Converting this data into leads is therefore the key to successful email marketing.
Email marketing continues to have unparalleled ROI, but email marketing saturation also presents unique challenges. In addition to standard practices like A/B testing and writing compelling subject lines, here are some ways to leverage your marketing emails to generate leads.
Humans are pattern-recognizing machines and it only takes milliseconds for people to register a first impression. Unless your emails can be read in a split second, that means your potential customers are deciding what they think of your marketing materials before they’ve even read a word on screen. Avoid generic formatting; make sure the recipients actually read the email.
Use animated gifs – email marketing with animated gifs has more than double the ROI of one without. What static text gains in clarity, it loses in richness. Finding the right balance between eye-catching and useful means marketers should consider using gifs in their marketing emails.
Personalize the experience – use dynamic content to tailor your email marketing to individual prospects. Remember that people want their needs met, and if your marketing can meet those specific needs, your product will sell itself.
Bring visitors back to your site by retargeting: Retargeting allows marketers to speak to visitors who have left the site. The first thing you need to make sure you do is drop a retargeting cookie. Tools like Adroll are very easy to set up and use. It covers both web retargeting and Facebook retargeting. You can also do web retargeting in your Google AdWords account.
The advantage of retargeting is that you can show different ads based on the pages people have viewed on your site. For example, if they went to the checkout page but didn’t purchase, you can target them with ads that show them a white paper that talks about cutting costs. If they’ve browsed the site generally and viewed 5 pages on the site, you can show them an ad that takes them to general educational content.
If someone has downloaded a PDF for financial companies, you can show them ads explaining how the product works well for financial companies. Or if someone starts a free trial, you can target them during the 14-day free trial period with content aimed at converting them into a paying customer.
Offer a live chat service: Live chat services are increasingly sophisticated and most consumers expect them when visiting a site. This could be a major lead generator, so businesses should install a live chat tool on the pages where customers need the most support or information. It also allows marketers to collect and save information about their product needs.
One can integrate the customer service team with the live chat feature, ensuring that every visitor has their needs met, no matter where the conversation is taking place.
Unleash your digital potential: Look for companies that offer a range of products and plans to enable you to deliver winning digital experiences to your potential prospects and help you take your customers’ digital experience to the next level.
Nick Durrant is the Managing Director of Bluegrass Digital, a provider of digital solutions for businesses.
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