Alex Morris
Lead generation is one of the buzzwords of the moment in digital marketing and with good reason – last year it generated £16.5 billion in revenue from consumers in the UK alone.
The likes of interruption based marketing, directionless email campaigns, and anything spammy are falling out of favour. Permission marketing (as coined by Seth Godin) has come to the fore and this is what makes lead generation such a successful marketing technique. It laser targets individuals proactively searching for a specific service, providing quality, relevant enquiries who will boost a businesses’ conversion rates.
A rapidly increasing amount of businesses are now taking advantage of lead generation, so here are 9 techniques to ensure your business has its campaign perfectly honed.
1. Perform Extensive Market Research
Understand who your audience is with some insightful prospect research. Through this your lead generation will be as targeted as possible – all your subsequent efforts will then ensure prospects are relevant, of high quality, and are more likely to convert.
2. Monitor The Customer Journey
After your market research it’s wise to understand what your customers are doing when they visit your site. It’s key to knowing how you can influence them as part of your campaign, so draw all the data you can from software such as Google Analytics for insight into what they’re up to. From there you can tailor your scheme around this knowledge.
3. Take Advantage Of Re-Targeting
Display re-targeting lets your business laser target prospects who have shown an interest in your services. Re-targeting them allows ads to effectively follow them around as they continue browsing, providing subtle reminders about your company. It’s important to note it is a subtle tactic, making it a marketing technique which can win conversions without irritating your target audience.
4. Use Plenty Of Forms
All it takes is a simple form and prospects can be sending enquiries. Forms usually work at their best as lead generators when they’re concise and provide CTAs, such as mentioning the service you’re offering is free. They should also be easy to fill out and easy to complete within a few minutes.
Some experts suggest it may even be a good idea to have a form on every page of a site, although this is best left to your judgement. Often, key landing pages will suffice.
5. Setup Real-Time Delivery & Follow Up ASAP
A simple tip but one which can be overlooked – make sure enquiries are delivered to you in real-time for the perfect conversion opportunity.
Follow up leads as quickly as possible. A delay of a few hours can leave prospects losing interest in your services, so speed displays focus and a desire to make the enquiry work.
6. Personalise Your Campaign With Quality Content
Due to social media, and changing attitudes towards businesses, consumers have come to enjoy a degree of personalisation when communicating with brands. This is where having strong content comes in useful as it can connect with your audience on an emotional level, so get you copywriter to write something compelling!
7. Save Time With A Few Nifty Techniques
You can utilise paid online ads to really make lead generation work. On top of this, once you’ve had conversions, get customer referrals to further promote your company’s credibility.
Other time saving measures include making sure your contact information is visible all across your site. This can be enforced further by offering a Live Chat feature for engagement opportunities. It shows you’re easy to contact, eager to be contacted, and you’re being attentive to the needs of prospects.
8. Use Google AdWords To Build Your Reputation
Get your in-house team to setup a PPC campaign to make your lead generation campaign a high converting machine. A PPC management service can help you along as well, should you be lacking an in-house team, which is a good point to help round out this list.
9. Choose A Reputable Company
If you’re not using an in-house marketing team ensure you choose a digital marketing agency with clout. Lead generation techniques can vary in quality which makes it important to head to expert digital marketers if you’re outsourcing for leads.
Quality lead generation services typically provide leads in real-time through a bespoke (or industry leading) CMS. Leads will be offered to you with 100% exclusivity, you’ll likely receive a dedicated account manager, and there will be a lead rejection policy to keep your campaign running smoothly and fairly.
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