Lead generation is essential for business, that’s a given. But this doesn’t just mean generating a lot of leads. What you need are ways to get more quality leads and increase conversion.
You’re probably putting a lot of time and effort into lead generation. But if you’re still failing to get promising leads, it’s time to reassess your tactics.
The quantity of your leads irrelevant if they're not the kind who will convert. #lead-qualityClick To Tweet
As is often said, change is the only constant in business. The ability to adapt to market changes and capitalize on them is key to business growth. When it comes to your lead generation tactics, you have to be smart, creative and flexible. Let us look at a couple of things that may be undermining your efforts to generate quality leads.
1. Your website is not optimized for lead generation
Your website can be a potent lead generator. But it has to be carefully designed and maintained. If your site is failing to generate leads, you’re not doing something right.
Is your website keeping up with time? Design is important, so don’t go for a generic or outdated look. Make it attractive and unique.
Keep your registration forms simple, with a few qualifying questions. If you make the process too complicated, people are likely to abandon it.
Include a toll-free number beside the registration form. Some of your visitors may be ready to buy immediately. In this case, conversation with a knowledgeable support agent can speed up conversion.
Don’t neglect the importance of search engine optimization. The purpose of SEO is to drive traffic to your site by increasing its search ranking. It makes it easier for people to find you by matching your content to their online searches.
To attract prospects, you need to identify the right keywords for your SEO campaigns. Use high search volume, high relevance and low competition as keyword defining criteria.
Keywords aside, remember to make your content attractive and educational. Post frequently to keep the content fresh and maintain good SEO ranking. Write your content with your audience in mind. Think helpful and relevant.
2. Your sales and marketing teams work separately
Allowing this to happen will result in a leaky sales process and loss of revenue. Generating quality leads and closing sales must be a joint effort.
Despite the difference in functions, both teams need to be fully aligned. This includes their goals, strategic approach, access to data, metrics, and accountability.
In practice, disagreements and underrating of each other’s roles happens often. Marketing people are more analytical. They base their decisions on data and stats. They keep their focus on future trends and the competition. Sales teams are focused on closing the sale and addressing customer needs.
Lack of interdepartmental cooperation inevitably creates frustration, conflict, and ultimately poor outcomes.
As a business owner, your job is to ensure both teams function together. Their relationship should be clearly defined so they can work in sync.
Sales teams gather valuable prospect data that marketing can use in lead generation strategies. Encourage them to talk about their processes and objectives and to plan together. This includes lead definition, marketing campaigns, advertising material, content, landing pages and more.
3. You’re not a fan of blogs and social media
Media diversity is key to good lead generation. Spread your efforts across multiple channels to find out which ones are best for your business.
Social media are a powerful marketing tool. Granted, it’s a bit difficult to quantify their contribution in terms of ROI. But they do deserve a place in your marketing strategy.
If you're not utilizing blogs and social media, you don't really have an 'internet marketing strategy'.Click To TweetSocial networks help foster relationships with prospects and customers. They can also be effectively used to generate leads and increase conversion rates.
People spend huge amounts of time on social media, far more than they interact face to face. This gives you an opportunity to engage your target audience and turn them into leads.
Of course, you need to choose the right social network for your business. Facebook would seem like the first choice, due to the massive user base. Still, for B2B and B2C LinkedIn appears to be the most effective lead generator. Traffic from LinkedIn generates the highest visitor to lead conversion rates.
Don’t forget the importance of blogging. Blogs boost your online presence, help you attract visitors and stimulate conversions. Your blog can be a place where people can read about their concerns and find solutions to their problems. Your posts should portray you as knowledgeable, competent and helpful. An active blog can also do wonders for brand promotion.
4. You’re overlooking the importance of email marketing
Email marketing is powerful. It’s also easy on time and resources. As a targeted marketing tactic, it helps you segment your audience for lead generation and nurturing. You can do it by demographics, location, behavior, lead status and more. This way you can create customized campaigns with the right content for their needs.
Delivering useful content on a regular basis will help you create a relationship of trust. It will also increase brand awareness. Above all, email marketing is easy to track, allowing you to measure your campaign success.
So, are you ready to give email marketing a go? Emercury’s email marketing solution is just what you need. And don’t worry if you’re completely new to this approach. The platform is super easy to master. You’ll have your first marketing campaign up and running in no time.
Emercury offers real-time stats on delivery rates, subscriber retention, bounces, complaints and unsubscribes. And knowing what your audience responds to will help you fine-tune your future campaigns.
5. Your marketing tactics belong in the past
Times are changing, learn to roll with them. There are several old habits that will likely cost you leads if you insist on relying on them.
Trade shows are not the best place to generate leads. Nowadays, people do their pre-purchase research online and already know what they want. Not to mention the costs of setting up the display, organization, and travel.
The company-centered marketing approach no longer works. Billboards, TV commercials and print ads are losing power.
It takes a lot of resources to plan, design and execute traditional advertising campaigns
Without the ability to collect data and set metrics, you can’t measure campaign success. There’s no way to know if your efforts generated leads or revenue.
People spend way more time in front of digital devices than they do watching TV or reading a paper.
Traditional marketing puts the brand in the spotlight, not the consumer. On the other hand, as users become more tech-savvy, their understanding of the market increases. So do their expectations.
To get quality leads, you have to abandon those traditional ways
It’s time to let go of strategies that haven’t worked in a long time and enter the era of relationship-driven marketing. This novel form of marketing places the main emphasis on customer satisfaction and retention.
As a major player in this new league, native advertising is gaining momentum fast. It’s one of the best ways to generate leads and promote trust and engagement.
Unlike traditional display ads and banners, native ads are subtle by design. They don’t scream for attention or disrupt the user experience. Instead, they naturally blend into the surrounding content.
In fact, native ads are twice as likely to be shared and looked at than banner ads. Due to the higher viewing rates, they increase engagement and conversion.
Placing native ads into someone else’s newsletter is an effective lead generation tactic. In essence, you reap the benefits of an active relationship between your target audience and the publisher.
Of course, to be noticed and acted upon, your native ads must find their way to the right newsletter. But how can you ensure the best placement every time?
Enter Admailr, the best solution for native ad placement. Admailr makes it easy to reach your target audience. Just place your native ad into the Admailr UI and set the type of campaign, parameters, and budget. Then, let Admailr work its magic and find the perfect placement every time.