The main domain of marketing is Lead Generation. Building marketing strategies is not an easy go-to task and even not in the capability of every business employee.
This is the reason why a number of companies have to outsource marketing elements like SEO, SMM, PPC, inbound & email marketing, SEM, etc. Each of the mentioned marketing elements requires ample inputs.
Lead Generation has been seen as a challenge for years. Though difficult, there are certain ways to improve lead generation.
In the transformed marketing style, being found by the customers is the challenging mission replacing the traditional way of self-finding the customers.
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Lead generation is one of the important factors to grow your business. In recent years, the marketing process has changed much.
Earlier the marketers used to mass target the customer by sending emails and messages but now they attract customers through their online marketing skills where the relevant users visit their website and show their interest by signing in and registering. This helps marketers realize their right customers.
The funda of lead generation lies on one statement, i.e, searching for more ways to get more people attracted to your website.
What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the way through which you attract customers through your optimal online marketing skills. It is all about getting your website eye-appealing to catch more eyeballs, the ultimate goal is to get the customer’s information and target the right people at the right time.
Lead generation makes use of digital platforms like social media and online ads to get self-directed buyers.
Lead generation is seen as a challenging goal to achieve. The main reason is the abundance of information. There was a time when there were minimum resources to get informative, that phase experienced high sales and the best economical figure.
But, the advent of the internet has reciprocated the whole process. There is zero scarcity of information, and this has made the customers smarter to think twice before getting attracted to the new products.
This is known as an abundance of information and sales scarcity.
I hope now you are clear with the term lead generation, its importance, and the difficulty level to achieve it. Let’s grab the crucial processes to make lead generation your cup of tea.
What are the Lead Generation Techniques?
Lead generation is a very important tool for companies. The companies need to build tactics to get optimum solutions for building a strong customer base.
This is achieved by focussing on customer-relevant content, the customer’s nature, and building strategies for his retention. There are various lead generation techniques, let’s discuss them in detail:
1. Creating your Own Website
There is a job place like your own home where you are free to play fearlessly. Yes, I’m talking about the website. It is a platform that can bring the magic out of your learning.
Here, you need to apply the tactics to gain conversions. The tactics include the design of your landing page, your CTA (call to action) button, the length of your content, the theme of your website, the photos included on your page and the position of your CTA (call to action) button.
Being specific with all the tactics discussed above, you can help your website with conversions.
2. Blogging Frequently
Frequently publishing blogs help to gain the trust of the visitors. The blogs need to be SEO optimized to ensure customer retention. There are certain parameters on which the blog becomes credibility worthy. This is one of the most valuable lead generation techniques.
Some of the parameters include placement of the CTA (Call to Action) button, laying out the blog accurately, SEO optimization, creating backlinks, Keyword embedding, etc.
The customers would visit your blogs, gain trust and hopefully come back to look for more information.
3. Social Media
Social media is the main channel where both the buyers and influencers are actively present in big numbers. It is an opportunistic platform for marketers to generate leads.
Social media has been found as the most helpful channel for the affiliates as the customers mostly learn about new products and services through influencers present over there.
Social media gives you a free expressway to lock your credibility and gain more trust in customers.
Earlier, social media was a backbone of branding but now lead generation has recognized its huge benefits through Facebook, LikedIn, Instagram, Quora, Pinterest, Google+, etc.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing is the most helping component for lead generation, it helps you to reach all your visitors. Sending emails about your new events, new introduction/updates, promotions, etc. helps the users be aware of your services and enroll if they love your service.
Email marketing is an easy way to target a number of customers and raises the possibility of lead generation.
5. Pay per click (PPC)
Through PPC, you pay for every ad click which you have posted on platforms like Google, Bing, Yahoo or on your personal website. After keyword research on the search engine, your ad appears on the top of any organic result.
This gains a more traffic rush at your place and possibilities of conversions if your website is customer-appealing. All you need to do is bid for the most relevant keyword that brings chances to draw attention.
6. SEO Optimized Content
The highest repeated line but a worthful information – ‘Content is the king of Marketing’. It is where everything initializes from. Content Marketing is the process of writing and distributing relevant and valuable information that drives the attention to your website.
From writing an email to drafting a social media post, content is engaged everywhere. Content is ultimately responsible to reach customers minds and gain credibility.
7. Inbound Marketing
Attracting potential masses through optimized content to make them know the website even before the customers are looking to buy products. This helps in early brand awareness and lead generation.
Inbound Marketing is one of the best techniques as you are getting leads from strangers, but you need to make sure to find the right channel where the buyer spends more time.
8. Outbound Marketing
As we discussed the roar of Inbound Marketing, even outbound marketing contributes much to leads. Unlike Inbound marketing, where we target an anonymous number, here the target is very specific (following the previous buying cycle).
It gives more assurance of lead generation. Buyers get to rethink and reconsider the product or service. Frankly, if both inbound and outbound marketing goes hand in hand, there are possibilities that the traffic multiplies.
9. Display Ads
Display ads are really very effective to generate leads, especially in regional and behavioral targets. The ads can be published on any popular website where the user spends more time or which can cookie to drive the user to your website.
10. Event Marketing
Event Marketing incorporates private functions, a tradeshow and a large-scale function. It offers you a big chance to define brands and establish good business connections with the guests present in the event. Even visiting the invited event can tun valuable as you generate a connection with the other guests.
What are the Best Tools for Lead Generation?
Lead Generation is the most challenging part of the business which has no mathematical or pure solution. Nevertheless, throughout the years’ many tools have been generated to aid us in getting leads to our place.
For obvious, these tools are catalysts to all the efforts we shower for lead generation. Below, I’ve discussed the top best tools for lead generation.
1. Lead Forensics
We usually get traffic on our website but lose to conversions. Often, the users find it unnecessary to fill the inquiry forms on the website. But, lead Forensics learns the IP address of the user or the company from where the traffic was generated.
Through this IP address, you can easily trace the company and talk or directly target the employees over there for lead generation. This is one of the best tools for lead generation.
2. Leadformly
It is used for form optimization which helps in conversions. You can create, customize and put the form on your website. Additionally, it gives you the details of conversions and the leads generated.
3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
This tool is used for capturing the leads and getting frequent recommendations. The best thing about LinkedIn is that you get to know who viewed your website and therefore gives you targets.
4. Turnstile
Turnstile is the best video hosting company that helps in conversions by collecting email ids, once the viewer has finished the video. You can also engage viewers on your website by inducing email collectors in the beginning, middle, and end of the video.
5. SlideShare
Slideshare is a major helping tool for B2B Marketers. Partnered with LinkedIn in 2012, Slide Share ensures that the website is well developed and presentable with a meaningful impact without embedding too much content for an explanation.
Additionally, Slide Share also views your website on its homepage for a day or two. This action immediately drives traffic to your website.
6. Qualaroo
It is one of the best customer survey tools that will aid the website visitor. You can engage visitors in survey questions (one of the best lead generation activities). Further, in the following steps of the question, you can ask the contact information about the visitor.
7. PadiAct
This is one of the famous tracker tools. When the visitor comes across, their activities on the website are tracked to analyze your email subscription list.
8. Growbots
An AI tool, Growbot is used to send fully automated emails and messages. It makes use of a huge database of contacts which further helps in outbound marketing.
9. Hunter
It is an email marketing tool that helps in finding the email addresses by entering the employee and companies name. In this way, you can get all the email ids of the desired company. The tool is free of cost just for first 100 searches, after which you have to pay $ 39 per month for 1000 searches.
10. Boomerang
It is a Gmail extension tool. Through Boomerang, you can schedule emails. Mail tracking is the additional feature of Boomerang and you get a mail-back if the concerned person has not opened your mail. This helps you to stay up-to-date with all the drawbacks and positive points of your lead generation.
11. Sumo
It is recognized as the best tool to collect emails on the website. Sumo is a free tool used for incorporating popups on your websites. These popups are eye-catching and help in lead generation as the user signs in his email id there. The tool also tracks the location where the user clicks the most.
12. SendinBlue
It is one of the best tools for email marketing. SendinBlue allows you to send around 40,000 emails per month with a monthly subscription price of $7. You can store unlimited emails using SendinBlue.
What is the Lead Generation Process?
The lead generation process involves the activities of nurturing the leads throughout their buying process to make them your end customers. Below I’ve discussed the lead generation process in 4 simple steps.
1. Generate Traffic
Write an engaging and SEO optimized content that ranks high on SERP and can gain suitable traffic to your page. The content may be in the form of photos, infographics, or even an animated video. The idea is to communicate ideas to your readers and engage them in your website.
Social Media channels help a bit more. Target platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Quora, LinkedIn, etc, where the user spends most of his time. Additionally, you can use paid campaigns or ads to promote your products and services. This would directly welcome traffic to your place.
2. Nurturing Leads
Once you get leads or traffic, your challenge is to retain them. This can be done by being evenly responsive to the user’s activities. You can make use of email autoresponders or give them trials before they think of making a purchase.
Secondly, there must be a daily update on your page. This aids in bringing leads, although it can take a month or 12.
3. Map Down Your Leads
Once you get leads, how can you be sure that every lead is valuable or has willingly entered your page? Yes, you need to figure out. Map each activity of the user and segregate them according to their engagement on your website. This gives you a clear idea of the number of conversions that can happen. Further, analyze how much of your segregated leads actually gave conversion. Understand the gap and work to correct it.
4. Retain the Conversions
Once you get converted, it’s your responsibility to retain the customers and make them loyal to your services. For obvious, nurturing is the way to achieve this goal.
Conclusion
It is certainly not possible to ignore the need for the Lead Generation process as it is the construction path for business operations.
You should always try to know about your business ‘ customers and guests. The practice of renovating the CTAs, deals, landing pages, and even forms should be inculcated.
I have discussed the lead generation topic in detail. Hope you found it valuable. If anyway, I have missed out on anything valuable, please feel free for suggestions in the comment box.
Joining the Inbound Marketing Certification Course will enable you to learn and master the lead generation process like a pro.