Any business setup requires a certain formula or a set of ‘techniques’ for Lead Generation, which is nothing but attracting appropriate prospects in order to get them in touch with you and up the level of your firm. Certain key principles should be kept in mind before you get into the “how” of generating leads; so let’s look at the “who”. After your product/service is established (which is the “what”), figuring out “who” your target customer is crucial. Once there’s clarity about who your ‘ideal client’ is, the question of “how” you reach them needs to be discovered.
In the current age of the internet, there’s a myriad of online options that serve as a means to an end for any business or personal prospect, apart from various offline options too. So here’s a list of effective techniques to improve your lead flow!
Conferences & Networking Events
In spite of having an extensive outreach with the use of social media in the digital world, participating in networking events or conferences is a very genuine and conventional approach to generating leads. Even events that don’t directly pertain to your business might provide you with valuable leads and contacts through mere interaction with the event organizers and even the attendees. Exchanging business cards, getting your own speaking time to represent your firm on stage in any such social event will only help expand your network, gain referrals and add to the variety of the client-base that you already have.
Webinars
Hosting your own webinars is definitely the high road to generate more leads, in the sense that you get to exclusively share useful information with your audience while also demonstrating your authority in your field. Relevant use of this technique can reach out to a new audience, provided your (firm’s) personality is well showcased. This means, there’s more scope for getting creative! Get your content customized for the different sets of contacts on your list, stay consistent in delivering the best quality content and continue to foster your leads with follow-up content. Some of your webinar content can even be reused into advertisements, podcasts, etc. and these popular ones may assure inflow of leads through several months or even years.
Being the only social networking platform that solely focuses on business, LinkedIn makes an ideal online space to invest your marketing efforts. While Facebook and Twitter dominate the B2C space, LinkedIn seems perfect for B2B marketers to find clients and other business enthusiasts sharing similar goals. It’s a great tool to facilitate your (firm’s) networking and visibility for a long time. Make sure to focus on getting in touch with the right kind of people in order to eliminate the non-essentials and save time.
Facebook Ads
Using Facebook ads is very useful in order to get details about your potential client. For example, details of where they come from, their income range, their nature of work, etc. It aids in easy targeting and increases your prospects.
Twitter seems very apt for generating leads, and again, just like the other social media platforms, its outreach is massive and not limited to one industry or one type of audience. Use it to reach out to the big names in your industry and start conversations with them. This might influence their followers who might be your potential customers when they see your interaction with the biggies of your industry. Stay active on Twitter and discuss as many relevant topics with as many influential people as possible. You can get lucky anytime!
eNewsletter
Newsletters are one of the simplest and cost-effective ways to generate leads. Conversion and response rate with newsletters is higher since it is being sent to a more receptive bunch of audience and the result is easily trackable. It gives your clients an immediate opportunity to interact with you. Share your achievements, insights and industry news with your contacts and leverage your company’s reputation.
Content Upgrade
A content upgrade is simply a lead magnet (also known as an “opt-in bribe”) that is created specifically to be given away as a free download on an individual blog post in exchange for a visitor’s email address. Your content upgrade needs to build upon or enhance the existing content from its corresponding blog post (hence the “upgrade” name). The main idea is to identify the most visited blog posts, and after that to create an offer to boost your conversions.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This marketing tool is essential to all entrepreneurs and businesses out there. Just like anyone else, your potential client is likely to use Search engines in order to find solutions or answers to whatever problems or questions they have. Make your website a worthy visit for your customers. Focus on writing blogs with long-tail keywords as it increases the probability of conversion. This will bring organic traffic and eventually your leads will shoot up.
Online Marketing Videos
Come up with a unique idea that promotes your business, which is very current, engaging and entertaining at the same time, in the form of a creative commercial. Sites like YouTube allow you to add links directly on videos so you can use it to link the user back to your website. Audiovisual content always has a greater impact on people and with the use of the other techniques mentioned above, you can use various platforms to advertise your material. But make sure your idea is unique and executed well because people want entertainment.
Testimonials
This is another way to reinforce your lead flow. You can ask your top customers for their testimonials or feature your most likeable customers. Don’t forget to use pictures and have traceable testimonials. Traceable testimonials are considered authentic as they have links that go back to the reviewers’ website or social profile, verifying the fact that they are real people.
These techniques are definitely effective and there’s a lot of scope for creativity involved in the digital realm which can make or break one’s business reputation. It’s up to you to use them to maximum potential for your company’s benefit. Apart from focusing on numbers, it is advisable to strive for authenticity in whatever niche you carve for your business.
