Do you have a website, Facebook page and Twitter account for your business? Good. But what does your website show when you look at your sales reports? Having an online presence is one thing but generating qualified leads is another. Most businesses simply enter the online marketing space because everyone else is doing it. There is a new social networking website? Heck, let’s join it. Now, this is a flawed approach towards marketing.
If you want to generate qualified leads that will want to buy from you, you need a plan.
Below are four guaranteed ways that will help you generate high quality leads for your business.
1. Use Content to Generate Leads
Everything on the Internet is about content. When visitors stop by your website, they may be there looking for particular information. If you have the information, you have satisfied their need.
As a business, find out what valuable information you can offer your target market. Yes, you may have a product or service to sell but before you start asking for a sale, provide value. Your website should be your content hub because it is where prospects will be directed when they search for information of your products or business.
By creating great and informative content, you will emerge as a leader in your industry, which will in turn reduce the friction to buying among prospects.
2. Reach Prospects with Custom Content
All prospects are not the same. To generate qualified leads, you need to reach each prospect through content that resonates well with them. However, before you create any content, you should understand your prospects and segment them based on their interests. You can determine the interest of a lead based on the content they consumed (downloaded).
You can produce lots of different types of content to generate leads. Articles or blog posts are not the only content you can offer. Experiment with various forms of content such as photos, videos, podcasts, whitepaper, eBooks among others.
Stat: 29% of marketers use whitepapers as a content marketing technique. (Inbound Marketing Agents)
Your leads should be categorized depending on their readiness to buy. For example, leads that opted into your email list after reading an article may still need more nurturing to buy. On the other hand, leads that attended a webinar for your product demo may be ready to buy and just need a small push to do so.
3. Use Facebook to Generate Leads
If you are not using Facebook to generate leads, you are missing a huge marketing opportunity for your business. Facebook has become an important lead generation avenue for both B2B and B2C organizations.
Stat: 52% of all marketers indicated that they generated a lead from Facebook in 2013. (Hubspot)
More businesses are realizing the importance of being where their customers are online. When you find your customers, cultivate a relationship with them to build trust. Remember, people buy from brands that they trust. Interacting with prospects on Facebook by educating them, contributing to their conversations and generally adding value to their lives will help to create a bond that will lead them to trust you.
Facebook is driven by content. Make sure the content you produce is educative or entertaining. Experiment with different types of content such as photos, text, links, and videos to find out which ones lead to the best engagement.
4. Generate your Own Leads through Email
With Google search engine algorithm updates being rolled out on a regular basis, you do not want to leave your business at the mercy of search engine traffic. Google can make changes to their search function anytime and in effect cut off your traffic or revenues instantly. To ensure you can reach your customers at any time you want, you need to build an email list.
Your blog is the single most important avenue of building your email list. Persuade any visitor who stop by yours website to join your email list. You can do this through:
- Having “subscribe” pop up boxes
- Providing a quality freebie in exchange for contact information
Avoid the temptation of buying lists; their ROI is not worth it. You are better of saving your money for your own email lead generation efforts rather than buying lists.
Stat: Only 27% of marketers bought an email list last year and of those, only 9% said the emails were effective. (Hubspot)
Use a good auto responder program to keep track of your subscribers as well as automate your communication. Nothing puts off subscribers like having them to sign up for your list but failing to communicate.
The above are just some ways in which you can generate qualified leads for your business. Want to learn more? Download our free ebook “The 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks & Ideas.” In it, you’ll learn proven, yet often overlooked lead generation strategies to help you make 2014 the year of inbound marketing at your business.
