I think we can all agree that generating lead takes a great deal of work and can be challenging and a little overwhelming when you're starting the process of creating a strong online lead generation strategy.
But don't worry - you're not alone - only 10% of professional marketers describe their lead generation efforts as "highly efficient and effective."
If it's quality leads you're after then there are some basic preparations you need to do and then you'll be ready to implement some or all of our 30 great tips and techniques to build strong, ongoing, quality leads.
Basic Preparation - before you jump into lead generation tactics
You can double your workload generating quality leads if you don't start with a clearly, tightly defined target audience.
Why?
In this customer-focused age, there is a demand for information, products and services that meet their needs. With the extraordinary number of companies on the web offering products and services like yours, you will struggle to be noticed if you have a generic message that talks to 'anyone' or 'everyone'. You'll find they've bounced from your site before they've had a chance to realise how perfectly you can satisfy their needs.
To make your message relevant, what you're offering and how you present it needs to match your visitor's expectations.
Define your target audience - those who want what you're offering
Who are they?
Work out who they are - not just age and gender. B2B questions to answer include:
What is their job role, education, skills and knowledge required?
Who do they report to and who reports to them?
What industry are they in?
And the size of the company.
What are their goals?
What are they are responsible for and what does success look like in their role.
What are their biggest challenges (pain points)?
Where do they go for information and advice? Perhaps Google is their best friend when researching products or service providers. List the publications and blogs they read. Identify the associations and social networks they belong to. And while you're at it paint a personal picture - what age range do they fall into? Are they married and have children? How do they prefer to interact with vendors (email, phone, face-to-face)?
What do they need?
These are usually the rational features and benefits of the product or service but by reflecting the way they describe it with the wording on your site you will provide a level of understanding and comfort that is missing when you use industry jargon they don't understand.
What do they want?
Arguably more important than what they need is what they want - these are the emotional (subconscious) desires that often play a far greater role in decision-making than we are aware of. Think about car advertising - rarely to you see an ad for a car that only talks about the rational features and benefits. Car companies have learned 'how their target audience wants to feel' and 'how they want to look' when they're driving a car. It is worth noting this is great content for your value proposition.
What type of buyer are they?
Are they motivated by logic and information (Analytic Buyer)? Or perhaps by Stability and Cooperation (Amiable Buyer). Power and respect are the motivations for the Driver Buyer as opposed to Recognition and approval which motivates the Expressive Buyer. Knowing this helps pitch the language and tone of your content and defines how much detail you include, where and when within the sales funnel you're leading them through.
Usually, you have more than one type of target audience so develop personas for each of them. I recommend only focusing on the three most important - and profitable - ones.
Now you've defined who your quality leads are you have a substantially greater chance of attracting, engaging and converting them into happy customers!
Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to guarantee success in generating quality leads because every business is different. However, the most successful online lead-generation campaigns contain the following:
- An Offer: This is a piece of content that is perceived as high in value such as an ebook, whitepaper, free consultation, sample etc.
- A Call-to-Action: otherwise known as a CTA, this can be a text link, image or button that links directly to a landing page so people can find and download your offer.
- A Landing Page: Unlike normal website pages a landing page only contains information about one particular offer with a form to download that offer.
- Form: You can't capture leads without forms and it is your offer that your visitor is receiving in exchange for their valuable contact information.
Generate quality leads
For detailed explanations of each of these download our free guide 30 of the Best Lead Generation Tips and Techniques for clear explanations and practical examples that dramatically improve the quantity and quality of leads for your business.
Tactics for success
Generating high quantity and quality leads is a marketers most important objective. A successful lead generation engine keeps the funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep.
Get our 30 best tips, tricks and ideas for inbound lead generation.
