Is lead generation doing nothing more than leaving you frustrated? Do you want to know what secrets the experts use to find success? We’ve polled the experts and the helpful hints found in this article as those they use in their own strategies. Read on to find out all you can.
To generate the most promising leads for your business, your website needs very clear instructions for the visitor. Make your offer stand out from all other content on the page and make sure it’s easy to understand. The visitor should have no problem identifying your offer and knowing how to get in on it quickly.
Invite potential customers to actually opt into joining your community on your website. You’d be amazed at how many website browsers will make the decision to provide their email. Make sure, though, that you’ve got relevant content to share with them afterwards. Think about developing a newsletter or a series of tips emails.
Reward your current loyal customers for providing you leads. One way that many companies do this is by offering their current customers referral rewards. These rewards run from future discounts to actual cash back. This can be a lot cheaper in the long run than any form of traditional advertising.
Find some way to rate your potential leads. Not all leads are created equal, so before you start generating them know how you’ll grade them. Otherwise you can find yourself overloaded with potential leads with no way to decipher which ones are worth your time. It’s a critical step to help you be efficient.
Talk to business owners in related industries. They may be willing to share leads with you, by sending their customers your way. For example, if you own a shop where you sell balloons, talking to a florist about a joint venture is a great way to get leads from another business.
One thing you must do is to start and grow your “opt in” process for generating leads. You need a marketing newsletter or email marketing or mobile marketing plan for this. You can ask them to opt in on your website, through forums you’ve joined, blogs and in other places.
Don’t shy away from paying for leads if you’re on a budget. There are low cost solutions to lead generation out there. Pay per click campaigns are one. These search marketing campaigns give you lots of brand building impressions, but you only pay if someone actually clicks on the ad itself. This can be a very effective lead generation method.
Team up with other companies to cross-promote and generate more leads. For example, if your website sells nails, join forces with a site that sells hammers. The mutually beneficial relationship should gather more leads and most likely sales for both of you. Just make sure the partner you choose is closely related to your industry and highly reputable.
Look at your competitors to see what tactics they use to generate leads. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when you are going to market. Oftentimes, your competitors have already done the hard work for you. If you see them using certain tactics heavily, there’s a good chance they are doing so because it works.
Many people forget about LinkedIn when it comes to networking and lead generation. They focus more on other social media sites. But, if you knew that conversion rates were much better within LinkedIn networks that have been formulated, you wouldn’t be waiting to use this service. Utilize LinkedIn to help you get new leads!
Stop trying to butter customers up! When you need to generate more leads, use a direct approach with them, because chances are good that neither you nor they have a lot of time for small talk and schmoozing. Get to your point, offer a great price for clicking the “buy now” icon and get better results.
When you blog for your business, make sure you seek out subscriptions. When your readers subscribe to your blog, they get an occasional reminder to come read and share. This ensures your leads return to read more. Blogs truly generate targeted leads.
Can you work in webinars, seminars or free tools and downloads for your business? If you can provide this type of information related to your niche, then people will sign up for them. When they do, you have their contact information as a new lead, and of course this is a targeted, niche specific contact.
Don’t be driven by only bringing in targeted leads to your website. It’s not harmful if people come to your site who might not buy from you, although you shouldn’t be focusing on them entirely, of course. Be sure to use tools which determine which visitors to your site are leads and which are just looky-lous.
Be careful if you’re buying a bunch of followers for a social media site. This can help your numbers, but buying these followers may not actually help with your leads. Not all of these accounts are valid. You may be sending promotions out to empty accounts.
Create landing pages for each type of marketing campaign you engage in. For example, have a page just for those you target with direct mail – are they local? Then mention that on the page. Your email newsletter won’t be going to local people, but they will be tech savvy, so focus on that.
Consider publications which fit your niche and write for them. For example, real estate agents could write an article in New Homes Magazine about what to look for when checking out new homes, or what sort of fees one should expect when buying their first home, and then include a byline with a call to action.
While we can present you with this great advice, it is your responsibility to take us up on it. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, so what are you going to do to ensure your future is rosy? Use these tips, create a plan and just do it!
