“Generating more leads quickly” is a demand that marketing managers are all too familiar with. When under time pressure, they often resort to familiar tactics that promise to generate a large number of leads in a short amount of time. Examples of this include contests and incentives. The problem: In the end, you have a lot of contacts, but no steady supply of high-quality leads for the sales team.
The sales team can only generate high-quality leads through a lead generation strategy that takes into account factors such as the company, the market, and the customer base. With these 10 steps, you’ll be on the right track to generating more leads.
Generate More Leads in 10 Steps:
1. GENERATING MORE LEADS STARTS WITH DEFINING WHAT A LEAD IS
Have the marketing and sales teams work together to define the term “lead” and the different lead categories. Identify 4–5 characteristics that define a lead relevant to your sales goal. You can use the following criteria as a guide:
- Budget: What is the prospective buyer’s budget?
- Authority: Does the prospect have decision-making authority? (See also Step 4 below.)
- Need: Is there a need within his company?
- Time: Over what period should the investment take place?
In addition, based on your buyer persona, you should determine what other data you need for lead generation. This often includes contact information such as:
- Email address
- Name
- Position within the company
Only with a complete lead profile can you provide potential customers with relevant content and offers.
Also determine who is responsible for which contacts and how you will communicate. With every interaction, your prospects can sense whether the company’s communication is supported by a strong structure or whether there is uncertainty.
2. Understanding the Customer Journey
Carefully consider the path a prospective customer takes from the moment they first encounter your company until the sale is closed. What motivates them? What questions do they have? Marketing tools such as buyer personas and the customer journey can help here.
3. Optimize touchpoints
Optimize all touchpoints—the points of contact where your ideal customer interacts with your company. What content should be presented to your ideal customer at each touchpoint, where, and in what design?
4. Offer Helpful Content
Offer incentives to potential customers who are searching for your topic online. For example, provide helpful content available for free download to generate more leads.
5. Don't forget important offline channels
Call potential customers. Don’t underestimate the power of a good phone call.
Follow the rules for cold calling, or work with an experienced telemarketing partner.
6. IMPLEMENT INBOUND MARKETING
Use steps 2 through 4 to make your personas’ messages more relevant. Above all, inbound marketing is about relevance and connection. Quantity has no place here. With inbound marketing, you’re more likely to generate higher-quality leads at a lower cost than with outbound marketing.
7. CREATE A LEAD MAGNET
Generate More Leads: The Lead Magnet Offers You Added Value
- with regard to a specific desire or
- a solution to specific
However, a prospective customer must provide their personal information (email address or phone number) in exchange.
The goal is to offer solutions to specific challenges in a market segment.
The prospective customer’s problem should be addressed in a way that adds value.
8. OPTIMIZE YOUR CONVERSION RATE
Setting the goal you want to achieve is the first step toward a better conversion rate.
Generate more leads while optimizing your conversion rate: Test different designs for your website or landing page. This will help you determine which design resonates best with your audience. A user-friendly design and appealing images encourage visitors to stay longer. The same goes for clear and precise text that is ideally both informative and entertaining.
It’s also important to guide visitors through the website in a targeted manner. In addition to a well-structured layout, calls to action are particularly effective for this purpose. But more on that in the next step.
9. USE CALL-TO-ACTIONS
Calls to action are a smart and widely used method for generating more leads. If your content is already reaching a large audience, the CTA is your next opportunity to generate more leads. The right CTA should therefore be well thought out; otherwise, you’ll be wasting valuable potential.
You should therefore implement CTAs as follows:
- Keep it brief
- with a focus on personas
- in contrasting colors and with the use of white space
- Convey a sense of urgency
10. USE GATED CONTENT
Many companies create mediocre content for lead generation and think it makes sense to hide it behind an email wall. That’s a mistake.
Unreliable content casts your company in a bad light, and users won’t feel taken seriously if your offering doesn’t work. Good gated content delivers the benefits readers are hoping for when it is informative and offers added value.
Tip: Get an overview of the options for lead generation. Keep in mind the flexible combination of online and offline measures!
