Before we explain what lead generation is, let’s answer the big question; what are leads? Leads are your ideal customers, those for whom you make products and services. If you are a web designer, your leads are those who need websites such as business owners, organizations, and other establishments. Lead generation, therefore, is the process of attracting your potential customers to what you have to offer and getting them interested in making purchases.
There are different lead generation principles you can try in a bid to grow your business. Sales and marketing experts keep getting updates on lead generation trends each year.
“You are out of business if you don’t have a prospect” – Zig Zagler, Author
By trying out these new ideas, you would be open to new possibilities, and stand better chances of growing your business. However, not every principle would work for you, but which ones would give your business the boost you need if you don’t try?
We have here, a compilation of top lead generation principles for you to try as they have great potential to grow your business. In this article, you would understand better
- What lead generation is
- How to create a lead generation plan, and
- Lead generation principles that ensure business growth
What is Lead Generation?
Before we explain what lead generation is, let’s answer the big question; what are leads? Leads are your ideal customers, those for whom you make products and services. If you are a web designer, your leads are those who need websites such as business owners, organizations, and other establishments. Lead generation, therefore, is the process of attracting your potential customers to what you have to offer and getting them interested in making purchases.
There are various ways your leads can reach you including your website and through social media.
“The lead generation process starts by finding out where your target market lives on the web “ – Wayne Davis
On your website, leads can connect with you by subscribing to your email list, starting a free trial, grabbing your lead magnet, and also signing up for a webinar. Via social media, you can have an ad running, and then prompt users to provide you with their email addresses as means through which they can learn more about your products and services.
The actions taken by leads are referred to as conversions. Lead generation isn’t only essential when the customers know they have a problem and come to you. It’s also essential when the customer knows they have a problem but don’t realize you can help.
Creating a Lead Generation Plan
Before going into a lead generation campaign, you would need to have a lead generation plan. Leads are an important part of every business as they are the pivot on which businesses revolve.
The following steps form a simple lead generation plan that you can use:
I. Lay Out Your Requirements
Before you begin with lead generation, you must take care of these requirements.
- Ensure that your website is optimized for SEO. This way you would be easy to find when a customer searches for a keyword relating to your niche. You can utilize a plugin such as All in One SEO to optimize your site.
- Choose an email service provider.
- Choose your email capturing strategy.
II. Choose an Email Service Provider
When choosing an email service provider, go for one that is easy to use, has the features you require, easily integrates with your website’s plugins, and sites well with your budget. Some popular email service providers being used include Sendinblue, Constant Contact, and Drip as well.
Your email service provider would provide you with some useful tools which you should utilize and they include:
Analytics – this feature allows you to review the number of subscribers that opened your email and clicked on your link.
Multiple email lists – you can have different email lists for different categories of audiences
Design options – this feature allows you to use a template that’s mobile-friendly for maximum user experience.
Automated emails – send targeted emails to users based on their preferences and behavior.
III. Generate Leads Via Email Marketing
Through email marketing, companies get to promote their products and services while communicating with their subscribers on a more personal level. This interaction also takes place on social media, but think of social media as a forum for discussion, and email marketing as an opportunity to get more data on your customers.
In email marketing, gain your leads’ trust in your products and services by giving your best advice and providing good content. Solve your customers’ problems with your products so that they can have firsthand knowledge of the value of your products. also take note of customer feedback when making more productions and include those as new features.
IV. Get Emails from Every Visitor
Grow your email list and improve your lead generation by asking all your website visitors to sign up for your email list. Ask them multiple times and also make the signup process an easy one to increase the number of new subscribers. They are various types of options you can use and they include:
- Sidebar widgets – having a prominent sidebar option increases the chances of signup. It’s also a common widget on websites, so many users who are interested in subscribing to your email list would go there in search of it.
- Lightbox popups – a lightbox comes up when a user shows signs of exiting the site.
- Slide-in – a slide-in stands out as an option in the corner of a page, making it distinct and easy to spot.
- After post widget – this widget displays an option form at the end of a blog post. It is useful as it converts users who desire to read more blog content like the one they just read.
- Floating footer bar – a floater footer bar is an option type that shows a call to action below every page.
By asking your visitors to sign up for your mailing list multiple times and using various types of options, the chances of your visitor subscribing increase.
V. Keep an Eye On Your Metrics
Your email service provider would provide you with analytics that is meant to help you serve your customers better. Such analytics can be used to experiment, split tests, and upgrade your products based on customer preferences. Some of the most important metrics to keep an eye out for include:
- Subscription rates: the rates of new subscriptions and unsubscribes from your list
- Reports from users who mark your emails as spam
- Number of users who open your emails
- Reports on the share rate of your emails on social media
- Number of subscribers who click your link in the email
VI. Perform Split Testing
Split tests are also called A/B tests. They give you better insights into your customers’ preferences so you can use them to your advantage and grow your business.
Top 25 Lead Generation Principles
1. Callback Solution
Calling back clients in a few seconds after getting a lead is the best way to convert leads into regular customers. LimeCall offers a human callback within 28 seconds after getting a lead. Whether you have a SaaS business, eCommerce, B2B, or blogs, LimeCall makes sure that you get every kind of lead you’re looking to increase your revenue. You can target your leads and message them at the right time resulting in more leads for your company. LimeCall offers callback solutions that are very useful in getting lead generation for your business.
2. Advertise to Your Audience Using Podcasts
Podcasts have become popular in recent years, and are a great way to reach your target audience and turn them into leads. 55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast – up from 51% in 2019 (Infinite Dial 20). 69% agreed that podcast ads made them aware of new products or services. Since podcasts unlike regular radio stations are themed, listeners have a choice of what to listen to. By focusing on the themes, therefore, you can easily advertise in a podcast where your target audience would most likely be listening.
By identifying the best podcast for your niche, you can then play out your lead generation practices there to your advantage. You can even include codes for a discount purchase on your podcast, and add a bonus for referrals as well. These strategies would equally help increase your leads.
3. Include Free Trials
Through free trials and free samples, people get excited and hop on your products and services. This way they can get firsthand knowledge of what it is you have to offer. Those who have shown interest in your free samples and trials are your most qualified leads because by taking up the opportunity, they have shown that they are genuinely interested in your business. and so if done well, you would increase the number of conversions after the free trials.
4. Have A Referral System Based On Incentives
Another lead generation strategy is to have your customers advertise for you. adverts done by word of mouth have proven to be a very useful lead generation strategy. To get the most out of this, you can create an incentive-based referral system. This would involve giving a percentage referral bonus to your loyal customers for every new customer that purchases them. To track the purchases and lead generation, referral links and codes should be used. You can even go further to give discount sales to new customers on their first purchases.
Casper, a mattress company uses this incentive-based referral system to generate leads for themselves. Loyal customers get a 75% amazon gift card when their referrals make purchases using their link. The new customers are not left out as they also enjoy a 15% discount when they make purchases using a referral link.
5. Include case studies to empathize with your target leads
A very important lead generation tactic is to understand the needs of your customer and put yourself in their shoes. Take them through the whole journey of having their problems solved and go through it with them. When they see this genuine concern and understanding from you, they would trust whatever solution you provide to them.
6. Include A Floating Bar to Your Site
Increase the number of leads by having even more people sign up for your newsletter with a floating bar. Floating bars stick either at the top or bottom of the screen and remain there even as your visitors scroll through. Their persistence makes it easy for a visitor to sign in when ready, helping you get even more email addresses for your email list.
7. Have A Promo Video Ready
When making content, have it at the back of your mind that not everyone learns by reading. Videos are also a great way to provide valuable information and with a promo video, your audience would get to learn more about your brand. Wistia technology can be used to add a call-to-action button to the video so that you can capture leads as they watch.
When making promo videos, however, have the following in mind:
- Ensure the video is short and straight to the point
- Hire someone to make the video for you if you can’t do it yourself
- Have several episodes to showcase features of your products and services
8. Publish Good Content
Content is the fuel for your lead generation efforts. – Dayna Rothman, Everstring
Creating and publishing top-notch content can be likened to creating a well-optimized website for search engines. With optimized content for search engines, your online presence would be increased and your website would easily be found. Search engines reward you for the value you add by placing you at the top.
Websites like Thrillist and TimeOut have utilized this strategy and are benefiting from it as they are the top non-ad search results on google when craft beer in NYC is searched. They are at the top because of their content on the best craft beers in NYC and will be found even before actual breweries or restaurants. By being relevant and answering questions through their content, they can now take advantage of their position on searches and gain leads.
9. Use Social Media
“Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” – Jay Baer
The use of social media is another good way to generate leads for your business. you may decide to use paid social media marketing as a lead generation strategy. It’s inexpensive and allows you to target specific audiences that are most likely to be interested in your products and services. You can also target audiences that have shown interest in your business before. Some social media platforms even make it easier for you to get user data as they offer one-click email submission.
Another way to generate leads using social media is through influencers. You can see how The Farmer’s Dog, a dog food company uses social media as a lead generation strategy. They have an Instagram account and partner with other dog Instagram accounts that have highly engaging followers. By featuring their dogs on the posts of these dog Instagram accounts, and encouraging other dog owners to use their products, they increase their number of leads.
10. Publish Posts from Guest Bloggers
By publishing a guest post from an authority or influencer on your site, you would get top-notch content on your site and all the benefits that come with it. This includes ranking high on search engines, providing value to your readers, and the influencers would also share it with their audience. It may not be for free but it’s worth it.
11. Collect and Organize Data
With the right tool, you would be able to gather enough data on your leads and properly analyze the data for proper services. The use of a good CRM system would let you collect and store data such as interactions with your customers, every problem they have had, and solutions offered. This will enable you to provide even better solutions to their subsequent queries for a good customer experience.
“Constant analysis is key in successful selling and when included as a best of practice and performed as a routine, many low producing sales months can be avoided” – Steve Cunningham
12. Start A Newsletter for Your Business
Email marketing is also a great lead generation strategy similar to social media and top-notch content. You can pair email marketing with social media marketing so that you can deliver updates to your leads right in their inbox. This is better than having to struggle for their attention on social media.
To get started with email marketing, you would first have to provide good and compelling reasons why they should sign up for your newsletter. Better experience, exclusive sales, and firsthand knowledge are some of the compelling reasons to make your audience sign up for your newsletter.
An example of the benefits of signing up for newsletters can be seen with FairField and Greenwich Cheese Company. When there are available products and recipes including a newly available cheese, they send out an email newsletter to their subscribers, and such firsthand information makes signing up for their newsletter appealing.
13. Host Seminars and Events
This is a lead generation strategy that not only helps you build leads but helps you develop a personal relationship with potential leads as well. By holding seminars and events in your niche that you know your potential customers would benefit from, you appeal to them directly. You create value and also provide an avenue for your staff, loyal customers, and potential customers to network with each other.
14. Posts On Social Media at The Right Times
There are good and bad times to post on social media if you have a goal in mind. According to research, the best time for B2C businesses to post on Facebook is 1 pm to 3 pm on Thursdays and Fridays. So if you want to make use of social media, you would have more reactions and generate more leads by posting on the right day and time.
15. Make Use of Eye Catchy Animations
Eye-catchy animations can be used to get the attention of your website visitors. Such eye-catchy animations or pop-ups should include a CTA button with a compelling message that requests the visitors’ email addresses.
16. Hire A Ghostwriter
According to Neil Patel, publishing as much as one more blog post per week can increase your traffic by as much as 18.6%. This is a golden opportunity as an increase in your traffic increases your chances of having more leads. If you are unable to write an extra article per week, you can hire a freelancer to get the job done for you. Upwork is a great place to find top-rated freelancers.
17. Have Guest Posts On Other Websites
You can reach your audience by guest posting high-quality content on other sites that they visit. The backlinks would help drive even new visitors to your site as well, increasing the number of potential customers you get.
18. Have Mobile Specific Campaigns
Mobile devices provide lots of traffic as it’s easy and convenient to use. if your website is only optimized for desktop use, however, it wouldn’t look appealing when viewed using a mobile phone. And so to increase your lead generation, also optimize the website for mobile view. Ensure that forms for mobile are short and reduce white spaces to avoid the forms looking overly long.
19. Include A Live Chat Feature On Your Website
The inclusion of a live chat feature on your website makes it easy for your visitors to reach out to you without the stress of email or phone calls. It’s this convenience that increases the number of leads you get and sales you close. According to a study, 44% of online customers say that the live chat feature is one of the most important additions to a website. 63% of customers say they are most likely to return to a website that has the live chat feature included. 38% said they made their purchase thanks to the live chat session they had while on the site, and 62% said they are more likely to make another purchase from a site with live chat.
The live chat feature is being taken advantage of by big e-commerce companies like Amazon and BigCommerce. You would mostly see the live chat icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen.
20. Include Social Buttons to Your Newsletter
Benefit from the number of subscribers you have by including a social media share button in your newsletters. This will make it easier for them to share content that they know their friends and business partners would benefit from. So by adding value to your subscribers, you increase your email list.
21. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines and Include CTAs
Websites make it easy for your potential customers to learn everything about you. They also make it easy for your customers to have access to your services and make purchases. A good website should provide basic information like the who, what, where, and how about your company. It should also have a call to action button that compels them to make up their minds and make purchases.
Before the call to action, however, you would have to ensure that your website can be found once your niche or other keyword relating to your business is searched. This is relevant because sometimes customers only know what they want, but they don’t have any particular business in mind to patronize. By optimizing your website, you come out at the top and increase your chances of conversions.
22. Make Assets Available for Download
You can make assets like eBooks and free whitepapers available for download as a lead generation strategy. Potential leads who wish to benefit from these downloads will only have to provide their email address or phone numbers before the download link is made available.
23. Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcements in the form of reviews and testimonials from your customers may be the deciding factors to make a sale. When a potential customer sees the benefit of your product and services to other businesses and brands, they would be convinced to tap into what you have to offer. This has more effect as it doesn’t come off as you are trying to make a sale.
24. Include Exit Popups
With exit-intent popups, you can increase your conversions by up to 316%. This popup comes up automatically when a visitor is leaving your page. It’s a last attempt to generate leads even from abandoning visitors, and it can help you keep over 70% of your abandoning visitors.
25. Include Security Logos On Your Site
An experiment by Blue Fountain Media showed that the use of trust seals on websites increased the rate of conversion and sales by 42%. This is because trust plays a huge role when it comes to eCommerce. The inclusion of security logos and seals like an SSL certificate, and trust seals creates an air of comfort in the mind of your visitors so that they can proceed with business without fear.
Conclusion
Lead generation principles are a necessary factor to boost your business growth. There are so many of them as put forward by experts, and the degree of success you may get from each varies. So it’s wise that you try different ones and know which ones work best for your business. These top 25 lead generation principles are sure to turn your business around, by helping you catch more leads, and even convert them.
