Generating good leads can be a tricky business. Part of the battle is getting the right exposure in the right places, but that doesn't guarantee solid conversions. So what do you do to ensure your audience makes that leap from passive awareness to active engagement? Kent-based lead generation expert, Whitefish Marketing, shares some of its top tips.
Step one: Develop content
It sounds obvious, but youd be surprised how many businesses dont develop content for different stages of their buying cycle. If you only focus on people who are ready to buy a product, youre missing out on some really good opportunities. Sure, you can tailor the content on your product detail pages to explain why your offerings really are the best on the market, but you need to get potential customers to the website in the first place.
Develop content for those at the top of the funnel – those who are researching, or have some need that your product can fulfil. Target long-tail terms and produce content around them. Point out your markets need (its possible theyre not even aware of it yet) and get their attention. Likewise, develop content for those who have purchased from you. Entice them with other products they may find useful (profiling and research are important here), and communicate with them via email to let them know about current offers.
Step two: Be responsive
Whether were talking about a direct enquiry or a question asked on social media, consumers expect businesses to come back fast. Not bothering to answer a sales enquiry for three days means youve probably lost the business by the time you respond. So keep an eye on your inbox and on your social feeds and get back to your enquirers promptly. If you dont provide the service, you stand a fair chance of losing your customer.
Step three: Build your database
Your database is one of your most important assets, and the more information you can gather on customers and enquirers, the better you can meet their needs. Begin building your database as soon as you start making sales, and dont simply record name, postal address and email address. Note what product was bought, send a feedback form a week or so after purchase to find out if they have further needs that arent being met and record these.
Remarketing is a great way to target people who visit your site but leave without converting. With a snippet of code added to the pages and some compelling PPC ads, you can continue to communicate with those who have shown interest but not made a purchase. The pages they visit will be recorded so you can find out what they were looking for.
Step four: Track your efforts
Going all out to generate leads is pointless if you dont learn from your efforts. How will you know which campaigns and channels are most effective for you if you dont monitor results? Use a tracking tool – Google Analytics is popular among many marketers, but there are others out there – to measure how many visits and leads are generated by each campaign. Those that dont offer a good return on investment can be dropped in favour of those that produce high quality enquiries and sales.
As well as particular channels, pay attention to the keywords that are giving you good quality visits and leads – you may want to build out campaigns for those that are generating relevant traffic so that you can capture more visitors from the pool of users who are conducting searches for similar terms.
Step five: Optimise
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is really useful for refining the look and functionality of your website to get more people making those all-important enquiries. Invest in this with a company such as Whitefish Marketing – even if its only on an ad-hoc basis – to find out which page layouts, colours and text generate high-quality leads. Youll be surprised how simple changes can make all the difference to the number and types of enquiries youre receiving.
Contact Whitefish Marketing for more details on Lead generation
For a more comprehensive discussion on lead generation, how to implement the strategies and for best practice guidelines, contact Kent Digital Marketing agency - Whitefish Marketing - today on 01303 720288.
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