Top 10 Strategies for Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects to your business. A visitor can be converted to a lead on your website or through another interaction with your business.  In an age of extended warranty scam calls, consumers expect personalized communications from companies that offer the services they are already looking for. 

Lead generation strategies that are organic and unobtrusive give prospects the opportunity to tell you what they are looking for and more. Read on for the top 10 lead magnets that you can apply to your own business through: 

• Social Media
• Social Ads
• Local Media + Business Listings
• Webinars
• eBooks
• Industry Events + Trade Shows
• Chatbots
• Free Tools & Offers
• Industry Directories
• Optimizing Your Lead Capture Forms

Social Media

From shaping brand awareness to boosting sales conversions, businesses using social media lead generation strategies achieve better results throughout the flywheel. Just look at these stats: 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level executives utilize social media in their decision-making process. Engage them! Here’s how.  

Monitor social channels of your brand for customer comments, and build relationships with them.  Establishing a bond with prospects and customers exactly where they are creating a sense of community for advocates and followers as well. 

LinkedIn is an ideal channel for engaging with decision-makers. Its professional platform keeps conversations focused on business and business relationships, while the profile structure makes it easy to target prospects that fit your matrix. 

Social Ads

Paid social media ads are more powerful and effective than ever because the tools built into social media paid ad platforms tailor to your ideal customers. The people who really need you not only see your ads but can engage with you right then and there. This captures the right data for lead generation and gives you vital insights that can save time and costs.   

Two pro tips: 

• Nail down your paid social media objectives and KPIs beforehand: Ask yourself what you want to achieve through your ads. Increased brand awareness? Starting conversations? Increasing purchases? 
• Connect your social ad accounts in one place so that you can prove your marketing ROI. Guess what! Hubspot has a tool for that. Need onboarding? We can help!

Local Media + Business Listings

If your business focuses on traditional marketing offline (or has a local or regional specialty), then local media ads are still an extremely viable means for generating leads.

To do this well:

• Make absolutely sure your Google My Business (GMB) listing is accurate, up to day, and includes all required information so that your customers can find you. 
• Build brand awareness through local publications (online or offline) with sponsored content and paid advertising.
• List your business in relevant directories.

Webinars

People who sign up for webinars are truly seeking information from experts (you!), and the value here is that webinars are live events that allow you to engage with them in real-time. 

Plus, creating a free webinar is a cost-effective way to share what you know in a professional way with people who need that information in exchange for the right to engage with them over time about your product or service. 

Designing a registration process that gathers what you need is the key, and it’s not as complicated as you might think. Check out our blog that gives you all the tools you need to build a DIY webinar for top-notch lead generation. 

eBooks

An eBook is a versatile tool that appeals to customers throughout the flywheel because it offers in-depth information compiled in one place. Much like a webinar, offering it for free is a great way to establish thought leadership, trust, and brand awareness while at the same time generating lead information. It’s a win-win. 

Did You Know: 63% of B2B buyers surveyed say they would provide their contact details for an eBook. eBooks are instantly available and hold a great deal of perceived value (and real value!); therefore, buyers are willing to grant you the means of direct communication in exchange. 

Industry Events + Trade Shows

Yes, they still exist, and yes they still work. In fact, 21% of companies will use event marketing as their top lead generators in 2021. It’s true that the right trade shows and industry events can put your sales team in a room full of leads, but making the most of those leads is key to keeping your cost-per-lead manageable and low. 

Check out our recent blog article: 4 Ideas for Success at Your Next Trade Show

Chatbots

Chatbots make it possible for businesses to connect with customers and website visitors 24/7 and with astounding specificity due to AI.

When customers ask for information about your product or service, chatbots can immediately show them the options they’re looking for. If the customer finds what interests them, they can ask for more details or choose to browse a more targeted list.

Here is how you can use chatbots as lead generation tools:

• Program predefined responses to customer questions across multiple platforms using AI bots to engage with them as they enter your flywheel. 
• Gauge the intent of your website visitors immediately using chatbot AI. This allows you to nurture your leads more effectively throughout the whole buyer journey. 
• Use chatbots to create a profile for each customer based on their interaction history. This allows you to provide a more personalized experience for your customers. 

Free Tools & Offers

Similar to eBooks and webinars, these “give without a get” interactions build trust and qualify prospects. Free items of value work as positive lead magnets, organically. 

Think: 

• Free Audits 
• Trials 
• Demos
• Training Videos 
• White Papers
• Checklists
• Research Reports
• Cheat Sheets
• Digital Offers
• Surveys
• Podcasts
• Landing Pages
• Discounts

Industry Directories

Industry directories establish your brand reputation and credibility, and if you apply for listing in a number of different directories, you can boost your visibility and drum up a lot of leads. 

Just a few agency directories where you can apply to list your company:

• Technology partner directories 
• Work showcase and award directories
• Third-party directories and review sites

Optimize Your Lead Capture Forms

If you’re not generating the leads you need, don’t forget to take a good, honest look at your lead capture forms. There may be too many fields, the forms may be too intrusive, or they may ask too much of your prospects for the relative place they are currently sitting in the flywheel. It’s best practice to analyze how potential customers are interacting with your forms and update them on a continuous basis. 

Improving your lead generation is a constant, and as your business grows and the market changes and evolves, frequent review and analysis of your processes goes a long way toward ensuring that your pipeline is always full of qualified leads. 

As our agency grows and learns new ways to help our clients, we try to share what we learn. Always check out our resources page for big thoughts, and contact us directly to let us help your business gather more leads.