Attracting and converting strangers into loyal customers is a struggle most businesses share. Wherever you look, you will find content in 2021 because your audience no longer wants their attention to be bought; they want to be won. As a result, lead generation tactics across the sector will need to be updated to match the needs of target consumers better.

Let’s better understand what lead generation is and how it works in practice!

What is lead generation? 

Let’s start with the basics!

Attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone interested in your company’s product or service is known as lead generation.

Application forms, coupons, and useful content are all examples of lead generators.

What is a lead, you may be wondering? A lead is someone who has expressed interest in your business’s product or service in some manner, shape, or form.

This means that instead of receiving a random cold call from someone who bought your contact information, the customer will receive a call from a company or organization with whom they already established contact.

Let’s see an example! Suppose you took an online survey to learn more about digital transformation. If you then received an email from the IT company that hosted the survey, and they’d offer to help take your company’s digitalization to the next level, you’d feel it is far more relevant than if they contacted you out of the blue with no information or idea whether you even care about this topic.

From a commercial standpoint, the information the IT firm gathered about you from your survey responses would enable them to tailor that initial contact to the potential client’s specific needs.

You will see that lead generation is mostly about finding unique ways to attract people to your business. You must provide them with enough valuable information to get them interested in your offer and company so they ultimately warm up to the brand enough to want to hear from you and eventually buy your product. That way, they are starting the relationship – rather than the business initiating the connection with a cold call – by expressing organic interest in your company, making it easier and more natural for them to want to buy from you down the road.

That’s why lead generation is a win-win situation that is advantageous to both the customer and the marketer.

Why is lead generation important?

We gathered some benefits for you to see how lead generation can change the dynamics in your business. 

Acquire new clients

While it’s fantastic to have loyal consumers, you also need to develop interest among new people and expand your target audience to improve revenue. Creating new leads broadens the pool of possible clients in your sales funnel, increasing your chances of closing a deal.

Increase your credibility and value

It’s all about giving and taking when it comes to lead generating. It alludes to the value your business will provide. With the help of valuable, relevant content, lead generation allows you to enter into prospects’ minds. They establish trust and affinity for your brand as a result of the value you deliver them, making them ready to take the next step with you.

Expand your company

Lead generation aids your company’s growth by bringing in qualified leads that may be converted into clients. Lead generation techniques arouse prospects’ interest by providing bite-sized information on how your products can address their problems, allowing them to progress to the next level of your sales funnel.

How to do it?

First steps first – before jumping right into the deep of lead generation exercises, you must take some steps to know your target customers better. 

In B2B, inbound is the primary lead-generating channel. The entire process of attracting a lead to do business with you – educating first, then selling later – is consistent with the B2B business model. As a result, B2B inbound marketing funnels leads through three stages: ToFu (top of the funnel), MoFu (middle of the funnel), and BoFu (bottom of the funnel).

• ToFu: Top-of-the-funnel leads require attentiveness.
• MoFu: Leads in the middle of the funnel need to be nudged. 
• BoFu: Bottom-of-the-funnel leads require your product or service.

First, we would suggest establishing a Buyer Persona. 

You must first clearly understand your Buyer Persona or conduct a buyer persona analysis before launching a B2B lead generation campaign.

The answer to the question, “How can I get new potential contacts’ information?” should be a top priority for marketing teams. It’s critical to know what your target audience thinks and what their needs are. Your buyer persona analysis should include age, location, interests, challenges, stage of life, business position, values, goals, and pain points. The data on pain points is probably the most important because it helps you understand what your prospects are going through.

It will be easier to determine which solution best suits your target audience’s pain points and needs once the buyer persona analysis has been completed. After that, you’ll be able to develop a positioning strategy and, finally, decide on the campaign’s offer.

Following the customer persona research, you should focus your efforts on developing the buyer journey to establish which strategies and activities to develop at each stage. Users can convert into qualified leads or gain knowledge of your company at any of the three stages; therefore, it’s important to remember to tailor content to their actual situation.

If that’s also ready, we should discuss the Ideal Customer Profile.

The goal of creating such is to depict the type of prospect that will be the target of your campaign. While creating Buyer Personas helps understand how to engage with individuals, the ICP strategy is necessary for understanding how to deal with organizations on a larger scale. To construct an Ideal Customer Profile, you must first know how you can add value to the company and their pain spots to determine how you can assist them.

The mechanics – what do we need for successful lead generation? 

An irresistible offer

“Yes.” This is one of the most powerful words we all want to hear from our customers.

But how do we get there?

Firstly, we should always keep in mind that it becomes more appealing when an offer is unique, limited, or in high demand. These enticing features can overcome a lead’s customary friction, doubt, or concern, whether they are whitepapers, free trials, memberships, sales incentives, or downloads.

So, first and foremost we should create an irresistible offer. 

Calls to Action (CTAs)

A call to action (CTA) is an image, button, or message that encourages users to take action.

You’ll need to use a CTA here to promote your campaign if a visitor discovers your business through your marketing channels, whether it’s your website, blog, or social media page. When it comes to lead generation, the goal of this activity is to direct them to your landing page. If your CTAs fail to capture people’s attention and persuade them to click, the offer will be meaningless.

Landing page

One of the essential elements of lead generation. A landing page is a web page that a visitor arrives at for a specific reason. Landing pages are useful because they guide users to a particular offer without being distracted by other elements of your website. The sole goal of a landing page is for visitors to fill out the lead capture form.

Form

A landing page’s most important feature is its forms. Without them, there is no way to “convert” a visitor into a lead. When visitors sign up, subscribe to your site, or download an offer, forms come in useful when it’s time for visitors to sign up.

Online lead generation has the potential to alter your marketing. Using compelling offers, calls-to-action, landing pages, and forms to advertise them across many channels, you may lower your cost-per-lead while also sending higher-quality leads to your sales team.

Multi-channel marketing

Your website isn’t the only option you should lean on. To enhance lead generation efforts, marketers must use a variety of various channels. A retail store, a website, a social media platform, an email, or a text message are all examples of channels. The goal is to simplify buyers’ journey as they explore, assess, and purchase things in whatever method suits them best. It all boils down to having the correct marketing mix in place.

What channels should you have for a successful lead generation? We suggest the following:

Content marketing

Create and distribute material that focuses on educating rather than selling. Blogs, infographics, movies, case studies, and white papers are all examples of content forms.

According to the B2B Content Marketing research, blogs are the most effective content marketing approach for 79% of B2B marketers.

Social media

Depending on your business, every social media network can be a valuable lead generation channel. For B2B, LinkedIn is a must-have.

PPC ads

When visitors click on a PPC ad, they are directed to a landing page that captures their information. PPC ads are effective because they use keywords relevant to your target demographic and appear on Google’s first search page.

Display ads

Display ads, often known as banner ads, are digital versions of print advertisements. In-display ads, crisp writing, appealing CTA (call-to-action), drawings, and animation are all-powerful aspects.

Email

You may start a one-on-one dialogue with your receiver using email, whether you’re sharing a blog, inviting them to a webinar, or telling them of a product update.

Webinars 

Webinars demand participants to disclose their email addresses, making them an excellent lead generation activity. A brand may be built through timely webinars with relevant topics and competent speakers.

Allow your marketing to provide value.

A robust lead generation process involves a lot of moving elements that must all work together to acquire, nurture, and convert leads into customers.

You’ll have to keep an open mind about your beliefs about managing your lead-generating process and be willing to try new ways and ideas. Your consumers and leads will change as the market changes, and this necessitates the evolution of your content and methods.

What is the structure of your lead creation process? What has shown to be the most effective strategy for converting leads into long-term customers? Please, share your opinions and experiences in the comments section, or reach out to us if you want an outstanding lead generation strategy!