10 Lead Generation Strategies You Should Try

A lead is a person who has demonstrated interest in your brand/product/service by performing a certain action. This action could range from submitting their contact details on your site to downloading your ebook. A lead generation strategy, hence, involves forming tactics that attract interested prospects to your brand and convert them into leads.

Lead generation is exceptionally important for business growth, but not all leads are created equal. Businesses need to focus on fast, easy ways of generating high-quality leads that have the potential for converting now or in the future. This is because 67% of companies use lead generation as the sole metric to determine content success (SEMrush, 2019). Unfortunately, generating leads quickly usually equals a decline in quality. However, we’ve come up with 10 strategies to help you generate strong leads that, with a little nurturing, will turn into loyal, returning customers.

 

Strategy #1. Compile your blog content into downloadable content

Creating and sustaining a blog takes a lot of time and effort – so why not repackage all that useful information into downloadable content for your prospects and customers? Downloadable content can range from in-depth guides, tutorials, industry tips, or anything that provides immense value to your customers.

Strategy #2. Create gated content

Gated content is content that is accessible to users only after they’ve filled out a form. Unlike other pages on your site, this one is locked, and audiences will be prompted to fill out a lead capture form in exchange for the content. Gated content can include guides, reports, white pages, ebooks, courses, or worksheets; and is an effective way of generating high-calibre leads. This is because site visitors who proceed to unlock the content are already interested in topics pertaining to your brand or blog, and already have a positive experience with your company in your offering of free, useful material.

Strategy #3. Add call-to-actions (CTAs)

To convert your blog readers and site visitors into email sign-ups, place dynamic CTAs for your free downloads on every single blog post. To do this strategically, your business should create downloadable content that matches the category of the post that it will be featured on. Not only does this guide your visitors to download the content, but it also delights them by offering them relevant content on their topic(s) of interest.

Strategy # 4. Optimise social profiles

When you have an exciting and attractive product or service to market, make sure your social followers know about it and how to get it. Use your social profiles to highlight what you’re offering so that when users engage with your brand, they’ll have a clear understanding of how to do business with you.

Strategy #5. Automate social posts

Scheduling your social posts is an excellent way of using marketing automation to your brand’s benefit. For example, when you automate your posts you can post consistently on multiple channels, in multiple time zones, at the most influential and effective times of day to generate leads. With automation, all you have to do is click send, saving your company more time to focus on other lead generation strategies.

Strategy #6. Host an event

Lead generation strategies can occur both online and offline. Hosting an event can attract and serve your target audience while generating leads from new contact information gained through event sign-ups. Your event is simply another way of attracting, engaging, and delighting your prospects because you can interact with them in real-time, answer questions, learn about your audience, and actively guide them down your sales funnel. Possible events include webinars, conferences, meetups, seminars, and workshops.

Strategy #7. Optimise forms

Forms that frustrate users are all too common and are a big factor in determining how successful your lead generation efforts and conversion rates will be. If your form deters users from submitting their details during that crucial moment of conversion, then you’ll need to optimise it to ensure you’re not counting out any leads. There are several tools you can use to optimise forms that show you where users are encountering problems. This insight will significantly benefit you and your prospects down the line.

Strategy #8. Create a newsletter

Newsletters are another vehicle for delivering valuable information to your audience while encouraging them to connect and stay in touch with your brand. This type of lead generation enables you to share promotions of your products and services, keeping your brand top of mind. Your newsletter can feature new blog posts, product updates, special offers, events, and suggestions for further reading, with the unified intent of driving prospects down your sales funnel.

Strategy #9. Create a referral rewards system

This lead generation strategy lets your customers do some of the heavy lifting for you; by creating a referral rewards system, your customers bring the leads to you in exchange for a discount or benefit of some kind. This system works in tandem with the principles of inbound marketing because people are more likely to trust recommendations from their friends, so having your customers spread the word about your company can be an effective way of fueling your sales funnel.

Strategy #10. Promote time-sensitive offers

Creating a sense of urgency about your product or service offering entices leads and prospects to speed up their purchasing process due to fears of missing out. When a product is only available for a limited time, people are more interested in attaining that product. When utilising this kind of strategy, you can experiment with different campaigns to see what excites people, and measure the audience’s response to various incentives to ensure results.

Quality Wins

The quality of your leads will always outweigh the quantity. A strong lead is one that is likely to convert into a customer and who, due to the self-sustaining cycle that is inbound marketing, will keep re-entering your sales funnel. Because the mean cost per lead is just under $200 (HubSpot, 2017), you will benefit greatly by focusing on the right leads for your business, not the amount.