Lead generation involves attracting and converting prospects into leads who have shown interest in your products or services. Here are valid and acceptable lead generation tactics, based on contemporary marketing practices:
Content Marketing:
Blogs and Articles: Create valuable, informative content that addresses the needs or questions of your target audience, encouraging them to engage further with your brand.
Ebooks, Whitepapers, and Guides: Offer in-depth content in exchange for contact information. This content should provide significant value or solve a problem for the reader.
Webinars and Live Events: Host educational or informational sessions where attendees need to register, providing you with their contact details.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Keyword Optimization: Use relevant keywords in your content to improve search rankings, thereby attracting organic traffic that can be converted into leads.
Local SEO: For businesses with a local focus, optimizing for local search terms can lead to lead generation through local customers.
Email Marketing:
Newsletters: Regularly send out content updates or industry insights to subscribers who have opted in.
Drip Campaigns: Use automated email sequences to nurture leads with information tailored to their stage in the buying process.
Social Media Marketing:
Engagement: Use platforms to share content, engage with your audience, and run contests or giveaways that require users to provide contact information to participate.
LinkedIn for B2B: Specifically for B2B leads, LinkedIn's professional network is ideal for advertising, content sharing, and direct engagement.
Paid Advertising:
PPC (Pay-Per-Click): Platforms like Google Ads or Bing Ads can be used to drive traffic to landing pages designed for lead capture.
Social Media Ads: Use targeted ads on platforms like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), or LinkedIn to reach specific demographics or job titles.
Landing Pages and Forms:
Dedicated Landing Pages: Create pages optimized for conversion with clear calls-to-action, compelling offers, and minimal distractions.
Lead Capture Forms: Ensure forms are user-friendly, asking only for necessary information to reduce friction but capture enough data to qualify leads.
Networking and Partnerships:
Referral Programs: Encourage existing customers or partners to refer new leads with incentives.
Collaborations: Partner with complementary businesses or influencers to reach new audiences through cross-promotions or joint ventures.
Interactive Content:
Quizzes and Surveys: Engage users with interactive content that provides personalized results or feedback, collecting their information in the process.
Calculators or Tools: Offer useful tools that require email sign-up, like mortgage calculators for real estate businesses.
Offline Lead Generation:
Networking Events: Attend or host industry events, conferences, or trade shows where you can collect leads directly.
Community Involvement: Participate in local community events or sponsorships to generate leads within your area.
Retargeting:
Website Retargeting: Use cookies to show ads to people who have visited your site but didn't convert, targeting them with specific messages.
Email Retargeting: Send follow-up emails to visitors who engaged with your site but didn't submit a form.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM):
Personalized Campaigns: Target specific companies or decision-makers within those companies with highly personalized marketing materials.
Video Marketing:
Educational or How-to Videos: Videos can be used to attract leads, with calls-to-action directing viewers to sign up for more information.
SEO and Content Synergy:
Content Promotion: Leverage your content through guest posting, PR, or social media to drive traffic back to your site, where you can convert visitors into leads.
Ethical Considerations:
Privacy Compliance: Ensure all lead generation tactics comply with data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA, respecting user privacy.
Transparency: Clearly communicate what users will get in exchange for their information and how their data will be used.
Quality Over Quantity: Focus on attracting high-quality leads that are more likely to convert, rather than just increasing the number of leads.
When implementing these tactics, remember that the key to success is often in combining several methods tailored to your audience and business goals, while always maintaining an ethical approach to data collection and marketing.
On June 22, 2021, Harvard Business Review published a groundbreaking article (in context of marketing teams) for the "new rules" of lead generation in the post-Covid metaverse:
https://hbr.org/2021/06/the-new-rules-of-b2b-lead-generation. The new digital age requires better metrics and smarter ways to measure performance from optimization of national and local paid marketing campaigns to optimization of lead generation software and direct collaboration between Sales, Marketing, Product and Customer Experience teams to drive business to business (B2B) sales forward.
(1) Build your lead generation funnel giving more weight to "hand raiser" leads who proactively engage your brand for a demo or free trial than a "passive lead" whose contact information is simply acquired by a form.
(2) Embrace guest blogging intiatives to industry-relevant websites, as elucidated by the AHREFS team:
https://ahrefs.com/blog/lead-generation-tactics/
(3) Use these creative ideas from
Monday.com to turn more traffic into leads:
https://monday.com/blog/teamwork/lead-generation/;
Monday.com's noteworthy lead management template can assist small businesses to compete and gain parity with larger competitors:
https://monday.com/templates/lead-management