Are you looking to increase your revenue and market reach or reduce drop-offs in your sales funnel? You need to change how you generate leads.
Lead generation is a form of direct marketing that attracts prospective customers and nurtures them to conversion. Lead generation involves employing strategies to help you identify, engage and convert potential users interested in using your products and services.
According to recent surveys, 50% of marketers consider lead generation a top priority in their marketing campaigns, while 53% confessed to spending at least half their budget on lead generation. And in a world where consumers want what they love to be put in front of them without having to look, it pays off to be ultra-effective with your lead generation strategies.
In this article, we will discuss nine effective ways to generate more leads in 2023 to ensure you meet your business objectives.
Leads 2023: Seamless Social Media Integration
Recent research compiled by DataReportal shows that almost 60% of the global population uses social media. To generate leads, you need to be where your customers are and where you can market to them.
But creating a social media account and posting daily content won’t be enough. You must be specific about your audience’s desires and get creative using these platforms through integration. You can do this in two ways:
- Leverage the inbuilt social media features: These platforms have features specifically designed to help you generate more leads for your business. Investing in Facebook Lead Forms, Instagram Leads Ads, and a LinkedIn email finder will allow you to capture emails and other information of potential customers and pull them into your sales funnel.
Other social media features to leverage and increase leads are: using relevant call-to-action buttons and retargeting hot prospects or returning customers.
- Use social media to engage and educate your audience: Whether through storytelling, community building, or branding, sharing authentic and educational content can help you increase your visibility, stay in touch with clients and increase leads. For instance, sharing thought leadership content on LinkedIn is an unparalleled B2B lead generation method.
Podcasting
Over the last two years, podcasting has matured as a medium of sharing content, and more brands are taking it seriously, using it to engage audiences and generate leads. The two common methods businesses use to leverage podcasts are starting one or advertising on podcasts. According to a recent report by Spotify, there was a 1,254% growth in ad spend by B2B companies.
But the most efficient way of leveraging podcasting as a lead generation method is by starting one for your business. Everyone, from small-scale local companies to international brands, uses podcasts in their inbound marketing strategy.
Podcasts are an effective way of attracting prospects to your business, as the only person who will take the time to listen to you is someone interested in what you are selling. So how do you nurture and pull them into your sales funnel?
You show expertise. In your podcast, discuss how your product or service solves consumer problems and communicate your unique value proposition—what differentiates you from your competitors. You can also offer incentives to your listeners to get them to act.
Podcasts give you a chance to establish authority in your industry as well. You can achieve this by hosting other industry leaders on your platform or making guest appearances on other podcasts. By partnering with relevant podcasts, you can increase your credibility and visibility, which means more leads.
Partner With Other Businesses
Strategic partnerships are one of the oldest and most effective ways of growing your customer base. Your business can tap into your partner's established clientele and reach new potential customers through collaboration. And the beauty of it is that it's a win-win situation.
Partnerships with other businesses work since your partner vouches for you and offers direct exposure to their audience. Ultimately, this allows you to build brand credibility with prospects in their audience and a chance to showcase value over competitors. And since resources are shared, collaboration can help you cut lead generation costs while reaching more people.
The seal of approval you get from them is also vital for your brand reputation, and the exposure creates the brand awareness you need to generate new leads.
Partnerships are only effective when done with the right businesses. When picking who to partner with, there are multiple things to consider. This will primarily be determined by the KPIs you settle on and the type of collaboration.
A perfect collaborator could be:
- A company within your industry that shares the same values.
- A business outside your industry that could help you expand your reach or offer benefits that could separate you from competitors.
- An established competitor or industry leader who could help you get more competitive. This can be particularly useful when you are starting a business and want to get your foot in the door.
Make Use of Influencer Marketing
Recent studies show that nearly 90% of marketers believe that influencer marketing is an effective form of marketing, and 33% of Gen Z-ers have bought a product based on an influencer's recommendation. Partnering with influencers to promote your products or services to their audience can help you tap into a new market and reach potential clients.
To leverage the power of marketing with influencers, you need to work with the right influencers. This starts by searching for influencers who are known within your niche. For instance, a car influencer will generate more leads than a fitness influencer for your business if you are in the auto industry.
The next step is doing your research. Tools such as Buzzsumo and Heepsy will ensure you find the best influencers to help you achieve your goals. You can look at their analytics to measure their authority, engagement rate, and audience demographics. With this information, you can hire influencers that meet your campaign requirement and fit your marketing needs.
Using influencers to generate leads can be expensive but valuable. Consider strategies such as repurposing and resharing influencer content to get maximum returns. You should also solicit testimonials from them and use them as endorsement messages.
Leverage Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is an incentive you offer a prospect in return for receiving their contact info. When a new user visits your website or social media account, there's no guarantee they will become customers. Lead magnets help you separate the warm clients from the cold ones. A person likely to use your service or product will accept the incentive you are offering.
Lead magnets generate the most qualified leads. Once you get a prospect's contact, you can start marketing to them individually, develop a relationship with them, and guide their buyer journey to conversion.
To get your prospects' contact, you must offer them something they can't refuse. Lead magnets can be helpful content in the form of eBooks, whitepapers, or free webinars. They can also be a discount on a product or a seven-day free trial of your service.
You must anticipate your customers' needs for your lead magnets to work. The incentive you offer when a client comes directly to your homepage will differ from the one you offer when their first touch point is through your content. The former is at the consideration stage of their journey, and you should provide a matching incentive like a free consultation. The latter will be in the awareness stage, and you can prompt them to download a guide or checklist that matches their needs.
Remember that getting a user's contact information doesn't guarantee sales. For your lead magnets to work and progress the customer's journey, they need to be more than helpful.
Leads 2023: Referral Rewards
Your current customers are arguably your best lead-generation resources for your business. Making referral marketing part of your strategy helps you retain and turn them into loyal brand ambassadors.
According to recent studies, 85% of small businesses find new clients via referrals. Referral programs incentivize existing customers to recommend your business to friends and family. If that referral converts, you offer the customer a reward in the form of cash or discounts on future purchases.
When done right, referral programs can be an effective way to generate new high-quality leads. But before you start your program, you must understand your audience's needs and ensure you are offering an incentive they can't refuse. Next, you must also focus on the new customers and include lead magnets that reward both parties.You can also automate the entire rewards process using loyalty program software such as LoyaltySurf.
If you don't have the budget, consider alternatives, such as requesting existing customers to leave you a review. Most prospects are already reading reviews before they convert. Another strategy you can include is employee referral programs that reward your team for every lead they generate.
Leverage Quality Content
Content marketing offers you a way to generate leads organically. Creating high-quality, educational content that addresses your audience's pain points can attract customers, build brand awareness, and establish yourself as an industry leader.
How do you do it?
- Have a content strategy: This will help you identify your audience, determine the type of content you should create, and establish a way to manage content. A content strategy ensures you get a higher ROI on your efforts.
- Create helpful content: Any content you put out should help a prospect solve a problem. You can achieve this by determining your audience's pain points and expertly addressing them.
- Optimize your content: To rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs), you must invest in SEO. And to increase your open rates and click-through rate, you must practice the best email marketing tactics. Optimize your content depending on your marketing channel for higher returns.
- Promote your content: You must get in front of your audience by sharing your content where they are. This can be through social media, industry forums, or other industry blogs through guest posting.
- Use call to action: Your content will only help you generate leads if you get your audience to act. Tell your prospects the next step after they have interacted with your content. One of the best ways to pull them into your sales funnel is to employ lead magnets.
Network
Networking is about building relevant relationships that will help you generate more leads, positioning your business where your prospects are, and directly appealing to them. Networking allows you to keep up with industry trends while at the same time connecting with your audience.
There are multiple ways you can network, depending on your company size and type. For B2C brands, you can adopt strategies such as participating in forums and online communities that help you connect with your audience. Additionally, you can send your sales team to attend conferences and other networking events and introduce your product to prospective clients. Such events can increase your visibility which is vital for lead generation.
For B2B brands, you can start by attending industry events and meeting prospects. Consider signing up as a speaker at such events and using the platform to share your expertise. You can also host networking events such as trade shows to establish credibility and show industry leadership.
Leads 2023: Optimize Your Sales Funnel
Lead generation is the backbone of every business, but it isn’t enough. You must build a sales pipeline that aligns with your strategies to succeed in your inbound marketing efforts.
A sales funnel will help you create a more personalized experience for your prospects and effectively guide them to conversion. You will be able to nurture leads depending on how you capture them. Simply put, how you guide the customer journey of a social media prospect will differ from one you got organically through content marketing.
Some strategies you can use to optimize your sales funnel include:
- Employ social listening: What are prospects saying or asking about your business? Social listening tools will assist you in finding brand mentions from people interested in your products or services. Monitoring these mentions can help you in multiple ways, from how you map a buyer's journey to how you address clients' pain points.
- Create exit-intent popups: Incorporating powerful lead magnets in your popups can help capture a prospect's attention when they are prepared to leave, get their contacts, and pool them into your sales funnel.
- Make it easier to subscribe: If your signup process is unnecessarily long or complicated, most users won’t go through the trouble of subscribing. Simplify the process by using short forms with placeholder texts and buttons that give clear direction to your prospects.
Generate More Leads and Increase Your Sales This Year
The success of your goal will depend on execution. When generating leads, whether it’s through paid or organic channels, you must understand and know your audience. When you target the wrong people, your efforts will go to waste.
Generating leads is just the start. The hard work is in converting them into customers. Invest in the right lead generation tools to help map and guide your customers' journey to increase conversions.
These tools can help you identify strategies that are not working for your brand and inform you on how to improve. They are specifically useful when you are just starting with lead generation or want better results.
Are you ready to generate more leads for your business? TechWyse Internet Marketing is here to help! We offer a diverse range of digital marketing services, including traffic and lead generation, website design, measurement and tracking, and so much more. To book an appointment, call (416)-410-7090 or contact us here.
