A business without marketing is like a car without gas. Without the right strategy, plan and tactics in place, an organization can fall short in capturing potential customers. So, how can marketers attract the right people at the right time? It starts with a successful lead generation campaign.
What is Lead Generation?
Think of it as a process that attracts your audience and gets them on the path to eventually buying. Lead generation captures someone who has already indicated interest in your product or service. Instead of receiving a cold call, a consumer would hear from your business based on previous communications. Examples of lead generators include subscribing to a newsletter or blog, filling out a form to download an E-BOOK or requesting a free consultation.
How to Turn Strangers into Delighted Customers
First, you need to know your audience. By understanding the demographics, behavior patterns and motivations of your target customer, you’ll have a better understanding of what media and messaging to use to capture their attention. This is easily attainable by creating personas, which are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer. Detailed, data-driven personas will help you determine how to best focus your time on attracting new leads.
After you’ve done the research, you’ll want to provide a direct path to the content you want your audience to see. Potential customers are likely to find you first through your website, blog or social media pages. In fact, 84.3% of B2B buyers visit a company’s website before ever making a buying decision. Providing your audience with useful, relevant content will help create smooth transitions throughout each stage of the buyer’s journey. For instance, a blog providing tips and tactics can help a customer better understand their need, or a video tutorial can show how your product or service can solve their issue at hand. Remember, the message of your content needs to be clear, concise and straight to the point. Offer your audience bite-sized appetizers of content that’s impactful and easy to consume.
Use a Strong, Well-Placed Call-to-Action
A call-to-action, better know as the CTA, is an essential component in the lead generation process. They prompt visitors to carry out a particular action such as starting a free trial, downloading a guide or even registering for an event. Without CTAs, people visiting your website or blog will have a hard time converting to potential customers. A strong, well-placed call-to-action can offer incredible opportunities for lead generation throughout your website. Remember, they must be aligned with your content and designed to present the right visitors with the right message at the right time.
What’s your Gameplan for Growth?
Running a business is like coaching a team. The difference between winning and losing is having a calculated and well-executed gameplan. To be victorious, you need effective marketing tactics, along with being organized and disciplined to stick to your strategies.
To learn more about implementing a game-winning strategy, download our Marketing Checklist.