Powerful Lead Generation Steps That Work
Lead generation is critical for any business so if you are struggling to attract high quality leads then here are some powerful lead generation techniques.
Hi Trish Davies, here and today I want to focus on lead generation and why you need it for your business. Also, I want to share with you some lead generation techniques that work so you have a constant flow of leads into your business.
It doesn’t matter what size of business you run, small to large organisations all have one thing in common. The need to attract high quality people to product and service-related offers, those people initially are leads. Leads that in time will become high value customers for years to come.
So, lead generation is vital, so I want to cover this topic before I go into potential lead generation techniques. So, what is lead generation.
What Is Lead Generation?
Lead generation only happens when your businesses exposure grows to a wider but targeted audience. Luckily technology and digital strategies help you gain that exposure and something that I will cover shortly.
Basically, the purpose of lead generation is attract people who are aligned with what your business can deliver for them. It is the process of making people aware of who you are, what you can do and then converting those people into paying customers.
Think of a lead, who is a real person, as a plant where you sow that initial seed, then nurture to full bloom. Your seed is information and content which hooks people in. The nurturing process is establishing what you can do for them through providing value. If you do those first two stages correctly then the convincing and converting will handle itself.
That is the process, albeit briefly, to customer acquisition but here we are just concentrating on the frontend. The lead generation stage and to accomplish that you must have strategies and lead generations in place. Before I get onto some techniques there is a process you must understand to attract the right people to your business.
The Lead Generation Process Steps
Determine Your Ideal Customer
Now you can cast your net so to speak out across the entire world and yes you will get lots of leads. The trouble is that the majority of those leads will be low quality, the browsers who have nothing better to do than sign up for anything.
The better strategy is to identify who your ideal customer is so that you are focused more on your lead generation techniques. Therefore, you must understand what makes your ideal customers tick so you can attract high quality leads at the front end.
Market research is the way to do that and yes that can be time consuming but well worth it. By doing the research you will understand who your audience is and how best you can serve them. Here are some ideas on how to do that research.
- Define Your Audience Demographics
- Keep Up To Date On Your Competitors
- Survey Existing Customers
Develop A Content Strategy
Create content that engages your ideal audience and speaks to them in their language. You will know what that language is if you do your market research correctly. When you deliver the right message, it will form that all important connection, your audience will relate to you and want to know more.
Content comes in many forms such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, eBooks, infographics etc. Then you need publishing channels to gain exposure to that content such as social media, your authority website and industry related channels.
Within that content you must have a facility for people to sign up and become a lead using third party software. This builds your database of leads so you can then focus on the nurturing stage.
Nurturing Your Leads
You will need third party software to act as a content management system which is referred to as an autoresponder. This enables you to create email marketing strategies that provide information about you, your business, the solutions you provide.
Email marketing is a great tool to leverage as long as you do it correctly. The objective is to convert your leads into customers but in a way where you don’t come across adopting the hard sell. Lead will value and the more you give the more you will get back in return.
Lead Generation Techniques
I have shared with you the simple steps to bring qualified leads into your business. Now I will share with you some specific lead generation techniques and give you a brief overview of each one.
Search Engine Optimization
You will be familiar with the likes of Google & Bing. They are major search engines that people turn to when they want to look for solutions or general information. What you will do is position yourself as the person with the answers to your audiences questions.
Pay Per Click Advertising
The nature of pay per click advertising is that you only spend money on advertising when a lead clicks on your advertisement. A cost-effective strategy if you know what you are doing in regard to targeting the right people as mentioned earlier.
You will find that platforms such as Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc have pay per click options.
Online Networking
You have your general social media networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram etc but you also have more business online network platforms. Platforms such as LinkedIn & Twitter so this is where your market research comes into play.
If you have done your research then you will know where your audience spends their time. They could be general consumers (B2C) or business consumers (B2B) depending on your business model.
Whatever your sector is you can use the appropriate online communities to start creating your network. The larger the network the more quality leads you are likely to attract.
Host Webinars
Webinars are very powerful to attract leads. Here you would advertise your webinar and get people to sign up to attend. Whether your webinar is live or recorded it is a very enticing medium as it is live and engaging for your audience.
Lead Magnets
Lead magnets such as eBooks, video series, audio files, cheat sheets, work sheets etc are used to attract leads. The principle is to offer something as an ethical bribe in respects you are offering something of value for someone’s contact details.
These assets also establish your authority and credibility which is what your leads are looking for. They will only deal with people who they can trust.
Blogging
Blogging is a lead generation technique where you create high value blog posts like the one your are reading. Your blog posts are hosted on your authority website and over time you will create a vault of value and education.
Blog posts are powerful because they will appear in the search engines as mentioned earlier. This strategy works when you do your research on your audience and write specifically about their pain points.
Their pain points are search terms they enter into the search engines. You the create blog posts that focus on those keywords. Within the content you have links that direct people to your lead capturing system.
Lead Capturing Websites
All of the lead generation techniques I have shared are only effective if you have somewhere to capture leads. This requires a simple lead capturing website that has a subscription form for people to leave their details in return for your lead magnet.
This simple website connects to your content managing autoresponder so that you can regularly communicate with your leads.
I have shared with you various lead generation techniques and the reasoning behind them. I can only give you the overview within this post but everything I have mentioned I cover in more detail within my Build Your AU 9-week program. That program will give you the clarity you need when it comes to lead generation. That 9-week program is about to get under way so if you would like to enrol this is the time to do just that. Click the image below to get on the next rotation.
Helping you build your authenticity, authority, and audience.
Trish Davies
Build Your AU
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