What is lead generation?
You might think you're doing lead generation for your company, I mean after all, you have a website. Wrong! This is one of the biggest misconceptions among business owners today. While having a website is necessary for lead generation in an internet marketing strategy, it is not the act of lead generation. Lead generation is acquiring interest among your current and potential customers about your product or service, with the goal of increasing sales. How can you generate interest among your customers and potential customers? With lead generation techniques!
9 Lead Generation Techniques
Now that we have a better handle on what lead generation is, lets take a look at lead generation techniques. At Half a Bubble Out we use these lead generation techniques as part of our internet marketing strategy to get you more customers for your business.
1. SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is ensuring your website is ranked higher to the top in a list of online searches. It can help leads (potential customers) discover your product and gives you a chance to organically attract them to your service. One of the unique benefits of SEO as a lead generation technique, is that it can actually bring you more qualified leads when done right.
Did you know 62% of search users click a link on the first page of search results. (Source)
SEO keyword research allows us to target keywords and phrases that your potential customers are using to search for your services. How powerful is that? It’s like getting the answers to a test a week in advance! The tricky part is applying those keywords to your website and internet marketing strategy so that they actually bring you customers. If you are interested in or have been considering starting search engine optimization (SEO) please contact us, and we will help you with your strategy.
2. Online PR
Online press releases are a great way to drive traffic to your business, and make friends with Google. Yes you heard me right, make friends with Google. In order to get the big internet giant on your company's side you have to play by its rules, which means your lead generation techniques can’t be crooked. Online press releases are distributed across the internet, and when someone finds the information relevant to their site or blog, they reference it. Google sees this reference as a recommendation from another site for your business, which helps your website gain credibility and advance in search result rankings.
3. Landing Pages
Landing Pages are a great lead generation technique, as they can be highly customized to the type of consumer that is being targeted. For example, a website offering accounting services to small businesses could have an optimized landing page that targets a plumber's small business. The landing page could mention specific testimonials from past plumbing clients, examples of accounting issues associated to the plumbing business, and write the copy directly toward plumbing business owners. Using these customized web pages can be powerful in collecting leads online and could be just what your lead generation strategy needs.
4. Social Media Lead Generation
Social media is definitely on most business owner’s radar, especially with the incredible number of people who are on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites. While social media can be a time consuming lead generation technique, it can also help you connect on a deeper level with potential customers. Think of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as different virtual phonebooks, that you can actually search by your services or keywords to find people who are already talking about your products or services. Pretty powerful stuff! Hootsuite is a great tool to search for new customers by using saved searches on Twitter.
5. Link Building
Many business owners are unaware of how powerful link building can be for lead generation. The truth is link building has evolved over the past couple years, and now more than ever it is extremely important that it is a part of your lead generation strategy. Why is link building so important for lead generation? Google has decided that link building is one of the most heavily weighted metrics they use to measure a website's credibility. If you have no links going to a website page, then Google assumes the content on that page isn’t credible or valued, and then the page will not be listed highly on search results.
6. Online Ads
If you're looking for a quick jolt of traffic to your website then Online Ads are a great lead generation technique for your internet marketing strategy. You are able to set a specific monthly budget, monitor your ad performance, and drive qualified traffic to your website. A big part of what makes a successful online ad campaign is the keyword strategy and plan behind it. You don’t want to be paying for wasted traffic, or website visitors who don’t convert.
7. Blogging
Having trouble getting visitors to your website? Not ranking well in Google? Blogging for your business can help your lead generation. Blogs provide search engines with fresh new content that relates to your industry. Each blog paints a clearer picture of what your business is about not only for Google but also for your customers. A great start to blogging for lead generation is by writing blogs that answer specific questions you are commonly asked about your product or service.
8. Local Listings
If your business draws customers from a specific city or location then local listings and a local SEO strategy is key to your success. The first step for a local lead generation strategy is to check that your business is listed - and listed correctly - on local listing websites like Yelp Local, Google Places, Yellow Pages Online, and Angies List. Make sure your website URL, physical address, phone number, and services are correct and consistent. We set a local listing template for our customers to ensure consistency across all local search sites.
9. Online Offers
Through the use of content marketing, leads can be obtained a lot easier if your business is seen as a trusted resource of knowledge in its area of specialization. Blogs and e-books make it easy for the potential customer to learn more about your company, your products or services, and also about the area of business you operate in. Webinars and seminars are also a great resource for gathering leads because they allow potential leads to find out more about the company and ask knowledgeable members of your company any questions they may have.
In a perfect world, you would use all of these lead generation techniques as a part of your internet marketing strategy. But reality is that we all have a limited amount of time and resources. If you'd like help figuring out the best techniques to use for your small business, don't hesitate to contact us. We hope this information was helpful!
