The pro’s have the inside scoop when it comes to lead generation. Let’s look at some strategies that work well for enticing leads.

Encourage guest posting (posting content on third-party sites). More than half of digital marketers say that this is an effective way to build backlinks; thereby luring more eyeballs. Guest posting not only abets lead generation; it helps generate more traffic to your website (by building links that improve SEO). It’s easy to reach out to credible websites and ask if they will accept guest articles. Choose websites that already have a large following or traffic. This way, your content can reach a wider audience and generate more leads.

Place CTAs (calls to action) prominently. It is important to make your CTAs obvious and easy to find. Don’t bury the lead. A mistake some make is making CTAs difficult to notice by hiding them at the bottom of landing pages or emails. Avoid the temptation to include multiple CTAs. Offer a single clear CTA that closely aligns with the content presented alongside it. And don’t confuse your audience by offering them the option to click on two or three different CTAs.

Be sure your CTAs take the reader to an offer for content about a specific topic (as opposed to having your CTA link back to your homepage) so that you engage them with something relevant to their needs and interests in that moment. In terms of graphics, ensure to make each CTA stand out. Whenever possible, use colorful buttons or clickable images for CTAs (instead of hyperlinked text in a paragraph).

Use specific—
not generic—CTAs; and ensure it will catch the eye of those who are quickly skimming the content. Have an important event coming up, or a valuable article / announcement that was recently released.

Attend to social media. Lead gen MUST have prodigious social media capabilities if it is going to be effective. The signs of this are clear, given the evolving digital landscape in which online businesses are now operating. In 2019, Google announced that it was adopting mobile-first indexing to ensure their users get faster and better search results. This is mainly because more users access content from their mobile rather than computers. Leverage this by ensuring your deployments are mobile-friendly, fast, and seamless. Include pictures and buttons, and ensure that UI is smooth and clean. A great UX encourages users to spend more time on your material. Be sure to use multi-channel marketing. Email campaigns are great for lead generation; but there is far more to the story. Social media is also vital for lead generation—across all platforms and channels. After all, that’s where the majority of people come to get information and discover new things. So make sure to make use of all channels in your overall lead gen endeavors. When using an SaaS, ensure that it is adept at making use of social media. Your audience is on social media; therefore the leads are there. More and more clients are moving to social media in lieu of other existing media. Social media marketing requires time and patience. Why? Before deciding how far they want to go with the brand, your audience will need to build a level of trust with the business. To generate leads via your social media, start by finding out where you might find a larger percentage of your target audience. Create content that target customers will find relevant. What are they searching for, and how can you give answers to their questions? Understanding this will enable you to boost engagement across all social media platforms.

You can incrementally build contact profiles by asking for certain information on early stage forms. Later, you can dig deeper and ask for additional information on forms in front of late-stage content. If you decide to gate it, be sure the content is worth it. Ask yourself if you would be comfortable divulging your personal information for the content offered behind your form. Longer, more valuable pieces like e-books are good pieces to gate with a form. Infographics or short tutorial / promotional videos, on the other hand, may not warrant a form.

Don’t get in your own way. Engaging your leads is important, so don’t inhibit them from heeding your content by placing forms in front of it all. Every piece of content they read pushes them closer to qualification. So remember to limit the length of your forms; and don’t let forms get in the way of the juicy stuff. NOBODY likes encountering “fill this out”. Asking unknown leads too much sensitive, personal information can scare them off. The initial capture of new leads should involve web forms with 5 fields or less. And be sure to capture different information on different forms.

Remember that analytics is crucial. Continually assess your lead scoring process. Include a fast-track scoring mechanism. Certain actions taken by a lead, indicate that they are already qualified for sales outreach. (For example, if someone requests a demo of your product, award them enough points to instantly exceed the qualification threshold.)

Make judicious use of lead scoring. Score leads for important actions that illustrate a propensity to buy. So give them a few points for visiting high-value web pages or opening emails. Award more points for actions that indicate greater interest. Once they meet your scoring threshold for lead qualification, pass them to sales to ensure reps are speaking only to leads that are ready to have a conversation.

Monitor your competition. This doesn’t just means tracking their online activity; you must keep tabs on their progress through the pipeline. Be aware of their customer journey. Did they just launch a new product / service or website? Always keep a close eye on your competition and stay on top of what they’re doing. You can use that information to discern behavior patterns that did / didn’t convert for OTHER companies. See what works and what doesn’t; then create more effective ads and additional lead gen strategies of your own.

Email marketing is still the most central and valuable avenue for lead generation. But, with the huge number of emails being sent today, leads are on guard. Consequently, if you burden them or come off as spammy, they will unsubscribe without hesitation. So try to send only one email each week or two. In the end, the goal is to entice, not to turn off. So be sure to structure your outreach in ways that will ingratiate you with your target customers.