When it comes to engaging leads, it is crucial to know how to best craft content. Let’s look at ways to maximize deliverability. A general rule of thumb: When deploying lead gen campaigns, focus on quality over quantity.

First and foremost, make sure you have the right tools to track your leads. And when doing any form of lead generation (whether this is through Google Ads or Social Media Ads), you need to be able to keep track of the ROI on any given campaign. Google Analytics is a great way to track Google Adverts; as it enables you to analyze your site’s traffic and report on outcomes.

Also: Make sure you A/B test each campaign. This way, you can see what works and what doesn’t—determining which is the best approach to winning over a certain set of customers.

It is also worth taking the time to monitor your competition. What are THEY doing? (Have they launched a new service / product?) This is a way to ensure that you stay ahead of the curve; and beat competitors to the punch.

Another helpful trick: Use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to ensure that your web page appears near the top of the search engine when users search for specific keywords. This means that you can generate leads looking for specific products / services relevant to what you’re offering. The PPC approach can increase the quality of your leads and and maximize conversion.

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects to your business and increasing their interest. This is accomplished through nurturing. The ultimate goal is, of course, to convert them into a paying customer. The “hook” can be a subject line. The “bait” is a call to action—via a coupon or invitation to sign up for a newsletter.

There are different kinds of non-cold leads:
A MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is a contact who has engaged with your marketing efforts but are not yet (necessarily) ready to receive a sales pitch…such as a contact who fills out a landing page form for an offer.

A SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is a contact who’s taken actions that expressly indicate their interest in becoming a paying customer…such as a contact who fills out a form to ask a question about your product or service.

A PQL (Product Qualified Lead) is a contact who has used your product / service and taken actions that indicate interest in becoming a paying customer…such as someone who uses a free / trial version; then asks about features that are only available upon payment. PQLs typically exist for companies who offer a trial or a free / limited version of their product with options to upgrade.

The key is to remain flexible. Constantly vary the approach and iterate the attempts. Market trends change, behaviors shift, interests can move from one thing to the next. A lead gen strategy needs to be as dynamic as the people it is targeting. It is crucial that a company be able to gauge a qualified lead’s level of interest.

There are, of course, several ways to qualify a prospect as a viable lead. Collating and parsing the information harvested from online (and social media) activity is imperative. Such metrics enable one to ascertain their level of interest, can vary. Use A/B split testing to see what CTAs perform best and which copy best captivates your target audience; and across which social media channels.

Lead scoring is a great way to qualify leads quantitatively. Leads are assigned a numerical value (“score”) to determine where they fall on the scale from low potential (“interested”) to likely to convert (“prepped for a sale”; a.k.a. a SQL). The criteria for these actions may vary. Their “score” can be based on how well their demographic information matches your target audience, actions they have taken (online activity, clickthroughs, shopping history, social media habits), information they have provided to you, etc. The idea is to gauge their overall level of engagement with your brand.

One way to generate leads from social media is to run a contest. Contests are fun and engaging for your followers, and they can also teach you a ton about your audience. It’s a win-win. You also might conduct a lead gen analysis of your blog to figure out which posts generate the most leads. You can then make a point of regularly linking social media posts to them. At the end of the day, the goal is to transform your lead generation into customer generation.