Lead generation is an essential component for any SMB needing to expand a client base at scale, and at pace. It is a two-pronged plan. Firstly, one should differentiate between outbound marketing activities (approaching potential customers through telemarketing, direct mail, e-newsletters, etc) and direct customer contact. Here are further top tips on how to drive your business objectives:
Web-based lead generation
Online lead generation is the process of attracting leads into your sales funnel through net-based marketing or advertising. This incorporates search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing (SMM) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising (ie. Google Adwords).
Inbound marketing places greater onus on ‘earning’ leads by publishing engaging content via articles, infographics, white papers and blogs. By establishing yourself as a credible expert in your field, you can ‘earn’ more leads and conversions in an authentic way.
Pros:
- Leads generated through inbound online methods cost up to 62% less than those generated through outbound methods. Check out this Mashable infographic for a more detailed explanation.
Online leads need to be followed up quickly
Although it’s great to be in the position of building up more site traffic and receiving increased emails and phone calls, a study by Smart Insights suggests that efficiency is vital in dealing with such leads. Online leads have a very short life span, with the chances of conversion reducing dramatically after just 40 minutes. Ensure you’ve got a robust CRM system in place enabling you to deal with the increased enquiries.
Try innovative tools with lead generation functionality
SlideShare is a crucial part of any successful content marketing strategy for many businesses. With a reported 60 million monthly visitors it’s a smart way to establish yourself as an industry expert.
Functionality Pros (Silver Package starts from $19 per month):
- Leadshare: generate business leads with your presentations, documents, pdfs, videos
- Slidecast: sync mp3 audio with slides to create a webinar to drive new client acquisition
- Analytics: multi-faceted dashboard to measure performance
