When your business generates new leads, it feels like a rush. You’re moving your company’s growth forward. And you can’t wait to see the possibilities these new prospects bring.
Perhaps the surge of hope comes because finding qualified leads isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve got to think of and implement robust lead-gen strategies to keep enough prospects rolling in. Read on to discover four different approaches to generating more leads.
1. Write Content With SEO in Mind
Back in the day, people would search in the phone book when they wanted to find a business. They’d see which companies were listed under specific categories, such as plumbers, daycare centers, and dance studios. Coupon booklets were also a popular way to find solutions to problems.
Yep, these avenues still exist, but they’re not as prevalent. Instead, most people start searching online. Almost 70% of online experiences begin with a search engine. And it’s a behavior companies with an SEO strategy seek to leverage. These businesses let digital content generate leads by gearing it toward the keywords target audiences are searching for.
With keyword research and ranking strategies behind it, online content increases a company’s visibility and authority. It gets people to visit a website, read relevant information, and exchange contact information. When readers and viewers are engaged enough to learn more, they take action. Creating online content with search engine optimization in mind ensures the right prospects are learning about your company and its valuable solutions.
2. Put AI to Work
By 2025, the market value for chatbot software is projected to grow to $1.25 billion. It’s an impressive jump from 2016’s market value of $190.8 million. This projection also reflects people’s adaptation to various online experiences, including getting assistance from a chatbot versus a live person.
While website visitors may still prefer to speak to a human for complex scenarios, simple questions are fair game for chatbots. This means prospects might be willing to become leads through AI-driven conversations. For example, someone visits your website for the first time. They read through a couple of blog posts and want to schedule a consultation. But it’s after hours, and your inside sales team has packed up shop for the day.
If chatbots are part of your website and app, it’s not a problem. You won’t miss out on capturing leads when employees aren’t available. AI will perform the upfront legwork by asking people if they want to engage further through a callback or demo. The software can automatically add to your prospect database by routing the information to a customer relationship management app. You’ll gain additional qualified leads for your sales team to contact and potentially close.
3. Get Personal
No, you don’t have to cozy up to online visitors. But if you want to increase your conversion rates, personalizing digital experiences gives you a better chance of generating leads.
Think about which emails you’re apt to respond to. Is it the generic promo announcements? Of course not. Your inbox is probably flooded with those every day. You spend time deleting and unsubscribing to those messages or marking them as spam.
Yet when an email comes through with your name and a product you’ve expressed interest in, what do you do? You at least open it and look through the content. Maybe you click on the call-to-action button right away. Or perhaps you mark the email as important, mull over it for a few days, and then click. Either way, you’re a step closer to converting.
McKinsey’s research on personalization shows that 67% of consumers want relevant product and service recommendations. Plus, 66% want personalized messaging that appeals to their needs. With the right software tools, it’s possible to implement personalized online ads, emails, and landing pages. It’s a strategy you should invest in to nurture and win over leads.
4. Line Up Events
Sponsoring and hosting creative events can bring in leads who would otherwise not reach out to your company. From their perspective, they’re participating in a fun or informative activity. In exchange, you could gather their information if they’re interested in your products and services.
Your company’s events don’t have to be over the top. Just be sure to align them with your brand’s and target audience’s identity. Say one of the pillars of your business is serving the communities where you operate. You want to support community members who give back, so you host an event series celebrating local teachers.
Your business can host back-to-school festivities within your retail footprint. You might invite teams of teachers to participate in a live ladder toss game tournament. The winning team gets a check to help buy classroom school supplies. Meanwhile, families enjoy a fun event full of snacks, swag, and cheers for their favorite educators.
Part of the swag includes materials about your company’s service discounts for teachers and students. Engaging with potential future customers in fun ways can remove some of the barriers to lead generation. It doesn’t necessarily come across as a sales pitch and lets people make contact at the level they’re comfortable with.
Savvy Lead Generation
Most individuals don’t want to feel pushed into buying something. They can also hesitate to give out their information if they sense a bombardment of irrelevant pitches lies ahead. In contrast, smart lead generation strategies let prospects drive the process with personalized, on-their-term conversations. Optimizing online content for searches, using AI, leveraging individualization, and hosting engaging events can help boost your company’s prospects.