Keeping Your Lead Generation Pipeline Full

Introduction

Every business knows and understands the importance of lead generation. In a world where attention spans are limited, and distractions are infinite, attracting potential customers is getting trickier. More and more businesses are vying for this attention, so why should individuals lend their eyeballs or ears to you?

While it may sound simple, generating the right kind of leads can be challenging. Therefore, it is vital to invest time and effort into getting this right. Here are a few statistics to set the context:

• As per a study, companies with effective lead generation strategies have at least 133% more revenue than companies that have not put the right strategy in place.
• It is only natural then that the number one priority for marketers is lead generation, as Hubspot noted in their report on marketing statistics.
• Despite lead generation being the number one priority, 61% of marketers consider lead generation to be their biggest challenge.

Who is your target audience?

Even for two businesses selling the same product – the target audiences could be vastly different. For example, the target audience for a business that sells luxury handbags would be different than that for a business that sells mass-priced handbags.

Before you start designing a lead generation strategy, jot down as many details as possible about your target audience. In fact, go a step further and create buyer personas. It will help you design a lead generation strategy that is much more effective since it is tailored to the needs of a particular group of people.

Lead Generation Approaches

Once you’ve identified your target audience, the next step is to determine how to reach these people with digital marketing. There are two ways of doing this:

Outbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing is when you initiate contact with people to generate interest in your product or service. It could be through cold calling, direct emails, billboards, radio, TV, magazine, and newspaper advertisements.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing draws people in by creating content that is relevant to them. You pull them towards your company through content that aligns with their needs and interests.

Which One Should You Choose?

You need to make this decision keeping your target audience and the buyer personas in mind. Here are some statistics that will help:

• 86% of people skip television ads
• 44% of direct mail is never opened
• 91% of email users have unsubscribed from company emails they previously opted into.
• 200M Americans have registered their phone numbers on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list.
• Inbound Marketing costs 62% less per lead as compared to a traditional outbound marketing campaign.
• Inbound Marketing not only helps generate leads but also increases customer acquisition.
• 3 out of 4 inbound marketing channels cost less than any outbound marketing channel.

If we go by these statistics, it is evident that inbound marketing is far more effective and provides a greater ROI than outbound marketing. It is primarily due to customers being bombarded with information left, right, and center. This has made them pickier about what kind of content they want to consume.

Customers are also spending more time doing their research and actively identifying brands they want to engage with. So you now want to make it easier for your potential customers to find you rather than the other way round.

While inbound marketing is great, don’t completely write off outbound marketing. Depending on your target audience, certain outbound marketing tactics can be beneficial. Trade shows, conferences, events, and published content in print media can help reach certain categories of people.

Lead Generation Channels

If you’re convinced about inbound marketing and want to build your lead generation strategy around it, you need to identify what channels you will focus on to generate leads for your business. Here are the best digital lead generation channels:

• Your Website
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Paid Search Advertising (PPC Advertising)
• Display Advertising
• Social Media Advertising
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing

5. What’s Next?

So now you’ve seen the importance of lead generation and keeping your pipeline full. You’ve identified your target audience and built the buyer personas. Based on this, you’ve identified your lead generation channels and built your strategy.

Leads are now slowly trickling in. The pipeline is filling up steadily. Is your work done here? Nope. Not all leads are equal. As they keep coming in, it is important for you to continuously evaluate these leads, segment them, qualify them, and eventually convert them.

A visitor took the first step by showing interest in what you have to sell. You now have to take them from the top of the sales funnel to the bottom. However, it is important to understand that not all your leads will buy from you. In fact, it is believed that only 10%-15% of all leads convert into paying customers.

It becomes critical to identify those leads most likely to buy from you and focus on them. You can do this by scoring your leads based on certain criteria. You can look at factors such as how closely aligned they are to your buyer persona, if they have visited your website, engaged with your social media posts, opened your emails, or shown any intention of purchasing from you, and so on.

Once the scoring is done, focus on converting those with the highest scores. Also, try to keep the ones with median scores engaged since they may convert at a later stage. Rinse and repeat for a great pipeline of leads.

Summary

Lead generation is the cornerstone of any business. It not only helps you reach more people and boost revenues but also plays a vital role in building your brand. When it comes to lead generation strategies, there is no one size fits all approach. It is a process of continually evaluating who your target audience is, how best you can reach them, and what it would take to convert them into happy, paying customers.

A good lead engagement strategy not only keeps your pipeline full but also pays attention to nurturing and building lasting relationships with your leads.

If you’re struggling to generate leads and want to hire an expert team to help, contact us ASAP to get started!

We, Gr8 Services are a leading digital marketing agency, based in JLT, Dubai; and part of WSI – the world’s oldest and largest digital marketing agency headquartered in Toronto, Canada. WSI has won the WMA (Web Marketing Association) Top Agency Award  for 2 years in a row – for 2020 and 2019. Know more about WSI. 

Gr8 Services has also been recognized among the best digital marketing agencies in Dubai. Read the full article here.

Are you interested in any lead generation activities – SEO , PPC Advertising,  Display Advertising, or Social Media Advertising – Facebook/ Instagram Advertising, Snapchat Advertising, YouTube Advertising? Check out the below links.

This blog post is extracted from a blog post by our parent organization, WSI. 

The original blog post can be found on our global website: https://www.wsiworld.com/