How to Properly Execute a Lead Gen Strategy in Two Months

What should be the first step in your lead generation process? How can you increase the number of leads coming into your system, and convert them into customers? While selling more to your current customers is one way to grow your business, you also must reach new clients at the same time.

According to HubSpot, 65% of business owners say generating website traffic and finding new leads is their most significant marketing challenge. The way companies generate leads is more complex than at any time in the past. Rather than throwing a bunch of ads out there and hoping something sticks, marketers can now zero in on the exact audience they want.

If the number of leads coming in is a bit lacking, there are some things you can do today to generate new leads in the next two months. Coming up with a solid lead gen strategy requires attention to detail, so here are the things you should embrace to improve yours.

1. Revamp Your Lead Capture

Before you look at where you're advertising, rework your lead magnet and your landing pages. What is the objective of each page? You should have a single goal for a landing page, and every element should point them toward the objective.

Make sure your call to action (CTA) is the best it can be. Conduct split testing to see what colors, word choices, and placement work best with your target audience. Capturing contact information appears in the early stages of lead generation. Does your magnet entice them enough to share personal information?

2. Map Sales Areas

Local businesses benefit greatly by mapping out sales territories. Even online-only companies may find mapping out details helps them better reach new customers in specific areas. Where are the people you want to reach?

Start with a business purpose in mind when creating your map, such as a geographic view or seeing which areas your competitors already serve. You can gain an edge by homing in on relevant information to help you reach more potential clients.

3. Automate Initial Interactions

Ideally, you could schmooze every person who visited your site and take your conversion rates through the roof. Unfortunately, that isn't possible for most businesses. You likely have a million other things to do, and spending untold hours with a potential lead doesn't always pay off.

The solution is to automate as many of the early stages of lead generation as possible. For example, you might add a chatbot to your site and program it to answer general questions frequently asked by new site visitors.

Of course, you can have a live agent trained and ready to take over should the person need additional help. Today's smart programs can make the interaction seamless. The user may never even realize they're talking to a bot.

4. Plan Your Content

Content marketing is one of the most effective methods of getting the word out about your brand and driving leads to your site. Creating and distributing information is also the most significant challenge companies face.

Fortunately, you can use content marketing platforms to ensure you vary your posts and schedule them when they'll have the most impact. You can even track results and make adjustments on-the-fly.

People who read something on social media, for example, and then click on the link, are quite interested in what you have to offer. They are pre-qualified leads and can take your revenue to the next level.

5. Consider Gated Content

Do you have specific knowledge other companies don't? You can still offer some information to leads, but you can lock it so the person has to share their email and information before gaining access.

At least some of the content on your site should be free because not everyone will want to share their data to gain access. However, a full-length book or a report may warrant a bit more effort on the user's part. Utilize the cornerstone content on your site to generate more leads.

6. Plan Events

You can easily plan out some events over the next two months. With the pandemic, many companies turn to online conferences and workshops to help generate leads. Many are more comfortable with a virtual option, and you could reach new leads you otherwise wouldn't have.

Consider a guest speaker, a short lesson on how to do something, or a seminar for potential customers. One example of companies embracing this type of lead generation strategy is retirement investing financial advisors. They'll offer dinner and a talk to get people in the door and gain their contact information.

7. Ask for Referrals

One of the simplest lead generation strategies you can implement today is asking your current customers to recommend you to those they know. Marketers saw a 50% increase in customer acquisition costs over the past five years.

If you want to keep your revenue up, you must retain the customers you have while finding inexpensive ways to seek new ones. People are much more likely to trust the recommendation of someone they know. If your current customers are happy with their experience, they will share your product or service with others and help you generate leads automatically.

You could also implement a reward system where you offer perks for those who refer leads who become customers. Give them a discount on their next order or send them a thank you present.

8. Let Them Try It

Service businesses in particular benefit from offering free trial periods. If your product is excellent, people will realize the advantages of continuing to use it once the trial passes. The "freemium" strategy, or a free trial, works particularly well when the market is a bit saturated and you need to show how your service is superior to the competition.

9. Team Up With Local Businesses

Finding new leads isn't always easy. Even if you succeed in gaining their email or phone number, they may be reluctant to buy from you. Fortunately, you can piggyback on the success of others in your industry.

For example, if you network with other business owners in your area, look for one that complements what you offer. An ice cream parlor and a taco food truck might team up to offer tacos and ice cream night in the local community. Each provides a different product in a similar category.

Another example might be a local restaurant and a theater teaming up to offer a discount package or referring customers to one another.

10. Hire Influencers

Generate buzz overnight by hiring an influencer to get the word out about your product. Influencer marketing is on the uptick, but don't rule out smaller audiences who engage regularly with the influencer. Seek out someone who has followers in your target audience.

Check out other campaigns the person has done with other businesses. How often did they post? Did their audience engage with the posts by sharing, liking, and commenting? You should scroll through the comments and see if any of them made a purchase. Stay away from influencers your competition used, as the audience may already have the service or product you're selling.

You will need a few weeks to work with the influencer and figure out the best approach. Take their advice, as they know their audience better than you do. However, you can easily implement an influencer campaign in the next two months.

Changing Marketing Landscape

The way marketing works online slowly shifts from year to year. Strategies such as paid advertising are no longer as effective as engaging your audience directly. People are tired of spammy ads. They want you to work for their attention, engage with them, and convince them you're worthy of their loyalty.

Implement some of the strategies above, and also be open to new ideas and techniques to bring in qualified leads. You can accomplish a lot in two months simply by tweaking some of what you already do.

This guest article was written by Eleanor Hecks, the editor-in-chief of Designerly Magazine. She's also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience and user interface. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dogs, Bear and Lucy. Connect with her about marketing, design and/or tea on LinkedIn.