Generating qualified leads or prospects is essential for the growth of your business. Would you like to invest in the right channels for acquiring new leads? This article should give you inspiration for your marketing and sales actions.
Attracting leads comes down to developing your notoriety with more or less qualified prospects to bring them into your sales funnel.
Then you know it, it is about following their purchasing journey, nurturing your relationship, integrating them into your commercial pipeline to convert them into customers to retain.
In outbound or inbound marketing, this lead generation process can be done in different ways.
I will immediately review the lead generation methods with high ROI potential for your business.
1.Create marketing content, develop your visibility
Simply, it consists of producing content (editorial, video, audio…) that interests your target audience with a call to action to engage them and capture their email address.
This type of inbound marketing type method is very effective and would cost up to 62% less than traditional advertising methods according to demand metric.
You serve your target audience by informing them about topics likely to interest them and which are related to your value proposition.
It is for this reason that the most successful companies today are those which develop “thought leadership” on their theme through relevant media.
If we take the example of banks, you will notice that most of them develop a real SEO (natural referencing) and SMO strategy around relevant keywords (personal finances, budget management, investment)
However, writing is not enough, ideally, you should get in touch with the person reading to you when starting an email marketing strategy.
Depending on whether you are positioned in btob or btoc sales, the places of publication and the communication strategies will be different.
This one will not send it to you for free … for that, you must provide it with high added value content: A guide, an eBook, a White Paper, a newsletter, a report, or even a tool (calculator, business plan model …) Which resolves one of these issues.
To get there and before writing or producing anything you must:
- Define your archetype of the best buyer to better understand your target (Persona marketing)
- Develop a real understanding of their purchasing journey for your type of product or service to identify the content that will be most suitable
- Create a call to action to get the contact of your target in exchange for research, a tool, or an eBook that helps them.
2.Customer references, a mine of ROI
One of the most underrated ways to develop a lead generation strategy is the traditional word of mouth.
In BtoC, the sponsorship system can be a vector for creating extremely lucrative opportunities, both offline and in e-commerce. Solutions like Welovecustomers offer digital support for a mastered sponsorship strategy.
Do you know when is the best time to get a referral from your client?
Immediately after closing your sale …
The moment he pays you and you thank him is a key moment in your business relationship.
The client shows an act of trust in you. So, don’t wait… Ask him directly:
Do you know of a person or a company that could also benefit from what I offer you? Can you recommend me to someone in your professional network? Do you have a contact to share with me who could benefit from my services and for whom I could come from you?
These questions will save you time, customers, and money. You can even ask them to give you recommendations on Google if you have a physical location.
Another tip: do not hesitate to create an account on a site such as Trustpilot (BtoC) to request a recommendation from your customers after your service or the sale of your product.
Your references are your greatest assets and allow you to generate new leads in a virtuous, simple, and efficient way. You will thus be able to integrate subtly into the purchasing process of decision-makers.
Enjoy it …
3.Your existing network, a real lever for lead generation
The idea that I propose to you is to take stock of your family, friendly and professional network to obtain recommendations.
Have you already carried out an analysis of your friendly and professional network? Yes, well I mean a real black on a white study where you made a list of potential influencers that you can activate?
List the people close to you and contact them to tell them about your project, your products, and your services.
They are your best ambassadors because they trust you and will usually have no objection to promoting you to their networks.
The process is simple: ask them to share your landing pages, content, and other forms… and be amazed at how effective this method is in finding new customers.
Do the same with your friends and acquaintances, it is sure and certain that someone can introduce you or somehow refer you to a hot prospect.
All means are good because if you close your sale you will be able to apply technique # 2 to maximize your results through referrals.
4The event/webinar, making contact with high added value
Organize an event or participate in a conference related to your theme in which your targets interact … Here is a “fashionable” method of commercial prospecting to expand your clientele.
As more and more companies develop a real communication strategy around this type of online event, the prospect is turning into an informed buyer.
To add value, you must pay attention to the substance as well as the form of your event because the image of your company depends on it.
Even though it’s easier to participate in an event that is already organized, organizing a webinar allows you to develop real authority and credibility around a key theme.
To give you an example: if I offer sales performance coaching, a webinar on new prospecting methods in 2021 could probably interest sales representatives that I want to turn into clients in the long term.
In this way, organizing an event such as a web conference, seminar, or presentation that addresses a hot topic relevant to your audience is a great method of lead generation. In particular, during the question and answer phases where you can interact directly with your prospects.
You don’t have to make it a voluntary event, it can also be self-funded if you involve experts in certain partner themes and charge a registration fee.
With digitization accelerating, webinars have become commonplace.
Do you know why? It has simply become one of the best ways to connect with prospects by providing them with pre-sale value.
5. Strategic partnerships to reach new targets.
Here’s a win-win lead generation method. According to Frost & Sullivan, more and more CEOs are identifying strategic partnerships as their main growth strategy.
These potential partners can open up access to new markets, new audiences and increase your opportunities.
So take care of your relationships with influencers, influencers, and other companies that provide complementary solutions to your targets.
They are in contact with your customers and prospects, and in some cases, have already developed strong relationships of trust with them.
If you manage to make sure you are in their good grace, and that you share your address books, you guarantee yourself a generation of qualified leads that can multiply your opportunities with an optimal conversion rate.
Who are these companies, individuals that your prospects listen to, read, subscribe to? What is the size of their audience, what impact could a sponsored mailing campaign have? What mutual benefits can you derive from a strategic partnership?
Have you identified them? Otherwise, to your lists …
Here’s a great way to create opportunities for you and your partner.
There is strength in unity, it is well known and your products just need to be complementary for them to work.
6.Surveys and polls
More engaging than a cold prospecting email, it also allows you to better understand your market.
To be effective, a study or a survey is carried out by an authentic approach to customer discovery by bringing a reward to your prospect. (Goodies, discounts, or high added value content …)
How would you like to understand what’s keeping your prospects from sleeping? You need to ask relevant questions to generate interest in your study.
The better you identify their issues, the more relevant you will be in your business approach.
This may concern the launch of a new product or the achievement of a benchmark to find out who among your list of prospects works with companies that offer your types of solutions.
The online survey is even easier to complete, and you’ll quickly know who answered what, and what questions.
7.Social selling
Social selling, or using social networks to generate opportunities … Does it work?
In the age and time of personal branding, you absolutely must learn to communicate with others.
Developing your brand image as an expert in your industry is a great way to generate qualified leads.
For this, you can use the social networks most suited to your market.
It is a fundamental work that does not happen overnight and for that, you must develop your strategy with an action plan to network on these media.
In B2B, prospecting on LinkedIn is probably the best way …
In BtoC, Facebook, Instagram, and others remain your best allies.
Keep in mind that lead generation is not enough.
Creating a contact or a lead is the first step in your commercial approach …
To be able to naturally convert him into a customer, you must keep in mind that it is not necessarily because he has expressed an interest that he is necessarily qualified to buy your product or service at this time.
Lead generation is effective if it happens when your buyer is making a buying decision.
If he’s still trying to get a feel for what product/service he needs to acquire. You must position yourself as information and expert in this topic to earn points. It is for this reason that it is essential to clearly define your sales funnel.
For a lead to generate turnover, you have to know how to qualify, argue and conclude.
You can use these different digital prospecting tools to sign your prospect.
This way, you can focus your efforts on the most lucrative potential targets that are most consistent with your business proposition.
