MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Good lead generation is at the heart of successful marketing campaigns. With most brands shifting their business to cater to online shoppers, the challenge is to revolutionize the way they pique customer interest and convert this into sales, with emphasis on repeat buying versus single purchases.
What was once a straightforward process is now made more complex by the ease in which customers can compare your products and services with competitors and research reviews, as well as directly engage with your brand and gauge your credibility via the quality of your online assets. Though traditional lead generation continues to serve brands across industries, online lead generation now takes the lead and is a must-have in your digital-led marketing mix.
Building online lead generation has several benefits: it’s a highly cost-effective marketing method, you can leverage on more direct and personalized marketing, deepen relationships with customers to encourage repeat purchases and cultivate loyalty, and, of course, it widens your market and increases revenue.
To reap these benefits, brands can consider the following tips to improve online lead generation.
Provide free resources of value
Offering customers informative resources other than your products and services fulfill one very important goal: it creates the impression that you are an expert in your industry. This is an effective trust-building strategy anchored on credibility and reputation.
Create an information loop
The process of creating an information loop starts with having creative, informative, and engaging content that is easily accessible and digestible. Consider ramping up content like short videos, catchy posts, and infographics on social media as well as on your website. They can contain things like tutorials, tips to maximize product features, or concrete real-life uses of your products and services that they can try out themselves.
Add downloadable resources
Downloadable resources are opportunities for customers to get the bigger picture of your brand so they can better dissect your value propositions.
Maximize targeted emailing
In relation to giving customers downloadable resources, brands can improve their personalized marketing efforts. When customers view or download specific content that requires them to share their email addresses, you can better segment your audience and tailor what kind of material to send to them.
Build a blog
Having a blog that complements a website of products and services for sale is not only informative. It also increases SEO rankings that in turn improve your visibility in both organic and paid search engine results pages.
Position positive social proof strategically
What good are positive customer reviews if they’re not seen by the right people? Social proof is something you should be showing off. After all, brands that earned customers’ good graces have all the reason to use positive reviews as a major selling point—so, advertise them in places where customers can quickly see them.
Make contacting you easy
Don’t underestimate the value of features such as a working landline, several mobile numbers than be called or texted, an official email address where messages are attended to within the day, a contact form that allows customers to type their queries in detail, an up-to-date website with a live chat option, and social media pages that are well-managed by knowledgeable and courteous staff.
Ramp up your “About Us” page
Brands often focus on what they think customers look for when they visit their websites: the pages that detail products and services.
However, they fail to consider the impact of a memorable introduction. It’s a lost opportunity to establish that you’re better than your competitors without a solid “About Us” page. Here, you add a touch of expertise and transparency to what you’re selling. Customers don’t only want to buy the best stuff in the market; they want to support a brand that knows what it’s doing and is able to convince them of this.
As a final tip, online lead generation strategies can be strengthened by integrating it with other tried and tested digital marketing techniques. SEO and PPC are basic tools but when used together, enhances the effect of lead generation initiatives. Such is the world of 21st century business. It’s no longer enough to produce the highest quality products and services; your brand’s online presence is also something you need to be selling alongside this.
