How do businesses generate leads in this modern time?
Attracting leads to your business vary from time to time, but this should be on top of your priority.
No doubt that online marketing is what most companies are utilizing! It is highly accessible to customers, and if done right, it is well-targeted. As a result, almost 90% of small businesses rely on online marketing for lead generation and promote their products and services. Thus, you must adapt to online marketing strategies if you are a business owner. Otherwise, you’ll get left behind by your competitors.
Not to cause any fear-mongering. I was stating a FACT!
Why is Online Marketing Needed
Your Target Market is Always Online
According to studies, there are 5 billion internet users, which is continuously growing. People search for different stuff online, whether they want to know where the new travel destination is or what’s the latest gadget or when JLo and Ben Affleck got married. Thus, people are constantly searching, and you need to be on their radar at most times when they are online.
Online Marketing is Highly Targeted
When using online marketing, you are targeting specific leads based on their different characteristics and customer preferences. Information like the client’s demographic, shopping patterns, online footprint, personal interests, and socioeconomic status are the targets.
Increase Visibility for Your Business
If you want more leads and loyal customers, you must ensure that you are highly visible to the market. Being visible online is the way to go! Your online presence works with you as a business owner while you do offline marketing (personal meetings with prospects, attending social events), etc. The internet will constantly market your business, even when you sleep. Thus, your company is selling itself to your target market 24/7.
Realizing that you need online marketing doesn’t end there. It would help if you started building online campaigns and creating strategies to attract leads. So, here are five practical ways of lead generation through online marketing.
1. Optimize Your Website
Your business website is one of the essential parts of your online marketing. The objective of having a website is to promote your business and sell your products or services to the audience. As much as possible, you do not want your audience to leave your site without convincing them that you are the best choice in the market. Therefore, the headline, graphics, copy, and page layout must blend harmoniously. Make it user-friendly and avoid distractions.
2. Automate As Much As You Can
Before converting an audience, you need to nurture them first. Nurturing is part of building trust in the business, and email marketing will come into the picture. Next, you can automate email marketing, meaning a follow-up process is already programmed, and you don’t have to be bothered about it. Create a sequence so that the receiver will not be annoyed. Instead, the receiver will see its relevance. Most importantly, they need to open it, read it, and not click unsubscribe.
3. Maximize Multiple Online Platforms
Are you sure that you are highly present online? Can your target leads reach you easily?
With the presence of multiple online platforms, it is just up to you how you could maximize their use. Do not expect that when you post on Facebook, then your audience will automatically buy from you! It would be best if you knew your audience. Knowing them makes you aware that a customer journey isn’t a sprint but a marathon. You need to engage them not once, not twice, but multiple times! It’s like courting someone. Having your best foot forward will not be enough. The more times they have an encounter with you on different platforms, the more chance of winning their trust (and love).
4. Make Sure Ads Are Targeted
When we talk about ads, we talk about paid ads. Paid ads equal (shelling out) money! It’s no joke when you talk about money. Nurturing wrong leads through paid ads means wasting money. That’s why it is essential to target your leads well. It may be a hit-and-miss type of strategy, but you need to be able to analyze data that will be helpful in your ads. Think about it. One ad campaign can generate 50 leads, but only five purchases? See, that’s why it is very relevant to collect data that will help your business generate quality leads.
5. Provide Relevant Value
Even if you have the resources (money) and appropriate content and CTA, you need to make sure that you are always providing value to your audience. Providing value in the form of ebooks, videos, or webinars will establish credibility that will be easier for you to funnel your audience to become a lead. So how can you provide value? (1) Helping them with their pain points. (2) Answering their questions and problems. (3) Making their lives easier. As long as your valuable content is relevant and visually appealing, you can get your audience hooked, and they will be asking for more.
Final Point
Your business will not last when you do not leverage the power of online marketing and if you do not have quality leads. Do not look at online marketing as something expensive and hard to attain. Because when you are in a business, it is all risk. You have to choose those calculated risks with a high probability of generating the best result. It would be best if you had an effective strategy to convert your audience from simply being a bystander to a walking, referring client for your business. Remember, words travel fast, and your online reputation matters.
