The State of Lead Generation Industry Report was published in July by Wishpond and what it reveals confirms that relationships are more powerful than marketing. People want quality and edutainment (education and entertainment) from brands they love. Lead generation is at an all time high, but the question is how to best utilize your time and marketing dollars to make the biggest impact in your business.
Quality over Quantity Marketing
Quality over quantity is the highest priority with 83% of marketers. They don’t need more leads, they need real quality leads. Online marketing needs a Magnet vs. the Bullhorn approach to drive quality inbound relationship marketing. 67% of marketers will increase their lead and demand generation budgets this year which means a lot of traffic will be generated, and there is a greater need to rise above the humming of the crowd. Organic website traffic accounts for the highest percentage of high-quality leads at 23% but keep in mind that all these platforms work together and feed off of each other to help you build your trusted brand and drive traffic to your site.
Websites leading for generating quality leads
Websites are what continue to drive and dominate new lead acquisitions. It is key that you have high-quality content to further the “Know, Like, Trust” relationship and draw people to you so that you can serve them. Organic website traffic accounts for the highest percentage of quality leads. This comes when people are searching for the ideal match to meet their need and the SEO that you highlight is what they are looking for. More than ever before, your home base matters.
A great Landing Page is an extremely effective way to generate leads. Companies with 40+ landing pages get 12 TIMES more leads than ones with 5 or less. The takeaway is to create more landing pages, but within that is the necessity to make them good quality pages that clients will be led to through organic searches.
Again, organic traffic is top priority and is driven by SEO. SEO allows you to create a great quality product and let the clients come to you for your information. The following are the leaders in providing that information.
61% White Papers – Having great content that will turn into lead generation. Giving quality information that is given in exchange for an email address which you can then use for follow up.
58% Webinars – People are searching for answers to their problems online, and they’re hungry for quality information. The more quality information you provide, the more likely it will generate more quality leads.
44% Case Studies – This is the new testimonial; telling the details of what a client went through, this is what happened before and the problem, this is the solution and here are the results. Letting them know what to expect.
32% Blogs – This is what helps to drive SEO and keep in contact with your leads. Social Media is a part of this and is a great way to connect with your leads on a regular basis as something they choose to click on and look at because of the content.
29% Videos – There are more opportunities and platforms now to create a good video. Instead of a white paper, some clients would prefer to consume the content through a video that they can click on and immediately view as opposed to signing up for a webinar.
25% Infographics – A really great infographic has the potential to be shared and distribute the data because it is easy to read. Researchers found that colored visuals increase people's willingness to read a piece of content by 80%.
Pop-ups on websites used as content upgrades have a conversion rate of 70% vs. an average pop up conversion rate of 1.06% without a content upgrade. The key is offering something in the pop up that will offer to further help and educate the client in the way they are looking for so that they will click the button.
What had the Highest conversion rates?
Additionally, pop-ups are proven to convert better than traditional sidebars by 1375%. People are hungry for and will take advantage of adding value and offering a content upgrade that is important to the consumer, letting them know that if they like this, then they will love that. This will generate the click and opt in for email or contact information.
Referrals and Word of Mouth is a Trust Source of Lead Generation
Word of mouth works as always. When a client knows that someone they trust will trust you to handle their business, it will generate great leads. Word of mouth now incorporates all platforms of social media and having a presence on these platforms will make it easier for clients click to your site and build their own relationship with you. The key to this is growing your word of mouth business to WorLd of mouth. People trust referrals from sources they don’t know online 88% of people trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts. [BrightLocal]
Email Marketing works, period.
Email Marketing is another key component, and a large part of that is utilizing opt-in Emails. This allows clients to sign up for specific areas of knowledge that you can bring to them. People are hungry for information, and good quality information will bring you good quality leads. When you collect email in exchange for an email address, it’s a win-win. That's why we believe in the inbound marketing approach.
Email is also the primary channel for driving leads at 77%. This is also a great tool to utilize for follow up with leads and continue to reach out to them with that great information they need. The best thing about email marketing is that you’re in control of the full message. Whereas on social media you can build of fans and followers but what if the platform changes? You’re not in control of social media platforms and how often your content is seen. Email marketing is a great way to deliver content and build a rapport with your audience to deepen your relationship.
PPC Ads
Pay Per Click Ads are great and work, but know the best way to get your money out of each click. Rather than paying $14.00 per click on some platforms, using new up and coming social media platforms to click and pay as little as a few cents per click.
A way to utilize this is to create a report or system that takes high-quality leads from inbound contacts that consumed the most content, visited the site often, filled out for more information or are connected across various platforms. By using these criteria a video can be created that will be used on Facebook to create a ‘look alike’ target audience. Facebook will target that audience for you and the more people who click; the less it costs per click.
Social Media Ranks High Remarks on Driving Leads for Business
Good Social Media content is shown to drive leads back to your website. Here is another area where SEO is crucial to interact with those who are looking for your content. Your content needs to clearly explain the value and who it’s intended for. It is also important to know your audience and which platform works for them, whether it is through the top three of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook or one of the others that did not rank as high like Youtube, Instagram, and Pinterest. These mediums help you stay in contact with your leads and build that relationship marketing.
59% LinkedIn – This produces the best leads. More website visits may come through other channels, but LinkedIn has the advantage of being a platform for professionals. More than any other platform you can see a lot more information regarding who has referred them and featured work, the things that are working according to the report.
28% Twitter – The advantage here is a person to person connection. Two people having a conversation back and forth. Again, see what a person is sharing and who they are connected with to get a better feel of what they are about. Again, back to the “Know, Like, Trust” branding.
24% Facebook – This is the one that people are spending the most time on, but on a mindset of personal friends and family. This still produces the most website overall but perhaps not as high quality of a lead.
Some of the lower rankings of the other three might have to do with lacking the resources to effectively use Youtube, for example, such as a good video department or a good photographer could be a barrier to using Instagram and Pinterest. Depending on your industry and your angle this is something that could become a focus and utilized to a greater extent to produce quality leads.
The rules are changing regarding video, and social media has avenues such as Facebook Live that can be used with a lesser quality video but high-quality information. Lead capture can be in the form of a gated from to give high-quality content. This inbound methodology is ultimately what’s showing success to generate the quality leads.
Biggest barriers to success
No smart system to track like having a CRM in place to report what is working and what is not.
- 61% - Lack of resources- no team members on staff to help implement a plan.
- 42% - Lack of good data - No CRM in place to build a knowledge Center on your clients.
- 38% - Lack of insights - no system in place to track quality of leads
The bottom line is that organic reach and organic content works more than anything else use SEO get quality leads. It is important to know what tools to best utilize in order to generate that funnel to you.
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