Imagine This: You are a senior in high school waiting for that one e-mail that will completely change your future. Your golden ticket to your next stage in life. You have been to over twenty campuses, gone to more test prep classes than your dad’s wallet can afford and filled out so many applications that you cannot look at your home address ever again.
Today is the day that you will be notified if you have been accepted to your dream college and your eyes have been glued to the screen anticipating the e-mail to come in.
*Ding*
“Claim your $100 gift card to the zoo today” appears as the subject line.
Annoying, huh?
This frustrating e-mail interruption is exactly why following the inbound methodology of lead generation is critical to not becoming that bothersome, disruptive business ruining the most important days in an 18 year old’s life.
Now that you know lead generation is important, let’s define exactly what it is.
Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into possible leads.
A lead is a person who has shown interest in your company in any way and is open to receiving more information from you.
So how can your company generate these leads? With these 10 lead generation tools listed below:
1) Create videos for those visual learners.
A simple way to generate leads is by creating quick, personal videos that are share-worthy. It is no secret that online videos are an effective way to present your content and inspire engagement with your prospects. The best part is you don’t have to be a seasoned video producer to create quality videos. Simply communicate your company’s core message, showcase your personality, and add value to your prospects experience. A likeable video can instantly help you connect with your audience and help them move along the buyer’s process. To take your videos to the next level, use an email collector to have viewers enter their emails within the video player. Seamlessly collect emails at any point of a video to later add them to lists, campaigns, and lead scoring workflows.
2) Use live webinars to break down the cyber barrier.
A great way to connect with your prospect is by hosting a webinar. This method can help your business establish brand trust and authority by positioning yourself as an expert in your field. Prospects who actually hear and possibly see you share your knowledge can build trust with you. Prospects want to get to know the people behind the brand and webinars are a great way to nurture your relationship. Webinars are also a great way to allow viewers to provide feedback, ask questions, and chat with others. Need ideas on how to master a webinar? Check out our live webinar to get some pointers.
3) Speak at an event.
In easy way to engage directly with your buyer personas is to speak at a physical event. By choosing the right event or workshop, you can have the chance to interact directly with prospects that already have an interest in companies similar to yours. They came to the event for a reason, right? Speaking at an event allows your company to express its identity firsthand and to share your ideas and thoughts in the exact manner you want them to be presented. Successfully presenting your company can have a lasting a powerful impression of what your company is capable of delivering each day.
4) Take advantage of your blog posts.
Regardless of what you company does, a blog is a great tool for generating leads. A blog is a hub for prospect engagement and can easily answer someone’s questions and lead them to form a trusting relationship with your business. To do this successfully, focus on your prospect’s pain points and demonstrate how your product or service can help them using educational content. By making your blog easy to consume, visually appealing, and enriched with keywords, prospects will want to learn more about your offers.
5) Quiz your prospects.
This may seem odd to you but people really do love to get feedback of a score on the responses they give to questions. In turn, this can allow your business to showcase opportunities for those people to become leads. As a starting point, let prospects answer a short set of questions about your industry, product or service and show them how they stack up against other test takers. Afterwards, create a personalized recommendations on how they can improve their skills using your blog posts, webinars, etc.
6) Offer your customers incentives for referrals.
A great way to generate leads is to seek referrals from those leads who have already become your customers. Though some people may not be willing to refer their friends to try out your product or service, offering an incentive can help you out. Give your satisfied customers a reason to refer your business. Offering a valuable incentive such as a discount for your product or a free “How-To” can urge happy customers to reach out to others and let them know about their positive experience with your company.
7) Build a case study.
Case studies are important tools to tell your potential customers why and how your service or product can solve their problems. A case study is a detailed account of an event, process, or subject relevant to your business. Put simply, it is proof that your company produces products or services that work. Showing readers a well presented case study will demonstrate the value of your business. Including specific results, quotes from customers and a valuable call-to-action can easily put a prospect on the path to becoming a lead.
8) Gain visibility using social media.
As always, social media is a wonderful tool to communicate your message to new prospects. When looking to gain new leads, social media can assist your company by producing content that is visually appealing and can engage people to develop an interest in your business. Hold contests to offer a trial of your service a product or promoting a whitepaper is a quick way to make an impact on prospects online.
9) Develop strategic partnerships and co-create content.
Partnering with another company to develop co-created content is an efficient way to increase your visibility and credibility. By partnering with established brands, companies can benefit from getting twice as much promotion and possibility of people seeing your brand. Produce co-created content for webinars or workshops to offer your prospects twice as much information, guidance and trust. Developing a partnership also gives users a taste of each of your companies and an insight on how each can benefit them in their own ways.
10) Use the old fashioned click popup.
A click popup is activated when a visitor is scrolling on your website. It is not intended to be an annoyance to your visitor but rather a way to generate them as a lead. When used correctly, a popup can be very successful. A popup can be used to have a reader subscribe to a blog or as a way to get your prospects information before they leave your site. This can be your last chance to capture their attention and offer them something in turn that can interest them in your product or service. Creating a popup that offers added value to your prospect can allow them to be intrigued by your intentions. Try it yourself with HubSpot’s free tool, LeadIn.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many tools to generate leads. Depending on the nature of your business, one method may be more effective than the other. Creating clever ways to generate leads is a work in process and requires different approaches reliant on your own goals.
Remember that generating leads is just the beginning. Keep your leads engaged by consistently offering them content that will interest them and move them farther along on their journey with your company.
