8 Types of Lead Generation Strategies For Your Business.

Lead generation is very essential to the survival of any firm. A company will fail if it does not receive a steady stream of high-quality leads, which can then be converted (god willing) to paying clients (or customers in B2C). However, with so many lead generation tactics accessible in this day and age, it? can be difficult to decide where to focus your efforts and which ones to let go of.

According to Hubspot, 60% of the marketers say that their No.1 priority is Lead Generation and it is the single criteria used by 67% of businesses to assess their content performance.?

So, how do you go about expanding leads flow for your company? As much as we all wish we could, you can't just cast a bunch of lead gen activities without a plan hoping to catch a lead in your net. There has to be a robust outreach ? strategy in place covering from awareness to nurturing to conversion. The ugly truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all lead generation approach – after all, every firm and sector is unique. However, focusing on complementary strategies that will aid in lead creation will most likely get you off to a pretty solid start.

However, as times change, so do the most effective techniques to generate fresh leads. What worked well ten years ago is no longer the most efficient strategy to attract people to your channels and convert them into paying clients. I've compiled a list of the top 8 lead generation enabling methods for 2022 down below:

1. Simplify your website or landing page - Keeping your website or relevant landing pages simple (and free of useless buzzwords) allows your prospects to reach their (and your) goals faster and more likely. Uncluttering and embracing minimalism to your pages is the key to enhancing your website navigation, especially seeking to optimise the content to smaller (handheld) devices because nowadays more than 50 % of web traffic comes from mobile devices. The best way to approach this is by considering your website from the user's point of view, as a complete stranger taking a journey to the unknown and it's your job to induce a feeling of wisdom, experience & trustworthiness.

Visitors are often distracted by extraneous elements or pictures/videos which are unlikely to convert into leads if they become overwhelmed with information or confused as to how to proceed. As a result, when designing a website (that will complement the rest of the lead gen strategy), keep it simple, have only relevant information and select a clear, easy-to-find call-to-action button (because scroll depth is limited so is the attention span of the prospects, so don't bury it at the bottom of the page).

2. Provide (free) demonstrations and presentations - Too many businesses try to automate too fast and fail to meet their marketing goals. I get it, automation is my bread and butter but it is important to integrate human elements as well because when automation fails (or steps in way too early), it widens the gap between your company and your leads.

To avoid such early blunders from becoming major issues in the long run, always provide your prospects with a better and more customised experience by delivering live demos, walkthroughs and presentations. That's why I personally, give free consultations because, during a live call, I can directly ask prospects why they were interested in my services, and what they are looking for as well as what turned them off so I can tailor my approach rather than hoping for a one-size-fits-all approach to work every single time. This feedback assists you in addressing any problem with your content, funnel process and improving your offering & pitching.

3. Request Referrals from Existing Customers - Client recommendations are one of the most traditional lead-generating marketing tactics available and in my opinion, one of the best in terms of pure ROI. Say, for instance, a current client of yours is pleased with your product/service, which encourages them to tell their colleagues (or even other branches or subsidiaries of their company) who could benefit from you as well. If you have done exemplary services in the past. Some clients may be compelled to do this for free due to the quality of your company's services being high enough, or you might build up an incentive scheme (a % of the signing fee waived off from monthly retainer or even a significant % off their next monthly retainer for each client they recommended).

Client referrals are an excellent technique to increase leads for your company since they are profitable and your present customers perform the majority of the effort with little to no cost from your side with the highest possible ROI for minimal effort. If you give an excellent client experience, word-of-mouth referrals will come easily and that is the best kind of marketing even to date. A concerted effort to nurture them furthermore will result in an even larger ROI from your network. This is likely easier said than done, so as you move forward, it is immensely beneficial to adopt a referral marketing plan into your strategies.

4. Build on Social Proof and Testimonials - Social proof is an important component of most of the modern B2B marketing tactics. Due to the complicated nature of purchasing journeys (as opposed to B2C), potential clients will often seek social proof to make a better-informed purchase decision since they may be sceptical of high promises being made regarding your product/service as sellers often tend to oversell their capabilities leading to industry-wide scepticism in the B2B community. You can counter these industry doubts by proudly providing Social Proof and Testimonials as proof. The more social evidence you can gather on your site, landing pages and social media platforms, the simpler it will be to establish trust. Say, you're exploring a landing page and come across a testimonial from a respected industry expert, that's an assertive and resonating social proof.

Furthermore, that's social evidence when you're browsing a price page and see that an industry titan is already utilising the product or when signing up for a free demo because you saw the product already addressed the identical problem you have for a similar/competitor organisation is another example of social proof. In essence, it is using third-party influence and leverage to convince potential clients to at least hear you out. Humans tend to often rely on other people’s experiences before making a life-altering decision; the same principles likewise could be applied to the B2B marketing space.

5. Provide a Free Tool or Lead Generation Magnet - Providing a free tool/resource is an excellent approach to developing business-to-business sales leads and that's why a lot of industry leaders are giving away freebies under the concept of “Give before Receiving” and I quite agree. An example of this would be if you can provide a free product that will freely assist people without the necessity for them to finally purchase from your company at the end or even a helpful blog post which may generate prospect information related to the topic with a (neatly placed) call to action.

Case studies are another interesting “freebies”, as they could be published and promoted since B2B customers are highly analytical, risk-averse, and frequently want the backing of numerous ROI-minded decision-makers before purchasing. Lead magnets like these are highly valuable assets in digital marketing since they aid in the development of email lists, the development of awareness & thought leadership and the regular capture of leads. Start using these powerful techniques today if you haven't already.

6. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - Search engine optimization may not appear to be the most glamorous lead creation approach, yet it is incredibly successful. SEO is the process of making your website more search engine friendly, which involves adding particular keywords, increasing "domain authority" via backlinks through other sites, and enhancing the quality of your website content. In summary, SEO is critical because it increases the visibility of your website, which means more visitors and more opportunities to convert prospects into consumers.

Even though there may be significant costs involved in the beginning to bring your website up to par, SEO helps to grow visitors organically, delivering quality lead generation chances with no advertising or promotion costs. Even if you're primarily focused on providing useful content and other forms of lead magnets, a little SEO effort may have a significant impact on how many people visit your website and discover that material.

7. Start a company Email Newsletter - Email marketing, like any other content and social media lead generation tactics, might be a good fit for your business. Consider your email marketing approach to be a content strategy combined with social lead acquisition strategies. If everything goes well, you'll have a plan in place to provide a captive audience with regular updates from your company or even your industry. By which, they receive information directly in their email, and you aren't competing for their attention in a flood of social network updates.

Having said that, in order to maximise the effectiveness of newsletter lead generation tactics, it is critical to create compelling reasons for individuals to sign up and more importantly keep them away from unsubscribing. A primary advantage of a corporate newsletter is that it keeps your brand in front of infrequent buyers and keeps your brand fresh in their minds. This in turn. increases word-of-mouth or referral marketing, which as I said before, is the best kind of marketing. P.S. I have a small secret to tell you, I am also working on an email newsletter so you and I can be better in touch, so keep your fingers crossed!

8. Hold one-of-a-kind events or webinars/seminars - Possibly the most interactive of my top lead generation tactics, presenting an event or seminar/webinar helps you to develop deep, meaningful relationships with potential prospects. An easy method is to conduct a seminar or virtual event directly relevant to the subject in which your company or service excels (i.e. mine would be on Outbound Marketing or B2B Lead Gen). With this method, you'll be able to reach out to potential clients and consumers directly who are interested by sending them an email which is something far more beneficial than a cold sales pitch and get started on a LinkedIn webinar & Facebook event pages to attract more signups. Attendees may not only learn from you, but they can also network with each other, your employees, and other current loyal clients so you can box your new prospects all around you.

Furthermore, while presenting an event, webinar or seminar may appear to require major organisation and money, however, with the rise of online webinars, costs of hosting one have become non-existent, since the only thing that you will need is a laptop/pc with a webcam and a stable internet connection to host one. If it may seem daunting to do it alone, you can even partner up with an experienced colleagues so the session can flow in as a conversation and co-brand the event together to reach more audiences together. I have seen a lot of my colleagues do this recently and it has worked out tremendously for them. P.S.I have another small secret to tell you, I am also working on an upcoming webinar, so keep your eyes peeled!?

When it comes to making sure your lead flow is at least consistent and satisfactory, it is beneficial to go outside the box and attempt as many strategies as possible to see what works best for you and in what form. Every channel offers a whole set of new options to bring your company in front of a larger audience. Use the 8 examples above (plus the 10 extra short tips further below) to inspire and conquer your own lead-generating targets!

TLDR? Well don’t worry here's a rundown of the best complementary ways of generating leads for your business:

• Simplify your lead-generating website or landing page
• Provide (free) demonstrations and presentations
• Request Referrals from Existing Customers
• Build on Social Proof and Testimonials
• Provide a Free Tool or Lead Generation Magnet?
• Focus more on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Start a company Email Newsletter
• Hold one-of-a-kind events or webinars/seminars

And here are some other lead-generating strategies I wasn’t able to expand on above:

• Begin searching, connecting, reaching and networking
• Use the live chat to engage website visitors
• Always be A/B testing throughout
• Monitor and examine your competitors
• Analyse and Redesign your sales funnel when needed
• Utilise Video Marketing as much as possible
• Leverage Q&A’s to help you produce more B2B sales leads.
• Make use of digital sales rooms.
• Post on social media and blogs on a regular basis.
• Go Wild with re-marketing and re-targeting

Remember that not all Lead Generation strategies are suitable for everyone. What works best for you is very dependent on the type of your business, offerings, deal size, target audience, region, demographics, and so on. To achieve the best outcomes, you may need to explore and employ more than just one technique.

Most crucially, remember to test out your techniques on a regular basis, because this is the only way you will be able to find a lead-generating plan that works best for your company and make sure you don’t remain complacent in an ever-evolving industry. And when in doubt, my chat is always open, so feel free to hit me up.

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Until I see you again,

- Tom Simpson,?

- Brought to you by We Are Team Rocket.