How to Boost Your Sales With Lead Generation

Capturing customers and generating revenue is a long and complex journey for any business, regardless of industry or what you sell.

This point is why marketing is so crucial for leading a company to success, especially in the modern world where competition is more challenging than ever. Marketing isn’t an easy task, but it deserves all your divided attention. Without marketing, your potential customers won’t find your business, and you will miss out on valuable income. There are several marketing strategies that you can implement, particularly within the digital space. One of the most effective digital marketing strategies is lead generation, which occurs at the start of the marketing process.

Activate Digital is a lead generation agency that combines technology-led methods with creative strategies to help brands grow. Activate has generated thousands of leads for businesses across several sectors by utilising various platforms. Their industries have ranged from property investment to legal services and fitness equipment. They have provided us with some advice on what lead generation is and how to use it to your advantage.

What Is Lead Generation?

At its core, lead generation is all about gaining the interest of potential customers, and it is not about immediately selling a product or service. That comes later! However, it is a critical step in attracting potential customers who may eventually convert down the road. A lead is a user who has shown interest but has not yet converted into a paying customer. Promoting products and services to potential customers is far easier when you have leads. Without leads, you’re just preaching to anyone, including people who may have no interest whatsoever.

You can invest time and money into a wide range of lead generation campaigns, including email marketing, social media, organic search, and blogging. If you are in the mortgage business, consider buying mortgage leads to expand your client base more rapidly. One of the best ways to generate leads is through paid advertising campaigns, which uses digital platforms to target a relevant audience with attractive adverts. When a user clicks the ad, they will go through to a landing page where they can submit primary contact details such as an email address. Businesses usually provide a lure, such as a free download or advice, to entice users in completing the form.

When you capture a lead, their details will go into a database which you can use to target them further with other campaigns. For example, email campaigns, phone calls and remarketing ads on social platforms are excellent techniques to re-enforce your communication. The aim is to continually deliver clear messaging that engages users and transforms them into customers.

What Advertising Platforms Should I Use?

When choosing to run a lead generation advertising campaign, there are several types of platforms that you can consider. There is no more important factor to think about than your audience. The first question to ask yourself is who are your customers, and where do they go online? By building a customer profile, you will better understand how to target the platforms that your potential customers mainly use. Other factors include your budget, type of campaign, the lead information to collect, and how much you are willing to spend per click and lead. Some platforms will prove more competitive than others and will cost more money.

Most of the population uses social media daily, so this is a great place to start. Social platforms are highly effective as they allow you to reach millions of people by seamlessly fitting ads into their feeds. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit are very consumer-focused, while professionals use LinkedIn, making it more ideal for B2B targeting. A younger demographic generally uses Instagram, and as it is mainly image-based, it requires attractive assets.

You can also use Google Ads and Bing Ads to deliver search campaigns. These campaigns target highly relevant people searching for keywords matching your products, services and related queries. Another option to consider is Ad Network campaigns. These campaigns use tools like Taboola, Outbrain and Google Ads to display adverts on large third-party media websites, allowing you to follow people around the web. Ad networks can be a great way to attract an older audience that doesn’t necessarily use social media.

How to Maximise Your Campaigns

The marketing funnel is at the very core of any successful lead generation campaign, so it’s a good starting point for learning how to guide customers through the journey. Attraction is the first part of the process. You need to find customers and position your brand before their eyes. You can attract awareness with social media, pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimisation. A lead generation campaign is, in essence, the beginning of this stage before people even visit your website or landing page. Therefore, you must target a relevant audience and use attractive ad creatives that compel them to find out more. If you don’t try, no one will know about your business! Likewise, if you get the campaign wrong, your message will be ignored, or you may even scare off potential customers.

When you have attracted an audience, it’s time to start piquing their interest. You need to give the user reasons to keep following your business and find out more at the interest stage. Your business should engage users and make them curious about how you can solve their problems. Websites and landing pages are most effective at engaging potential customers. You should offer information that they are interested in alongside compelling assets. Perhaps most importantly, you need to use prominent call-to-actions to nudge them through the journey. Bear in mind that lead generation campaigns are about capturing as little information as possible. Users will need an enticing reason to submit their details, such as a free brochure download, a podcast or another resource that doesn’t require commitment.

Next up, you have the action stage. This is where everything you’ve done so far really matters! You’ve found your customer and have gained their interest, but now it’s time to help them convert. When it comes to taking action, customers can be fussy. One wrong move, and they may decide to take their business elsewhere. It’s here where your website and e-commerce platforms should be user-friendly and encourage the customer to proceed with ease. Chatbots and remarketing can be useful for convincing them further.

Finally, we have the retain stage. You’ve earned a customer, but that doesn’t mean your work stops there. Businesses can succeed or fail depending on whether or not they secure repeat sales or receive referrals. Using tactics like email marketing, you can satisfy existing customers by regularly engaging them and building loyalty.