Today’s digitally oriented age can present many marketing challenges for Online Lead Generation. It will take time and input from your side, but with effort and a little bit of know-how, you can achieve the Lead Generation results you are looking for.
All the concepts of digital marketing are at your fingertips and by following these simple and easy ideas, you’ll be generating genuine, quality leads in no time.
Online Lead Generation and the Importance of Digital Marketing
The relevance of digital marketing in today’s global economy is becoming an undeniably powerful tool to promote your business and build your company’s following.
Statistics from various institutions all point towards the same thing: by increasing your contact list and heightening your online presence, your company will grow steadily.
The strategies are really all built around for methods. Visitors to your website, downloading your free products in exchange for their email, clicking on your ads and reading your newsletter or blog post.
The fundamental thing that is happening with these processes is that you were building a relationship and build trust from this potential customer. Once you have shared your knowledge and expertise on the subject they’re interested in there’s a much higher likelihood that they will buy your product or service.
When it’s done right, digital marketing is the way to online lead generation, and lead generation converts to company profits.
How the current digital market is changing
You don’t have to spend a ton of money but be prepared to invest some time to develop a good lead generation process. Many options exist outside of spending your entire marketing expenses or even your business’s whole budget.
Statistics indicate that 18.5 per cent of leads are generated through online lead, while around 40% is generated directly. These statistics are changing, however, with a proven increase in digital attention from both a company-to-company industry as well as company-to-buyer.
Implementing your best strategy for online lead generation in a competitive world
The current fast-paced marketing industry with their low attention span doesn’t allow any company or business entity much time to make an impact on the minds of readers or potential future buyers.
Step one is targeting your specific audience. Simple and understandable methods of market research can ensure that you reach the correct listeners. The ultimate goal is to achieve this through passive methods, meaning that your time, as important to you as it is, is not wasted.
You put in the work once and see it pay off without any further effort on your behalf.
How is this done?
The effects of social media
Being active on social media is the first big step. It may sound tedious, but a simple five minutes on each of your targeted platforms can make a major difference.
Always be professional in your approach but be original and have ingenuities as well.
Set aside a reasonable time to like, comment and post on each platform.
Five to ten minutes will work perfectly, depending on you or your company’s schedule. Publishing new content, doing guest posts and promoting your site through affiliate links is a very good way to monetize passively as well as gain new customers.
Professional help and consultation
Getting a marketing company involved to promote your business is a good idea if you don’t the time or enough staff to handle all the tasks.
Many professionals can give you a relevant opinion on your company’s current status and will point out where you need improvement regarding your social presence. You may gain some insight into your current marketing trends as well as your customers.
Free content and how it can bring in money
Creating an online product may take time, but in the end, its share-ability and social media impact will always exceed your expectations, if the product is relevant and well thought out.
Putting the time and effort into a “free” product is one of the best ways of generating repeat clients and, in turn, repeat revenue. Not only do you gain clients, but your analytics system, if you have one, can give you a more in-depth idea of who your target market is and how you can reach them. Apps, ebooks, videos, checklists and other digital resources all work well for this type of strategy.
Newsletters and mailing lists
Offering a way for potential customers to sign up to your newsletter is another essential way of getting them onboard. The catch is that your mailing list needs to have easy sign-up (perhaps a site pop-up) and needs to have relevant content that subscribers would want to read.
Plan your material out beforehand and make sure the quality is impeccable. With these general pointers, you should be well on your way to creating an excellent online presence and building your client base through it. Never lose faith or hope in your own amateur marketing ability; the more you implement, the more you will discover what works for your specific market.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Lead Generation
All the tactics mentioned above are long-term methods for on-going lead generation. They may not produce immediate results but they will be effective for ongoing lead generation and meeting your long-term goals.
When you need more immediate results, PPC leads are the way to go. Depending on where your audience is, this could mean Google Ads, Youtube Ads, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Pinterest and others. If people would generally search for the products or service that you offer, then Google Search ads are going to give you the best results.
Google Search ads are the most expensive leads but also the highest quality because of buyer intent. Nobody searches for “Plumber in Chicago” unless they are looking to hire one. The buyer intent is very obvious unless they are just doing research of course. If they search for “how to fix a leaking faucet” they probably want to find out how to do it themselves and so there is not implied buyer intent but you don’t have to target that keyword.
However, you might want to consider targeting a lower buyer intent keyword because they are much cheaper per click and it does provide brand exposure. These are the kind of decisions you will have to make according to your budget and overall marketing strategy.
The amazing thing about PPC ads is that they are highly targeted and you can start getting results later today.
The cost for search ads depends on your location and the amount of competition. Google ads typically cost between $1 and $2 per click, although some ads can cost over $50 if the competition is fierce. Law firms, Plastic surgeons and Roofing Contractors are among those businesses that can expect to pay a very high CPC. Their average sale is very high so it is worth it for them. Google Ads are placed based on both an advertiser’s bid and the quality of the advertisement. You’ll therefore be less likely to outbid your competition if your ad is better.
Those are some online advertising basics but there is much more complexity to it. Understanding the platform that you choose, how to get the best ROI and writing great ad copy are some key factors in achieving successful results. That’s beyond the scope of this post and we will cover it in depth in future post. Meanwhile, if you would like to learn more about online advertising, this post from Hubspot is a great place to start. Also check out out our post about creating a marketing strategy.
