10 Lead Generation Strategies That Actually Work

According to WordStream, the average landing page has a conversion rate of just 2.35%. In other words, you’d need to generate 100 leads just to make two or three sales. That’s why it’s so important to use multiple lead generation strategies. The more marketing you do, the more opportunities you have to identify quality leads and convert them into paying customers.

At The RevOps Team, we’re always looking for ways to help business owners maximize their ROI. We created this guide to help you develop a digital marketing strategy that gets results, so strap in and learn how to find qualified leads online.

What Is Lead Generation?

If it’s been a while since you took a marketing or sales class, here’s a little refresher. Lead generation is the process of attracting people to your business and getting them interested in your products or services. The goal is to spark enough interest to make a sale.

Generating leads is one of the most important things you can do. Here’s why:

• Your lead-generation efforts go hand in hand with your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, increasing traffic to your website.
• Lead generation increases brand awareness by making your company more visible to potential customers.
• Nurturing leads builds trust among audience members, making it a little easier for your sales team to reach their goals.
• Once new leads enter your sales funnel, you can follow up by email. Even if a lead doesn’t buy from you, they can provide feedback that helps you improve your marketing strategy.

Lead Generation by the Numbers

Several factors affect your conversion rate, including your industry and the type of marketing you do. As of December 2022, the agriculture industry had the lowest conversion rates, with some companies converting less than 1% of their leads into paying customers. Pet care, health and well-being, arts and crafts, home accessories, and commercial equipment fared a little better, averaging CTRs of 1.55% to 4.2%.

10 Lead Generation Strategies

Now that you know why lead generation is so important, it’s time to ramp up your marketing efforts. Use these strategies to connect with your target audience and get them interested in what you have to offer.

1. Provide Ample Opportunities to Opt In

As a reminder, you shouldn’t be contacting anyone who hasn’t opted in, or given you permission to send them marketing messages. Not only is this unlawful in some cases, you run the risk of annoying people, making it almost impossible to get them interested in your products and services.

Don’t add a newsletter sign-up page to your website and call it a day, or you’ll have a tough time finding high-quality leads. Instead, give people ample opportunities to opt in. Every page of your site should have an opt-in form in the header, footer, or sidebar. If you do any email marketing (and you should), put a sign-up form at the bottom of each message in case one of your subscribers shares it.

Another option is to add a pop-up to each page of your website. Just be careful not to overwhelm visitors. Pop-ups shouldn’t block important content, nor should they be impossible to close. Remember, anything that annoys the user is likely to make a bad impression, making it more difficult for your marketing team to reach their goals.

2. Make Landing Pages Actionable

A landing page, also known as a lead capture page, is a page that prompts website visitors to enter their contact information in exchange for something of value. It could be a free e-book, a discount on one of your products, or a case study. According to Hubspot, about 10% of the visitors who land on one of these pages will become new customers.

Publishing a landing page is a good start, but take it one step further by adding a call to action (CTA). A good CTA encourages the visitor to take immediate action. “Start your free trial” is an example of an appropriate CTA for a company that sells software. You might also use something like “Join us for a free webinar” or “Sign up for a free marketing course.”

3. Simplify Your Lead Gen Form

If your lead gen form is overly complex, you run the risk of driving visitors away from your site instead of adding them to your sales funnel. Simplify it by removing unnecessary form fields and making it easy for customers to share their information. If you’re not 100% sure your current form is easy to use, have a few people test it and give you their feedback.

4. Write Irresistible Ad Copy

Copywriters are like magicians. Armed with nothing but a computer and a little creativity, they write ad copy that generates business leads and turns many of them into paying customers. Bring a little of that magic to your marketing strategy by writing irresistible ad copy for your PPC and social media campaigns.

We could write 20,000 words on writing irresistible ads, but here’s the TL;DR version:

• Keep it concise. Show potential clients that you respect their time.
• Connect with audience members by using familiar terms.
• Insert relevant keywords.
• Write a clear CTA. Potential leads shouldn’t have to guess at what you want them to do.
• Tailor your tone of voice to audience demographics. B2B marketers may want to be a little more formal than marketers trying to connect with consumers, for example.
• Make your copy as enticing as possible.

5. Tempt Customers with Free Offers or Webinars

“If it’s free, it’s for me.” That’s what many people think when they come across a free offer on a website or social media platform. Use that to your advantage by offering a free e-book, case study, white paper, webinar, report, or software trial. Just make sure that your freebie makes a great impression, or else you may drive away customers instead of enticing them to work with you.

6. Create a Rewards-Based Referral System

Sure, your marketing team is great, but existing customers are one of your most valuable assets. If an existing customer is happy with your products and services, they’re likely to tell other people, spreading the word about your brand.

Use that tendency to your advantage by creating a rewards-based referral system. Just make sure that you offer something of value in exchange for each referral. It could be something as simple as a free item or a discount on the customer’s next purchase. You don’t have to give away everything but the kitchen sink.

7. Use Content Marketing to Educate and Engage

Your marketing strategy should include a mix of inbound and outbound techniques. Outbound marketing, also known as push marketing, involves “pushing” information about your business to the people in your target audience. Television advertising, cold calling, and email ads are some of the most common outbound marketing techniques.

Inbound marketing is known as pull marketing because it “pulls” people toward your business. It tends to be more effective because it focuses on educating rather than persuading. Additionally, inbound marketing helps you connect with people who already have a lead for your products or services. When you use an outbound technique like television advertising, there’s a good chance some of the people who see your message will have no need for what you offer.

As an added bonus, an inbound lead costs 61% less than an outbound lead, making inbound marketing more cost-effective. This is especially helpful for small businesses with limited marketing budgets. Content marketing is one of the most common lead-generation tactics, as it costs much less than other forms of marketing. It also helps you connect with potential customers in different stages of the buying process.

Content marketing involves publishing useful, relevant content that positions your company as an industry leader. Here are just a few examples of how you can use content to grow your business:

• Write in-depth blog posts to educate potential customers about your products.
• Publish articles on LinkedIn to help you connect with B2B leads.
• Create a podcast to inform listeners about changes in your industry.
• Develop a set of templates and offer them to your site visitors.
• Post educational videos on YouTube and other platforms.
• Offer free lead magnets, such as reports and e-books, in exchange for a user’s contact information.

8. Run Retargeting and Remarketing Campaigns

A good lead-generation campaign should include retargeting and remarketing. Retargeting helps you connect with people who’ve never purchased from your company, while remarketing involves contacting inactive customers to get them interested in your brand again.

If you’re ready to start retargeting, you can do the pixel-based version or the list-based version. Pixel-based retargeting involves placing a tracking pixel on a website. This pixel collects the user’s IP address and other information, giving you more insight into user behavior.

List-based retargeting involves gathering email addresses, telephone numbers, and other contact information. You can use this data to send targeted advertisements to a user’s cell phone or email account.

Remarketing allows you to target users based on their intent, browsing activity, past purchases, or stage in the buyer’s journey. You can even serve customized ads to members of your target audience when they search for specific keywords on Google. Running both types of marketing campaigns can help you generate even more leads and increase your company’s revenue.

9. Target Competitor Customers with Gmail Ads

Gmail ads are one of the best lead-generation tools available, as they allow you to target your competitors’ customers. For example, you can bid on branded keywords, ensuring that your company shows up when someone searches for a competing firm in your industry. Google also allows you to target customers who browse specific websites, including sites owned by your main competitors.

10. Engage Customers with Live Chat

Many companies now use live chat apps to engage customers and deliver a better experience. Offering live chat makes it easier for potential customers to get product and service information, increasing the likelihood that some of them will buy from you.

If you go this route, make sure that your live-chat feature makes the customer experience better instead of worse. Few things are more annoying than chatting with a bot who can’t answer your question or help you find the information you need.

Tips To Improve Lead Generation

The lead-generation process is dynamic, which means you need to tweak it every so often. Follow these tips to ensure your process is as effective as possible.

Test, Test, Test

You should always be testing different versions of your ad copy and CTAs to see which ones produce the best results. It’s also helpful to test your email subject lines, as simple tweaks may double or even triple your current conversion rate.

Try Using AI and Automation

Artificial intelligence and automation are extremely helpful for lead generation, as they’re capable of handling repetitive tasks that don’t require much human input. While AI is working on low-level tasks, your sales pros can focus on doing product demos, following up with recent buyers, and performing other tasks that require more finesse.

Use the Right Tools to Manage Leads

If you don’t manage leads correctly, there’s a good chance a few leads will fall through the cracks, never to be heard from again. To prevent this from happening, use the right tools to keep things organized. Lead management software connects your sales, marketing, and customer service teams, ensuring that everyone is on the same page. Look for software that integrates with other tools and automates time-consuming activities.

Turbocharge Your Marketing Strategy

There you have it: 10 effective strategies for maximizing your lead generation ROI. With all those new leads about to come in, sign up for The RevOps Team newsletter for tips on how to convert them into paying, repeat customers.