Is your business having trouble generating targeted leads?
Do you find that the targeted leads you generate are not qualified?
When it comes to lead generation, there is a huge difference between leads and qualified leads. Qualified leads are generated by targeting a specific audience. An audience you know that is in need of your solution. As opposed to just targeting any business. This gives you a higher chance of converting the targeted leads into sales.
Targeted lead generation is all about your approach.
We have outlined 10 strategies that will take your targeted lead generation approach to the next level.
There is a lot more to generating targeted leads than having just an online presence. You need to have a versatile strategy that encompasses different tools. Only then can you have a successful targeted lead generation approach. After all, there is no point of leads if they don’t convert into sales.
Targeted Lead Generation Strategies
#1: Create Effective Landing Pages
The landing page usually serves as the prospects first interaction with your business. It is your chance to make a lasting first impression. Most businesses that have a landing page know the basics. This includes:
- Having a user-friendly design
- Highlighting services
- Including a call to action
- A sign-up form
- Testimonial from a few clients and so on
But when it comes to targeted lead generation you need a bit more than that. In B2B interaction you don’t just highlight your services, but explain how it adds value to your customers. While most businesses focus on using their landing page as a pitch, you can get more targeted leads if instead, it focuses on how your solutions add value to their business. This is a more meaningful approach at connecting with prospects and showing them your solution can lead to their business growth.
So, make sure that testimonials aren’t the only aspect of your landing page that highlights the value your solution adds. Include that in your sales pitch, how you market your solutions.
Also, to make the signup process easier, have a simple form that captures basic details and contact information. No one has the time to fill out a full-on survey-like contact form anymore.
#2: Incorporate Live Chat or Feedback Widgets
The live chat option is one of the best ways for prospects to contact your business. Most consumers find it easier to inquire over chat than over the phone. It also provides them with real-time answers to questions they have so they don’t have to wait for replies through email.
In fact, 44% of consumers say that the function to chat with representatives on a website while they shop around is an important feature for a website.
Live chat helps both you and the prospect develop an understanding. It helps with target lead generation because it allows your sales team to discuss with and understand the client immediately. It enables them to determine whether or not the solution can actually add value to the prospect or not. While also, gauge the interest of the prospect.
You also have to think in terms of the consumer’s psyche.
Most prospects that opt to chat with a business are more than likely to be interested in their offerings.
A feedback widget works in pretty much the same way as the live chat function. It pop-ups on the side of your website and allows customers to provide feedback. Most visitors will end up closing the form, however, those that are interested in your solution will more than likely fill the form out.
#3: Use LinkedIn for lead generation
LinkedIn has become the hub for B2B prospecting and lead generation. According to Hubspot, the platform is far more effective at generating targeted leads than Facebook and Twitter.
This is most likely because the platform has a professional atmosphere. It has professionals and companies who seek to build their network, which presents businesses with a way to generate targeted leads because it provides you with a qualified audience.
Using LinkedIn for targeted leads:
- LinkedIn ads: the ad feature allow you to get face time with the audience and presents them with a chance to engage with your business.
- LinkedIn Premium: Premium provides you with numerous additional functionalities that can be beneficial for your business. It allows you to see who viewed your profile, which lets you contact the individual or business. It also gives you additional features for more specific searches with the help of additional filters.
#4: Take Advantage of Email Marketing for Targeted Lead Generation
You are probably wondering if you already have someone on your mailing list, aren’t they already considered to be a lead? True, but you want to turn these targeted leads into sales, don’t you? Plus, contacts in your email list could have signed up from the various different platforms in which you have different advertisements for signups. They could have signed up for a free webinar or eBook you offer rather than a service. So you need to take advantage and covert them.
How to use email marketing to convert leads to sales:
- Subject line: the subject line determines whether or not the leads will open your email. You want to entice them with a short but catchy subject line. Personalized subject lines also tend to get more opens than general ones.
- Rich layout: the design, layout, and content of the email play a vital role in appealing and convincing leads to opt for your solution. Make sure to have offerings that are hard for them to turn away from.
#5: Utilize Public Relations and Publicity
Your PR content can play a huge role in getting more leads.
Whether it is for a launch of a new solution or a CSR initiative taken by the firm, you need to develop content to highlight the ongoings of the organization. The aim of the PR content will be to gain more publicity for the activity of the organization just so your audience knows of them.
Considerations for PR content:
- Make sure the brief is right, it shouldn’t be too vague.
- The content should be written keeping the audience in mind. Tailor it specifically for them.
- Print in various different mediums, newspaper, and magazine so you reach a wider audience.
PR is used to highlight the positive approach of the firm. They help build a good rapport with prospects and show that your firm cares about its reputation. It also utilizes different mediums to reach audiences and possible prospects using different platforms.
#6: Speak / Exhibit at offline events
Exhibitions and discussions present you with a unique way to generate targeted leads. Take discussions at conferences an example. Such events present businesses with a platform to share their expertise in their own industry. It also allows them to showcase how their services and solutions can add value to the businesses in various industries. If you are going to an event that is held for a specific industry, then you should tailor the values specifically for that industry.
This approach puts a face behind your organization, in the form of the speaker, and allows the audience to gauge your knowledge. This makes it easier on them to approach your business for services with an ease of mind.
#7: Encourage Customer Referrals
Existing clients present businesses with another unique and effective way to generate targeted leads. It’s obvious that your clients will have a vast network of other businesses within their industry. They can be your ticket to tapping into that network, generating numerous targeted leads. You just need to design a referral program that entices them to pass on referrals.
A customer referral program that uses incentives usually works well. You have various different options when it comes to incentives you can offer. Most business usually opts to provide further discounts on their referral programs. This works well in two ways, the first is a sale from the referral, the second, it gives the existing client a reason to seek more service from you.
Another approach is to offer them an additional service for free, this can vary and is usually a service that doesn’t harm your business in any way when rendered free of cost.
#8: Start a Blog
The Internet is a source of information for most searchers. This includes companies looking for services. A blog presents your business with an opportunity to create a library of articles that has extensive information for your prospects to go through. Information that adds value to their business, making sure they keep coming back to your website for more information.
Usually, when prospects develop such a relationship with a business, they tend to go with their services. They understand that you have expertise in what you do and could actually add value to their business with the vast information you have.
Be sure to have internal links to other blogs you have written within all your blogs. These tactics pay well for first-time readers as it gives them the chance to click through to other related blogs from just one.
#9: Try Free-trial Marketing
Free-trial marketing is a way you can have your solution sell itself. You can offer a demo or a free trial period of the solution to the prospect for them to see for themselves how it impacts their business. Letting them test it without having to make the commitment. Usually, a 15 to 30-day trial period works well and gives them plenty of time to determine how beneficial the solution is for them.
How you market the free-trial is also important. You want to make sure your prospects are aware of the offering so it is a good idea to market it on your landing page. The main banner of the landing page should have the offering so it will be one of the first things the prospect sees.
#10: Qualify Leads with the Contact Form
Every business has a specific approach to qualifying targeted leads. Questions that they usually ask in order to determine whether the prospect would be interested or if they fall under the ideal customer profile or not?
There is actually a way you can ask a question or two to qualify targeted leads prior to ever even contacting the prospect.
You can incorporate the question in your contact form.
With this approach, you get more from your contact form than just personal details. Your team will know whether the lead is already qualified or will require some additional work.
Make sure the question you put is simple and don’t put more than two qualifying questions. Use a drop-down menu with the question so the client can easily select their answer, meaning they don’t have to think too much to answer it.
Also, ensuring that your form is simple and doesn’t consume too much of their time.
The Bottom Line
Targeted lead generation requires you to ramp up your targeted lead generation approach. It includes marketing in different platforms and learning how to utilize them to their fullest potential.
To truly generate more targeted leads, how you market and who you market to is important. Monitoring your strategies is also vital. This way you can determine how each strategy fairs, prompting you to change ones that don’t and ramp up those that do.
The success of your business relies on the type of leads you generate. So be sure to implement as many of the 10 strategies listed above. They will help your business grow through more qualified targeted leads.
