Best techniques in online lead generation

With everyone listing their names and email addresses to subscribe to various newsletters, how would you know which of them can be converted into sales?

Online lead generation and the importance of quality leads

Online marketing has come a long way since its conception. The processes have undergone a number of changes throughout the years to go with the ups and downs of the trends. Yet, people have always been keen on signing up for monthly subscriptions, vouchers, and discounts. It’s how people show their interest in a product or a service.

In turn, marketers have collated these data and qualified it under different categories of being the most ‘active’ to the least. Qualified and active leads are prioritized since they are the most likely to be converted into a closed sale; inactive leads are kept warm in case that they become active some time down the process.

Techniques and ways to generate quality leads

We’ve broken down some of the foolproof ways to generate leads online. Remember that these are objective tips and not a one-stop solution, feel free to tweak these to mold with your own process.

Maintain your connection with past leads

Past leads can still be a good starting point for when you’ve exhausted all avenues of finding fresh connections and active leads. Past leads can mean that they have been an inactive lead before and therefore did not turn into a closed sale, or that they were turned into a closed sale already.

Most marketers will tell you that you still have to reach out to them, treat them as if they still are active leads but on the contrary, you should reach out to past active leads with personalized “we’ve missed you!” emails and newsletters. 

Take Netflix’s re-engagement emails for a sample. Time to rekindle that fire with your past leads with call-to-action buttons.

Engage with your social media followers

One of your followers, commenters, or likers might be your next qualified lead. Make sure to lead them with an informational and witty reply, ending with a strong call-to-action phrase such as, “send us a message” and “chat with us now.”

Choose the right social media platform since not all accounts have the same level of engagement with your intended audience. If you are looking for professional and c-level executives, your best bet may be LinkedIn and your connections within that platform.

Each social media platforms have their own ‘business’ tools. Use these and then you can implement your funnels and processes in one swift movement.

Target specific groups

It bears repeating that not everyone is a qualified lead; your most active follower on Twitter may not be of your intended audience and cannot be turned into a closed sale in the last part of the process.

Make sure that you are targeting specific audiences and groups that you are confident in. These groups can be categorized under age, sex, location, and even if they follow brands and companies similar to yours. These audiences may come from different parts of the world, so keep your advertised content inclusive, entertaining, and engaging.

Speaking of…

Make engaging content

Everyone who had come across an interesting ad or a blog post will tell you they clicked and read up a few lines of whatever webpage opened on their screen. Making engaging content means not only that you are posting regular relatable and easy to digest posts. It also means that you are putting out informative and intriguing articles, infographics, picture sets, and more.

People are drawn to short yet captivating captions and headlines, so make every letter count.

Generate quality guest posts

A guest post is pretty self-explanatory; it just means that you are posting as a guest on someone else’s blog (usually someone widely known in your industry) to generate more traffic and backlinks for your own website.

A good guest post not only boosts one party’s business but also boosts traffic, leads, and even conversions for both. Make sure that your guest post is as good as the one you would write within your own site. 

Follow their post guidelines. Use proper headers and subheadings, images, and graphics (if allowed) to hook and reel in your audiences and potential leads. Make sure that your article is well-written and composed with links placed strategically.

Engage with your newly found readers as well. Be quick, witty, and informative with your replies as this engages the audience and it may lead to a meaningful connection down the road.

What’s next: pushing through your leads

Now that you have a list of active leads, it’s time to roll out the next phase of your plan: to keep them engaged long enough to close a sale. 

Personalized e-mail headers are one way to keep your new and past leads. Nothing says “we like to keep in touch with you!” like seeing your first name on an email header. If you have enough data to start on, you can even mention their past transactions with you; make them remember why they engaged with your business in the first place.

If you want a more robust way of keeping up with your leads, giving them a call (if you have a working number) can be considered. Keep in mind that although most people have their phone on their person all the time, some of them may not appreciate an unknown number calling them while they are in a meeting or are having personal time off. Cold-calling leads and prospects are a double-edged sword, so be wary.

In conclusion, the best techniques to generate online leads are to engage with your prospects and targeted audience and generate informative, interesting, and up-to-date content. Condensing and focusing your efforts on these two points will save you time and money.

Feel free to inject these tips and techniques into your own process — see which ones work the best and learn which ones are in need of improvement and further work.