Word of mouth and advertising can only do so much to bring in new customers. You need to proactively work on ways to generate new leads to build up your sales pipeline. Your business ends up doing more with the traffic that comes to your website, and you smooth out your potential cash flow. Lead generation campaigns often complement other marketing and advertising strategies that you have in place. Try out these 10 ideas to reach potential customers.
1. Exit Intent Popups
When website visitors finish up with the page they're reading, they go to close the browser window, type in another address or switch to another tab. An exit intent popup looks for the characteristic mouse movement indicating this action and displays an offer on-screen to capture an email address.
2. Content Upgrades
Get more mileage out of your blog posts through a content upgrade. This lead generation tool creates a premium offer related to the post, such as a checklist. You get the visitor's email in exchange for this piece.
3. Online or Offline Networking Events
Event marketing is a good way of generating leads from your audience. For example, you can put together a virtual conference relating to your industry. When a person signs up, you get their email address, name and other information.
4. Twitter Chats
Leverage the visibility of Twitter hashtags and its wide audience through a regularly scheduled chat. You create a unique hashtag for the conversation and engage with potential customers on topics related to your niche.
5. Interactive Content
Quizzes, calculators and games move beyond the typical content that people look at on websites. These options are interactive and work well with opt-in forms. For example, at the end of the quiz you can collect the email in exchange for sending the lead a PDF of their results.
6. Authoritative eBook
Potential customers want to work with companies that have a lot of experience in their field. An authoritative e-book positions you as a thought leader and can act as the go-to reference guide for that topic.
7. Personal Case Study
Let people know how you use your own products and services for your business operations. This behind-the-scenes look can give them ideas on the right products for their needs, as well as show the practical benefits.
8. Full-Screen Call to Action
A page overlay with a call to action, such as a newsletter sign-up, draws a visitor's attention. If they're not interested, all they need to do is scroll down to get to the page content.
9. Free Templates
You can create templates that apply to your products, such as a web designer creating WordPress templates. Focus on offers that help your visitors save time or improve a process.
10. Resource Lists
The tools, techniques and workflows that you use on a daily basis are easy to take for granted. People outside of your company could benefit from this knowledge. Create comprehensive resource lists to generate leads by being a helpful organization.
Your audience may prefer certain lead generation ideas based on their experience with other companies and their personal tastes. If one option doesn't succeed, keep experimenting with other tactics on the list. Once you find the lead generation tools that work best for your market and audience, you can optimize your campaigns to improve the results continually.