Consumers do not want you to buy their attention - you have to earn the attention of your prospects. How do you do this? By developing an inbound lead generation strategy.
Inbound marketing in itself is an indirect lead generation strategy. It’s all about how you can provide your customers with the most value possible, so that your business is the one they turn to for the solutions to their problems. It’s a longer process that involves you building trust with your prospects, rather than directly pitching to them, but it’s one that is more worthwhile in the long-run. When you are generating leads, you want quality over quantity. If you have a ton of leads, but none of them really know or are interested in what your business is about, then those leads are useless. You need to form a relationship with your prospects in order for them to turn into valued customers. Here are a few ways to help you generate leads organically.
1. Usability & User Experience (UX)
Valuable content is at the core of inbound marketing. To create the perfect inbound lead campaign, you must have high-quality, compelling, original content that solves your prospects’ challenges. Instead of cold-calling and paying for ads, you can create your content in such a way that prospects come to you because they are drawn to what you have to offer. Providing free content allows potential customers to get to know your business before becoming a paying customer, and it allows your paying customers to continue being educated by your business long after you have closed them.
Blogging: A blog is the best place for you to share content on your website, and it doesn’t have to cost you any money. You will want to pay attention to the needs of your customers, and any questions they might have, and respond in the form of a blog post.
Social media: By consistently posting educational content and engaging with your audience, you establish yourself as an authority in your industry, and give your customers the opportunity to get to know you and your business. You can also use social media in a more personal way by doing live videos or stories where you show that there are actual people behind your brand.
Videos: Video is becoming the preferred form of content for many people, and studies have shown that people retain information better from watching a video on a topic than from reading about it. Videos are a great way to showcase your product, discuss the benefits of your service, or summarize one of your blog posts. The rise of TikTok and Instagram Reels proves that your videos do not have to be professionally produced in order to be valuable and educational.
2. seo
A great way to generate leads organically is through SEO. The higher you rank in search engines, the higher your business’s exposure, which leads to more website traffic and ultimately, more leads. There are two types of SEO: on-page and off-page.
On-page SEO: This includes optimizing your header tags, page URL, page title, and image alt tags in order to get more targeted and relevant traffic. A few things to keep in mind:
- Remember not to overload your pages with keywords - try to stick to just one keyword per page, and do not repeat the same keyword on multiple pages, or the search engines could get confused.
- Only use one h1 tag per page
- Use internal links wherever relevant
Off-page SEO: Link building is a huge part of off-page SEO. This requires gaining high-quality inbound links from other reputable websites that lead to your website and landing pages. These links basically act as a vote of confidence for your website, and search engines will assume that if a website with a high domain authority links to your website, then you must have valuable content. Again, it is about quality over quantity in this case.
3. grow your email list
One way to grow your email list it through opt-in forms on your website that will subscribe your prospects to your email list. It’s important to note that when you start emailing prospects to try to convert them into paying customers, you are not going to do this by spamming them with promotional emails. You want to continue building your relationship with them and offering them value, and then you can send them the occasional promotional email that they may actually be interested in.
However, not everyone is going to want to give you their email right off the bat. Before you ask for their contact information, you have to give them a reason to do so. One way to do this is by offering free content, such as an ebook or webinar, or a free trial of your service. If they are interested in what you have to offer, they will enter their email address, which gives you the permission to send them a follow-up email. Whatever content it is you decide to give them, make sure it is educational, and gives them a solution to their problem. This will establish a sense of trust between you and your prospect, which may turn them into a customer in the future.
4. Optimize landing pages
Landing pages are important because this is where prospects become leads, so you want to make sure that they are optimized for the best user experience possible.
Maintain consistency between your ad and your landing page. HubSpot says that “The highest-converting lead gen campaigns are the ones that deliver on what they promise and create a seamless transition from ad copy and design to the deliverable itself.” Therefore, there should be no disconnect between what is said on your ad, and what is said on your landing page. Even something as simple as this can establish trust with your customers by showing that your business delivers on its promises.
Have a strong headline that clearly states what you are offering in a compelling way. This headline should concisely tell your customers how your product or service is going to benefit them.
Narrow it down to one strong call-to-action. Don’t confuse your customers by talking about multiple topics on your landing page. This CTA should stand out, and be direct. Use engaging language such as “download the ebook now” rather than simply, “submit.”
Use video or images to help sell your product or service. For example, you could show your product in action, or have a short video explaining the benefits of the product or service. Only use video if it is powerful enough to convert the visitor.
Remember, the inbound strategy is a longer process that requires patience and persistence, so don’t expect to get a ton of leads overnight. By implementing these strategies and investing time and energy into your prospects and customers, you are setting yourself apart from your competitors, and will end up with loyal, long-term customers.
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