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The A-Z of Lead Generation

Z Lead generation is a complex accumulation of tactics and customer engagement that enables companies to open up conversations with prospects in the market. The ultimate aim of lead generation is to create contact with potential customers that will result in either a sale or another favourable outcome.

Marketing automation platforms are designed to give marketers a real insight into how each lead behaves to certain marketing messages after being entered into a nurturing program. Having this type of program in place can Automation allow marketers to outline a specific journey each lead will follow depending on their behaviour, whilst pinpointing which A content is working.

Blogging is the perfect way of improving your SEO rankings to increase web visitors and ultimately result in more inbound leads or enquiries. Dedicating resources to continual copywriting and content production for a blog is also a fantastic way of ensuring your company has content Blogs ready to be promoted via various marketing channels, whilst keeping a lead nurturing program topped up. Don’t forget - blogs should be shareable, informative and interesting. B

The phrase “content is king” is arguably never more prominent than when talking about lead generation. An Content exchange of personal and information for content can only happen if the content is deemed C valuable enough by each potential lead. Lead generation is ultimately about creating a buzz and the term “” is also becoming more regularly used. Demand for a product or service can only start by Demand identifying an initial interest, i.e. lead generation – then various techniques can be used to convert that interest into demand. D

Email marketing is arguably the most direct method of lead Email generation. Ensuring the profile of the database being used Marketing for marketing campaigns is right is crucial to the success of a E campaign and future contact with that lead.

Clear, uncomplicated forms are crucial to lead generation success. Ensuring that the number of questions on the is kept to a minimum is a more subtle approach Forms to making the exchange of details as quick and easy as possible. F

Presenting lead generation campaigns in a way that is in-keeping with your company’s brand, aligned with the market perception and tone (whether that be professional, corporate, quirky, or humorous) and in a way that engages Graphic Design prospects to sit up and take notice can require a hefty amount of graphic design. But with today’s fast paced environment, capturing someone’s attention in seconds can be make or break. People are busy and you only get the one G chance to make a good first impression. HTML emails are used to design a more interesting and captivating template for email campaigns. By providing a HTML good HTML base, a campaign can be structured for success and targeted towards a specific persona using images, colours and other graphics. H

Running a lead generation campaign through Inbox Insight is the ideal tool to fill your pipeline with pre-qualified leads from any of our EMEA audiences. Our portfolio of email bulletins is powered by our unique lead generation platform, Inbox Insight which gives our B2B subscriber base instant access to market leading content. Our landing page technology enables you to enhance the lead quality further by asking a series of profiling questions too – and as standard, we always provide I you with full business card details of each lead.

Make sure that you use the right voice to reach your target audience and industry. If your copy is full of jargon you might isolate potential new customers or simply? confuse people! Jargon Free Getting that balance right can be the difference between engaged leads and? deleted emails.? J Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be defined and measured throughout any campaign where lead generation is a main objective. This approach can be applied no matter which channel you are looking to use to KPIs generate leads, whether that be (for example open rates, CTRs), web (cost per clicks and impressions), or outsourced lead generation K (lead quality, right type of contact). Your Lead Generation campaign will provide a list of potential customers that have been specifically targeted Leads and qualified based on your individual criteria. It’s then up to you as to how you pursue these leads and convert them to lifelong customers. L

Defining a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) strategy should see sales and marketing departments working closely. MQLs Marketing professionals should be focussing on tactics that drive leads who are more likely to become customers based M on buyer personas, and lead interaction.

Lead nurturing helps you to stay in touch with potential customers and keep existing customers engaged. However, Nurturing this is only possible if you continue to deliver valuable and interesting content. N

Before launching any marketing campaign, it’s important to ensure there are solid objectives in place. Always make sure Objectives you, as well as your sales and marketing teams, are clear as to what the objectives of your lead generation marketing O campaigns are. Profiler questions are designed to give marketers a glimpse into a particular pain point, prob- lem, or goal each lead is experiencing or looking to move towards at the point of generating or capturing them. Used cleverly and sparingly, they won’t impact on the click-to-lead con- version rate but do inspire prospects to pause and think before pressing the call-to-action. Profilers Collecting this information and passing it down to a sales department can also push each lead slightly further down the sales pipeline and give internal sales teams an angle to lead into conversations. P

Qualifiers determine how leads are defined and related to MQLs (marketing qualified leads) and SQLs (sales qualified Qualifiers leads). These are questions that can be used to determine whether the lead is a valuable prospect, i.e. is the lead in your target market. Qualifying leads whilst asking profilers Q will create a more complete ‘picture’ of each lead too.

In order to see the return on investment (ROI) in a lead generation campaign, leads need to be converted to sales. This will be the ultimate decider in determining how successful a campaign has been, so before launching any ROI lead generation marketing activity, it’s crucial to have a clear path or method for how you plan to convert each lead to maximise your ROI. R

Running a lead generationSALE campaign can become second nature but it’s important that you pass important knowledge Sales along to your sales team for them to optimise their follow-up. This will help them to overcome objections and S bring in new business. Thought leadership is an increasing term to describe ‘premium content’ – companies are now putting more and more emphasis on outdoing the competition, staying ahead of the market and producing content that is different, Thought engaging, complex and the most up-to-date it can be. It’s leadership this engaging content that is going to help drive as many MQLs (and SQLs) as possible, whilst filling your business’ sales funnel up with leads quickly and cost-effectively. T

It can be very easy to let your unique selling point (USP) be forgotten when you’re snowed under with projects and USPs deadlines. By continuing to produce informative and targeted U content your conversions will hopefully increase.

Content that goes viral is often a more powerful tool than people realise. The key to creating viral content for is to find the practical element. If it’s useful, Viral Content businesses and colleagues are going to want to share it on their News Feed. V

Whether you want to promote live or on-demand webinars, they are a good way to generate leads as unlike written content, they offer the chance to present to potential leads verbally. To maximise the potential of your webinars try to write a blog post to promote your Webinars webinar, have dedicated and optimised landing pages to improve conversions, run external marketing campaigns to drive registrations and always follow up with a recording of the webinar for those W who can’t attend the live versions. Technology and mobile devices have created a new wave of customer known as the “X-Generation”. It’s now more important than ever for marketers to make sure lead generation tactics such as email marketing, landing pages X-Generation and company websites are optimised, so that every impression and every click your budget is paying for stands the best chance of converting. X

Video marketing is here to stay, with product demonstrations, online training courses and interactive or animated visuals – avenues such as YouTube and Vimeo allow marketers to YouTube upload shareable, likeable and accessible content which can be embedded on websites and included within email Y marketing campaigns.

Qualifiers are fantastic for lead generation, but many companies make their criteria so specific it results in potentially valuable marketing prospects being wasted. Zero Waste Getting the balance right is a fine art. Z About Inbox Insight

Inbox Insight publish highly targeted content-driven email bulletins that offer access to key global markets.

We specialise in cost-per-lead , syndicating the most up-to-date and relevant whitepapers, guides, eBooks and other thought leadership features to generate leads, demand and brand awareness on behalf of our clients.

Inbox Insight, 1 Exchange Square, Jewry Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8FJ. 01962 835950 [email protected] www.inboxinsight.co.uk