7 Best Practices for Inbound Lead Generation

Marketing used to be done primarily through outbound paid channels. But these days consumers don’t like to be interrupted. They become easily frustrated with unsolicited phone calls and emails This is largely because there’s just so much content out there and they don’t like it being forced upon them.

Studies have shown that consumers are far more receptive to marketing content when they find it themselves. They’ll seek out content that’s informative or entertaining (or both!) when it’s relevant to them, most commonly through social media or blog posts. And because they are already interested in the content, they are much easier to move along the sales funnel.

So how do you attract those already-interested prospects to your content? Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Narrow Your Audience , But Not TOO Much

Targeting your marketing efforts is a great way to save money and reach better leads, but be wary of going too narrow. If, for example, you own a gym you might want to post mostly about your latest workout offerings, but you’re missing out on a huge group of potential leads.

Try broadening your content to living a healthy lifestyle. There are tons of people interested in living healthier who don’t currently go to the gym. Pull them in with content about easy at-home workouts, nutrition advice, and tips on improving general wellness. The trick is to break through whatever barrier is keeping them from taking a fitness class. Then, when they are ready to try out that class, they’ll know exactly where to go.

2. Offer Educational Content

If you want people to visit your website for more than just your class schedule (i.e. leads and not just existing clients), you need to offer more. Think about what clients in your industry are interested in learning. If you own a gym, you might have a nutrition expert guest post on your blog. If you own a music school, you might host events with guest performers. Producing educational content positions you as an expert in your industry and generates awareness, both of which are critical to lead generation.

3. Don’t Assume Your Leads Will Take Your Word For It

Let’s say you come across two coffee shops that are next door to each other. Coffee Shop X has a sign advertising the best coffee in the world!, but your friend mentions that she has tried both and Coffee Shop Y actually has a much better product. Which shop would you walk into?

Social proof is a powerful marketing tool. We naturally trust the opinions of our friends, family and coworkers over any messaging that a company provides. So include testimonials and good reviews in your lead generation efforts. You’ll see an increase in leads who are comforted by the positive experiences of your existing clients.

4. Always Include a Call To Action (CTA)

One way to keep prospects on your site is to always give them somewhere to go next. Do you want your prospects to sign up for a class? Subscribe to your blog? Refer a friend?

Ask them to. If your content has drawn them in already, they’re more likely to take you up on the offer. And once a form has been filled out, you’ll have information about the lead that you can use for further nurturing.

Bonus Tip:  don’t assume you’re done once a lead converts to a client. Retention efforts begin immediately. Once your lead has filled out a form, point them towards additional content. A good idea might be a blog post related to whatever they just signed up for.

5. The Power of the Landing Page

There are two key differences between a landing page and a regular website page. Website pages host your core content such as location, hours and schedule. Landing pages are used for marketing and lead generation and differ from website pages in that:

1. The point of the landing page isn’t just to inform or entertain, it’s to convert. The page has a form on it that prompts leads to offer their information in exchange for a piece of content.
   
   
2. The CTA is the only way forward. Landing pages typically do not include the navigation tools such as a header and footer menu that you have on your core website pages. Navigation is returned on the Thank You page that leads are directed to once the form is submitted.

Landing pages work because they don’t offer any distractions. Your prospect is there to get something, and when they fill out the access form, you get a lead. 

Landing pages are also critical for tracking purposes. Every business wants to better understand ROI and how those marketing dollars are really working for them. Having dedicated landing pages for a marketing campaign allows you to track those results.

6. Variety is Key

Think about how you consume content during the day. Maybe you check Twitter and Facebook on your phone before you even get out of bed. Then you read a longform article on your laptop during breakfast. Then when you get to work you catch up on the latest industry news by reading blog posts or looking at a slide deck on your desktop.

The point is, we consume content in a variety of forms on various devices. Tailoring your content to match the device will make it more easily consumable for your leads, increasing the chances for conversion.

7. Personalize It

I could write multiple blogs about whether data tracking is creepy or cool (it’s both), but from our perspective of lead generation we’re going to stick with ‘cool.’ That’s because once a lead fills out a form on your site, you have enough information about them to tailor content to them. Most email platforms have personalization tokens built in so you can automatically fill in details like first name, business name, or any other information you’ve collected. Leads respond at higher rates when they feel that the content has been created just for them.