Are you generating enough inbound leads? Most people would say no – if only because you can never have too many leads! That being the case, here are three tips to help you improve your inbound lead generation efforts.
1. Blog with Intent
Content marketing is almost synonymous with inbound marketing. And, while more advanced forms of content have become more popular, you can still drive a lot of traffic and inbound leads with a good blog.
The first thing to remember when starting a blog or revamping an existing blog is that the point of your blog is to provide something of value to your target market.
How much you directly promote your product will vary from blog post to blog post. It will depend on what stage of the buyer’s journey the post is targeting.
The buyer’s journey is made up of three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
- Awareness. In this stage, the buyer is aware that they have a problem. For example, a couple starts talking about buying a home and is wondering how to get a mortgage.
- Consideration. Once the buyer starts considering different solutions, they’re in the Consideration stage. In the case of the home buyers, they would be considering options like manual underwriting vs automated underwriting and credit unions vs. banks.
- Decision. When the buyer knows the solution they want and is looking for a specific solution provider, they’re in the Decision stage. So if the home buyers decide to get a mortgage through a credit union, they’re now in the Decision stage.
Your content should educate the buyer at each stage of the buyer’s journey so that:
- they are able to make an informed decision, and
- they know that your company is an authority in the space.
2. Retarget Your Visitors
Make sure you make the most of the traffic you generate through SEO and digital advertising. Everyone has a million things going on, and your offering is just one of the many offerings that solve one of their many problems.
So stay top-of-mind with tactics such as email retargeting. If you don’t have a way to get the emails of your anonymous website visitors yet, try LeadPost. Use our B2B lead generation tool or our B2C lead generation tool to build your email list.
Display ads and paid social are also effective avenues for branding. And, if you sell a product or service with a high customer lifetime value, direct mail retargeting is something to consider as well.
3. Build Your Email List
Having a direct link to your customers is critical. Start a newsletter, create some lead magnets, do whatever works with your audience to convince them to hand over their email addresses. Most of these people won’t be SQLs or even MQLs, but you can stay top-of-mind with them, build your credibility, and nurture them so that when they are in-market they think of you first.
There are a lot of good lead capture software solutions to help with that.
Don’t just settle for a form and an ebook. It’s easy to take it to the next level. For example, you could use a tool like Outgrow to create a calculator or a quiz that will generate leads for your company.
Also, consider using a website visitor identification tool to convert your anonymous website visitors into leads when they don’t fill out a form.
The Keys Inbound Lead Generation
The keys to inbound lead generation are:
- Provide relevant value to your target market.
- Establish a line of connection with buyers who are on or soon will be on the buyer’s journey.
- Stay top-of-mind through branding and continuing to provide value.
The tips above will help you do each of those things so that you’re consistently generating (and, more importantly, closing) inbound leads.