Rethinking Lead Generation
Heinrich Marketing
Rethinking Lead Generation
Heinrich Marketing helps clients maximize lead generation results. One thing we’ve learned along the way: You can increase conversions and grow your business simply by applying new approaches to basic lead generation principles.
Here are just a few ways to shift your perspectives and maximize the efficiency of your lead generation strategies.
Align your sales and marketing teams.
Successful lead generation must delicately balance brand, marketing and customer needs. So clarity is essential. Is the brand message concise? Does the marketing strategy support it? Most importantly, are both relevant to the customers? To find a shortcut to all of these answers, start on the front lines of the business. Take the time to listen to account reps or any customer-facing team, and make sure they and the marketing team are on the same page. Tailor your message to the consumer’s buying stage. When a sale is a process, timing is everything. Talk to your future customer the right way, and at the right time. A communication can feel more meaningful and memorable if it comes at just the right moment. Keep content fresh and relevant across communications. Prospects across numerous categories spend time researching online before they purchase a product or service. So, search marketing might have already led your potential customers to your online or social media efforts. A website, a blog, a newsletter, Facebook — they’re all places to demonstrate your value, state your brand message and start (or continue) an engaging dialogue. Even better, an enthusiastic reader can forward these on to others, and generate even more leads. Grow leads from your own garden. Utilize your marketing database to look at current customers with fresh eyes. Through segmentation and targeting, you can evolve your relationship, and point them in the direction of other parts of your business. Your new perspective should also lead you to revisit potential customers who have expressed an interest in previous lead generation efforts, but didn’t act. In all, these approaches to lead generation facilitate multitasking: You can cultivate the relationship in each stage and stay one step ahead of the consumers at all times during the sales cycle. That’s the key. When you always have a plan for the next step you want them to take, be it as small as watching a webinar or as big as the sale itself, you can more quickly guide consumers down the path that turns them into a customer.