Digital Tactics for Effective Lead Generation

Looking for ways to effectively bring in new leads? These digital marketing tactics have a lead generation focus that will help you achieve your goals!

When it comes choosing the right tactical mix for marketing, it’s important to keep in mind what you hope to achieve through your marketing efforts. Tactics that support one strategy, such as brand awareness, may not support a different strategy so strongly, such as education. If your company sponsors a major industry event, for example, you’re likely increasing awareness of your company’s brand but not necessarily educating that audience on what product or service your company provides.

If you’re like many of our clients, one of your marketing goals is to bring in new leads. But which tactics best support a lead generation strategy? Below, we share digital tactics that will help you attract and cultivate the leads you’re searching for.

Content Marketing

Compelling content provides the foundation for digital lead generation. With a content marketing strategy, companies plan out specific pieces of content that they will produce and share with current and potential customers over a given period of time. Content can come in more traditional forms like videos, white papers, or case studies, or it can be more unconventional. For example, some companies have started to create resources such as planning spreadsheets that they distribute as content.

The key to using content marketing for lead generation is in how you deliver that content. Instead of simply distributing it to your contacts or publishing it on your website, set up a prompt that asks visitors to enter their email address or other contact information in order to gain access to the piece you are sharing. If you ask for an email address, the viewer can then be added to your company’s marketing automation system for further development.

It is important to keep in mind content marketing best practices, such as ensuring the content you create is interesting and relevant to your target audience, when using this tactic for lead generation.

Digital Advertising

There are a plethora of options when it comes to digital advertising and many can be useful tools for generating new leads. One of the most common forms of digital advertising is Google AdWords. This platform allows you to target potential customers based on the keywords that they search on Google.

Your chosen keywords can be one word, simple phrases, or, if you have a very specific product or are more limited on budget, you can also select more complex key phrases (learn more about this practice in our article on long-tail search strategy). You can further narrow who you target by location, age, gender, and other demographics.

AdWords provides a great opportunity to get in front of targets who are already interested in finding a product or service similar to the one your company offers but who may not be familiar with your particular company or brand. Targeting these groups makes it easier to generate interest in your company and cultivate warm leads.

Another option is to advertise on social media platforms. The options can be more limited depending on the product or service your company offers. For example, LinkedIn is the only platform that allows you to target an audience based on company, industry, or job title (all useful ways to segment an audience for B2B companies!).

You can also take digital advertising one step further by incorporating retargeting into your strategy. Retargeting allows you to show your ads to people who have already visited your website. As this audience segment is already somewhat familiar with your company and/or its products, retargeting makes it easy to stay in front of them so that you are top of mind when it comes time to make a purchasing decision.

Social Media

As we’ve said before, successful social media strategies are all about building relationships with your followers and visitors. When it comes to developing new leads, potential customers who feel connected to your company will be more likely to make a purchase. A few best practices for using social media to generate leads include:

• Share relevant content. In addition to ensuring content appeals to your target audience, make sure it matches the social platform you’re using. A lengthy white paper might be suitable for LinkedIn but would be less likely to garner attention on Facebook, where visitors expect content in forms that are more easily digestible.
• Avoid “selling” your product/service. While sharing content related to your products can be valuable to potential customers, turning your feed into a running ad for your business will actually turn away most prospects.
• Drive visitors to your website or dedicated landing page. Use the opportunity to direct interested members of your target audience to your website, allowing them to explore outside of the piece of content you’re sharing. If you have an e-commerce site, this is also a great way to increase social-assisted conversions.

Before You Start…

Before you implement any tactics, it’s important to develop a marketing strategy tailored to your company’s specific goals. Without an overarching strategy, it is difficult to ensure that all tactics are working together and taking your company where you want to go.

Need help putting together your marketing strategy? Call FrogDog—strategy is what we do best!

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