Lead generation has evolved monumentally over the decades. Most radically so, when new technologies are invented. This is when keen sales people adapt to thrive. Almost nowhere outside of nature is Darwinian law more relevant than in the world of sales; adapt your hunting methods to flourish. This is a costly lesson for some, when sadly it doesn’t have to be. To start: we live in a digital world where information is free-flowing; therefore lead generation should follow suit.
Technology is invented to increase productivity; this is the core truth of scientific progress. Radio made it possible to deliver a message to a broad spectrum of potential customers, but had the slight disadvantage of essentially being a blunderbuss. One could spread a message far and wide, but expend unnecessary effort by reaching uninterested or untargeted groups. This means wasted budget, and astute marketers know to treat budget with reverence.
Telephones allowed us to speak directly to households or individuals. This however necessitates large amounts of time and manpower to deliver any real results, due to the sheer volumes of calls that need to be made. Many small firms simply cannot afford the amount of resources it takes to manage effective cold-calling campaigns. Furthermore, cold-calling often detracts from ones brand simply by annoying the prospect; annoyance does not lead to a sale.
Television allowed us to communicate more visually, making messages more convincing than ever before. The technological marvel of beaming moving images directly into the homes of individuals and families led to the golden age of marketing. This quickly, much like cold-calling, became an intolerable annoyance and as such many services exist for viewers to control the amount of advertisements they are exposed to.
In the 21st century we have jumped lightyears ahead of all these radical innovations with the advent of the internet. Suddenly the accumulated mass of human knowledge is at our fingertips; consumers have become savvy and the power has shifted in their favour as to what promotional materials they are exposed to. Consumption behaviours, preferences and all manner of useful data can now be gathered in order to make marketing efforts far more precise and far less wasteful. The age of digital lead generation has dawned and it is glorious for both the seller and the buyer. In what ways has lead generation techniques changed due to the digital revolution?
Social media has changed the world; everything from the way we consume news, research products, socialize or entertain ourselves has been revolutionised. Social media has a well-documented effect of reducing advertising budget whilst increasing sales and can be used to great effect by companies that know how. Smart marketers and sales managers use social media to more clearly define and assess their target markets. One can gain deeper insight into the mind of your customer than ever before with access to their preferences and impressions on competing products. Now one can entice prospects directly via social media, running campaigns and encouraging them to share amongst their peers. This increases the potential for gathering leads exponentially. With the knowledge of your targeted prospect’s habits and interests, one can create attractive content far more efficiently. Be careful however, as overuse of this medium could lead to a negative impact; to be seen by targets as a source of irritation. Be creative and be sincere when trying to attract leads through social media channels; communicate on a more intimate level, ensure that prospects part with a feeling of mutual satisfaction.
Getting to be one of the primary search results on a search engine is crucial to ensure success. Prospects rarely go past the first page of results and therefore competition to gain the top spot is fierce. One doesn’t need large budgets to attain high rankings however. Understanding the audience and the particulars of their search processes can put a keen edge on one’s efforts. Weeding out words that are irrelevant, or might attract the wrong segments is a prudent exercise; especially when budgets are tight. Spreading one’s net wide might generate plenty of traffic, however traffic does not equate to interested and willing leads. More often than not, if the paid search advertising is not implemented with precision accuracy, it will attract the wrong crowd and increase wastage. As with most business decisions, proper planning and strategy applies to Paid Search Lead Generation. Once mastered, Paid Search Lead Generation can be an extremely potent driver of sales.
Search Engine Optimization is one of the most powerful tools at a marketer’s disposal. Tying in with Paid Search marketing, SEO will bolster organic search activity towards your site by making it more visible to relevant search terms. Essentially one facilitates the process whereby search algorithms inventories and searches for websites. Whereas Paid Search attempts to achieve top rankings by buying them, SEO streamlines a website in such a way as to make it more easily found and thusly wins high search rankings. SEO is directly affected by the content of one’s website. Copy and backend linkages work together to ensure that the site gets noticed when relevant search terms are in play. There are numerous additional elements that influence a website’s SEO. Professional assistance from specialized organizations is strongly advised as SEO can be tricky and if implemented incorrectly can take a long time to rectify.
An amalgamation of all abovementioned digital lead generation techniques, a landing page is the “big gun” when it comes to increasing sales online. Basically a unique single page site is created for a specific promotion. The design of the landing page pushes one offering, and usually requires that information be shared between interested parties and the company. The Landing page itself is optimized for search engines and is best implemented with a paid search campaign. These three elements combined can significantly enhance the pulling power of a digital lead generation campaign.
Businesses need to understand that generating leads online is not simply an additional marketing tool, but a fundamental part of modern business practice. Having an online presence, tuned towards generating leads can be massively beneficial. It amounts to having an international sales representative 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Leads 4 Africa is geared towards guiding your organisation towards healthy digital sales funnels. We have a proven track record and delight in sharing our knowledge with our clients.
Contact us on +27 21 825 3101 or send an email to admin@leads4africa.co.za for more information.