Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. That’s why brands are redirecting their ad spend drive from TV, radio, and/or print to digital.
Your prospects no longer want your brand to buy their attention — they care more about you earning it. The biggest mistake you can make today when trying to sell a product or service is to push the sale way too quickly. Lead generation strategies enable you to earn buyer engagement by delivering a personalized, well-orchestrated experience.
Let’s look at the ways you can attract, engage, and delight prospects along the buying journey.
How to Attract, Connect & Convert More Prospects Into Customers
A lead is any prospect who indicates interest in your company’s products or services in some way, shape, or form. The aim of lead generation is to help you move customers along the sales funnel towards a purchase. And every effective lead generation begins and ends with a keen understanding of the buyer’s journey.
Three main stages define a buyer’s journey:
1. Build Awareness: Top-of-Funnel Marketing
At the awareness stage, prospects have gained awareness of a need that must be fulfilled, or they’ve recently come across your products or services. It’s important to recognize that potential customers are still on the fence about your brand and its ability to meet their needs. All they want is information that will help them make a better decision.
An effective lead generation strategy is, therefore, one that provides resources rather than sales pitches.
Some top-of-funnel marketing tools you’ll want to incorporate include: blogs, email newsletters, SEO & paid search, social & display (awareness) campaigns, and social media. The best marketing companies utilize these processes to capture leads, build brand awareness, increase brand recognition, and also establish your brand as a thought leader.
2. Nurture: Middle-of-Funnel Marketing
At this stage, you’ve already caught the attention of your customers and can now afford to be a bit more forceful with your sales pitch. They’ve defined their need or problem and are actively searching for a solution, which means they’re looking for what differentiates you from your competitors.
The answers to their questions may be captured in data sheets, case studies, and FAQs. You want to “wow” them with the benefits of choosing your company over its competitors. So here’s what you can do:
- Utilize re-targeting ads to create additional points of contact with your product and, more importantly, your brand.
- Develop an email marketing strategy meant to establish your brand as a thought leader and introduce products they might be interested in.
- Write blog posts that lay out the benefits of choosing your company
Also, you can collect data to upgrade or improve products and add on features while prioritizing your leads. Hence, the importance of working with an internet marketing agency that prioritizes data analytics and marketing automation.
3. Convert: Tip-of-Funnel Marketing
At the tip of the funnel, potential customers are ready to take the next step and are just one click away from contacting you to begin the sales process. Your job is to push them through the finishing line.
To get ahead of your competitors, you will need to offer your prospects answers to exact questions they might have at the moment. These answers may come in the form of demos, free trials, testimonials, or even promotional discounts. As such, you’ll want to incorporate some tip-of-funnel marketing such as cart & browse abandonment ads and emails, branded and non-branded SEO and PPC, conversion rate optimization, and Live Chat to build engagement.
The aim here is to provide content that delights them enough to convert. Make sure prospects can easily contact you to inquire about products or the price of doing business with you.
Finally, Analyze & Improve
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to lead generation. Your marketing strategies at every stage of the buyer’s journey could use some improvement.
Start your journey with WSI Next Gen Marketing. We take the time to understand your business goals and your customers’ needs. This way, we can optimize your digital marketing strategies to build brand awareness and increase sales.