Are you frustrated with your Marketing effectiveness to generate leads?
Do you have a comprehensive strategy to generate leads for your business? Most businesses try to generate leads through various marketing campaigns, but do not measure the leads generated by these campaigns. Campaign or NO campaign, a comprehensive strategy for generating more leads is vital to increase revenues in your business. This article provides an overview of key strategies to increase the quantity & quality of leads.
A Lead is a potential customer who is interested in your product or service and provides his contact information so you can follow-up with them and convert into a customer. Leads can be generated either using Hunting or Farming tactics. Hunting tactics are intended to produce immediate results but require massive action. Examples of Hunting tactics are walk-ins, networking, referrals, telemarketing, advertising and direct mail. Farming tactics require consistent and persistent action over a long period of time but will produce massive leads in the long run. Examples of Farming tactics are targeted e-mail, e-mail broadcast, social media and strategic partners. Chose a combination of relevant Hunting and Farming tactics to generate leads consistently in your business and implement the 4 key strategies below to increase your leads:
#1 PLAN AND MEASURE YOUR LEADS
Once you have identified the lead generation tactics that are relevant for your target market, plan the number of leads you generate with each tactic every month. This plan must be based on activity map that helps you achieve these leads. For example, if you plan to generate 10 leads using Telemarketing, identify the actions needed to achieve this plan. It could be deciding on the number of dials needed per week if you are doing this yourself or hiring an outsourced telemarketer for a certain number of hours. Once you have the plan, measure your actual performance against the plan and review this every week and make adjustments to your action plan and future month projections to generate the right amount of leads needed for your business.
#2 COMMUNICATE YOUR IDENTITY
To attract more leads, your business should have a strong identity. Identity for your business is a combination of your business purpose and core values. Purpose is the primary reason why your business exists and core values are the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” that guide your organization’s Decisions, Attitudes, Behaviors and Performance. If your business does not have a clearly defined purpose and core values, define these and communicate them extensively as this will help you generate more leads.
#3 GET IN YOUR CUSTOMER SHOES
Get in your customer shoes and understand their fears & frustrations and wants & aspirations. Your communication(verbal or written) in any of your lead generation tactics should address how your product or service will help address your customers fears & frustrations and help them achieve their wants & aspiration.
#4 COMMUNICATE YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION & GUARANTEE
You need a crisp Unique Selling Proposition(USP) & Guarantee that communicates why your prospect should do business with you instead of your competition. One of the things that could make you stand out is your guarantee. Having a guarantee shifts the risk of decision making from your prospect to your business. The stronger you communicate this guarantee upfront, the better your chances of increasing your leads. Guarantees are normally used as a conversion tool, but if you communicate the guarantee in advance in your marketing message, it will significantly improve the quality of your leads.
Implementing these strategies consistently will increase the quantity and quality of leads regardless of your marketing budget and the specific hunting or farming lead generation tactics you chose for your business.