Generating leads – both high in quantity and quality – is a marketer’s most important objective. A successful lead generation engine is what keeps the funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep. Surprisingly, only 1 in 10 marketers feel their lead generation campaigns are effective. What gives?
There can be a lot of moving parts in any lead generation campaign and often times it’s difficult to know which parts need fine tuning. In this article, we will share the key elements marketers should utilize to increase leads and revenue. These tactics have been tested over the past 7 years and have been used by our 8,000+ customers to generate more than 9.8 million leads in the past year.
So what goes into a best-of-class lead generation engine? We will answer the question by taking a look into the mechanics of high performing lead generation campaigns….
The best lead generation campaigns contain most, if not all, of these components. From a tactical perspective, a marketer needs four crucial elements to make inbound lead generation happen. These include:
- Offer;
- Call-To-Action;
- Landing Page;
- Form.
Offer
Definition: An offer is a piece of content that is perceived high in value. Offers include e-books, whitepapers, free consultations, coupons and product demonstrations.
Yes. It’s one of the most powerful words in the human language. And if you think about all the things we do as marketers, it’s ultimately to get people to say “yes” to our offers.
When an offer is exclusive, scarce, or in high demand, it becomes more desirable. Whether they are whitepapers, free trials, memberships, sales promotions, or downloads, these irresistible elements can overcome a lead’s typical friction, doubt, or concern.
Why do these elements work? Because they trigger a physiological reaction that makes an offer more valuable.
People need to perceive the value of your offer to be greater than what you’re asking for in return. The higher the perception of value, the more irresistible the offer.
Call-To-Action
Definition: A call-to-action (CTA) is either text, an image or a button that links directly to a landing page so people can find and download your offer.
Calls-to-action (CTA) are the secret sauce to driving people to your offers. If your CTAs aren’t effective at capturing people’s attention and persuading them to the click, then it makes the offer useless.
CTAs can be used on product pages (non-landing pages), in display ads, email, social media, direct mail and pretty much anywhere you can market your offer.
But not all CTAs are created equal. In a world where every brand is fighting for consumers attention, it’s critical that prospects choose your offer over your competitors.
Landing Page
Definition: A landing page, unlike normal website pages, is a specialized page that contains information about one particular offer, and a form to download that offer.
Landing pages are one of the most important elements of lead generation. In fact, according to MarketingSherpa’s research, landing pages are effective for 94% of B2B and B2C companies. The use of landing pages enables marketers to direct website visitors to targeted pages and capture leads at a much higher rate.
What’s great about landing pages is that they direct your visitors to one particular offer without the distractions of everything else on your website. Visitors are on a landing page for one and only purpose: to complete the lead capture form.
Form
Definition: You can’t capture leads without forms. Forms will collect contact information from a visitor in exchange for an offer.
Forms are the key to a landing page. Without them, there is no way to “convert” a visitor into a lead. Forms come in handy when it’s time for people to sign-up, subscribe to your site or download an offer.
Credit: Jessica Meher (@jessicameher), Hubspot
