Lead On!

Lead Generation: Back To Basics

As digital marketing becomes ever more complex and technologically dependent, and we analyse everything to death – and then some! – we can easily take our eye off the ball in terms of “back to basics” lead generation. So take a few minutes to ask yourself five key questions that we should not lose sight of in this ever changing marketing landscape:

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 11.29.35

  1. How effective is your email strategy?
    Is your content relevant and interesting? Your audience are more likely to read content that is helpful than obvious sales pitch. Prepare content that portrays you as an industry expert and that will help keep your name on their radar. Do include some sort of call to action (CTA) that gives the reader the option to contact you when they want to do so.

    If content is not your strong point then there are various companies around that will handle content writing – and various aspects of email marketing management – for you.

  2. Are you fully mobile-friendly?
    Mobile matters! 66 percent of emails are now opened on a phone or tablet and 30% of traffic to websites is from mobile devices. Emails you send should therefore be correctly designed to be readable on any size device or email client.

    You also need to ensure that your website is responsive so that no matter the screen size, the content and design will adapt accordingly and display well – and be easy to navigate – on any device.

  3. Do your graphics consistently and accurately reflect your brand?
    Graphics create an instant first impression that can be difficult to change. It is therefore essential that you use the best graphics to represent your business effectively. Your website needs to look professional, contemporary and uncluttered.

    Customers related well to images of people and places that they can relate to so choose your images wisely and use them consistently across your website, emails and social media postings.

  4. Are you making the best use of social media?
    Social media is an increasingly key element of a well-rounded digital marketing strategy. In these days of cross channel marketing it is important to put consistent messages out through a variety of different channels to reach people where they’re at.

    Not everyone will visit your website or receive your emails or see your Facebook posts but hopefully everyone will do at least one of those things. The point is to make sure that all your existing and potential customers do hear from you regularly, whatever their preferred channel.

    Make the most of your Facebook page by boosting posts. Choose a post that you want to give more exposure, and ideally that generates traffic back to your website. You will need to pay a small amount to boost the post but then when readers like or click on the boosted post, Facebook will start featuring your business more often in their News Feed.

  5. Do you use customer reviews?
    There are many websites around these days where customers can enter reviews of businesses – think of TripAdvisor, TrustPilot, CheckaTrade and Amazon to name but a few. Many people check these reviews before making purchases or booking a service and they can make a significant difference to their decision.

    So why not make capital of this and start encouraging your customers to submit reviews? Make it easy for them to do so, for example you could send a standard email thanking them for their business and including a link to where you want them to review you.

So why not every month or so just do a quick health check of your lead generation strategy simply by asking yourself the five questions above and tweaking things accordingly. Sometimes we do need to go back to basics to make sure we’re still heading firmly in the right direction!

As digital marketing becomes ever more complex and technologically dependent, and we analyse everything to death – and then some! – we can easily take our eye off the ball in terms of “back to basics” lead generation. So take a few minutes to ask yourself five key questions that we should not lose sight of in this ever changing marketing landscape:

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 11.29.35
  1. How effective is your email strategy? Is your content relevant and interesting? Your audience are more likely to read content that is helpful than obvious sales pitch. Prepare content that portrays you as an industry expert and that will help keep your name on their radar. Do include some sort of call to action (CTA) that gives the reader the option to contact you when they want to do so. If content is not your strong point then there are various companies around that will handle content writing – and various aspects of email marketing management – for you.
  2. Are you fully mobile-friendly? Mobile matters! 66 percent of emails are now opened on a phone or tablet and 30% of traffic to websites is from mobile devices. Emails you send should therefore be correctly designed to be readable on any size device or email client. You also need to ensure that your website is responsive so that no matter the screen size, the content and design will adapt accordingly and display well – and be easy to navigate – on any device.
  3. Do your graphics consistently and accurately reflect your brand? Graphics create an instant first impression that can be difficult to change. It is therefore essential that you use the best graphics to represent your business effectively. Your website needs to look professional, contemporary and uncluttered. Customers related well to images of people and places that they can relate to so choose your images wisely and use them consistently across your website, emails and social media postings.
  4. Are you making the best use of social media? Social media is an increasingly key element of a well-rounded digital marketing strategy. In these days of cross channel marketing it is important to put consistent messages out through a variety of different channels to reach people where they’re at. Not everyone will visit your website or receive your emails or see your Facebook posts but hopefully everyone will do at least one of those things. The point is to make sure that all your existing and potential customers do hear from you regularly, whatever their preferred channel. Make the most of your Facebook page by boosting posts. Choose a post that you want to give more exposure, and ideally that generates traffic back to your website. You will need to pay a small amount to boost the post but then when readers like or click on the boosted post, Facebook will start featuring your business more often in their News Feed.
  5. Do you use customer reviews? There are many websites around these days where customers can enter reviews of businesses – think of TripAdvisor, TrustPilot, CheckaTrade and Amazon to name but a few. Many people check these reviews before making purchases or booking a service and they can make a significant difference to their decision. So why not make capital of this and start encouraging your customers to submit reviews? Make it easy for them to do so, for example you could send a standard email thanking them for their business and including a link to where you want them to review you.

So why not every month or so just do a quick health check of your lead generation strategy simply by asking yourself the five questions above and tweaking things accordingly. Sometimes we do need to go back to basics to make sure we’re still heading firmly in the right direction!