Growing your business online means earning quality traffic and converting leads into paying customers. Most companies do not realize that they are making mistakes when it comes to lead generation. This can harm their bottom line and efforts.
This article will discuss eight lead generation mistakes and how to improve lead generation.
What is lead generation?
Leads are people who show interest in your business. Lead generation is the process of creating interest in your company, products, and services.
Leads can show interest in many ways and at different stages of the customer journey.
- Free guide download
- Filling out a contact form
- Follow a social media account
- Calling your company
- Use the following strategies for generating leads:
- Online Advertising
- Email marketing
- Search engine optimization
- Paid Advertising
- Social Media Marketing
If your efforts to implement these strategies are not yielding results, You might be making lead generation mistakes.
Also read: Top 10 Lead Generation Companies and Services
8 Lead Generation Mistakes Need to Avoid
Here are the eight biggest lead generation mistakes that companies make when it comes to generating leads.
1. Buying email lists
You can buy customer information, such as email addresses, for your email campaigns. This strategy is tempting, you should consider this if your email subscriber list is lacking.
Buying contacts to receive email may cause more harm than benefit. When people who are unfamiliar with your brand label your communications as spam, you may experience a drop in your delivery rates if you send emails to lists that have been purchased.
Only communicate with people who have opted into your email subscriptions. After you’ve created a list of subscribers, send them high-quality content, and encourage them to stick around!
2. Writing ineffective blog posts
Blog posts that are compelling encourage people to interact with your business. Blog posts should:
- Answer questions
- Your audience will be interested in knowing more about the product or service you offer.
- Benefits and Features of Your Business
- You can position yourself as an information source
- Calls to Action (CTAs) are used to encourage conversions
Include a CTA at the end of each blog post that is in line with the content. Say, for example, that you are a catering business and have a blog about the most popular snack at corporate events. You can end the article with a call to action, encouraging readers to contact you about their next event.
3. Lead generation tools are often overlooked
Lead generation tools will help you discover how visitors got to your site. If you know the reason why someone visited your website, you can highlight these elements to attract more visitors.
Consider the following lead generation tools:
- Call tracking: Gain insights from customer phone calls. Find out what prompted them to call, and how they responded — whether it was to request a demo, go online to purchase, or make an appointment.
- Click-to call: Give your customers a simple way to contact you with just one click. A click-to-call tool is a great way to connect with real people. These widgets can be analyzed to determine their impact.
- Online forms: Allow customers to fill out contact forms online with their name and email address as well as phone number in order to receive additional information about your company.
MarketingCloudFX is our proprietary software for lead generation and tracking. It handles all your calls, emails, and pages through a single interface.
4. Use only one method
If you provide a variety of services and products, it is possible that you will need to implement more than one strategy for lead generation. You will need a different lead generation strategy for each product or service.
You could, for example, use your company blog to write informative articles to encourage readers to contact you. These posts will help you reach more people.
Email campaigns can be used for updates on products, promotions, and announcements. It may be better to use this step for those who have previously visited your website or worked together with you.
5. Failing to nurture leads
You may generate leads, but if you do not follow up on them, they will slip through your fingers. This is a crucial step in generating conversions.
Follow up immediately with a person who fills out or contacts you. You may lose their interest or they might look elsewhere if you leave the lead unattended for too long.
6. Ignoring the buyer’s journey
Your website visitors will be at various stages of their customer journey. Some will just be learning about your products, while others are closer to making a purchase. Do not treat each lead the same.
Consider a business that installs concrete driveways. A blog post entitled “Benefits Of a Cement Driveway”, with PDF information may interest a customer. Someone who knows exactly what they need may look for a contact form online to find out more about the business.
Also read: 5 Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes and Solutions
7. Misusing social media
Social media marketing is a powerful tool to increase brand recognition and awareness.
Explore feeds are available on many social media platforms, such as TikTok’s “For You Page” or Instagram’s “Explore Page”, where users can find organically content they like based on previous interactions. You can appear on users’ explore feeds if you create content.
Your social media profiles can be used in conjunction with other channels for generating leads. You can link to Facebook or Twitter product pages and blog posts. Instagram has a feature that allows customers to shop directly from the app. You can enter products without having them leave:
8. Making your online forms the wrong length
Online contact forms can be a powerful tool for engaging with prospects. Long forms are more detailed and provide more details. Shorter forms make it easier to fill out. Some companies will use a pop-up window with a code for a discount, such as this:
Test different lengths of your website. After a period of time, review the forms that you have collected to see which suits your customers.
How to improve lead generation
Lead generation can be improved by following these tips:
- Collaborate with your sales team: Your sales team will be following up on leads. You’ll need to make sure you are on the same page in order for leads not to slip through your fingers.
- Consistent messaging is important: It’s not enough to use different channels to reach your customers. You also need to keep your messaging consistent to make sure that customers can recognize you.
- Make CTAs Specific: Be specific about what you are offering, whether it’s a trial, a guide that can be downloaded, or an invite to complete a form. Make your CTAs stand out by using colors, images and hyperlinks.
You can correct lead generation mistakes.
Marketing experts can assist you if you are ready to build more leads for your site. Our team has years of experience in designing and launching strategies to generate leads for our clients. You can improve your strategy with our help and get more users to the end of the funnel.
