12 killer lead generation ideas to convert more traffic and grow your business

If you’re finding lead generation difficult right now, you’re not alone. In fact, according to a report from HubSpot, 61% of marketers consider generating traffic and leads to be their biggest challenge.

However, generating quality leads and contacts to fuel your pipeline doesn’t need to be a struggle.

Today, we’re going to go through 12 killer lead generation ideas and recommendations to get you converting more traffic and generating growth for your business.

1) Grab them with an incredible title

The first step in generating leads is to catch your reader’s attention. So, if you’re not engaging your audience with an effective title, than chances are they going to overlook your content.

As Brian Halligan, HubSpot CEO and co-founder, once said that “you can have a great offer with a bad title and no one will download it. But if you have an amazing title, suddenly everyone wants it.”

Here are some power words you could look to include in your next offer headline:

• Amazing
• Clever
• Sure-fire
• Ultimate
• Secret
• Mind-blowing
• Unlock
• Capture
• Delight

2) Create exclusivity and scarcity

Share an offer, and you may get consumers eventually taking advantage of it. However, add in a limited timescale or limited stock and consumers will flock to grab it before it’s gone.

Adding in a limited time factor into your offer or asset makes it more attractive and a sense of urgency by activating a consumer’s FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

Some great FOMO examples include;

• Whilst stocks last
• Ends tonight
• Expires in 24 hours
• Limited time only

3) Place your offer across your website

You may have an optimised landing page setup and a planned-out strategy for advertising your offer or asset across your marketing channels. However, you must remember to also make use of where your audience is already viewing what you already have by placing your offer across website.

Consumers are already browsing the page and potentially interested in that product. Therefore, any offer will be sure to grab their attention.

There are a number of great tools such as Unbounce and ConvertFlow, which can help you create amazing sticky-bars that convert.

4) Less is more

When creating your landing page or planning the copy to attract consumers, remember to keep it simple.

We lead busy lives, we don’t have the time to read reams of text, and don’t want to either, so be succinct and get to point.

A few paragraphs outlining what it is and what the benefits to them are will suffice.

How to write for the web

Writing for the web is an art unto itself, so it’s important to get the basics right to make sure you are engaging your audience to read as much of your content as possible.

• Create bulleted lists
• Put important information near the beginning of sentences and paragraphs
• Highlight key points in bold
• Use plenty of descriptive subheadings to make sure scanners get the most vital information
• Write in short paragraphs
• One idea per paragraph
• Create plenty of whitespace to guide the reader’s eyes towards the content

5) Make sure the CTA stands out

When placing any CTA, always make sure it is in a prominent position and stands out to make it easier for the consumer to see it.

Ensure it doesn’t blend in with the background and avoid using multiple colours to prevent confusion. Making the CTA clear and present will help to draw your reader’s attention to click the button or complete that action.

6) Highlight what’s in it for the reader

Every piece of content you create must answer the question ‘what’s in it for me?’

It should be immediately obvious for the reader within the first five seconds of a piece of content what they will gain from it.

If you don’t provide this, visitors will bounce off your website.

A great way to format your copy in answering this question is via the advertising principle of AIDA.

• Attention – what will draw their eyes to your content?
• Interest – how are you going to keep them engaged?
• Desire – what will make them want to use your product or service to meet their need?
• Action – what action do you want your users to take after reading?

Learn more about how to create amazing content that converts

7) Don’t make your forms too long

It is difficult to say exactly how long or short your contact form should be, as this will vary on a case by case basis. However, keep it as short as you possibly can.

You are likely to find that the shorter the form, the more leads you will accumulate as consumers prefer filling in a form which takes less time to complete.

If you have any optional boxes on your form, consider whether these can be removed to make the form shorter and more manageable.

8) The Bandwagon Effect – it’s real

We are sure you have heard the term, jumping on the bandwagon, and it’s something which can be utilised as a lead generation idea.

If consumers see others taking up the offer, they are more likely to follow the crowd. So, consider including in your copy how many people have already taken advantage of this offer.

If it is for an event, you could state how many people are already attending and for subscription services, you could add how many subscribers you have. Make sure these numbers are true and you are likely to see more consumers “jumping on the bandwagon”

9) Be creative in your form call-to-actions

An easy lead generation idea which can encourage consumers to click that button is to avoid having the word “submit” on the CTA.

Let’s face it, who wants to submit to anything? Instead consider adding what this button will do, such as:

• Download free guide
• Book 30-minute demo
• Get discount code
• See exclusive products
• Access secret sale

This simple change of approach can make a big difference between your audience filling in your form, or not filling in your form.

10) Email marketing still works

If you thought that email marketing was dead, think again. For 40 years, marketers have used email as an effective tool in their arsenal to reach and communicate with potential customers, and it’s still very much in vogue post-GDPR.

81% of B2B marketers state that email marketing is their most used form of content marketing and an impressive 87% state that this is their top free organic distribution channel.

Discover the best practices to improve your email marketing techniques.

11) Don’t forget to A/B test

A lot of marketing, especially at the beginning, is trial and error. If you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket, try A/B testing.

This is where you have two separate audiences to trial out two marketing tactics. This could be something as simple as one group gets a link to a landing page, and the second group gets an email.

A/B testing is a great lead generation idea as you will be able to see which is more successful. Tool such as Google Optimize are free to use, and well worth your time.

This will then help you decide on the most effective use of your marketing budget in the future.

Learn more about how you can increase leads through split-testing

12) Encourage your audience to share socially

If an offer is good, your audience would most likely want to shout about it on their social platforms – especially if their friends could also benefit from it. So, make sure they can do this easily by adding social sharing buttons on your pages.

This is a highly effective way of extending your reach without any extra expense. Plus, it’s free marketing for you, so that’s always a plus!

There you have it; those were our 12 killer lead generation ideas to help grow your business. These are some of our favourite ideas but there are plenty more ideas out there.

If you are looking for more help in generating those all-important leads, we have a variety of skills to help your business generate growth.

Whether you require a comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy or simply a digital marketing campaign that blends creativity and data-driven insight to maximise impact, our award-winning digital marketing agency will achieve your business objectives.

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