Lead generation is probably the most important part of doing business. Without making a list of potential leads, we don’t know whom to contact and persuade and how best to design a marketing campaign. With everything considered, lead generation is the single most important task for a business to run successfully.
Using technology to generate leads
Lead generation also is no more old school and one does not have to painstakingly make huge lists of potential clients & customers and write them down oneself. There are automated tools and forms that can do this job for you; and automation brings into our mind technology. Without proper technology, it is not possible to have a good lead generation plan in place. Moreover, efficient use of technology helps you to make a list of higher quality leads that will indeed convert and help you make sales. With all that in mind, it is important to make use of available technology to the fullest and ensure that leads are generated automatically. In this article, let us take a look at what technological requirements exist to generate leads that are of high quality.
Lead generation form
Most people do not realize that lead generation forms are some of the most important tools in our business for generating leads. Lead generation forms are no longer manual but are mostly automated. Thus, a lead generation form must be user-friendly and people must not feel annoyed when they fill up information. The lead generation form could be anything – from a simple ‘contact us’ form to a form that collects information before letting visitors download something for free, an eBook for instance. Lead generation forms need to be short and error free & must not ask for unnecessary information.
Social media
Social media is certainly one of the most important tools of lead generation. Social media includes but is not limited to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram. Usually, Facebook and LinkedIn also give you access to people’s e-mail addresses, which is a good thing. You will be able to use those e-mail addresses for lead generation activities as well; only make sure that you do not bother people by contacting them incessantly.
E-mail is something that should be used carefully. It is quite clear that everyone uses e-mail at one point or another. Even the most unsophisticated person in a secluded village might have access to e-mail if he or she doesn’t use Facebook. Teh ubiquity of email makes it an attractive lead generation tool. However, be aware that you can get marked as spam if you do not design your email campaigns well. You need to make sure that you do not end up being marked as spam by several people, which will automatically prove you to be a spammer. That is not what we want.
Web browsing and cookies
You can always use cookies and trackers to understand the kind of people that visit your website. Their browser and IP location & other details can give you a whole lot of information about who is interested in your content and who might become your clients. This way, you will want to contact the right kind of people instead of wasting your efforts on people who might not be interested in what you offer. Make sure that you track web visitors and do let them know that you track. Identifying information might not be collected or saved.
Direct contact
The best form of lead generation is when leads contact you themselves after having seen your advertisement or after having come to know about you somewhere. Classify those people under high quality leads as they are more likely to become your clients or customers. They might not initially state that they are interested in a purchase but you can always ask them if it is ok for them if you contacted them once in a while through email about news and products. Most people do agree.
There is nothing more important than in knowing how to use technology to your advantage. If you automate everything and think it is all over for you, you are mighty wrong. You need to, instead, automate some activities and check manually sometimes. That holds true in the case of lead generation as well.
