Companies for which a website is nothing more than an online business card are missing opportunities. Because more and more customers are researching and buying online. To make your website a real marketing weapon, make sure it provides you with a steady stream of leads. The actions that lead to this are called lead generation.
What is a lead?
A lead is someone who shows interest in your offer and leaves his or her contact information. That could be an e-mail address or a phone number. In a world of spam and telemarketing, a lead like this sends a clear message: this person trusts you and may be in the market for your service or product.
In short, a lead is an opportunity. It is someone who knocks on your door of their own accord and is open to further contact. How you shape that contact moment depends on the stage the lead is in. Because let’s be clear: one lead is not the other.
Why leads are so important
Thanks to the Internet, the buying process of consumers and businesses has changed dramatically. Whereas you “used to” have to attract customers through newspaper ads, highway billboards and television advertising, that doesn’t work today.
Customers no longer depend on salespeople to get information about a product or service. On the Internet, they can find extensive specifications and reviews, which makes comparing providers easy. For that reason, you want to be easily findable by your potential customers.
And once customers find you, you want to quietly build a relationship with them. You do that by providing as much value as possible. By doing so, you not only help solve their problems, but at the same time show that you are a helpful expert. A true partner.
Here’s how to score leads
You can get leads in a variety of ways: from social media likes, completed forms, downloads, incoming phone calls, and so on.
But the most common way is by providing gated content. This is extensive and valuable content that you provide in exchange for something – usually an email address. It can take the form of a webinar, a test, a full version of a blog post, an e-book, a useful tool, a demo version of software or a mini-course.
Which lead magnet best suits your target audience is something you no doubt feel for yourself. If you are in doubt, we will be happy to provide you with tailored advice. Although there is nothing wrong with asking your (potential) customers. The needs of your target audience are constantly changing, and the result of a short poll can yield surprising answers.
Different types of leads
In the world of lead acquisition, we distinguish different types of leads. The distinction is not only in the amount of contact information you have from such a lead. Buying intent also varies.
- Lead
A lead is a stranger who has entered his or her contact information, such as in exchange for your newsletter or the full version of a blog post. This person begins by looking for a quick solution to a problem. This person does not yet know your offering of products or services and therefore it is not appropriate to push. At this stage, you want to get to know each other quietly.
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL).
A Marketing Qualified Lead already knows you better. This person has shown interest in your services or products, such as by downloading an e-book or white paper. An MQL is further along in the buyer journey or customer journey than a regular lead. An MQL realizes that an investment is needed and now focuses on one of the categories of solutions. A niche in which you and your competitors operate.
- Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
A Sales Qualified Lead has chosen a particular method or approach that matches your offering. Indeed, this person is aware that you are providing the necessary solution. The SQL is about to make a purchase – the only question is with whom. How do you turn this lead into a paying customer?
Convert leads into a funnel
That leads come in different types should now be obvious. But such a label is not permanent. The idea is that you promote your leads to Marketing Qualified Leads. And those MQLs sooner or later you want to turn into SQLs, making a sale a real possibility.
You do this “warming up” of leads in a funnel. That is an imaginary funnel through which leads move, on their way to the end point in the form of a sale. Along the way, there are several contact moments in which you gain the lead’s trust on the one hand and present your unique offer on the other.
Those touch points can be newsletters, blog posts, tests, downloads, and so on. In fact, research shows that “cold” leads need about 5 to 8 of these moments to make a purchase. Know, like, trust.
That this customer journey has a funnel shape is because of the inevitable drop-off of potential customers. It is simply impossible that every lead will eventually become a customer. What you can influence, however, is the percentage of dropouts. 2manydots has the knowledge and tools to generate impressive conversions.
Lead nurturing
The fact that people give you their e-mail addresses is, of course, already quite something. But ultimately, you want what are called Sales Qualified Leads (SQL): people or companies who are ready to make a purchase. All you have to do is convince these leads that your organization has the solution to their problem.
Our approach is to identify SQLs early online. But that’s not the only thing. The website we build for you will have a thoughtful funnel that “warms up” cold leads until they reach the SQL level. At each stage of the customer journey, based on Google’s See-Think-Do-Care model, your website communicates the right message, at the right time to the right person. In doing so, we maximize the conversion rate.
On average, 50% of online leads are not yet ready to proceed to purchase. – Marketo
Automate your funnel
A well-functioning lead generation funnel requires automation. After all, there are many things you want to be in control of: the retention and categorization of email addresses, the immediate sending of premium content, the punctuality of an autoresponder, the pages a lead has viewed, the stage that person is in, and so on.
As a full-service Internet marketing agency, we have put many software packages to the test. Because every client is unique, from this we choose the best solution for each situation. But the result always remains the same: an automated funnel that delivers leads to your doorstep 24/7.
✔ Attracting quality visitors
✔ Cold leads to SQLs warming up
✔ Turning customers into ambassadors
In addition, there are useful tools, such as Hotjar, that allow you to run all kinds of tests, see which pages your visitors spend the longest time reading, where people linger with the mouse pointer and where they click. This gives you the information you need to maximize your conversion rate.
2manydots builds not so much a simple website as a complete marketing weapon. These ingenious machines are automated so you don’t have to worry about them. From acquaintance to conversion — and often much further — he transforms strangers into customers and then into ambassadors.
Quality or quantity?
In theory, more leads increase sales. After all, you know what percentage of leads promote to MQLs and what percentage of those get SQL status. In that regard, it makes sense that you want to get more traffic to your site.
Although we won’t deny that quantity is influential, we at 2manydots prefer to focus on the quality of leads. Because the better your leads are, the easier they convert. That makes the return on investment (ROI) higher, saves your sales department time, and creates greater loyalty.
Measurable result
You don’t just hire an Internet marketing agency. You’re all about results, and that’s what we at 2manydots offer. That doesn’t mean we set up a campaign, sit back and send you an automated report.
Our Resultsmatter® philosophy commits us to proactively managing your campaign. That means we are constantly measuring and optimizing to get maximum results from your lead generation campaign. You have real-time access to the numbers and can always spar with us about any changes in direction.
A responsible investment
Your success is our success. And since we prefer to enter into a long-term partnership, your investment must be well justified. Therefore, various stakeholders such as managers and board members are welcome to attend our periodic presentations. In it you will see what results certain tweaks have produced and discuss plans for the next period.
Do you also want to collect more leads? Download our handy lead generation checklist
Leads lead the way to online success. But to what extent can you improve the lead generation process? How do you grab those last percentage points? You’ll know in a minute thanks to our lead generation checklist. Download it now.
Prefer to read further? Then read our lead generation white paper, where we delve deeper into this topic. A good start is half the battle!
