2021IS THE YEAR OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.

THE YEAR

Already Covid-19 ensured that businesses that were resisting change also had to move online. As a marketer, can you afford to ignore this evolution?

This guide will help business owners and digital marketers navigate the new way of doing business - precisely how to master lead generation in 2021!

Lead is potential buyer information that may or may not turn into a customer. Now, if there’s no contact information available about this person, it is of no use to the sales team. Junk data - copy-pasting emails, phone numbers doesn’t work either. We all hate spam, and the era of spam marketing is over.People now give value to businesses that spend time having meaningful conversations with their audience. The earlier model referred to buying process as AIDA-

AWARENESS Your potential customer is aware of your offerings

INTEREST They are actively showing interest in your offerings

DESIRE Customers desire a particular product/service brand

ACTION Taking action (next steps) in purchasing that product/service offerings.

However, now the customer behavior has drastically changed. With the online purchasing

era, today’s buyer has many more choices and information. Along with rising competition,

the attention span of customers is dwindling.

Could a mere email or phone number suffice to give you more business? Not at all; you

need a context; you need some help about who is the owner of that phone number.

Also, you need information about their lifestyle, their working background, and their cultural

values to understand if they could be potential customers.

So, you need the following process:

Get your potential customers intrigued; give them something of value, something of interest. It may be a video series, a book, a blog, a captivating email thread. In exchange, you will receive their email addresses and phone + profile information if they

would be willing.

In the case of B2B customers, who are your decisions makers? Which social network do they use, what are the challenges they are facing? How are they engaging with these online platforms?

Using the interest generated above,

engage your audience, ask them

for their opinion, ask them to “like,

subscribe, press the bell icon,”

or share. It shows your engagement

level with your potential customers.

You can hire a digital influencer to do

this for you. You can hire a professional

team that can create good quality

material for you. What is also

important is to have a great marketing

partner that can spread the word out.

This is the process of converting leads

to customers. Start by looking at their

response to content, and check if they

are active users, then offer them an

attractive proposition or an offer they

can’t refuse.

In the B2B market, this translates to

asking key decision-makers for an

appointment or offering a service

directly and asking for a detailed

discussion.

LEAD GENERATION IDEAS YOU CAN

IMPLEMENTWhen you are talking about lead generation, the requirement should be specific. You are not considering the “world” as your target market. The goal is to reach specific customers. Consequently, the conversion rate increases.

The source of getting specific customers for your product or services starts with these two questions:- • What is your target customer looking for? • Where are your target customers currently focusing?

These questions give you an imaginary profile of your “ideal customer avatar.”Once you have a clear answer to the aforementioned questions, create your strategy to capture your target audience’s attention.

Here are some of the strategies to reach your high-value customers:

There is no getting out of it. Paid advertising is necessary when you are planning to be a pro in lead generation.

Apart from your traditional advertising, we are talking about digital paid advertising

channels. Marketers pay for the ad space for promoting their products and services.

PAY PER CLICK, SPONSORED ADS, CPC (COST PER CLICK), etc.

Various digital advertising channels are there to create paid advertising, and you have to

select a channel according to your product needs.

There are various paid advertising platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and

many more. Most of the time, paid advertisements are instantaneous. Create an ad, choose

a paid advertising platform, post your ad, and DONE!!!. Through paid advertising, you can

show your products or services to THE RIGHT PEOPLE, AT THE RIGHT PLACE, AND AT

THE RIGHT TIME!

WHAT ISPAID ADVERTISING?

Writing strategic content helps in generating leads. High-quality, engaging content plays a vital role in creating the much-needed first impression on your audience.There is a staggering amount of evidence that content marketing works. Content marketing creates organic growth. It may take months to increase traffic or website ranking, but once you get quality traffic on your site/blog, all your efforts will pay off. Google values content. Investing in a great content writing team goes a long way!

• Content keeps the prospects engaged

• Helps in educating your potential customers

• Establishes trust among your prospects

• Increases the chances of conversions

• Helps you rank higher on search engines

• Builds your rapport

Strategic content marketing involves selecting correct media:

1. YouTube /Vimeo

2. Emails using listing services

3. Blogs / LinkedIn articles / Facebook etc.

Strategic content marketing requires research and patience. You need to do the traffic

analysis, understand your potential market size and trends.

BENEFITS OFCONTENT MARKETING

Email marketing is an excellent source of lead generation and engagement.

If you can create emails that use the “Opt-in” feature, your potential lead is

already in the mindset to receive emails.

Once they consent to opt-in, it is your job to create a conversation, not a

promotion. Create quality content that helps your email audience.

In the B2B market case, you need to have professional and engaging content

that reflects on your expertise. For example- images in the content should not

be blurred or there should not be any copyright issues. YouTube video and

channel descriptions, LinkedIn profile, Facebook pages and group descriptions,

Instagram profile, all of these should all reflect your brand and its value to your

customers.

Lead magnets are features your potential

leads find valuable. It can be a PDF book,

an exclusive content club, maybe a free

1st consultation service, anything that

seems worth to your potential lead.

Hiring a professional graphic designer

and content team gives a great return on

investment. With their help, you can create

good quality lead magnets.

When you engage with people online, you are, in a way, building your brand. But what do we mean by “online networking”? It is finding common ground, exchanging value and creating meaningful conversations. If your potential customers are doctors, you should join Facebook or LinkedIn groups for doctors.

Understand your potential customers’ pain points. For example, doctors may be worried about managing appointments. You can just post a blog about “How to manage appointments” and post it on the group. If they like your blog, they will contact you. Please ensure that you are not just promoting your product. Create content that genuinely helps your leads in solving some problems.

DON’T DO ANY PROMOTIONS IN THE GROUPS!!!! Share the posts which are helpful for them. Answer their questions. If you have found your prospect, then engage with them on the personal messaging section but only after you’ve built a relationship. First, establish your credibility.

In the B2B market, it is a great opportunity to connect with your target company’s decision-makers. By being in the group, you have already established trust. By answering their questions or by publishing articles of value, you can earn their respect and establish your authority as a subject matter expert.

TO SUMMARISE, HERE IS A WAY TO MASTER

LEAD GENERATION1. Create Ideal Customer Avatar (who is the decision-maker, where are they, etc.)

2. Create a strategy for lead generation: a. Create a “lead magnet” (something that is so valuable to your potential leads that they will be willing to exchange their contact information.) b. Identify your important channels - YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. c. Create consistent content with the help of a good team.

3. Establish your brand a. Take part in online networking. b. Answer questions from potential leads c. Create Email campaigns using the data generated from the above steps.