What is a lead?
In the simplest of explanations, a ‘lead’ is an individual or a business that has shown interest in your product or service and shared contact details like an email address or a telephone number.
This sounds simple but has been a topic of hot debate between marketing and sales teams. While marketing teams revel in the number of leads generated, sales teams look at the quality of leads. This conflict can be devastating for businesses.
Companies with aligned sales and marketing generated 208% more revenue from marketing.
Marketing is often not targeting the folks that salespeople are identifying as being their strongest leads they want to reach.
It is crucial for the overall growth of a business that both the marketing and sales teams be in sync with each other. Marketing teams should aim at generating high-quality leads and sales teams should give constant feedback to the marketing teams on the quality of leads generated.
This will help marketing teams make necessary changes in their lead generation strategy to generate high-quality sales-qualified leads.
Now that we’ve established what a lead is let’s move on.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is an incentive that incites a visitor on your website to give you their email address at the minimum.
You can then add this data to your ‘nurture’ list and send them your email campaigns, offers, etc. Depending on which part of the buying journey they are, you could also ask for more than an email address in return.
B2B businesses can ask for the company name, the designation of the person filling the form, a telephone number, etc.
Getting a telephone number is definitely a hot lead as the person now wants to engage with your company.
5 lead magnets to generate leads
1. E-book download
E-books are a tried, tested and proven lead magnet. They are a great lead generator, provided they offer true value to users.
A well-written e-book establishes you as an authority on the subject and increases your trust value.
The only drawback in producing a stellar e-book is the time it takes to create. An e-book can be anywhere from 3000 – 20,000 words.
Anything between 3000-5000 words is a quick resource that the user can consume in one sitting.
The easiest way to ‘write’ an e-book of this length is to repurpose previously written content like blog posts, infographics, listicles, etc. around a similar topic and comprehensively compile it all together.
You might need to tweak or edit some of the content but it is easier than starting from scratch and less time-consuming.
Anything upwards of 10, 000 words should be a rigorous guide. This e-book is something that the user will refer to time and again.
You will need to produce fresh content for this and spend MANY hours at the desk! An e-book of this length works really well for a niche SaaS company, and if done right, will add a lot of value to your brand.
I’m gonna plug one here, why not?
2. Webinar
Webinars again are a great way to attract potential customers, albeit if done right and should be a part of every lead generation strategy. Unlike an e-book, webinars let you interact and engage with your audience.
People like to conduct business with companies they like and trust.
A webinar lets you do just that. Connect with your audience and build trust as an authority on the subject.
You can also have a live QnA session in your webinar and pull leads further down the sales funnel.
The leads you get through a webinar are also more responsive as these people have gone through the trouble of registering and setting time aside to attend your webinar.
This is why it is of utmost importance to ensure you have engaging content and offer great value.
You do not want to come across as frivolous and a waste of time for those attending.
Though engagement and connection are the reasons why webinars are hugely popular, you can also record the webinar and offer it on-demand later.
3. Trial period
Signed up for a trial period of Netflix or Spotify and bought the subscription after the trial because you were hooked? Then you know how effective trial period offers are for lead generation and sales.
Especially for a software service where customers want to make sure the application is right for them.
A trial period takes the risk factor out of the equation and gets users hooked to your services.
4. Gated video
According to a 2018 report by Statista users aged between 18-35 spent an average of 105 minutes consuming mobile videos per week.
87% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool and 83% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI.
Customers are more likely to watch a video about a product than read about it.
68% of people say they’d most prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a short video with a staggering 79% saying a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app.
A gated video is where users have to fill in a form to watch the video or are asked to fill in their details after the first few seconds.
In the latter example, a user will only enter their details to continue the video only if the first few seconds were interesting and you managed to gain their attention.
The videos can be:
- Demo videos
- Brand videos
- Product explainer videos
- Event videos
- Case studies and customer testimonials
- Animated videos
- Expert interviews
There is definitely a lot that goes into making a video.
Plan it well, know your target audience and invest time and thought into the script.
You do not need to be a pro to shoot a video, your iPhone camera will work fine if you do not want to invest in professional equipment or a DSLR.
Make sure the room is well-lit and soundproof. If your budget permits hiring a professional to create videos for you, do that. If not, a little research and you can hit record.
5. Free mini-course
A free mini-course will take a lot of time, resources and effort to create but it if executed well is a lead generation idea that will yield you the best result.
You could do educational videos or even an email series.
If you are an eCommerce platform, for example, you could do a mini-course on selling online effectively, or ‘how to write unique product description’ or ‘how to market your eCommerce website’, get the gist?
Like all other lead magnets, your content should be of TRUE VALUE, no two ways on that.
People who sign up for a mini-course are investing a lot of their time on your offering, it should not be a marketing gimmick.
Create an offering that holds shared value, the customers will stick.
A mini-course lets you build trust over time, you are offering a solution to the users’ problem, and when they see the value in working with you they will choose you over your competitors.
How does all this apply to COVID-19?
People are spending a lot more time on the internet as a connection to the world outside.
With commute times cut down, no socialising or unfortunately, many who are laid-off, people now have a lot of time on their hands.
Many want to upskill and now finally have time to read, do a course online or watch a webinar. Or simply are looking for ways to occupy themselves.
If you create content that genuinely offers some solution to any problem that people all over the world are facing during the coronavirus pandemic, you will attract leads.
Remember not to sensationalize and take advantage of peoples fear or give out wrong, unverified information. Now is not the time.
With sales hard to come by, this is the time to nurture. Engage with your current customers and nurture the leads you get. Build trust and once this crisis is over, those leads will convert.
Here are a few more articles to help your business through these turbulent times.
Coronavirus: Tips to Retain your Business during this Pandemic
CoVid19: What your B2B Ecommerce Business Needs to Do
The Do’s and Dont’s to Stay Connected with your Customers during the Coronavirus Outbreak
