In marketing, the goal is to generate leads. Keeping that graph moving up and to the right is marketing’s second most important objective... right after sales. Leads are what keep a business thriving, the pipeline growing and increases profitability. Surprisingly only 1 in 10 marketers feels that their lead generation efforts are effective.

A lead generation campaign is a complex creature. It’s difficult to gauge the metrics of what is effective and what isn’t.  First, let’s take a look at some of the mechanics of a successful campaign.

Built Environment Lead Generation Mechanics

An effective lead generation campaign has four critical components that make inbound leads happen. They are:

1.      Unique and Valuable Offer
Create a single piece of content that has a high-perceived value to your visitors. Offers can include instructional e-books, coupons, free products, and product demonstrations even free consultations. 

2.      Call-To-Action
A call to action (or CTA) can be text an image or a button that links directly to your landing page. Clicking brings visitors directly to your offer. Once there, your visitor can download your offer in exchange for some information.

3.      Well Designed Landing Page
A landing page is not your standard web page. A well-designed landing page is a specialized page designed to deliver information on a single offer. It will have a CTA and be used to gather information from your visitor in exchange for your unique offer, downloadable from that page. 

4.       An Information Capture Form
You can’t capture and generate leads without a form on your landing page. Your CTA should direct your visitors to a form that they fill out with contact information in exchange for your offer.

These four components work together for a lead generation. Once you’ve collected visitor’s information you can then contact and qualify those leads for conversion.

Tips For Online Lead Generation Implementation

Here are a few tips for creating a first-class lead generation engine! By fully optimizing each component you can create a lead generating machine for your business.

Creating Valuable Offers- The more valuable your offer, the more desirable it becomes. By creating a truly unique free offer you can overcome a visitor’s reluctance to share information.

Create the element of scarcity - Make your offer available for a limited time, limit the quantity of your offer or combine the two and create a limited time, limited quantity offer. This scarcity will move your visitor to action. 

Use Call-to-Actions that Catch Their Attention - CTA’s are deal closers. If your CTA isn’t converting to clicks, then it makes your offer useless. Placement is crucial. If your visitor doesn’t see your CTA quickly, you’ve lost the lead. Place your CTA “above the fold” at the top of your page. Whether your visitor is on a mobile device or their laptop, the first element they see should be your CTA. 

Design a Landing Page That Converts -Your landing page is a critical factor for lead generation. It should direct your visitors to targeted pages and capture leads at a high rate. Make sure your consistent on your landing page. Focus each page on one offer. Visitors should be on your landing page for one reason, to complete your lead capture form! We have been using Lead Pages and landing pages we custom create on Squarespace websites with great success. 

Build Optimized Forms - Keep your forms succinct. The fewer fields you have, the higher the conversions. Remember, each field you add creates more work for your visitor. Keep it simple!