Introduction: Leads and Online Marketing

Though this likely won’t be news to you, everyone and everything is online these days. Clients, customers, businesses, and more are all bumping shoulders in online spaces. Whether you’re trying to market your online subscription service or your waste water collection system technology, it pays to know how to generate leads through your online marketing. But what does that all mean? What does it mean to generate a lead? And how do you do that using online marketing? In this blog, we’ll explore all of those questions and more. 

What does “lead generation” even mean? 

Of course, before we get into things, we need to understand what a lead is. A lead can be a lot of things, in fact – a potential customer, a potential client, really anyone who has some sort of interest in your company. They’re a potential sale, and that’s the ideal outcome, but a lead is not a guarantee. That’s why it’s important to generate as many leads as possible for your business. So, lead generation refers to the strategies to come up with these potential customers and/or clients. 

Has the internet really changed everything?

Simply put, the internet has drastically changed the business world. These days, you don’t market your goods or services through newspaper ads and billboards anymore. Now, you have to engage with where people actually are: on social media, on YouTube, listening to influencers, and more. This all means that there exists a fairly simple pathway to generate leads in our new digital world. A note, though – simple does not mean easy. However, it’s important to understand how this all works. The strategy involves generating traffic to your business’s website, converting those visits into leads, and converting those leads into customers. 

How do you create leads? 

With all of that in mind, it’s important to know how exactly to create leads using the internet. We’ll go over some of those strategies right here. 

SEO Optimization

SEO optimization is perhaps the number one method of lead generation. All of the content and customer service means nothing if nobody can even find you in the first place. Google is king, and getting to the top of a google search can make a world of difference. If you look at the way people browse, you’ll see that 75% of people don’t even go past the first page of results. Getting to the top can really be make or break. But, how do you do this with potentially thousands or millions of results all vying for attention? 

To do this, you need to get the right keywords to target – the best are “long tail” keywords, those that are three words or longer and are most relevant to your business. You want that specificity because it’s hard to stand out with more generic keywords, but, more importantly, because they indicate intent. A person searching for “waste water content marketing” is a much better potential client than someone looking for “content marketing,” for example. 

Content Marketing

Speaking of content marketing, good content can both attract new eyes to your website and keep customers and clients around. These days, people love consuming content, whether that be in the form of videos, blogs, eBooks, and more. Moreover, content marketing can help you become a thought leader in the industry, which is exactly what B2B clients want. In fact, 96% of those very clients want content with input from thought leaders. If you create the right kind of informative, thoughtful, and well-made content, you could become a thought leader. That’s the power of good content marketing. 

Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns are a very effective and direct way of lead generation. These sorts of campaigns allow a business to reach out to known contacts and offer them something that they want – a good deal, a good piece of information, and beyond. The reasons these work so well is that they’re personal and direct, allowing you to really grab their attention. 

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is also a very important avenue of lead generation. Today, this is where everyone is, so you have to meet them where they are. For example, LinkedIn is an incredible place to market your business, especially if you’re trying to court B2B clients. In fact, we have an entire blog written about the power of LinkedIn marketing.

Website User Experience

Finally, we must talk about the user experience for your website. While not a specific form of lead generation, your website is generally where you want your leads to end up. Because of that, it’s important to make sure your website is easy to read and attractive. You don’t want to direct clients or customers to your website and have them put off by it. 

Conclusion 

There are a lot of ways to leverage online marketing to get the sort of lead generation that can really help out your business. Using these strategies, you can find the right way for your business to attract the clients and customers that you want.