We know, we know – you’re keen to get more leads into your sales funnel. And we’re very keen to help you do that! It’s one of the most powerful and results-driven marketing options, but to make the most of it, we have a number of tips and tricks that will set you on the right track.

With lead generation, you can get people to opt-in for more information about your company, giving you access to their contact details and most importantly, permission to follow up with them.

The most important thing to remember is that to make the most of any lead generation campaign, you need to offer your potential leads something of genuine informational value in return for those details, such as a whitepaper, eBook or webinar.

That’s step one – and there’s a few other things you can do to optimise your campaign.

When is the best time to run a Lead Generation campaign?

Lead generation usually works best towards the end of a campaign. A company with a strong brand or profile already can conduct a lead generation campaign on its own, but if you are not well known in the market, then lead generation on its own without supporting branding will not get as many conversions – and those that do convert will tend to be less warm as well.

It’s important to remember that leads have shown some interest in your business, but they may not be ready to buy yet. The most successful lead generation campaigns are then followed by ongoing nurture of those leads to better educate them and lead them along your sales funnel.

Many leading companies use our publications to capture leads through: 

  • Custom EDMs
  • Content hubs on our news websites
  • Custom webinars
  • Content partnerships to create eBooks or whitepapers
  • Hosted landing pages

What sort of content works best for lead generation?

To get people to voluntarily hand over their details, you need to provide them with content of genuine value. This means something more than just a product brochure. Whitepapers or eBooks, webinars and virtual events are the most commonly used and most effective ways to get people to provide their details.

All these options offer the same challenges – you need to create something that is useful and original, it needs to be consistent with your offering, and relevant to people who may be in your target market.

It’s important not to go too narrow – if you just talk about your specific solution, readers may not be aware that it’s something they need. If you take a back a few steps and put yourself in the mind of your prospect, you can talk about their pain points, or topical industry issues, before eventually leading them to your solution.

Creating the right content is effective in multiple ways. As well as providing a reason for people to hand over their details, it also serves to:

  • Filter and qualify people – you know they are interested in your specific topic, and
  • Engage and educate these leads when they read the white paper or tune in to the webinar

To take things to the next level, some B2B companies are offering different content aimed at different levels of decision-makers. For example, white papers focusing on big picture topics, industry trends and thought leadership aimed at the C-Suite, combined with separate white papers covering more technical issues and case studies aimed at engineers and other hands-on decision makers.

What sorts of results can we get?

Lead generation is of course one of the easiest types of campaign to measure as you directly get leads. 

It’s important to remember that while leads who have opted in for a whitepaper or webinar have shown some interest in your business, they may not be ready to buy yet.

When you are working with products and services that are high value and have a long sales cycle, lead generation is the first stage of the funnel. Top of the funnel leads can be very valuable, but take care not to jump all over them too quickly.

The most successful lead generation campaigns are then followed by ongoing nurturing of those leads to better educate them and lead them along your sales funnel.

This is particularly effective when you are working with products and services that are high value and have a naturally longer sales cycle. Lead generation is the first stage of the funnel, and from there you can continue to provide useful and informative content to these leads, as well as qualifying and filtering them, until they are ready to become a customer. See our tips here for Creating a successful lead nurture campaign. 

Instead, to measure if the campaign is working, look at the types of people opting in – do their job roles and companies match the sort of people that could be prospects? If so, you’re on the right track.

In summary, our three top tips to make the most of a lead generation campaign are:

  • Offer genuinely valuable content in return for contact details
  • If you are new to the market, build your profile with a branding campaign to increase results
  • When you get your leads, don’t jump all over them, nurture them first until they’re ready to buy