A recent study by 360Leads concluded that only approximately 17% of companies from six continents meet their lead generation goals, despite many of the companies’ participation in lead generation programs. While it is important for any individual company to analyze why their lead generation efforts aren’t gaining momentum, it is equally important to look at possible solutions or changes that can be made to a lead generation campaign in order to make it more successful.
Make Yourself Credible
Another thing that lead generation campaigns can benefit greatly from is increasing a business’ credibility. Make yourself known in the industry. Don’t be shy, spread the word about your company (in a non-spammy way), and engage with competitors in discussions and roundtables. By gaining credibility or spreading information about awards or interviews published regarding your business, you can help influence prospective customers’ view of you. Credibility will make you seem authentic, and that can greatly impact the success of your lead generation campaigns.
Embrace Mobile
It cannot be reiterated enough: mobile is important for any type of marketing plan. If your marketing or lead generation strategy does not include mobile, then you are doing it wrong. Today’s world is mobile. There is no going around it. To succeed in a mobile world, it will require you to embrace mobile to some degree or another. A majority of individuals use mobile to search for products, and a majority of individuals make purchases over their phones or at least make contact with businesses by going from mobile search to direct calls.
Focus on Relationships
Stop focusing on the numbers aspect of your goals. Yes, they are important. But they are not the only important thing. Relationships have the potential to make or break a business. Focus on fostering relationships within your industry and focus on growing relationships with potential customers (as well as current customers). The success of your lead generation can greatly benefit from cultivating relationships with prospects and showing people that these relationships are cherished.
Engage the Community
This ties in with focusing on relationships, but the target here is to engage with the community in a personal sense. A lead generation campaign can profit from a company’s presence. By engaging with the community at a personal level, you have the potential to garner a customer’s attention. Let them know your interests (outside of your business interests and wanting them as potential prospects). Not only does this make you more credible, but people will see you as genuine, and this can help show how independent your business is from similar companies.
Meeting any goal can be hard, especially in a difficult industry. It is important to constantly evaluate how you operate and how effective these strategies are. Given the right tools, more and more lead generation campaign goals can be met.
