Lead generation has formed part of the lingo of many marketers these days. Some have considered it as the lifeline of any company as it tries to remain relevant in the ever competitive world. Typically, new leads bring new prospects and new prospects lead to new clients. No wonder the craze about lead generation!
If you take a look at most lead generation strategies, one thing seems to be common; that is, content.
Companies have shifted gears to producing quality content as a means of lead generation. This wave is attributed to the ease and cost-effective manner that content can capture an audience and ultimately convert them into actual clients.
Well, in light of the above, let’s consider some ways in which you can write an audience specific lead generation strategy for your company.
#1 Knowing Your Customer
Make an effort to know your customers in an in-depth manner
Well, this may sound obvious because who in the world doesn’t know their customers? But this goes beyond the mere ‘knowing’ of your customer. You might know the name of your customer and probably their address too. But this is not enough! Knowing your customer goes beyond names and addresses!
Customers are people, and thus, they have inherent needs. They have tastes, preferences and inclinations. They have desires, goals and objectives. They also have likes and dislikes, and each is unique. In essence, knowing your customer entails knowing all those details. You will honestly know your customer if you understand that they want your product for a specific purpose.
In another sense, you can authoritatively say that you know your customer if you are well versed in their personal preferences. This will make you determine which buttons to push when prospecting and also when recommending products.
To efficiently know your customer, you will have to get down to work. You will have to research, learn and gather as much insight as you can on them. One way in which you can achieve this is by creating buyer personas. They will help you superficially create the ideal customer, and you will attach all the attributions of the perfect customer to that creation.
When you know your customer and create a buyer persona, your content will embody all that they want and stand for. Your content will, in essence, provide all the answers, information, and insights that they were looking for. You will thus be able to write an audience specific lead generation strategy. What’s more, the strategy will be useful as it resonates with the prospects.
#2 Embracing Diversity
Let your writing embrace diversity and variation
For as long as you are dealing with prospects that are human, diversity will always play a central role.
Variation and diversity characterize humanity. Each person is unique in their right and by their ontological goodness. Your customers have unique propositions, and different consumptions needs.
The implication here regarding content is to embrace all this diversity in your content. One way that you can realize this is by writing content in multiple formats. Identify the various buyer personas and establish where they fall regarding consumption.
They could be first time buyers, habitual buyers and also one time buyers. There are also those who are just trying out your product to satisfy their curiosity or just to try something new. There are those who are quite hesitant to buy and would need some persuasion to buy.
It’s all for you to identify the various stages that your customers fall into concerning the buyer journey. Ensure that you tailor your content to resonate with each customer at each stage of the buyer journey. You won’t even realise it, but you will be writing content that is audience specific by taking into consideration the diversity of your buyers.
#3 Search Engine Optimization
Work smart with your content by applying SEO
We know that hard work pays, but sometimes, all that it takes to get ahead of others is working smart. You can create volumes of content that cover virtually every topic. But what use is it if the content doesn’t reach the specific audience?
Applying the ideals of Search Engine Optimization is the mark of a smart content writer. It entails following a set of methods that can make your content rank highly on search engines. It radically increases the visibility of your content on search engine result pages.
The benefits of SEO are immense as they improve the overall ranking your website and its contents. Also, your content gets to be viewed as many times as possible; which is the goal of any lead generation strategy. What’s more, your content gets marked as user-friendly which gives a boost to your lead generation strategy.
How then can you apply SEO to audience-specific content?
- Identify and develop some keywords for your content. Create some keywords that relate to your target audience and your subject matter. Categorize them into singulars, plurals, phrases and also misspellings. Some people often misspell words when searching, thus ensure that you identify these misspellings and use them. Prioritize each competing keyword and spread them out in your content.
- Use titles that contain keywords. This will enhance the theme of the page.
- Enlist your website to directories. This is a fast way to create linkage to your site.
- Utilize backlinks to other similar content. Ensure that you link to other websites that have the same content.
- Use Meta tags, Meta descriptions and Meta titles in your content. This is an effective way of increasing the click-through rate of your content.
#4 Marketing Automation in Email Marketing
Emails are still relevant and effective
Email marketing is still as important today as much as it was 23 years ago at its inception. 78 % of B2b lead generation strategies revolve around email marketing. Even with the advent of new methods of lead generation, it still stands as an effective tool in any lead generation strategy.
Email marketing presents a great opportunity to personalise messages to your target audience. It also gives you the utility of creating a subscriber list which can aid you in crafting targeted messages. It even provides the platform for immediate feedback for recipients of messages thereby giving a chance to send even more audience-specific content while building a relationship.
Currently, the trend in email marketing is marketing automation. Most B2B businesses have integrated it to enable them to send audience specific emails to their leads. This is a tool that you can utilise too. Marketing automation exposes one to the important tools that enable them to connect with their customer relationship management system. This helps them to create highly targeted emails which would be sent to specific customers or prospects.
Our verdict is that don’t let go of emails just yet. There is more to explore!
#5 Targeted Headlines
Write catchy and directed headlines for more success
Headlines set the tone of your entire content. They are what your prospects read first before deciding whether to take the plunge to read your whole content. You cannot afford to mess with the headline if your goal is to create leads.
To come up with compelling headlines, take note of the following:
- Having a short and concise headline.
- Capturing the whole point of your content in your headline.
- Bringing in the element of curiosity.
- Instilling a sense of urgency.
The window of opportunity that arises to hook your readers with your headline is quite small. Utilize it well. Take a look at what other content writers are doing about their headlines. More specifically, look at the cover pages of magazines or cause and effect essay topics and get a feel for what your headlines should look and sound like.
Look at what’s trending online and try to emulate what you see. Make the headline seem as if it was just meant for the targeted reader. This way you can create content that is audience specific and which generates leads.
We recommend that you use long-tail keywords in your headline to improve your conversion rate. This entails choosing descriptive phrases and words, making the part of your headline. This is part of search engine optimisation, and it will boost your headline’s rankings on search engine results.
#6 Use Case Studies
Case studies give real proof
What better way to write audience-specific content than to write case studies! You may have a lot of reasons that you can present to your customers to generate some leads. But none can sway them to your side better than a case study. They provide evidence that your product or proposition works and that there is evidence to back it up.
If a prospect wants to be your client, they may seek the experiences of other customers who have previously dealt with you. A case study presents these experiences and other information that endorses your product or service. In this regard, a case study is an audience specific form of content. It increases your credibility and trustworthiness.
To write an objective case study, cover everything that there is to know about a product or proposition. List all the positive aspects as well as the negative aspects. Also, write the challenges that may have been experienced and the solutions that sufficed. It is more of a story, thus, employ the art of storytelling. You may even employ the use of imagery and visual information.
After you’ve written your case study, share it with your specific audience and watch your leads increase.
#7 EBooks
E-books are redefining content marketing
E-books have come a long way. Initially, it was just a market that was waiting to be tapped. However, with time, as people started spending most of their time on electronic gadgets and the internet, e-books gained much relevance and became widespread. Marketers haven’t been left behind in this wave.
Creating and offering e-books has become a strategy that is used to generate effective leads that ultimately convert into loyal clients.
Most e-books are offered as a free resource on various websites. You can write one and deliver it in the same manner on your site. You can also forward e-books to your mailing list.
The value that e-books bring is immense. First, they educate. Your clients and prospects stand to gain new information that can be of relevance to them. Second, they provide you with an opportunity to show your prowess over the subject at hand. This improves your credibility. Lastly, they capture leads; which is your main goal.
#8 Newsletters
Newsletters nurture your leads
A great way of cultivating and nurturing prospects is by writing newsletters. It is proven that nurtured leads tend to increase the size of their purchases by a whopping 47%. It is a far impacting technique of asserting your authority in the marketplace when it comes to products that have a specific audience.
The purpose of newsletters is to update and educate your target audience on on-going matters. It can also provide them information on how to make informed purchasing decisions by giving the finer details about your products and services.
It is purely in your prerogative to charge or provide the newsletter free of charge.
#9 Call to Actions (CTAs)
Write a compelling call to action to stimulate responses
The best way to generate leads in your content is by writing compelling calls to action that appeal to your target audience. The call to action is meant to elicit a response from your audience. It stimulates them to action and guides them on the necessary steps to take in relation to what you have proposed. Most calls to actions are placed at the end of articles, but they can be literally placed anywhere.
In some circles, it is argued that calls to action are unnecessary as readers already know what is expected of them after reading your content. Although there is some element of truth in this, it is wrong to presume. At times, it is not automatic. Besides, you are bound to get more results when you give clear direction on the action that your prospect is to take.
To effectively utilize calls to action, ensure that they are conspicuous. Make them visible in every web page, every printed material and every conversation that involves your prospect. You can get a feel of how these calls to action are made by looking at established websites.
While you are at it, remember that calls to action are not meant to be complicated. Write a simple and direct one that has limited options. The last thing you would want your target audience to do is to wander as they try to make sense of your call to action.
Here’s an example of a compelling call to action that you may emulate, “get a free e-book by subscribing to our newsletter.”
#10 Guest Blogging
Think out of the box, be a guest blogger!
Writing content to your audience on your personal website is noble. However, if you want to generate more leads in the long run, you’d better think outside your website.
There are more avenues for you to write a personal blog. Guest blogging is one of them, and it is a proven way to generate more leads from your target audience. Reach out to other bloggers and leverage on the massive following that they have.
This is a concept known as traffic hijacking. It can work wonders on your lead generation strategy.
Conclusion
Writing an audience specific lead generation strategy takes much zeal and effort. It requires one to apply different techniques and courses of action that are variant on the context. The techniques discussed in this article are sure to assist you in this regard. They should be approached in a pragmatic manner for them to bring about effective lead generation especially for a specific audience.
How are you approaching the development of lead-generation strategy in your company?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
This is a guest post by Kevin Nelson, Kevin is a professional educator and a private tutor with over eight years of experience. He is also a content writer for various blogs about higher education, entertainment, social media & blogging. During his off time, Kevin enjoys travelling and cooking. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter, Linkedin & Google+.
