Why does lead gen matter? (series)


According to the same Hubspot State of Inbound survey, 44% of business owners find that getting a response from prospects has become increasingly difficult over the past two to three years. That’s why lead gen is more important than ever before!

“The form of communication between buyer and seller has changed. A buyer used to walk into a store and be greeted by a sales person. That’s not the case anymore,” explains George Thomas of The Sales Lion. That interaction now takes place online and if you don’t have a way to capture customer information—namely lead gen forms—it’s almost impossible to start a conversation with a potential customer.

But, that’s not to say that everyone is ready for an advanced lead gen program. To really benefit from lead gen, marketers must first have buy-in from senior team leads. Why? “Budget can be a huge hurdle in getting lead gen programs off the ground,” notes Thomas. While automated lead gen tools like Marketo and Hubspot offer robust programs, they can be expensive.

Fortunately, platforms like Wishpond and SharpSpring offer marketers a less expensive—albeit less comprehensive—option. Whether you choose a Hubspot or SharpSpring, taking the time to evaluate what will work best for your organization is an important first step and is critical to long-term success.

Alright, but how do I actually get program buy-in?

As a marketer, you might understand the benefit of lead gen. But for CEOs and CFOs, marketing is just one piece of the business puzzle.

When discussing lead gen programs with non-marketing executives, Thomas advises marketers to reframe the conversation. It shouldn’t just be about the power of blogging (which is immense!) but about the educational content your business uses to engage with potential customers and leads.

Start by mining your existing content for keywords—in other words, the terms you’d like your company to rank highly for on Google and other search browsers, ideally corresponding to your company’s core value proposition. Run a mini test and track how your organization ranks for those key terms versus competitors. The results (which we find often surprise clients) will highlight for business executives how existing content is (or isn’t) drawing potential customers to your site. By comparing against competitors, you can build a compelling case for generating additional content surrounding key terms and clearly demonstrate the power of educational content.

From there, it’s only a small step to understanding why the organization needs a more comprehensive strategy that actively delivers valuable content directly into the hands of potential customers, rather than passively waiting to be discovered. Remember, 75% of users never get past the first page of search results.

Okay. I’ve got buy-in and am ready to get started

Great! Watch for our next post about how to integrate your website with your chosen lead gen platform. In the meantime, click here to contact us for more information about selecting a lead gen platform and achieving program buy-in.

 

Connect with Morgan
Email: morgan@blissintegrated.com
Twitter: @morganfine_PR
LinkedIn: Morgan Fine

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