How To Create A Lead Generation Marketing Plan

July 15th, 2021

Qualified leads are the lifeblood of a business. Many businesses agree that the quality of their leads is the most crucial metric considered when measuring business success. A quality lead generation marketing plan aligns your marketing and sales departments to increase revenue.

But for some reason, not many businesses use this method, keeping the departments separated. In fact, nearly 50% of companies have reported not being well aligned.

The sales funnel vs. the marketing funnel. Why are they treated as two separate things?

In the new era of marketing, your brand needs to build a strong bridge between the two to optimize the process of converting visitors to your social accounts or website into leads. Let’s go over some strategies that will increase your conversion rates.

Marketing plans are all about that base

Bringing in the leads is pointless when you haven’t built the foundation to support them. Therefore, it is essential to develop various extra components to make sure the leads you bring in actually have a chance of being converted.

Lead Generation Database: Make sure you have a database set up to track, rate, and qualify the leads you bring in. It is possible to do this manually, but we highly recommend using one of the many programs out there that offer a dynamic database. Ensure both marketing and sales have access to the database and establish clear rules around what constitutes a qualified lead.

Lead-ready channels and supporting content: Content is the main ingredient in any marketing strategy. Quality content is what draws in your potential customers in the first place. The critical thing to remember, though, is once they are interested in your brand, you must continue to provide high-quality content. Analyze your social media, website, email marketing, and any collateral to make sure you are confident with the quality and consistency of your message.

Analytics Capabilities: I feel like this one is a no-brainer. It is no secret that to consistently generate good content and attract qualified leads, you need to be able to analyze what has worked in the past and what hasn’t. Make sure you are looking at every touchpoint to accurately track the success of your campaigns.

Lead generation marketing strategies

Now that you know what you need for a solid foundation, let’s look at some essential lead-generating tactics you can employ in your next marketing campaign.

Landing page conversions

A huge asset for businesses is well-designed landing pages, purposely structured to encourage conversion. Landing pages exist separately from your companies website and are usually designed for a specific marketing campaign. These pages are created in order to collect data from a user in exchange for something else (a lead magnet, but we will get into that next).

Tips for Landing Pages

Use one call to action on the page. Landing pages should be targeted and have one goal to achieve. Your website can be overwhelming with multiple CTAs and all the information you provide on your main pages. Keep the landing page simple and easy to understand.
Deliver on your promise. Make sure your landing page makes it easy to deliver whatever it is you offered to draw the user there in the first place. For example, if you were offering a discount code in exchange for an email address, make sure they can easily access the code to reassure them this isn’t solely about grabbing their information.
Keep it consistent. Visually, the text, images, and colors that you use on your landing page should reflect the ads you sent out to draw people in. Assure your visitors they are in the right spot to claim their content while also presenting a unified and professional brand experience.

Lead magnets

Using lead magnets in your strategy is an excellent way to build the bridge between sales and marketing. A lead magnet is a free piece of valuable content or service that you give away in exchange for contact information.

Examples of lead magnets:

White papers
Mini E-books
Quizzes or surveys
Bonus packs
Case Studies
Templates
Training videos
Free trials

Using lead magnets is an excellent way to draw in new prospects and gather their information to pass on to your sales team.

Strong website conversion flow

Once you have identified a lead magnet, you are ready to add to your website, pay attention to the lead flow, and make sure you are all set up to capture the lead and follow up. Make sure you understand the user journey. Every touchpoint is important for encouraging and nurturing your potential lead.

Call to Action (CTA): The button placed on your website that readers can access when they desire to download the content you are offering.

Landing Page: This is the page that visitors see once they click the CTA. It should include the form they need to fill out with the requested information. Typically, the form will require at least a name and valid email address. Still, depending on what you are looking for, you can ask for any other relevant information.

Thank you page: The page that the visitor sees after they submit their form to receive your content. This page can either provide the link to the content you have offered. However, standard practice is to just note that the content has been sent to the provided email in order to guarantee that legit emails are used.

Follow-up Email: This is the email that the lead will receive a few days after they download or interact with the content. This can be a one-off or programmed into a series of emails intended to continue nurturing the lead and keep them engaged with your business.

Mastering the above touchpoints is critical to do BEFORE you launch your campaign. You never want to rush the process of following up after. It only increases the likelihood that your team will make mistakes, or the quality of the touchpoint won’t match what you promised in the original ad.

Final Thoughts

Implementing a lead generation marketing plan increases brand awareness, generates qualified leads, builds relationships, and most significantly, closes deals.

It is not enough for your marketing strategies to just bring in a slew of unqualified leads that are difficult to parse through and a waste of time for your sales representatives. Providing quality leads to the sales team helps your company grow while also increasing the value and credibility of the marketing department as a whole.

At Nowadays, this is precisely how we look at designing our viral campaigns. We believe in bringing in genuine, quality leads to your business, not just a bunch of cold prospects. Therefore, our campaigns are bold, dynamic, and all organic. No bullshit in our campaigns means you don’t have to waste time on bullshit leads.

Do you like the sound of that? We thought so.

Sources:

Revenue Marketing Report 2021 | Outfunnel and Copper

Conversion rate: Definition | Google Ads

Conversion Funnel 101: How to Analyze and Optimize Your Funnel | Big Commerce