As marketers, we spend an absurd amount of time creating content and planning campaigns. We endure sweat, tears and even a bit of blood. We push ourselves (and our teams) to innovate. Our hearts beat faster, and sometimes we lose ourselves in the challenge. And why do we do this? We do it to fill the sales funnel, to turn those leads into paying customers, and, let’s face it – we do it because we have a Spartan determination to keep us at the top of our game.
But, attracting and converting qualified leads is not easy. Lead generation can be, well, hard. It can also be expensive and painful. And if done wrong (which is easy to do), it can be doubly expensive and doubly painful.
So, how about a little inspiration to help take the lead?
Make Space for Quizzes
Quizzes are surging in popularity and often pop up on websites and social sites. But for quizzes to be effective in generating leads, they have to be done right.
SkilledUp, an online courses website (which houses the most powerful Microsoft Excel guide on the planet), receives thousands of visits each week. But it didn’t always. When they added a quiz to their homepage to test people on their Excel skills, the results were phenomenal. The quiz sent leads to MailChimp, and a record 1,438 leads were generated in the first two and a half months.
Pop-ups for the Win
The infamous pop-up, by nature, is shamed for being interruptive and annoying. But in some cases, pop-ups have increased opt-in rates, in turn, increasing lead generation.
A niche website, AWeber, tested a sidebar alongside an emerging sign-up form and over the course of seven months, the pop-up collected 1,375% more subscribers. It is worth mentioning, though, that if you’re going to pop up unannounced, make sure to look nice, not flashy, and also make it easy for your visitor to exit out of in case they’re not interested.
The Season of Evergreen
A good tweet can last 18 minutes. An evergreen blog post can last years.
So, what is evergreen content? The usual definition goes like this: “Content that is relevant to readers for an extended period.” But actually, the definition goes way beyond. Evergreen content is incredible introductory content, coupled with timelessness, and continues to gain traffic long after it is originally published. As Moz says, the draw of evergreen content is continued, sustained success – and it’s something all search engine optimizers should aspire to create.
We all know writing super in-depth posts take a long time, so we say why not optimize old blog posts for conversion? Conduct a content audit, determine which posts continue to draw traffic and update those posts with calls to action that send readers to relevant lead generation campaigns. Remember, a steady flow of traffic comes with opportunities for a substantial increase in leads.
Take the Lead
A sales funnel filled with leads means one thing: you are delivering value to your prospects, whether it’s by giving them something they want in exchange for an opt-in or by simply providing a better experience. Either way, resonating with potential customers doesn’t have to be super complicated–and no one on the team needs to shed blood.
If you’re all out of crazy wizardry tactics, and you need to fill your sales funnel, give us a shout and let us help you take the lead!
Updated: Apr 13, 2022