You’ve done it. You’ve built what you deemed “the perfect marketing strategy.” But you’re not getting the results you want. Instead, there are leads leaking through the unseen holes in your lead generation efforts, and you can’t seem to pinpoint the issue.
What is keeping your campaigns from being successful? It may help to be aware of the common lead generation mistakes. You’d be surprised which of these you’re making.
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Here are 10 common lead generation mistakes:
1. Not prioritizing your ultimate outcome
What is the last interaction a potential customer has with your marketing before going to sales? This is your ultimate outcome. Working from the outcome helps to keep you on track.
For example, let’s say your desired outcome is phone calls. If you have in mind that producing phone calls is the end of your campaign’s journey, then you’ll ask yourself, what vehicle will get your campaign there? In this case, you would need a channel proven to be efficient at producing calls. So perhaps search engine marketing. This will lead to other elements tailored to produce calls e.g. adding a call button on ads for mobile users, adding a trackable number to the landing page, etc. Ensure success by aligning each detail of your campaign to your outcome.
2. Focusing on the wrong metrics
The first step here is realizing that metrics only define how to get to the ultimate outcome. They are not the end result. The outcome is. The strength of metrics is that they reveal the roadblocks in your campaign.
Are your impressions low? Are people not clicking? Knowing metrics like these can help you determine what changes to make to reach your outcome.
3. Too much friction in the conversion process
In this day and age where we grow impatient if we have to wait too many seconds for a to load, experience can make or break a conversion. Failing to make the conversion process as smooth and straightforward as possible could be the one thing standing in the way of your sales.
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Here are a few examples of complications to the conversion process you would want to avoid:
- Form below the fold
- Too many conversion points
- Overly busy landing page
- Non-user friendly landing page
- Too many redirects
- Unnoticeable CTAs
- Inconsistent messaging between ads and landing page
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4. Asking for too much too soon
Realize that not all your prospects are ready to convert and no one wants to be rushed into anything. Instead of creating a conversion process that’s too short or far too forceful, take the time to nurture and slowly get prospects ready for conversion. A good resource for this is automation.
In the end, you produce good quality leads who have a genuine interest in becoming your customer.
5. Only 1 conversion point
Not all prospects want to relate in the same way. Some want to convert immediately while others might prefer to learn more before taking action. Take the different reactions a prospect might have to your campaign into consideration when building your campaign and give prospects different methods of showing interest or reaching out to you.
6. Not giving your audience a reason to click
Mistaking awareness for interest is a huge mistake! Just because a prospect knows who you are and what you offer, doesn’t mean they recognize your relevance. Always ask yourself, why should my prospects care? Is your content valuable and relevant to their industry? How do you differ from your competitors and how are you showing that? Do you have promotional offers that will better prospects in some way?
Whatever you have to offer, make sure it provides value to your customers and this will give them a reason to click.
7. Not being consistent
As you usher prospects through campaigns, it is important to have a consistent look from ads to landing pages, thank you pages, and downloads. This ensures you don’t lose a prospect along the way. Confusion about whether or not they were directed to the right page could make a prospect give up on seeking you out altogether.
Also, inconsistency can cause a prospect to believe you offer something you don’t. An image of tires can make a prospect think they’re clicking on a tire store when the company is actually a trucking company looking to hire truck drivers. Make prospects confident they are being steered to the right place by being consistent.
8. Not testing different channels
With all the new channels that continue to arise, it’s never safe to assume you know what works because of history. Testing platforms is the best way to find what works for a particular campaign. This may also lead to conversions you otherwise wouldn’t have.
9. Making it all about you
Messaging and creative are the true drivers of success. If your messaging always revolves around how great you are, your messaging won’t be relevant to your prospects and won’t inspire them to take action. Focusing your messaging on a prospect’s problems, needs, or interests is a strong way to get a prospect to act.
10. Not aligning to pain points
Pain is the number one reason people take action. If you don’t highlight the pain, you won’t move your audience to act. Listing features or benefits can generate interest, but offering a solution to a prospect’s problem, or a way to eliminate a roadblock, makes what you provide much more valuable to a prospect. So focus on the problem your prospects are facing to show you can provide real value.
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No matter where you are in the marketing process, it’s worth taking a closer look at each of the elements of your campaigns. Being aware of the common mistakes may be the answer to improving your marketing.
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