When you’re trying to grow your business online, you’re faced with a lot of competition. Whether your business has been around for many years or you’re just starting out, the battle to get noticed online can be challenging.
Your main challenge involves getting traffic to your website. This can be done through social media marketing, search engine optimization, article marketing and other proven marketing techniques. The trouble is, once b2b email list download you’ve developed a good amount of traffic, how do you know who’s visited you? How can you capture their information so you can continue to communicate with them even if they never come to your site again?
The answer is through lead generation. When someone visits your site, not only do you want to know who they are but you’ll want to communicate with them on an ongoing basis.
The first step in online lead generation is to collect visitor information on your website. This is done through an opt-in box placed on the right hand side of your site. Its purpose is to collect a site visitor’s name and email address.
The opt-in box can easily be added by putting specific code on your website. There are some website services that automatically have this feature built-in so you can manage it easily on your own. You can also find out how to do this through your web developer or by doing a Google search of email marketing companies who can provide the website code for you.
The second step to lead generation is providing an incentive for people to actually utilize your opt-in box and enter their information. Most people online have grown wise to how companies collect their contact information. What it boils down to is no one wants more email.
So how do you assure them that the communication from you is worthy of their time? You assure them by providing quality information that will benefit their business.
This can come in many formats. You can offer a free report based on the industry or service you cater to. For instance, if your company sells accounting software, you could provide a free report explaining the benefits of having an automated accounting system. You can also offer a free download of a white paper or case study explaining how your product will benefit other companies. You might even ask site visitors to participate in a survey based on your industry or business. This will not only give you contact information but when done right it may provide you with valuable information. The key is to deliver useful information that prospective clients won’t be able to resist.
The third step in lead generation is using the information you’ve collected to keep in touch with prospective clients. This means b2b email list download emailing those prospects on a regular basis to remind them of your company, your services, and how beneficial you are to their success.
What types of information should you email your prospects? You can email them a monthly newsletter that includes how-to articles based on your industry. You can also email them about events you are sponsoring, sales, new product lines, new locations or expansions, or special offers such as free shipping or 25% off their next order.
You’ll want to email them on a regular basis but not so often that they decide they’re tired of hearing from you and opt-out of your b2b email list download email list. The frequency of your communication will depend on what your message is but usually no more than once a week is sufficient.
By applying these three steps of lead generation, you should have a list of prospects that you can market to and cultivate business from. From time to time, encourage your list to invite their business associates to also join the list and you will have many opportunities to increase your sales.
