Hello. You can use this article for quick reference and bookmark it for when you’re planning your next lead gen campaign.

We’re doing a lot of content strategy with our clients at the moment to help set the course for the next 12 months and ultimately attract more traffic, leads and sales for their businesses.

There are similar themes coming up so, in today’s blog, I’m going to share 15 tried and tested ways you can use to help you get significantly better results with your lead generation activity.

We’ll begin with the most essential/obvious thing: your Lead Magnet.

You MUST have a strong, useful, and compelling lead magnet. Without it, your campaign will fail. Simple.

So, how do you create a lead magnet that your target audience will find irresistible?

1. Target just ONE topic or problem. When people are looking for solutions to their challenges, they’re usually looking for answers to a specific challenge, not a broad one. Being very specific reassures them that you’re going to solve their problem.

2. Solve a very specific problem that your target audience may have. People are far more motivated to give you their valuable time for something if it solves a problem they’re having. Ask yourself “What’s in it for them?”

3. Titles should be very clear and compelling. The title of your lead magnet needs to sell it. If it doesn’t, it will be ignored.

4. Specify your lead magnet’s value. For example, rather than saying ‘increase your traffic’, why not try ‘triple your traffic in 60 days? Which one would you find more compelling?  When you quantify the value, it makes the outcome seem more valuable.

5. Think SAGE. Lead magnets should be Short, Actionable, Goal-Oriented, and Easy-to-consume. They don’t have to be long. Length is irrelevant. Value is what’s important.

6. Review your best-performing content. If it’s difficult to come up with ideas, go and look at Google Analytics (or whatever platform you’re using). If a particular piece of content/article/page/previous lead gen is performing well, it means that people are finding value in it. So, how you can take that idea and turn it into something new that will generate leads?  Here are a few ideas:

   • Turn it into a template

   • Turn it into an email course

   • Turn it into a checklist

   • Turn it into an infographic

   • Turn it into a video (if it’s currently in text format)

   • Turn it into an article (if it’s a video)

   • Turn it into a webinar

7. Have clear goals and KPI’s. It’s not easy convincing someone to give you their contact details. Generally, it’s a good idea to focus on things that either make them, more money, save them more money, or save them time.

8. Drive traffic to your landing pages from your website. Highlight and signpost your lead gens pages and assets from your homepage, and other relevant pages. Make them easy to find!

9. Drive more traffic to your landing pages via paid advertising. Consider investing media budget to drive traffic to your landing pages. Align that budget with your goals and KPI’s to test the effectiveness of the campaign. This can drive results fast.

10. Use social proof/testimonials. Humans are highly social and follow the pack. It’s reassuring for us to know that other people have already done something. Try CTAs like: ‘Join thousands of purpose-driven business owners’ (or whatever target market you’re going for).

11. Offer a free consultation to people that engage/download. Offering a consultation may be beneficial for both you and the person. Plus, at the point they’ve just engaged with your content, is probably a good time to ask that question! It gives you the opportunity to find out more about them and build your relationship. It also gives them the chance to get to know you and ask you questions. Win:win.

12. Think of other types of lead magnet formats. Lead magnets don’t always have to be downloadable PDF’s! There are loads of other formats you can try. Here are a few options:

    • Templates

    • Email courses

    • Interactive quizzes

    • Video courses

    • Tools

    • Webinars

    • Events

    • Curated industry reports

13. Make sure your landing pages are geared up for conversions. Landing pages are some of the most essential pages on your website. They’re where you get the conversions! However, a landing page that isn’t optimised for conversions is not going to help you. Here are a few ideas to make sure your landing pages are doing their job correctly:

    • One objective, one message, and one CTA. The landing page should only have one action you want people to take.

    • Focus on the key landing page elements. A landing page shouldn’t really need to be much more than a headline, a subheading, a couple of paragraphs of copy, an image or two, a form, and a button.

    • You could include other components such as client quotes or logos. These are ok as long as they support the CTA and inspire people to take the desired outcome.

    • Be CRYSTAL clear about what actions you want the user to take. Now is not the time for vague, obscure copy. Be obvious.

    • The heading and subheading are the first things that people see. Make them compelling.

    • Try to ensure the form is above the fold on the page. It’s better if people don’t have to go looking for it.

    • Only ask for absolutely necessary information. The more data you request, the fewer conversions you’ll get.

    • Reassure the person about their data privacy. Provide links to your privacy, data, and security policies. This is critical.

    • Make your CTAs and buttons bold. They should be large and colourful to get attention.

    • Optimise for SEO. Optimise your HTML page title and meta description around the problem your lead magnet solves. Do keyword research to help with this.

    • A/B test different elements. Once your lead gen is live, you should A/B test key assets such as images, headlines, colours, the form placement, and copy.

    • Address the person directly. Use the word ‘you’ in the copy.

    • Make your landing page very easy to share.

14. Map out your sales funnel: A lead generation piece often needs supporting content and assets that work around it (such as blogs, emails, articles, and video). These can be good for SEO too. You need to map out the conversion paths a person may follow and build your funnel with all the assets you need to take them on the journey with you.

15. Analyse your results, and make adjustments. What gets measured gets managed. Look at your data metrics to assess what’s working and what needs tweaking. Important KPI’s are traffic, clicks, downloads (obviously), time on page, bounce rate, and conversion rates.

Hopefully, these 15 tips will give you a solid grounding for when you’re planning your next campaign. Thanks for reading. I hope you find it useful!

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