4 Ways To Generate More Leads For Less Money

Did you know that digital marketing strategies generate three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but cost 62% less?

That’s not all either.

“45% of UK companies don’t have a clearly defined marketing strategy.”*

 

Just think of all the time, effort and money that goes into unrefined approaches like those. 

With a little bit of time and planning, a holistic digital strategy can be an incredibly cost effective and efficient means for reaching your target market. As long as you keep your brand genuine and relevant in your messaging, the rewards are there for the taking.

To be a relevant brand in 2016, your marketing must tick the four following boxes for your audience; is it – –

  • Educational?
  • Relatable?
  • Motivational?
  • Valuable?

But you don’t need to self-assess just yet. Instead, let’s talk about the brass tacks of realizing those four characteristics. The following are four necessary steps towards making your marketing all of the above:

 

1. Build Relationships And Build Trust

If you want to build relationships, engaging with people on social media is an absolute necessity. So many businesses fail to do this, and yet have no idea how much credibility and traction an active and engaging social profile can generate.

The experts agree: you must go where the people are.

In the process of developing your social approach, aim to build mutually-beneficial relationships with your audience. Do this by generously nurturing and engaging with them, and they’ll soon become brand advocates on your behalf, within their respective social circles. The best part is: their advocacy comes pretty much free of charge – if you put in the correct effort early on.

With a following under your wing, aim to maintain your brand’s positive social presence: promote helpful insight and knowledge, while sparingly sharing statistics and self-promotion. Above all, remember that approaching social with a set-in-stone agenda will ultimately only work against your brand and aims. You’ll gain far, far more simply by learning to listen.

 

2. Target Your Audience

Think precision. Digital offers you countless possibilities for accurate targeting – the kind that offline channels could never and will never be able to match. Let’s say you’re targeting millennials in their early twenties. Amongst adults, this group statistically has the lowest readership of printed media by far, so it’s safe to say you shouldn’t attempt reaching them via more traditional mediums.

With digital, you can:

  • Target individuals within five miles of your office or shop;
  • Put your message in front of the exact age group, gender and even wealth bracket;
  • Attract an audience based entirely on interests and content interacted with online, such as early adopters.

In doing so, your creative collateral, ads and assets can exclusively speak to the people you intend to reach. So you see, the sky really is the limit when it comes to how granular and focused you want your targeting to be.

 

Remember: 27 million pieces of content are shared online each day.

Your thought leadership needs to stand out.**

 

3. Become A Thought Leader

Get this right and people associate your brand with the smart solutions they need every time their organisation hits a road block. Everyone has an opinion, but if you also provide answers to urgent questions – time and time again – people will grow to rely upon your opinion.

Conventional wisdom states that 10,000 hours are required to become an expert in an activity. So just think for a second: how many hours, days, weeks, months and years have you devoted to your trade? It’s time to leverage the expertise, tips and tricks you have to share. By enlightening your audience with your know-how, imagine the benefits and value you create for others. Then, in turn, imagine the huge, positive impact this generosity will have on public perception of your brand.

The best part? All this can start via a simple, weekly blog post, coupled with promotion on social media.

Almost 30% of ‘UK residents regard local companies without websites as “outdated and unable to keep up with the times.”‘ ***

4. Keep up with the Times

Never mind brand loyalty: in today’s online world, consumer tastes, opinions and trends change in the blink of an eye. And since Digital Strategy is a continuous process, it allows you to adapt and respond to this constant change we have all come to expect. Think of this agility, partly, as lifecycle marketing. Amazingly enough, “only 20% of businesses market at all stages of the customer lifecycle”, specifically: Attraction, Consideration, Purchase, Retention and Advocacy.

Another part of true agility is being geared towards the needs of customers. And the numbers prove this:

’58% of UK business leaders are certain that being “customer-centric” was the most important characteristic for establishing a truly “digital native” culture.’

 

To conclude, we hope this post is helpful in your digital marketing journey. With the above tips under your belt, there’s no reason why you can’t increase your leads, and subsequently your sales, with far less money than you would spend on traditional and printed marketing.

Digital is definitely the way to go if you want to grow your business.

 

If you’re interested in further developing your digital strategy, or to increase your online presence, give us a call at 020 3371 0372, or email us at [email protected].

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