Before moving to the the tips, let's take a look at the mechanics of an inbound marketing lead generation conversion path. Let's say somebody does a Google search for social media for small business. They find a blog article you wrote and click through to your site. What are the steps they need to take to become a lead for you?
Here's a graphical depiction of the the lead generation conversion path courtesy of HubSpot.
Let's get to the tips!
Buyers are conducting increasingly more pre-purchase research, according to Google's Zero Moment of Truth Study. Most potential buyers end up on your website as a consequence of their research. They conduct search engine queries to get answers to the questions they have and to learn more about the problems they're facing. Most growth-oriented companies know who their best customers are and have developed profiles of their ideal customers.
By producing content that gives your ideal customer the information that they're seeking, you'll improve both the quantity and quality of your lead generation efforts. A good way to learn what your prospects are looking for is to look to your current customers. Talk to your customers and account managers to find out common questions and problems they're facing. This will guide your content creation efforts to produce what people are looking for.
One of the fundamental principles of conversion path optimization is consistency. If you write a blog article about the problems your process management software solves, include a call-to-action about a premium content offer that goes deeper into those problems. Don't offer prospects an unrelated content offer!
Make sure your your call-to-action is consistent with your landing page. A good rule to follow is to use the language on your call-to-action in the headline of your landing page. Images and other elements should also be consistent from the call-to-action to the landing page. If your call-to-action talks about process management issues, don't talk about predictive analytics on your landing page! When there are inconsistencies in your conversion path, the end result will be prospects bouncing off of your site. Bye-bye, lead.
Inbound marketing agency Impact Branding & Design has produced some interesting research on calls-to-action that convert. Here are some of their findings:
Experiment with your calls-to-action to find out what works best for you.
If you're doing inbound marketing, the first measure of success is quality lead generation. Use the tips above as a starting point to find out what works best for your business. Your marketing analytics will tell you what's working and what isn't. Use a continual optimization process to maximize both the quality and quantity of your leads.