Done right, multi-channel lead generation can be a powerful addition to your digital marketing strategy, helping you reach more customers and increase conversion. Simply adding as many channels as possible to your strategy can often end up causing far more harm than good, however. In fact, this can often hurt your lead nurturing efforts, costing you conversions in the process.
In its essence, multi-channel lead generation is not about utilising every available channel but rather using the channels that are best suited to deliver results. When you streamline your process, select channels carefully, and use channels in a way that is geared towards growth, you will soon start to see how a multi-channel approach helps you grow your business.
In this guide, we share some of the mistakes that could ruin your lead generation conversion, giving you tips on what to do instead to get the full benefit of a multi-channel strategy.
Avoid These Multi-Channel Lead Generation Mistakes
Although it sounds simple, multi-channel lead generation is not just a case of mixing your social media, SEM, email marketing, lead nurturing, content marketing, and SEO strategies and waiting for leads to arrive. When it is treated as a quick fix or simplified too much, you can end up causing far more damage than you realise. Ideally, you want to end up with a holistic nurturing strategy that flows easily between the channels you have incorporated, so that leads can be taken through the sales funnel smoothly at every stage.
To give you a better idea of what not to do, here are some of the biggest mistakes that may be getting in the way of your multi-channel success.
Focusing on the channel instead of the customer
This is, without a doubt, one of the biggest – and most common – mistakes. Focusing on the channel to the point that you forget about the customer can be a deadly mistake that costs you a great deal more than you realise. The customer should always remain at the forefront of every single strategy. If you are not aligning your strategy to the very person you are targeting, how can you expect to attract that person to enter your sales funnel?
Make sure that you start by doing comprehensive lead profiles that include personas, back that up with extensive research into your target customer’s pain points, needs, and behaviours, and put in the work to ensure that you are targeting leads in the most effective way possible.
Trying too hard to play it safe
This does not mean that you should be making stupid mistakes or taking risks that could hurt your brand and your future marketing efforts. What it does mean is stepping out of your comfort zone. Many businesses are so worried about stepping out of this zone that they play it safe, relying on the same marketing strategies that they have always used, year after year.
There is nothing wrong with using strategies again if they work. If your efforts have stagnated or you have not been able to scale, these old strategies will not work, no matter how many times you try to use them. Rather than trying to stay safe, think out of the box. Try new strategies, embrace new trends, look at new ways of nurturing leads, consider new ideas, and experiment carefully using split testing to see what is genuinely working.
Failing to integrate your strategies
As we mentioned earlier, multi-channel lead generation is not about adding as many channels as possible and then waiting for results. To see results, you need to integrate your channels and strategies, as smoothly and cohesively as possible. That means creating a flow between channels. For example, you could target a potential lead through a simple Google ad, then show that lead a sponsored post on Facebook that follows your narrative a bit further. Or, you could plan a campaign that uses social media, email and SEM.
Simply posting the same content and campaigns across every channel you are using will only put leads off, which results in lost leads rather than gained leads. Think carefully about how you can deliver an integrated experience for leads that fluidly takes them through the funnel.
Relying too much on automation
Automation has certainly changed digital marketing on many levels, making it far simpler to plan campaigns at all stages of the lead funnel. With that said, there can be such a thing as too much automation. If you are automating to the point where your campaigns are robotic, bland and impersonal, you are over automating. If you are aggressively sending out email campaign after campaign in a way that is spiking your unsubscribe rate and lowering your clickthrough rates drastically, you are over automating. If you are sending out messages without any point or purpose, you are over automating.
Step back and take a good, hard look at your automation strategy to see how you can make your campaigns more personal. Make use of lead segmentation and personalisation. Plan campaigns that add genuine value, rather than generic bulk campaigns that serve little purpose. Of course, not using marketing automation at all is equally damaging to your results. If you are not using automation at all, now is the time to move over to an automated approach.
Failing to optimise for mobile
Are your campaigns responsive? Have you optimised for mobile or do your nurturing campaigns end up losing their power because they cannot easily be viewed on mobile devices? Responsiveness is not only reserved for websites. It is also essential for almost every type of digital campaign – especially when it comes to a multi-channel nurturing strategy.
Make sure that your landing pages can be easily accessed on all devices – mobile, tablet and computer. Pay special attention to the design of your landing pages, ads and content. Check that it can be viewed easily on all screen sizes, without any formatting or spacing issues. This will help to ensure that your overall strategy is optimised.
Relying too much on any single channel
Finally, another major mistake that is made all too often is putting too much focus on any single channel. You may have a large social media following. You might have a massive email subscriber base. You may have a powerful SEM strategy in place that is already delivering leads. Your landing pages may be bringing in leads daily. Individually, each channel can be doing exceptionally well – that is always good.
But, with that said, the entire goal of multi-channel lead generation is that it combines channels in a way that provides the most cohesive strategy. When you put too much focus on a single channel, it becomes all too easy to let other channels slide. It also becomes harder to step back and focus on your overall strategy rather than the channel that is doing well at present. You may end up losing potential leads in the process, putting your overall results at risk.
Effective Multi-Channel Lead Generation
Truly effective multi-channel lead nurturing can take time. It can take a fair bit of planning and effort, too. The goal of a multi-channel approach is not to provide a quick fix. Instead, it is to provide you with a comprehensive, well-rounded strategy that targets leads in a deeper, more intensive way. With a well-planned multi-channel strategy in place, you will have a far better chance of nurturing leads in a streamlined way. This, in turn, helps you drive more conversion, improving your lead generation efforts drastically.
