Now, more than ever, it is time to take a good look at your current lead generation strategies to see how they can adapt to the global shifts caused by COVID-19. All over the world, businesses are starting to look at new and improved ways to reach customers, during the lockdown and beyond. Remote marketing has opened up a whole new world for businesses, with many industries being forced to consider new ways of growing sales. The digital space especially has an opportunity for increased growth, with a number of channels and strategies on the rise.
Rather than trying to keep to your current strategies, this is a good time to take a closer look at how you can adapt your strategies and grow your results during the lockdown and after it ends. In this guide, we share some lead generation strategies that will help you grow your reach.
Lead Generation Strategies to Help Your Business Through Lockdown
Lockdown has changed the world in ways we still cannot fully comprehend until it begins to ease. One thing we already know is that it has forever changed the way that people interact with businesses. Online businesses have been able to continue operating, ecommerce marketing has grown thanks to the increased demand in no-contact shopping, and customers are constantly finding new ways to get what they need without leaving home. Remote work is here to stay, with more companies moving to a remote model.
What does this mean for your business, though, and more importantly, how can you fine-tune your lead generation strategies to the current shifts in the global market?
The biggest, and most important, shift in how you reach customers. Customers should be at the centre of any lead generation campaign – now more than ever. That means focusing every single campaign on how you can meet the needs of your customers. It also means being fully aware of what customers expect from brands they interact with, now and after lockdown. Education plays a vital role in your campaigns, as does engaging, interactive content. Reporting is extremely important, too.
Some of the ways that you can improve your current lead generation strategies include the following:
Education over promotion
Right now, customers are looking for information. They want to know how your business is operating during the lockdown. They want to know what you are doing to protect them during the lockdown. They want to know if they can still make purchases or book services. They also want to know if you have any longer-term strategies in place. Education plays an integral role in all campaigns during this uncertain, stressful time. That does not mean you have to forgo promotions completely, however. It simply means that you need to first focus on educating your customers and providing information. When you are committed to educating your customers, being proactive with email campaigns that answer questions before customers need to ask, addressing common concerns in a way that ensures peace of mind, and keeping lines of communication open, you build trust. With trust, comes loyalty and reputation.
Customers are far more likely to support businesses that they trust. This is important for customer retention as well as customer acquisition. For new customers, seeing that you are taking a hands-on approach will put their minds at ease right from the start. Targeted paid ads and social media campaigns that are designed to provide real answers than simply promote your products and services have a far better chance of conversion.
Targeted content marketing
On that note, content marketing is another beneficial tool for lead generation strategies. You can use content to educate and inform your target audience. Downloadable guides that share industry-related information, COVID-19 guides that share helpful (and accurate) tips and resources, whitepapers, blog campaigns, and various other types of content campaigns will all help to establish your brand as an industry expert.
Many customers are in the information gathering stage during the lockdown. Content works extremely well to reach customers in this stage, providing genuine solutions to common problems, outlining your product features in a way that is not overly promotional, sharing tips and advice that offers real value, and helping to build a connection to customers. Make sure that you have a comprehensive social media strategy to ensure that your content reaches your target audience. This will also drive engagement, further improving your results.
Increased focus on video
Video is here to stay. This channel is certainly not new when it comes to lead generation strategies. While video has been around for a while, it is having a major moment at present. Gone are the days of cheesy, pushy, sales videos. Today, video campaigns have evolved to offer something far more powerful. Gated videos act as a very effective lead magnet, helping to draw potential leads in with the help of lead forms. Video can be used at all stages of the lead nurturing process – information gathering, decision-making, and purchase. The trick to using video for lockdown and beyond lies in the types of video you create and share.
As we mentioned above, many customers are looking for information during the lockdown, with many avoiding spending during this time. These customers are looking for information now to take action after lockdown. Informational videos can be educational, covering relevant topics that relate to your industry and offering value-added resources to your audience. Others can promote by selling solutions rather than products or services. Using interactive platforms such as Facebook Live is a highly effective way to boost engagement in real-time.
Customer-centric approach
Customers should always lead every single one of your digital marketing strategies. During times of uncertainty, it is even more important to put your customers at the forefront of everything you do. Trust is something that you cannot afford to lose during the lockdown or after the lockdown. It takes time to build trust and an instant to lose trust. Once you lose a customer’s trust, it will be very difficult to get it back again.
There are many ways that you can keep your campaigns customer-focused. Updating them frequently on all matters that apply to your business operations during lockdown is vital. It is also important to make communication channels as open as possible, with an increased focus on customer service and support. Chatbots offer a good way for customers to get help in real-time. Direct messages are also useful. The more easily it is for potential and existing customers to reach you, the better chance you have of conversion.
Fine-Tuning Your Lead Generation Strategies
We hope that these ideas help you get back to the drawing board to improve your current strategies. Making use of digital marketing dashboards to keep your reporting on track will help you see how your campaigns are doing. This allows you to continually fine-tune your efforts, focusing on the right channels, and growing your results.
Once you start to put more thought into what your customers need during the lockdown and after it ends, you will find it easier to plan highly focused campaigns that drive more sales, while being authentic and genuinely helpful. This, in turn, powers up your lead generation strategies now and further down the line.