14 clever lead generation tactics

Generating new contacts is a very important aspect of marketing to ensure healthy growth of your business. But it’s easy to run out of new ideas on how to attract these contacts.
Alain Marceau
14 June 2020
Data Management
8 min 45
tactiques infaillibles de generation de contacts

Generating new contacts is a very important aspect of marketing. It is what allows you to ensure the healthy growth of your business. But it is easy to run out of new ideas on how to attract these contacts. So how about a little inspiration?

1. Subscription form on the website

A website that aims to generate contacts should include a subscription form directly on the home page. On the other hand, if you want to be even more efficient, you should make it visible on all the navigation pages of your website. Choose a place that is easy to access from all pages, for example in the header or footer. Also, visitors are used to finding a subscription form at these locations. So they won’t be surprised to see yours there.

Then, to increase its conversion rate, explain the benefits of subscribing to your communications. Only make promises you can keep, otherwise you risk seeing your churn rate increase over time. Also, have some calls to action strategically placed on your pages. Finally, choose an explicit and incentive text.

2. Discount coupons

To boost your new contacts acquisition offensive, offer a discount on your products and/or services when subscribing to your communications. Since these people may not yet know about your business, offering a discount is a good idea to allow them to try your products or services at a lower price. This incentive should be attractive enough to increase the number of new contacts.

For even better results, allow people to share your coupon. This way, your new contacts will be able to bring you even more new contacts, and you don’t have to do anything more! An effortless and viral lead generation tactic!

3. White papers and eBooks

White papers and eBooks are a good way to exchange relevant information for the email address of your prospects or customers. You probably have these in stock, but if you don’t, prepare a document that will contain the answer to one particular need of your target market.

Once your content piece is created, make it accessible in exchange for an email address and some relevant contact information. On the other hand, do not ask for superfluous information, ask only what you need to contact these people. The conversion rate tends to go down, the more information there is to provide. Think about it!

4. Webinars

Organize a webinar that addresses an issue for your prospects for which you have expertise. During the registration process, ask at least for the email address. You’ll then be able to send the participant a thank you note and take advantage of the occasion to create a relationship.

If you conduct webinars regularly, this is also an opportunity to ask them to subscribe to your communications to stay informed about your upcoming webinars. Once you have their consent, you will be able to have a longer-term relationship than without consent.

5. Events

Events, like webinars, have great potential for lead generation. Create an online registration form for ease of management. For each event, you should create a landing page that presents the event in detail. Add the benefits of participating and you’re done! The goal here is to convert as many visits as possible into registrations via a form integrated into this landing page. And even if it’s a free event, you should always ask your participants to register. This allows you to better plan your event, but also to keep track of the participants and contact them afterward to maintain the relationship:

  • Thanking them for their participation;
  • Inviting them to your next events;
  • Sharing additional information;
  • Feedback on key moments of the event;
  • Encouraging them to subscribe so they don’t miss anything;
  • Etc.

All these communications allow you to keep in touch with your participants and bring them a little more towards loyalty to your brand.

6. Videos

The videos are extremely popular right now. 83% of businesses pointed to video as a content type that is generating a really good ROI[1]. Video production is a great way to showcase your business. Whether it’s with a video that presents your company or your products, it’s an increasingly efficient way to convert. Marketing professionals who use video as a marketing strategy observe a 34% higher conversion rate than those who do not use it[2].

Investing in such a strategy is, therefore, an excellent way to attract new customers and demonstrate your value. Make a video that highlights your business expertise and includes a call to action so that people can contact you directly or via a form that captures their basic information.

7. Social networks

If you already have a business Facebook page, take advantage of the feature that allows you to add a link to your subscription form. It can be found under your cover image, as shown below

Vous pouvez aussi profiter de ce bouton sur LinkedIn, comme montré sur l’image suivante.

In addition to your profile, it is also possible to advertise on Facebook, among other things, to generate new leads. When you create a new ad, choose the Lead Generation objective and you can build your campaign from there.

This type of campaign will allow you to set up a form that will appear directly on Facebook when one of your prospects clicks on the CTA of your ad. You can request any information you want, as long as that information is available on Facebook.

If you have a specific offer such as an ebook, webinar, or brochure to give out or one of your services to promote, this is a good way to increase your prospect list quickly. You’ll have to invest some money, but it may be worth it!

8. Interceptor (Pop-Up)

Even if some people find them annoying and intrusive, pop-ups are very effective when it comes to lead generation. One study determines that the top 10% of the best performing pop-ups have an average conversion rate of 9.28% and the pop-ups in the average performance have an average conversion rate of 3.1%. If you have a website that generates a lot of traffic every day, imagine how many new contacts you could collect with this strategy!

However, the main problem with pop-ups and why they are so badly seen is that they are, most of the time, misunderstood. The best performing pop-ups can often be surprisingly simple, while pop-ups that apparently should work and contain all the elements that a good pop-up should theoretically contain, work less… Why is that? Because they’re boring, they don’t stand out and offer nothing interesting.

So get out of the theory and focus on your offer and pay special attention to stand out from the crowd and put yourself in your visitors’ shoes. Run some tests to determine what works well for you. With these tests, you will be able to determine the best spot and timing to get optimal results.

9. Quiz

A quiz will allow your future clients to test their knowledge on your field of expertise. It can also be a test on a subject that is close to their heart, for example, if you are a fitness company, offer to measure their fitness. And this can apply to many industries.

Of course, you will need to find a way to collect the email address of each person who takes the test. It can be to be able to do the test, they have to give their email address, to get the results they will receive by email or only voluntarily after receiving the results: you give them the opportunity of receiving more information or advice in exchange for their personal information.

Dialog Insight has already done a project like this for a client. It was a stress and sleep test. After conducting the test and receiving the results, the company sent personalized information content based on the test results.

Get inspired by this project and adapt it to your business and the reality of your customers and you will be a winner!

10. Free demo

Offer a free demo of your products/services. Don’t forget to include a visible call to action on your website, preferably on your product page. This will help collect contact information and improve your sales process efficiency.

Not only does this strategy allow you to get new prospects, but it also allows you to prove yourself. If your product or service is right for your prospect and meets their needs, there is no reason why they wouldn’t pull out their credit card to get your product. You kill two birds with one stone!

11. Information request

An information request form is very useful when it comes to filtering requests because you can easily add a field to know what exactly your visitor is looking for and then direct them to the right person to meet their need.

It is also easy to set up on your website and is an effective way to add people to your database. Make sure it’s easy to find on the page. It can also be found on more than one page, to make it easier for your visitors to find it.

In addition, your form should be simple to complete. So remove any fields that are not necessary to properly respond to requests to make it more digestible and easy to fill out.

12. Contests

Contests are also an excellent lead generation method. A more enticing price for your audience will get better results.

However, expect a higher than normal churn rate once the contest is over. There will always be people who subscribe just for the time of the contests and then unsubscribe afterward. However, be careful not to have these kinds of fluctuations too often as it can damage your reputation as an email sender.

To prevent this from happening, try to choose a price that filters out people to target only those who are most likely to use your products in the future. For example, if you’re a dog grooming company, don’t raffle tickets to see Celine Dion in concert, this will attract all kinds of people, including people who don’t have dogs, so it’s less profitable for you. So basically, choose a price that appeals to your typical customers.

13. Email signature

Your professional communications can act as leverage to promote subscription to your business communications. Think of all the people in your community that you will be communicating within a week… It’s a lot, isn’t it? Now, spread it out over a year.

Don’t be afraid to add a subscription link in your email signature. It’s simple, it won’t cost you anything and once you’ve done it, you don’t have to think about it again!

14. Reference program

Normally, setting up a referral program is a strategy in itself, i.e. you have to set up a strategic plan and develop that plan, which takes a lot of time and resources. However, if you already have one, or if you don’t want to get into a big, comprehensive strategy, there are ways to make it simpler.

Add a note on your receipts or on after purchase surveys to encourage your new clients to refer their friends. You can also offer them an incentive like a discount or a gift card if they do.

Conclusion

These are some examples among lots of lead generation methods to get a constant flow of new leads and prospects in your database. It’s your turn now to continue thinking about finding creative and effective ways regarding your specific situation.

And you, what are your favorite tactics?


Find out how your business can benefit from Dialog Insight.

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