Avatar photo Michael Cooney
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Dec 26, 2021

Are you struggling with lead conversion? Maybe you have tons of leads, but they lead you nowhere. If that’s the case, there are a few easy ways to fix your marketing mix to convert more leads.

Let’s start by defining your most important metric; leads. We’ll then explore why content marketing is a lead conversion tool and what that looks like in real-world applications.

This is a guest article from Norbert Strappler, a visionary entrepreneur with more than ten years of eCommerce experience. Strappler is the founder and CEO of MONOBUNT Digitalagenturand, SyncSpider, and DragDroper.  

What are leads?

You would think this simple question has a simple answer, but it’s a bone of contention between the marketing and the sales teams. Why?

The marketing team claims that every conversion they get is a lead. Salespeople then say 80% of these “leads” are unusable. From the sales team’s perspective, the only thing that matters is the lead conversion rate.

By definition, leads are prospective customers with contact information. They are interested in your product, and they provided you with an email address, phone number, or chat opportunity.

Sometimes people contact your business but don’t intend to buy anything. That causes issues between marketing teams and sales teams. If marketers want to solve this issue, they must have a way to separate qualified leads from non-qualified leads. That metric goes a long way towards reducing friction between marketing and sales. WhatConverts captures the person behind the conversion, which allows marketing teams to show the number of qualified leads instead of the number of conversions.

Sign up here for a free 14-day WhatConverts trial. You can also request a 30-minute live demo, where we’ll answer your questions and show you how to track ROAS.

Once you’ve figured out how to identify your best leads, you can use content marketing to reel them in.

Content marketing as a lead generation tool

Every effective content marketing strategy has one thing in common; lead magnets.

Lead magnets attract the audience; they provide something tempting to make the audience leave their email address or phone number. People are only willing to give their data if they are interested in something you’re offering.

So, what is a magnet? It can be additional content such as whitepapers, webinars, podcasts, eBooks, and newsletters. The magnet system is straightforward; you give something for free, the audience perceives it as an added value, and they trade their contact info for the right to view additional content.

The only way to provide great lead magnets is to know your audience.

Marketing is like dating. If you want to amaze your date, you need to know something about your date. What does your date like? What do they dislike?

The same goes for content marketing. Before you do anything, make sure you know about your audience.

  • Feel the pulse of your target market - Find topics your audience cares about. What types of Google searches are they doing? Which questions do they ask in demos? Do you know about the issues they face in their professional lives? Roll up your sleeves and start talking with your customers.
  • Relevant and reliable content - Even the most well-written content won’t attract eyeballs if it’s not relevant to your audience.
  • Be omnipresent, but focus on the channel where your target audience is - Don’t forget to adjust the content form for the specific marketing channel. Social media is short and snappy. Blogs can be more in-depth.
  • A picture worth a thousand words - Words are powerful, but don’t forget to spice it up with attention-grabbing images, videos, and illustrations. Search engines and leads will appreciate it more than wordy content.

You’ve got your leads; now what?

After you did a great job attracting your audience, it’s time for the most challenging part of the job; let’s make these leads useful!

The sales team has a job to do here, but there is still room for the marketing department to nudge leads a bit closer to close.

lead conversion

(Lead conversion makes a difference. The higher the lead conversion rate, the more successful your business.)

Is your content strong enough to make the deal? Lead conversions content needs to focus more on a specific product or feature than the content used for lead generation.

You can send newsletters, special offers, and reminders during the lead conversion phase. Here are a few tips for creating conversion content.

  • People buy what other people buy - Show your leads reviews of your products. People trust other buyers more than any other source.
  • Draw it! - We all love to read, but some of your potential buyers aren’t familiar with the terminology you use. When creating blogs and eBooks, ese iconography to explain what your product or service can do for them.
  • Ask them what they need. - It might seem obvious, but if you don’t ask, you might never find out what your leads need. You can use various surveys and quizzes to get this information.
  • Does your content look good? - Pay attention to how your eboolooks visually. Even a font that’s too small can make your leads give up on buying your product.
  • Simplify your ordering process - If it looks more like a maze, it’s time to fix it. Make it as simple as it can be. Don’t nag your buyers with unnecessary procedures, and force them to click a thousand times when purchasing.
  • Automatize your actions - Do whatever it takes to sync your marketing actions. Take an automated approach to all phases of your marketing and sales journey.
  • Keep your leads in one order - It’s easier said than done, but luckily we now have software that can do that for us. With the proper tool, you can easily manage your leads from wherever they come. You can keep them in one place and even get track of what sources or what campaign you got it or filter a group of leads using specific criteria.
  • Create clear CTA- Subtle hints rarely work. “Buy now,” “Click here,” “Order today” are straightforward and efficient calls to action. Whatever you do, don’t forget to call your leads to action.

If you want to find out Which Marketing Channels Drive Sales for eCommerce, click the link. Stay creative and genuine, and you’ll reach the expected results.
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Michael Cooney

Michael Cooney is a co-founder of WhatConverts. Connect with him on Twitter or via email at michael.cooney@whatconverts.com.

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