When it comes to marketing, lead generation is arguably the most important part of your sales funnel. You have likely spent countless hours attending webinars and trawling through newsletters that claim to offer the best lead generation techniques out there.
However, one thing that is often missed is just how many of these widely-feted lead generation tactics are outdated and no longer reliable ways to generate meaningful leads. The world of marketing and sales has moved on considerably in the past couple of years.
Any advice on lead generation that you are reading online could well be out of date and a waste of time to pursue. Luckily, we are here to help. Read on to find out the outdated lead generation techniques that you and your business need to avoid at all costs.
1. Buying Your Leads
When it comes to lead marketing mistakes, this one probably sits at the very top. If you are struggling to gather leads, it can be tempting to start buying up email lists en-masse so that you have actual people to reach out to.
However, you should always be generating leads organically. Using paid-for mailing lists is a sure-fire to end up straight in the spam folder. Even worse, you risk turning off potential customers who find your unsolicited emails rude and annoying.
2. Only Optimizing Your Top Pages
Your website is likely your main source of traffic and therefore the place where you are most focused on turning that traffic into genuine conversions. Therefore, it can be tempting to be selective and only optimize your highest-ranked pages.
However, this is a mistake. Every single part of your website has the potential to convert leads. Do not just focus on the handful of pages or blog posts that have performed well, as you could be wasting an opportunity.
3. Engaging in Direct Marketing of Any Kind
One of the cardinal sins of marketing mistakes is direct marketing. This is when you approach individuals directly as a salesman, such as via a phone call or mail order. This does not work.
People tend to run away from a salesman, and the last thing you want to do is put off genuinely interested leads. People hyped up direct marketing a few years ago, but the results have shown that this clearly is not the way forward.
4. 9-5 Lead Generation
If your workplace is still conducting all lead generation activities within normal office hours, you have a problem.
It is more than probable that your target leads are not even going to be anywhere near your website, email newsletter, or social media during office hours. Therefore, reaching out to them and being available exclusively between the hours of 9 to 5 is a recipe for disaster.
5. Using Shorter Forms
Finally, it is worth shattering one of the most commonly-held myths about lead generation. If you have a CTA form on your website, you may have been told that the trick is to keep the form as short as possible (i.e., no more than 3 actions).
However, this does not guarantee quality leads. Longer forms may net you fewer leads, but the ones you do net will be of higher quality and much more likely to make a purchase with you.
Cutting Edge Lead Generation Techniques At Your Fingertips
Lead generation techniques are constantly changing, just like the ways in which we communicate and the technologies we use are changing. That’s why it is important to have marketing experts who can keep your business ahead of the curve.
For this, we have got you covered. Do not hesitate to get in touch with our professional team today to find out exactly how we can keep your marketing tactics at the cutting-edge.