5 Sustainable Lead Generation Ideas for B2C

Today’s customers react differently to your marketing. They don’t want you to sell to them. They want you to engage them. To do that, you must change your lead generation methods.

A 2013 study found that small and mid-sized businesses waste a quarter of their pay-per-click spending.

Imagine you spend $3,000 per month on PPC ads. That’s $750 down the drain each month. At the end of the year, you’ve blown $9,000.

That’s hardly sustainable.

Little has changed. Small businesses still throw cash at ineffectual lead generation marketing strategies.

You need to do things differently. These are five sustainable B2C lead generation strategies.

Strategy #1 – Content Marketing Strategies

Every business uses content to market itself. Every article you write, or video you film, aims to draw people to your business.

But there’s no strategy behind the content. You post blogs haphazardly, hoping one will connect and go “viral”.

You need a strategy to use content effectively. Posting to your blog isn’t enough. You’re doing your business a disservice if you don’t take advantage of every content channel.

Study your target audience and figure out what they want, and where you can find them. A good content marketing strategy delivers content in the way your users want it. Your content only serves your business if you know what you want to achieve with it. Furthermore, analyze the results. so you can tinker where needed.

Strategy #2 – Create Contests

Remember that word “engagement”? Your customers want to connect to your brand. Contests give you a way to do that, and generate B2C leads in the process.

Look to Lay’s for the perfect example of using a contest to generate leads. In 2015, they held their yearly “Do Us A Flavor” contest. It encouraged people to suggest new potato chip flavors, with the winner seeing their suggestion come to life. Of course, there was also a $1 million prize.

Lay’s attracted 14 million submissions with their competition.

Furthermore, they didn’t spend a penny on research and development.

Lay’s used its contest to speak directly to its customers. They used the information they gathered to choose their next direction. Better yet, they got people talking about the company.

We understand that you don’t have $1 million lying around for a contest. But you don’t have to offer a huge prize. A $100 gift card can compel people to engage with your brand and become B2C leads.

Strategy #3 – Optimize Your Emails

You probably collect visitor emails already. That’s what your website’s newsletter is for, right? It’s one of the simplest lead generation methods.

But what do you do with those email addresses?

We bet that you send templated emails which lead readers nowhere. Your emails must develop your relationships with consumers, and allow them to share your content.

There are several ways to do this:

• Build share buttons into your emails so readers can send them to others.
• Create eye-catching subject lines.
• Use a call to action (CTA) to give the reader somewhere to go after reading.

Your emails help you to nurture leads. Make them useful, otherwise they get relegated to the spam folder.

Strategy #4 – Leverage Micro Influencers

Wouldn’t it be nice to get an endorsement for your product from an A-List celeb?

All it takes is one endorsement to generate leads and boost sales.

So many businesses chase that huge endorsement and forget about the micro influencers. These are the up and comers who may not be in the A-List yet, but they’re on their way.

Look for the people who talk about your industry. Click To Tweet If it’s fashion, check for bloggers and vloggers. These people have passion and want to talk about your products.

Engage them.

Allow them to review your products, or partner with them for giveaways and competitions. Use the power these micro influencers wield to get people talking about your product.

Strategy #5 – Focus on Mobile

Apple’s iPhone changed everything. Everybody has a smartphone, so why doesn’t your marketing strategy appeal to the mobile crowd.

Google says that over half of searches now come from mobile devices. Your customers want to use their smartphones to find out about you.

Help them do it. Create responsive websites that display just as well on mobile devices as they do on desktops. Release an app to keep potential customers engaged.

Optimize towards the mobile experience. It’s where your customers are.

Conclusion

Lead generation methods change as technology evolves. What worked five years ago may now cost you money.

Consider these lead generation methods and how you can apply them to your business. Combing them will help you to reduce costs, and get more out of your marketing.