Marketing coordinators and business managers can properly attest to how frustrating and challenging the pursuit of chasing leads can be. Hunting through lists, making cold calls and emails, generating new leads only to fly down the rabbit hole that leads to nowhere, all of this can imbue daily tasks with grief and a sense of dread as you hope for the next big breakthrough with a client.
Hence the rise of lead generation services! These increasingly-popular companies are popping up across industries to assist marketing teams and sales forces with traversing the rocky territory that is lead generation. The lead generation service provider industry can be a mixed bag, however. While there are plenty of companies that can serve as legitimate partners with your business for years to come, seeing a mutual interest in both parties being successful, there are many others that promise results that simply seem too good to be true (and often are too good to be true).
So what should your expectations be? What are signs of a legit lead service generator? Let’s check out what to look for in a lead generation service company and what strategies they should be employing on your behalf.
First Off, What Do Lead Generation Services Do?
When meeting with a marketing service provider for the first time, it’s always good to ask questions. Having a base-level understanding as you walk into a meeting can go a long way.
One of the biggest identifiers in whether or not a lead generation service is working for you or trying to profit off of you is in their results time frame. A realistic number used in the industry is sixty days from the start of the campaign to see results. When a company comes in and promises two weeks to see results, or six months, that should be an immediate red flag.
Providers tend to rely on vertical-specific marketing to use their past experiences to their advantage, matching up prospects within similar vertical markets (while not being so specific as they wind up poaching from one or the other). Essentially they’re utilizing a web of networks that they’ve cultivated to make a lateral jumps, bundling up prospective clients in their list to package your products to. From there, they’ll integrate your email, video, social media and all forms of marketing outreach, delivering their strategy and methods through those streams to foster and develop quality lead generation that can actually move along through your funnel.
On top of that, here are three strategies that a quality lead generator should be referencing in your meetings so that you know they’ll be doing a good job for your business.
#1: Focusing On Social Media Presence is a Must
It’s a must for businesses to utilize their social media clout to push leads through the funnel. Whether your company’s preferred outreach is Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or another platform, your provider should absolutely be considering how to develop that facet of your marketing for lead generation.
A lead generation company will speak with you about metrics and tracking tools to make determinations on a massive spectrum of questions regarding social media, such as what platforms best serve your company, when and how often you should be posting, what types of content you should include in posts, links, and overalls coverage to boost conversion rates.
In addition to that, content is the absolute king. A solid provider will be able to look at your product and service offerings, then turn around and develop premium content in the form of site pages, social media posts and blogs all meant to drive leads to your site directly, through click-thrus, or indirectly, through search engine position.
#2: This Is A Call! Calls to Action
An acronym that should be familiar with any provider is CTA, or calls to action. These are the buttons that leads visiting your site will click to get them onto the landing page. They may seem simple and straightforward, but there’s a lot that goes into where, when and how to integrate CTAs for the greatest return.
Your service provider should be able to integrate CTAs in a scientific and aesthetically-pleasing way. Providers should be talking about working directly with your developers to ensure flawless integration of CTAs, being transparent about past examples and metrics, and should be interested in working with your developers on these tasks.
#3: Landing On Your Feet
CTAs need to integrate with landing pages. A common strategy is to position your best content or offers on the landing page to influence prospective leads, complete with descriptions of the offer in question and a form where the visitor can provide crucial contact information, such as their email address.
These strategies can greatly enhance your lead generation. Just remember that when you meet with a service provider, you need to be specific, listen to what they’re saying and understand the results they have in mind. Ask the right questions, hear the right answers and you’ll get the right results.
