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Online lead generation is critical for every brand. It is not enough to build awareness - though that is essential. It is not enough to engage your audience - though that is an integral piece of the puzzle. If you are not generating leads, and converting them … it will be difficult to accomplish your brand-building goals.

Are you ready to transform your marketing and sales functions? Work on these top lead generation techniques.

Must-Use Lead Generation Techniques

Generating high-quality leads - or those who are interested in the solution you are offering - is consistently reported as the top challenge facing marketers. You must attract them and cultivate a strong relationship. Your business depends on it. Take the following steps:

1. Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Find out what your competition is up to. This will enable you to understand the techniques they’re using: are they effective? What works? What doesn’t? How can you do it better? Start by identifying your major competitors (they’ll be similar in terms of products/services, size, target audience, etc.).

Now ask some key questions: what types of content do they produce or curate? How do they attract customers - do they use social? What platforms? How successfully? Do they offer exclusive content? What’s their SEO strategy? For example: Do they post to their blog once a week and gets lots of engagement? If so, do you have a blog? Can you optimize it so you get that level of interaction?

2. Improve Your Instagram Game

Instagram is huge; not Facebook huge - but it’s getting there! It also appeals to different demographics. Users tend to be younger, but they also tend to be there for inspiration and to connect with those with similar views/talents, etc. (as opposed to Facebook, where users want information and to connect with friends/family). They also discover new products, and over 200 million users visit at least one business profile daily.

What does your current Instagram strategy look like? Begin with some easy steps: use some great photos. They’re 38% more likely to yield likes and 32% more likely to get comments than those without. You. Your employees. Happy customers. Give your audience a human face with which to connect.

Next optimize your bio; you only get one clickable link so choose wisely! Which landing page is most relevant to your audience? (Note: you can change it; this allows you to connect to landing pages for specific campaigns/promotions.) Because Instagram posts can’t have clickable links, you’ll have to point folks there: e.g. click on our link for great savings.

3. Boost Your Email Game

Email is a powerful lead generation tool; but your CTA and form may be stopping you from taking the next steps with leads. Some top tips:

• Never mention “spam.” Ever! Phrases like “We promise never to spam you” reduce your conversion rate. Try “We value your privacy and never share your information.” Don’t bring spam into the equation; it’s like mentioning an ex on a first date!

• Position your CTA in a visible area.

• Clean up your forms. The less info you ask for, the higher your conversion rate. No one wants to give up all of their details, and they’ll bounce away.

4. Increase Lead Gen with Strong CTAs on Your Blog

When you offer original, relevant content on your blog, you can attract high quality leads. But what next? Keep them on site. Ask them to sign up for your newsletter or download a free eBook. Your calls to action need to be strong and on-point. Make it clear what you want visitors to do and make sure the CTAs are highly visible - without being a distraction to the content.

Use action words: Get Your eBook Today. Sign Up Now. Join Our Exclusive Club. Whatever you want people to do, create clear, simple action-oriented statements.

5. Invest In Your YouTube Channel

If you’re like most brands, you have a YouTube channel where you throw up some videos now and again. Think more strategically to generate leads. Whether you produce videos in-house or outsource, provide in-depth information and tell stories that captivate your audience.

• Add a card to your videos. Go to Channel>Edit>Cards and follow the prompts. This enables you to provide viewers with a link, inviting them to visit your website or watch another video.

• Use SEO keywords in your video descriptions and add a link to your website.

• Grab attention in the first seconds. Otherwise, viewers will navigate away. There’s simply too much video content to beat around the bush.

• Always, always provide value.

• Consider YouTube ads. They have the highest click-through rate of any digital ad format.

Online lead generation is a critical function for any brand; try these lead generation techniques and track your results. It’s a great step at creating these important relationships - and moving them down the marketing/sales funnel.