5 Lead Generation Hooks to Try Post-Lockdown

Many businesses across the globe have been impacted by the pandemic with an unpredictable stock market, and thousands of workers being furloughed.

Driving revenue during the lockdown may have seemed like banging your head against a brick wall, but now we’re beginning to settle into the ‘new normal’ it’s time to take steps to prepare for the post-lockdown world.

Selling Online

Psychology

Unless you’re selling something that could be considered an impulse buy, such as clothing, it’s not easy to see immediate results from a marketing campaign – particularly at the height of a pandemic, when consumers are careful with what cash they do have.

The general rule of thumb is that it takes three exposures to a company before a consumer makes a purchase. However, with the increase in ad fatigue, this is likely to be much higher. In fact, a potential prospect will have to interact with your company on up to eight occasions via email, social media, ads and your website before they commit to a purchase.

There are very few businesses that have the time to manually nurture a prospect for such a long period, and this is where your sales funnel comes in.

Your sales funnel

Source

Your sales funnel is another name for your sales process, from the very first contact someone has with your business to the last stage where they make a purchase. Sales funnels generally refer to an automated process triggered on your website, such as registering interest for a webinar or downloading an ebook.

Automating the process makes it far more efficient, because you’ll only need to take action once a purchase has been made, or your funnel has generated a handful of warm leads to follow up on.

“Lead hooks”

Lead hooks are enticements that offer some form of reward in exchange for a user’s email address. Below we’ve put together five lead hook ideas you can use as we move out of lockdown.

#1: eBook download

eBook downloads are a tried and tested lead hook method. Although it doesn’t need to be long, it does need to offer a great deal of value to the reader. This means your ebook mustn’t be a fluffy, sales-heavy brochure that doesn’t provide any real insight.

Keep in mind that you’re in the early stages of the customer relationship, so if someone agrees to give out their email address, they do so fully expecting something that can offer tangible value to their lives. If they don’t get this, then you’ve lost an opportunity as your prospect will fall through the cracks of your sales funnel, and it’s likely they won’t return.

eBook creation can be time-consuming, but they’re certainly worth the effort when done correctly. However, if you don’t have time to create a durable piece that’ll resonate with your audiences, then it’s best to choose a different lead hook for now.

The Content Marketing Playbook from Hiten Shah specifically talks about growing traffic for a SaaS business through content marketing. The reason why this ebook is so useful is that it offers an invaluable insight into how to build a content marketing campaign in the SaaS business niche.

#2: Insider knowledge resources

Offering insider knowledge resources will follow a similar format to the ebook.

Essentially this resource is educational. However, rather than focusing on why someone should do something, it should instead focus on how.

These could come in forms such as:

• Step-by-step guides on how to achieve a specific task (e.g. how to set up an effective Facebook ad campaign)
• Listicles (e.g. everything a manager needs to look for when hiring a new sales professional)
• Tips and hints (e.g. 5 tips to help your business ace LinkedIn)
• Templates (e.g. a legally binding business contract template that could be downloaded and customized)

These suggestions could work on a variety of platforms, including:

• Downloadable PDFs
• Ultimate guides (check out Brian Dean’s Definitive Guide to Local SEO)
• Blog posts
• Social media updates
• “Cheat sheets” (Marketing guru Neil Patel does this incredibly well – see here)
• Infographics
• Whitepapers

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how you offer insider knowledge, as long as it’s easy for someone to consume, provides real insight and speaks to your audience.

#3: Webinars

Using webinars as a lead hook has been used to good effect for years. Not only do they engage a customer and wave them off down the sales pipeline, but they also give the host a chance to show their audience how knowledgeable the company is and generate more interest around the brand.

In the same way that your ebook must provide value to your audience, so should a webinar. It’s fine to offer a special deal to your attendees or cover a solution to a pain point, but make sure the entirety of your webinar isn’t just a glorified sales pitch. A webinar is more of an investment, rather than a one-shot opportunity to grab leads and hold on for dear life.

Live webinars that encourage interaction is where you’ll be able to collect most of your leads, but you’ll double-down if you record the content and make it available on-demand, where you’ll be able to pick up a few stragglers later on.

This blog on HubSpot from Amber Tiffany of Go To Meeting highlights the twelve most crucial traits that a webinar needs to convert leads into sales.

#4: Gated video content

Customers are four times more likely to watch a video, with 83% of marketers report seeing an increase in leads when undertaking video marketing.

These statistics demonstrate that consumers are far more likely to be interested in a video than reading content, so it’s vital to recognize these behavioral shifts.

One of the most effective ways to collect GDPR-friendly, warm leads is to offer the first few minutes of a compelling video for free, and then ask for their email address to allow them to keep watching.

This excellent example from the CRM company keap.com, asks users to fill out their email address to gain access to their 4-minute product demonstration:

Source: Keap.com

This technique is so effective because it offers potential customers the chance to learn something valuable for doing very little on their part.

#5: Mini-courses

This option is probably the most labor-intensive on this list, but if done correctly, it can also be one of the most impactful lead generation hooks available.

The idea here is to offer a mini-course across multiple days and weeks. While this does sound like a daunting prospect, each lesson in the course doesn’t need to cover the granular details, and in fact, you can reuse content from existing resources. Anything from blog posts, webinars, and podcasts can all be used to piece together your course.

The reason this works so effectively is because you’re building trust over an extended period, since you’re giving away valuable information that your audience can use to start generating results, thereby seeing the value of an ongoing relationship with your company in this challenging time.

Another fantastic example from marketer Neil Patel is his ‘Ecommerce Unlocked’ training course. Across four weeks, Neil offers his expertise through a series of video modules on everything from conversion rate optimization to using Amazon to sell products. 

Takeaways

Despite the uncertainty, now’s a great time to get in front of people and begin forming new relationships and solidifying current connections.

Of course, leads don’t automatically equal sales, so it’s essential to incorporate these lead hooks with other marketing strategies for results that nurture relationships and turn them into customers.