Lead generation campaigns focus on driving interest in your business and nurturing potential customers into, well, paying customers. It’s an important part of a digital marketing strategy as it:
Provides you with a steady stream of business leads to fill your sales pipeline
Gives you greater predictability around the number of sales you’ll make on a regular basis
Helps to build brand awareness and long-term pipeline amongst your target audience
Frees you up to focus on the bottom-line and revenue generating activities
The following article showcases exceptional examples of businesses that have:
Implemented great targeting strategies to achieve a particular objective and reach specific groups of potential customers
Developed enticing content that has been well targeted to those groups
Promoted it across relevant online channels
Made it as easy as possible for their audience to take the next action
It also serves as a bit of a “lead generation how-to guide” as I’ll also suggest how you can adapt elements of these campaigns to your own organisation’s lead generation strategy.
Example 1: Scissors & Scotch
Why: Clear objective and target audience
When developing your lead generation campaign, you need to be clear on your digital marketing objective. Scissors & Scotch ran a lead generation ad on Facebook specifically for existing customers who had not returned to their salon within the last 30 days. The aim was to encourage them to book another appointment. The ad is a great example of one which has a clear objective targeting a well-defined segment.
What I also like about this ad:
The tongue-in-cheek copy makes it stand out from other salons and is consistent with their tone-of-voice
The visual focuses on their branding, something the target audience will trust as they are already familiar with the business
The next action they want the audience to take (booking an appointment) is very clear and easy-to-do
How you can adapt this to your own organisation:
Think about different groups from which you want to increase value. For example, you may have a group of people you could easily upsell to a related product (e.g. a pushchair raincover would be an easy upsell for customers who have already bought a pram from you). Or, as a non-profit you may want to increase the regularity with which people support your charity.
Lead generation campaigns on Facebook can be done really effectively using a retargeting strategy (where your audience is already familiar with your brand). You are able to take your data list of target customers and upload it onto the platform. Facebook does the clever work in matching those customers on the social network and displays your ad to them. This also means your budget is efficiently spent on precisely the people you want to reach.
Example 2: The Pampered Chef
Why: Unique and enticing content
At the heart of any lead generation campaign is great content. Once you are clear on your objective and audience you need to think about what will hook them in, often referred to as a ‘lead magnet’.
The Pampered Chef is a great example of this by developing a ‘cooking personality’ quiz. As humans we have a great desire to learn more about ourselves, test our knowledge and skills, and benchmark ourselves against others, so we’re naturally drawn to quizzes.
How you can adapt this to your own organisation:
Think about how you can add a quiz to your content offering which potential customers will find hard to resist. For example, as a hardware store you could develop a DIY skills quiz. This may feel more difficult for B2B businesses, but as an example, a project management company could develop a quiz for their target audience to review how efficient their organisation is.
At the end of the quiz, include some product recommendations based on their answers to present the audience with a highly-relevant next step.
There are many tools out there to create quizzes without the need to get a developer involved such as:
Example 3: Smartsheet
Why: Online platform and content combination
Firstly, Smartsheet is a B2B company. They chose to run their lead generation ads on LinkedIn - a great platform to reach a B2B audience as you are able to target by industry, job role, seniority, company size and more. They also make use of LinkedIn’s lead generation form making it as easy as possible for the audience to exchange their details with their company.
The content Smartsheet promoted within the ad is a video comparison between their product and a similar one from their main competitor, Microsoft. They are clearly targeting users at the bottom of the funnel who are weighing up their options and about to make a buying decision. A quick video is easy for someone to watch who is lacking time (the majority of business decision makers). By putting it behind the lead generation form, Smartsheet get the user’s details to continue to nurture them to the point of purchase using cheaper marketing methods, e.g. email.
How you can adapt this to your own organisation:
If you are a B2B company then consider adding LinkedIn to your marketing mix and take advantage of the specific targeting options it gives you to reach your audience
Also experiment with lead generation forms to reduce as much friction as possible when asking for potential customer details (just don’t ask them to give you too much!)
Think carefully about what your target audience is trying to do, or what information they are seeking out, to provide them with something highly relevant
If you have a competitor you are regularly up against, proactive competitive messaging is a great idea as it allows you to lead the conversation, highlight your USPs and the benefits of your product/service over theirs - as long as this is done tastefully, appears to be objective and based on evidence (e.g. product or ROI comparisons) rather than a negative slur at your competitors
Example 4: Wizarding World (the Harry Potter fan club)
Why: Fun content and personalised follow up to their lead generation campaign
This example is similar to The Pampered Chef in example 2. The Harry Potter Fan Club developed a “discover your wand” quiz and sent it out to their followers by email. It is a great example of not feeling sold to but it has a clear commercial objective at the end - to get the user to buy the wand they matched with from the store.
How you can adapt this to your own organisation:
Think about how you can make your lead generation content feel more like a game. For example, as an apparel company, could you develop a tool for your user to create their own outfit which then encourages them to buy the products chosen? Or as an events company, could you develop your own virtual escape room which encourages the user to continue the fun with your company?
This idea is probably the most complex and you would need to get professional help from a development perspective, but the rewards could be worth it as it will help you stand out from competitors
In summary
Developing lead generation ads may feel daunting at first, but taking inspiration from other businesses and selecting elements that work for your organisation will give you a kick start. Remember to:
Think clearly about your objective and who you will be targeting
Pick the right online marketing channels that will reach your audience and target specific groups effectively
Develop content that speaks to your audience, feels highly relevant to them on their buying journey and stands out from competitors
Make the next step as easy as possible
Encourage your target audience to share their details with you to allow you to follow up with them and convert them into paying customers (while being mindful of GDPR considerations)
If you feel you're lacking creativity, or unsure where to start, I offer lead generation strategy development, campaign implementation and mentoring support. Please contact me to arrange a free 30 minute consultation.
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