These are the types of lead generation that matter for your business

If you’re learning how to market your business online you may have heard of the term lead generation — but what exactly does that mean? 

It may sound like fancy marketing jargon, but the concept is really quite simple. Lead generation is any marketing activity your business uses to find and convert new customer relationships. There are a variety of ways to approach generating leads, including methods like:

• Organic search engine optimization, or SEO (as in getting found on Google)
• Paid social media advertising or boosted posts
• Organic social media posts
• Inbound marketing 
• And more  

The options are endless, but if you’re a small business owner, you’d probably like to know the quickest and easiest place to begin. 

Fear not! You don’t need to have a huge marketing team or budget to understand how to leverage the power of lead gen. 

In fact, most advertising and marketing efforts your small business already utilizes — whether that’s encouraging email newsletter signups, posting short videos to your social channels or paying for Facebook ads or other social ads — is already lead generation. 

Let’s take a look at the different types of lead generation and how your small business can best tackle this vital marketing method.

What are the different types of lead generation?

We just briefly named a few of the ways that businesses can handle lead generation. Now, let’s take a closer look at the building blocks of the process and some details about marketing’s most popular methods. 

Inbound vs. Outbound 

You have probably heard of these two methods of lead generation, but what do they mean? Quite simply, inbound marketing is any method which invites your potential leads to learn more about your company’s product or service by reaching out to you. Examples of Inbound methods include your business’s website, blog, contact forms and social media posts. 

On the other hand, outbound lead generation occurs whenever a potential lead’s daily content consumption is disrupted by your marketing message. Basically, it is any one-way communication method that attempts to generate leads by grabbing people’s attention. Common examples of outbound lead generation methods include pop-up ads on websites, telemarketing, cold emails and traditional media ads.  

Building an email list

Collecting email addresses to create email lists is an effective way to generate leads (if you do it properly). First, remember that your email content needs to be highly relevant and hook your readers immediately with a great subject line. 

Keep your email list current by removing stale leads who never open your emails, watch for mass unsubscribes (that’s a sign you’re sending emails too frequently or your content isn’t relevant for your audience),and stay aware of ever-changing regulations and opt-in requirements. 

Another great method to grow your list is to encourage potential leads to forward your emails to their community or share interesting or helpful information on social media. As a small business, email can be one of the core ways you connect with your customer base, so be intentional with your messaging (and don’t be afraid to stand out as a brand!) 

Social media marketing

Another way to generate leads is through social media marketing — you can get your paid or organic social posts to convert leads by encouraging viewers to click through to your business website or a landing page that will collect their email address. You can use any number of types of social media content like static images or graphics, but social media content with video tends to be much more effective. 

Here’s a great example of the power of video for businesses who use social media: spiritual entrepreneur Shydeia Caldwell uses Vimeo Create to create a series of social media videos to promote her virtual classes. Her results were huge; she saw a 379% increase in monthly website traffic and a 15% increase in Instagram followers in only two weeks! 

And Shydeia is not the only entrepreneur who has used Vimeo Create to level up their social media game. Real estate expert Chip James also leveraged video in his business, with fantastic results to boot.

Content marketing

Content marketing can be among the most effective means of generating leads. An infographic published by Demand Metric reports that each content marketing dollar spent yields about three times as many leads as traditional marketing methods. 

Simply put, content marketing is when you create and share valuable content or materials with your potential audience with the goal of educating or entertaining rather than using direct sales language. Some examples of different types of content include: 

• Videos
• Blog posts
• Ebooks
• PDF downloads
• White papers
• Social media posts

Compelling content can take any form, but it’s imperative to always include a “call-to-action,” or CTA, at the end of your message. A CTA clearly directs the reader or viewer to their concrete next step, taking them deeper into your sales funnel or customer journey. 

We see CTAs all the time. You might urge blog readers to join an email list, or click on a link to “learn more” by visiting your website.

Public relations

Last, you might consider trying the tried-and-true lead gen method of public relations (commonly called PR). PR involves managing your organization’s exposure to the public through what’s known as earned media.

Earned media is coverage that someone else produces because what you’re doing is of interest — think newspaper articles, news stories, or industry blog posts. If your product or service is interesting enough to garner the public’s attention, through a mass media outlet for instance, it’s a great way to receive more inbound leads. 

A study by Forrester research found that highly effective earned media yielded conversion rates of 5% or higher, compared to traditional paid media which usually yields conversions at a rate of only 1% or less. Industry experts have also found that investing in brand awareness through methods like earned media lead to higher levels of lead generation.

According to a 2020 report on inbound marketing, earned media brands can  “deliver a long-term, steady drumbeat of exposure that continues to move the needle on lead generation, without high costs or having to rely on this year’s budget meeting going well.” That sounds like a really good bang for your lead gen buck. 

5 tips to generate leads with video 

So now that we understand all of the lead generation method options, let’s concentrate on ways that your business can effectively use video lead generation to grow your business. 

Create videos with personalized contact forms 

One cool way to incorporate video into your lead generation plan is to use Vimeo’s personalized contact form feature. These aren’t just any contact form—they can be customized with different fields to collect pertinent information from your leads like job title, demographics or even psychographics. Likewise, you can utilize your usual email marketing platforms (e.g. Hubspot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact) by integrating and automatically syncing the contact form submissions that you receive using Vimeo’s tools.

Gate your best video content. 

Don’t be afraid to put some of your best content behind a gate, which requires customers to input their contact information in order to access your content.

There are two main ways gated content can pay off for your business. 

1. The first way is a traditional lead generation model. Users simply enter their email address and in return they can view your most valuable content.
2. Another way that more and more businesses are profiting from gated video content is by using the material to directly generate revenue. 

After all, online learning is one of this decade’s most lucrative industries. Experts estimate that by the year 2025 the online learning industry will be worth an incredible $350 million. There’s no reason your brand can’t get a piece of the action by putting high-value instructional or educational content behind a paywall — either to purchase ala carte or as part of a subscription service for ongoing revenue. 

Be sure to add a call to action on your video

It won’t matter if tons of prospects view your video content if they don’t take action. That’s why it’s crucial to always include a clear CTA with your videos. It’s a good practice to include a CTA both before and after the viewer watches the video. This can be an opportunity to sign up for an email newsletter, a discount code or exclusive access to special premium content. 

If your video is part of a series, encourage viewers to sign up for email reminders, then send subscribers a targeted email sequence that includes the subsequent videos in the series.

Create strategic, video-centric landing page(s)

When looking to prompt direct conversions in a marketing activity like lead generation, it’s a good practice to send your prospects to a dedicated landing page versus the homepage of your website. 

Landing pages only have one central CTA – and in your case it would be to ask leads to enter their email addresses and other useful information. These types of pages usually don’t include any navigation menu up top or footer links like a normal webpage usually does. Everything points to the CTA. 

Including video in your landing page design is a fantastic way to grab your audience’s attention and keep them interested in the page long enough to enter their precious contact info. 

Spice up your emails with embeddable gifs

These days, using a good old GIF can help your brand stand out. 

The popular GIF search engine Giphy gets over 250 million visitors each month. These users share a whopping 10 billion GIFs daily. And when GIFs are subsequently followed up with successful email campaigns, conversion rates have been known to increase by 103%.

Best practices for using the different types of lead gen

Develop your own buyer funnel

Create your own buyer funnel and map the kinds of content you can (or have already) created that fits into your larger strategy.

A buyer funnel is simply a plan that introduces strangers to your brand and then exposes them to relevant content that will (hopefully) nurture them as leads. Creating a funnel doesn’t have to be complicated. 

For example, you can do a quick audit of content you already have in place and think about how it can be used to promote your buyer’s journey. For example, do you already have a great explainer video that’s perfect for its own optimized-for-conversion landing page? Start there! 

Don’t be spammy

Don’t make your potential leads feel as if your emails are being unfairly forced upon them. Be wise with the schedule in which you distribute emails.

Too many emails sent in too short a time can cause potential leads to use their email app to filter out all communication from you — which would defeat the purpose of your emails. 

Create killer emails

Creating visually pleasing, intelligently worded emails is a proven method for lead generation. However, no one wants to read an email that sounds like a desperate sales pitch. Keep your tone warm, inviting and conversational. Emails should be genuine and honest in their ability to convey information without sounding salesy. Striking the right tone for your business here is essential for lead follow-through.

Avoid buying a list

Don’t — we repeat, don’t! — buy an email list. These lists are often compiled by computer programs that scrape the internet for information. This method leads to lots of bad email addresses, and depending upon which email marketing service you use could land your emails in the spam folder. 

Ever received an email and think, “I have no memory of subscribing to this?” then promptly hit that “unsubscribe” button? Let’s avoid that altogether. It’s a bad look and will tank your analytics data. Make it easy for potential leads to opt out of your email list.

Worse, buying lists can fall out of compliance with regulations that protect consumer information, which is illegal and subjects your small biz to fees and penalties. Starting with a small email list is okay; buying a list will end up being far more trouble than it’s worth. 

Embrace segmentation

Segmenting your email list is a great way to make your lead generation efforts more effective. 

There are many ways a company can approach segmenting leads. Some list segments might be based on demographics such as age, location, company size or job title. The  content of your email could then use language that would appeal to that specific type of reader.

Another way to segment an email list is to send targeted emails to users that have taken a particular action. For example, it may be effective to send a retargeting email to everyone on your email list who clicked on one of your ads in the last 30 days. 

Pro tip:  Do not send every type of email to people who only engage your products or services in one specific way. For example, if people only signed up for product updates, don’t invite them to every webinar. This type of email marketing behavior can cause great leads to unsubscribe. Always remember to keep every email relevant to its recipients. 

Keep your list fresh

It’s a good idea to remove bad addresses frequently. If you have detected no user engagement for a certain number of days or weeks from sending, then it naturally makes sense to refrain from sending more. Concentrate your efforts on generating prospects where high-quality leads are most likely to exist.

For more info about following best practices when it comes to collecting and sending emails, check out these 10 strategies on how to grow your email list.  

Watch the data for unsubscribes and high bounce rates

Closely monitoring your unsubscribe data and landing page bounce rate will help you hone in on what’s working in your lead gen campaign — and what isn’t. If you create a new landing page or change up the design and you begin seeing a substantial uptick in unsubscribes, you need to reevaluate your landing page design and content. 

Similarly, if it seems that users are clicking through to the page but leaving almost immediately after your lead generation video begins, something is off and should be changed. 

Introduce testing and iteration into the process 

Use these techniques consistently to measure impact. Think of it this way: you don’t get fit by working out at the gym once, and lead gen follows a similar guiding principle: you don’t get qualified leads if you only engage in outreach once. 

Make sure that your lead generation plan is in a constant state of testing, evaluation, and iteration. This will ensure that you’re getting the most out of your lead generation efforts. 

Testing is also a must to ensure that your marketing efforts are working to their maximum potential. It’s a good practice to test your lead generation tools like pop-ups and opt in forms. Play with the placement, design, and copy to find the version with the highest conversion rate. 

Now go grow those lists with video!

Hopefully you see that there are many effective ways to grow and leverage an email list. Take your lead generation marketing plan to the next level by getting smart about incorporating video. We promise, you (and your leads) won’t be sorry. 

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