Good morning. And welcome to the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. I'm Esther,
and I'm Melanie.
And today we're talking about Lead generation. What is it and why do you need it?
Well, yes, leads. Lead Generation is pretty much where you generate leads normally through. I have no idea.
Okay, so you just basically said the title again in the reverse words. So Lead Generation is generating leads. That's very useful. It's actually where you bring people to your business, not through salesy stuff. Okay. So you're pulling them in. It's called pool or invite marketing, right. Does that make sense?
Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. It's just I had no idea how to explain it. I just kind of do it. And for me, it would be quite simply the most realistic way that the majority of small businesses who don't really have a budget can bring in leads in the first place by being relatable by building a relationship and a rapport and just using elements of storytelling and different elements to bring people in. Because I see a lot of people who approach both of us, actually, who say, oh, I really need help with social media, but social media shouldn't be your only tool in your talk. It's talking to people signing up for networking events and speaking at them either through hybrid or face to face or whatever is easiest, so many different ways you can do it. So Lead Generation is essentially the bread and butter of every business. It's not just digital marketing businesses such as ourselves. The dentist does lead generation. The local Chamber does lead generation. And it's just a posh way of saying we get to know people through mediums that we can all afford.
Yeah, that is so true. And it's organic. Okay, so you're not reaching out and cold calling people. You're not forcing people to get to know you. You are organically, getting to know them through your website, your blog, your social media, your events hint, hint, very subtle. We use lead generation all the time, but we might not call it that. So Lead Generation is just getting people to see your content, read your content, relate to your content, and click a button to contact you. Whether that is, learn more, shop now. Call us, buy tickets. Those are all call to actions right?. So once people go through sales funnels and there's all these technical terms that people use. But at the end of the day, you want to turn a lead into a sale. And that's why you need to generate leads here in Ireland, north and south, it's still very much word of mouth marketing. Wouldn't you agree?
Well, yeah. Let's face it, we can just cross over the board and shake hands covid permitting.
But it's also that the small business down the street did good business with you or got good service from Restaurant X, and they're going to tell people, oh, I really recommend you go to so and so.
Yeah. See, that's also known as experience marketing as well, though, isn't it?
Yeah. I mean, there's so many different words for the same things. So cut through the jargon. And what you need is sales through people finding you.
And it really depends on the amount of time you have available to you and the amount of time. Maybe if you've got a team like Esther does who can support your marketing efforts and also what they're capable of doing when most people think about marketing. Sorry, lead generation. They think of doing a download and you have to put in your email address. And that's what most people think Springs to mind. But that's not the case at all. Facebook has a fantastic lead generation tool, which does the same thing. But. It fills all the sections for you automatically to a large extent. And pretty much all you need from your audience to do, then is to click yes or submit there at all.
What's my email address again. But it is. But Melanie going back to what Melanie said, having good quality content that people find through Google, which is why you need to be in Google my business, through your website, through your blogs, your emails, your social media. I mean, there's so many ways that people can find content for you, and it doesn't just have to be images or written. It can be videos, it can be audio podcasts.
You got an RSS feed that people can follow. And that's a form of lead generation. And as you probably are aware of, there are pieces of code that people put on their websites like Google Tag and for Google ads, LinkedIn Tags, and also Facebook Pixel codes. And that's essentially lead generation as well, where you get tracked. Basically, if you're following somebody's website and go and visit elements of their website different pages, maybe you've travelled through a cart or something like that and then you get an ad being delivered to you a few days later. I'm sure we've all seen it. We've bought a pair of shoes or something, and then a couple of days later it says, when you bought these shoes, would you like to buy this handbag, that sort of thing?
And it's not just that. I mean, if you have electronic devices anywhere near you and you're talking about, I'm thinking of going on holiday. Next thing you'll see ads for holidays all over your social media. Coincidence? I think not. But why don't people just buy leads? Why not just buy them?
We can. There's nothing to stop you from buying leads, to be honest. And I'm not going to speak out of town because I haven't met everybody who sells leads, but I'm sure there are some trusty, reliable, responsible businesses out there that offer you fantastic leads at good prices. But traditionally, people with our budget wouldn't come across them. So I would much rather get authentic leads from people who genuinely want to hear about my products or services, and it may be a bit harder one, but we've talked about this before and we've talked about vanity metrics and how lovely it is to have thousands and thousands of people follow you and subscribe to you and that sort of stuff. But if they don't partake in anything that you're selling, it's not working, and there's no way of measuring its success. So I'd much rather have a smaller Facebook page with people who actually engage with me than with thousands and thousands and thousands of people who don't.
Yeah, exactly. I fully agree with you there, and it's usually from one person having worked with you that they then tell another person or they recommend you in a different group. And Facebook groups are great. Twitter chats are great for this as well. And just I'm looking for somebody to help me with this. Oh, so and so helped me with X-Y-Z. Oh, I'm looking for a good restaurant here's a good restaurant in this area. People's experience count for a lot more than even the reviews on social media.
So we've discussed why lead generation is good. So how can we actually tell our audience how to implement lead generation to make it effectively work for them within a budget that they can afford? Esther, not to put you on the spot.
Totally put me on the spot. Well, like you were saying, just be yourself, be authentic, use your turns and your channels. Use your social media, update your website, have your blog, share it out, comment on other people's things. Just because you have an audience on any social media platform doesn't mean that they're seeing you. You should be helping in other areas as well. Join a Twitter chat and be useful, answer questions. Help people out.
Yeah, I use OptinMonster to help get sign ups for my newsletter. I use a lead magnet to get sign ups to my newsletter as well. I talk about my newsletter when I go on to podcasts. Nice.
Really?
Yes.
And you have a newsletter?
I have a newsletter that goes up every month just to let people know about it, because just because I post out there, as you say, you can't assume people are going to see it or hear about it unless you tell them. Some people get information through podcasts. Some people get information through video. Some people get information through contacts with close friends or family, and so you don't just say it the ones you keep telling people about it and give them some benefits. I mean, one of my favourite slides on a presentation I do for start your own business is features, tell benefits, sell. We actually did a whole podcast on it as well, and it's so true people will listen to the features, but they'll only take away what they benefit from. So by telling people what they're going to get out of it is the best way to get people to give you their lead generation details.
Yeah, it's interesting because I just saw some statistics that most marketers B to B especially say that 65% of their leads come from referrals.
Really?
Yeah.
Wow. That's impressive.
Then next time from that is email marketing and then social media. So definitely have a newsletter. I don't think we've done a podcast in newslettership, so maybe that's an upcoming one that we should do as to why people should have a newsletter, but definitely keep being helpful and useful and people will refer you as well.
Yeah.
Those are the best types of leads to get. That's it for today. Guys. Thanks again for for joining us. If you have any questions, do get in touch. We love to hear from you, and we'll be back next week with more Monday morning marketing Bye bye.