10 Lead Capture Techniques

Lead Capture is one of the top concerns of digital marketers. The more leads we get with less investment of time and resources, the more likely we are to meet conversion goals and keep the brand growing. But despite this, only one in ten marketers feels that their lead generation campaigns are effective.

To improve our lead generation process, we can implement many different techniques and strategies, depending on the brand and its needs. Choosing one or the other will depend on many factors, but in any case, it is important to take into account the basic points of each one to get the most out of them. Let’s review 10 common lead capture techniques and see how we can implement them.

10 Lead Capture Techniques

Here are the 10 most effective lead capture techniques of the moment., I leave them summarized in an infographic and also detailed in the text of the article.

1) Inbound marketing

According to the study “State of the inbound 2016” of Hubspot, 59% of marketers say that Inbound marketing is the best resource for generating qualified leads. Since the premise of this model is to attract consumers to our brand, rather than targeting them directly to advertise products and services, it makes sense to think that the users captured will have a higher chance of becoming customers.

The most important keys to generating leads with Inbound Marketing are to investigate our buyer persona to find the content and offers that may be most attractive to them, and make sure to ask users for permission in a clear way to enter them into our database. This is where the double opt-in technique comes into play, which involves users having to confirm their acceptance twice.

2) Videos

The Videos are a real mine of lead capture that many marketers don’t take advantage of. But the truth is that they offer a lot of Possibilities for users to leave us their data:

• Within the video itself. You can include a text link superimposed on the video that leads to a key site on your website where the user leaves their data, or the protagonist of the video himself can encourage the user to do so, or both at the same time.
• On the YouTube end screen. When a user finishes watching a video, a menu is displayed with different options, as suggestions of what to do next. Among them, you can include a link to one of your landing pages or other key content.
• In the description of the videos. The different platforms for hosting online video include a brief description in text format. This is another fantastic place to add a link to some downloadable content.
• Creating videos with built-in forms. A very interesting option that few marketers take advantage of. You can create your own with tools like Wistia.
• Using the video itself as a lead magnet, that is, offering users the possibility of downloading it for free in exchange for leaving us their information.

3) SEM

The SEM is one of the best lead capture assets, as it allows us to create very strategic and optimized campaigns.

To improve lead capture from your search engine advertising, the keyword here is “optimize”. Each landing page should be optimized for a very specific set of keywords, and the corresponding ads should also include those. Don’t be afraid to create as many campaigns and ad groups as necessary to ensure that each offer is clearly separated and targets only the users who care most about it.

Another option to consider is to create retargeting campaigns, which show ads only to people who have already visited your website and are therefore more likely to become leads.

4) SEO

If you work well on your SEO strategy, you’ll be able to get a steady source of leads in the long run.

To do this, you will have to plan the positioning of your website based on the most promising keywords when generating leads. In addition to looking at factors such as the level of competition, it is necessary to take into account the intention of the user who searches for a given keyword: is he simply looking for information, or does he want to solve a specific need that our brand can satisfy?

5) Email marketing/newsletters

Year after year, Email Marketing Remains one of the most effective channels to communicate with potential customers and move forward on the path to conversion.

But while it’s an extremely useful tool, email alone isn’t a panacea. If you want it to help you generate more quality leads, keep these tips in mind:

• Make it clear to the user the benefits they can get from subscribing to your mailing list. For example, information about launches, exclusive tips, personalized offers…
• Take care of the frequency of emails. We all get obsessed with brands that bombard us with unwanted emails, so don’t become one of them! You should communicate with the user often enough so that they don’t forget about you, but only when you have something of value to offer them.
• Keep your database clean and up to date. In order for a user to become a qualified lead thanks to your email, they first have to receive it correctly, so make sure that you only have up-to-date email addresses of users who have consented to receive news from you.
• Test to test different aspects of your emails. From the subject line to the color of the main image, many factors can influence the success of your emails. Therefore, my recommendation is that you do not stop trying and experimenting with A/B tests to see which ones work best.

6) Social Ads

Social Media Advertising makes it possible for us to reach users in a very precise way, as it offers a lot of targeting options and campaign types.

In this case, we are particularly interested in specific lead generation ads, for example, Facebook lead ads. With them, we can get the user to leave us their data and become a qualified contact without having to leave the social network at any time. This reduces resistance on the user’s part and makes it much easier for them to leave their data with us.

7) Content Marketing

In addition to improving our brand image and our positioning in search engines, another of the “side effects” of a good Content Creation Strategy is generating leads naturally.

In particular, having a regularly updated brand blog can be very useful for generating a content base and creating opportunities to capture leads.

For this technique to work, it is essential to think of content as a long-term investment; in that sense, it is not very different from SEO. And above all, give a lot of priority to the quality of the content and the value it brings to the user.

8) Viral Marketing

The “Word of mouth” is one of the most classic marketing tools, but no less effective.

Getting a campaign to go viral is a great boost to the brand’s results, including lead capture. But in addition to the influence of the luck factor, it is necessary to have a well-planned viral strategy.

The basic ingredients of this strategy are to have content of great interest to the target audience and a dissemination strategy that makes it as easy as possible for the content to be shared. For this, social networks have a very important role. Depending on the characteristics of the content, we can opt for a perceived approach (the user knows from the beginning that they are watching advertising content) or covert, where the brand is only revealed later (always preventing the user from feeling deceived or disappointed).

9) Training

Training is a very powerful lead magnet, especially for B2B companies. This technique is very simple: we offer users training content (guide, course, webinar…) in exchange for them joining our database. The more this training is related to our products and services, the more qualified the leads we get will be.

10) Your own website

Finally, a technique so obvious that it can be overlooked: using your own website as a source of lead capture. Take note of these tips:

• Include a contact phone number and email on all pages of the website, not just on the contact page.
• Optimize your website to offer a good experience from all screens and devices. A website that doesn’t look good or doesn’t load can make us lose a lot of potential leads.
• Integrate your landing pages naturally. Think about the user’s journey through your page to see where you can insert contact forms with offers that suit their interests.
• Include a live chat or other express contact method to make it as easy as possible for users to contact you.