What are the common mistakes you might be making in Lead Generation?

"Buyer personas are fictional profiles..." the AI author wrote. Rarely do they 'fit' your actual customers. Far better is to prospect relatively broadly, track responses meticulously, qualify relentlessly and most especially follow the lead to the completed sale. This process lets the market TELL YOU who the most profitable lead sources and profiles are.

- Incomplete buyer personas: Insufficient understanding of audience needs. - Neglecting multi-channel approach: Limited reach and engagement. - Poorly crafted content: Failing to resonate or provide value. - Lack of follow-up: Missed lead nurturing and conversion. - Ignoring data analysis: Inability to optimize strategies. - Overlooking lead qualification: Sending unqualified leads. - Neglecting CRM utilization: Inefficient lead tracking. - Inconsistent lead scoring: Misalignment in teams. - Ignoring feedback loops: Missed improvement opportunities. - Lack of A/B testing: Limited campaign optimization.

One common mistake is the lack of end to end tracking / measurement and business attribution to the lead generation activity. Generating a lead is easy. Generating a lead that converts at acceptable cost of acquisition is harder. An other common mistake is the lack of robust follow up process and SLAs that can generate leakage and deteriorate overall ROI and user experience. Regular mystery shopping / internal audit is healthy habit. Last but not the least, product features or product pricing are ultimately driving purchase decision - no matter how good is the lead generation. Capturing objections from prospective buyers and sharing this feedback with Product department is critical to address gaps and align lead to purchase.

We all make impactful campaigns for lead generation. Where we usually go wrong is execution and timely monitoring. The lack of CRM integration with email automation tools and lead capture forms makes it all the more difficult to locate gaps. Also, we underestimate the tone at which our audience receives communications. In my experience, using a less formal tone and adding some local references in my emails and LinkedIn ads has given me a better conversion rate than the rest.

The biggest mistake is not identifying who the decision maker is. Once you've targeted the right potential client, it is crucial that you only talk to the person who can say "yes" and sign the contract. If you pitch the wrong person all you've done is waste your time and energy.

In lead generation, failing to offer value is a common mistake and instead, businesses go for generic messaging, pushy sales tactics, or poor-quality content, often neglecting to address the needs and interests of prospects which can lead to disengagement and also end up in spam. To avoid this mistake, businesses should prioritise personalised, high-quality content that educates, entertains, or solves problems for their target audience, while also actively seeking and incorporating customer feedback to continually refine their approach. The key is to focus on quality rather than quantity.

Adding value and building equity amongst buyers and sellers alike is a critical attribute in partnering with enterprise brands on both sides. If you take the time to meet and have a conversation, try to connect that contact with someone from your network. Over time, that selfless connecting helps to create a mountain of equity that is bound to come back in some form or another. Offering value can come in many forms, and being a strong connector is certainly one of them.

Think of the exchange of the prospect’s contact details and whatever you’re offering as needing to have at least equal value. This means if your ad just says “talk to a sales rep”, it has far less perceived value than, say, “Learn how to tighten your skin and look years younger in weeks! Speak with us today!” In both cases, the contact form is the same, as is the next touch point for the prospect (a call from a sales rep). But by keeping the prospect focused on the value they will receive, you are continually reinforcing that your offering value - which, in turn, will help generate that lead.

Brands need to understand that no longer are the days consumers are willing to just easily give up their emails and contact info. Now that we are in the age of consumer privacy, it’s even more challenging for brands to obtain consumer data. However the magic happens when providing the right type of value to consumers in exchange for their personal information. Do you have a valuable piece of content they are seeking? Do you have a valuable product offer or trial to entice them? Whatever that “offering” is, it’s when the right type of value exchange occurs that both brand and consumer win.

There are so many people on LinkedIn selling their products or services. If you do not offer your audience value, no one will spend time on your profile. When you offer value to your audience, they will spend more time on your profile, book an appointment, or even slide into your DM. Please don't post promotional content now and then. Be selfish to yourself and start thinking about the benefits your audience will get from the post. You can always offer value to your audience, and you will get leads.

With my experience, sales person must know his or her target audience. They must have a strategy to target any audience for the product or services. Firstly, they need to have a proper interaction with the customer by showing the value addition, Understanding the customer pain areas, Help them to evaluate right product with proper comparison of competition. Aside this sales person must gain trust from customer by helping them to choose right product or services. Once the lead is generated, sales person must know how to evaluate the prospect and tentative timelines for the closure. In case of any reason, customer is not showing interest, sales person must move to next prospect and plan his business to meet his monthly target or budget.

For effective lead follow-up, remember these key points: Respond Quickly: Aim to get back to leads within an hour. Personalize Communication: Tailor your messages to each lead's interests. Diversify Channels: Use email, phone, and social media for outreach. Offer Value: Share relevant resources or advice. Be Persistent: Follow up several times but avoid spamming. Use a CRM: Track interactions and schedule follow-ups. Educate Your Team: Ensure everyone understands the follow-up strategy. Gather Feedback: Ask leads how to improve your process. Nurture: Keep providing value, even if leads aren't immediately ready to buy.

Think of every interaction as an opportunity. Without follow-up, those initial connections—whether through LinkedIn, your website, or in-person—are like invited guests left waiting in the foyer. The key to follow up? Seamless integration between marketing and sales. It's about capturing the right data when interest is shown and letting that guide both automated and personal follow-ups. In B2B, we're talking to a buying group. It's about communicating with the whole account, not just individual leads. Using targeted emails and ABM strategies can help make each follow-up more effective. We can't just collect leads; we have to cultivate relationships that grow into partnerships.

Following up is key and if you don’t do it you are simply missing out. No one wants to hear they didn’t win the deal but the truth is it happens. It’s also the perfect opportunity for you to ask for feedback which you might not get otherwise. Following up isn’t just about after the deal, it’s about maintaining the relationship. If they’ve chosen to go with another supplier follow up in six months and say hello, you never know what you might get back from that email.

In my experience, constant collaboration between marketing and sales team ensures that the follow-up process is optimized and coordinated. By sharing information about lead behavior and preferences, both teams can tailor their communication to better resonate with potential customers. Additionally, brainstorming together allows for the identification of the most effective follow-up strategies based on the lead's stage in the buyer's journey. This collaboration ultimately leads to a more seamless and impactful lead nurturing process, increasing the chances of converting leads into customers.

Optimizing for CPC, web visits or leads conversion is important. Be sure also to check that all copy, ads and other assets have been through brand review. Flashy, annoying ads and hyperbolic copy can lead to good performance metrics at the expense of the brand. A strategy like this undermines long-term growth. Many good CEOs or founders find their growth team is running ads that perform that they are embarrassed to be running because they are off brand or off message. Performance optimization needs to include fidelity to core message and brand.

Here’s my no chatgpt response: You gotta optimize the LTV of the lead divided to the CAC and all this broken down by geos/demos/campaign/audience/creative ids. And then connect between the front end (ad platforms budgets/bids) and your backend (LTV or predictive lead scoring). ah and also send the data back to platforms for platform Learning ;)

Not measuring and optimizing? Without tracking performance and making adjustments based on data, you can't identify what's effective or scale your strategy. Establish KPIs like lead quantity, quality, conversion rates, cost per lead, and revenue per lead to gauge success. Utilize tools such as Google Analytics, CRMs, and lead generation software for in-depth analysis. Regularly test different campaign elements like headlines, visuals, offers, landing pages to discover what resonates most. Continuous optimization based on solid data and feedback ensures your lead generation activities remain efficient and impactful, driving better results over time.

Lead Gen shouldn’t be an exercise in continually trying to”the next thing” hoping something eventually works; it should be a constant effort to test, measure, and improve. Running an ad with a blue CTA button? Baseline your CTR AND try orange and see if you get even a 1% improvement. This goes for every aspect of your lead gen efforts: visuals, headlines, body copy, CTA button text, colors, and fonts. And it applies to ads, landing pages, nurturing emails, and more. Start where you are today and, rather than try something different, just make a change to what you have and see if the desired outcome improves. Baseline it, and change something else. Should you get a worse result, revert and try a different change.

Relying on surface-level metrics can lead to missed opportunities for optimization. Deep dives into lead behavior analytics and multi-touch attribution models offer insights into the entire customer journey, enabling you to fine-tune your lead generation strategies effectively.

Learning new skills is essential for digital marketers because technology changes daily. It is very important to be open to learning. Learn about new insights and social media changes from other creators. Check out free resources on YouTube, blogs, podcasts, and books, or even attend workshops. You can also learn from experts in lead generation. Experienced people in this field have valuable information that can help you generate more leads. Remember, learning is a continuous process in Social Media Marketing.

Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Participating in mastermind groups or niche-specific forums can unearth unconventional tactics and fresh perspectives that could revolutionize your approach to lead generation.

Neglecting to follow up is a HUGE MISTAKE in lead generation. Follow-up is essential for nurturing relationships until leads are ready to convert. Without it, leads may forget your brand, lose interest, or turn to competitors. To prevent this, implement a lead management system to track and segment leads by behavior, interest, and buying stage. Utilize communication channels like email, social media, and phone calls to regularly engage with leads. Offer personalized, relevant content to guide them towards a purchase. Effective follow-up transforms initial interest into lasting engagement, increasing the likelihood of conversions. Google just put out the 7/11/4 rule not long ago

You should always have an open mind and should always be open to learn new ways and things in every aspect in life not just lead generation. A good person learns from their mistakes and applies to the future. A great person learns from their mistakes as well as others. Instead of you having to make the mistake and learn yourself, this could of been something you have learnt from others. We will always until the end of time be seeing new or different ways to do something. Stay with the times (Look at Nokia and how they didn't learn from others and didn't adopt the new way of doing things, they want from being one of the most popular phone brands to not even being in the top 10 now). Work smarter, not harder

Skipping out on learning from the pros is a surefire way to stunt your lead gen growth. It's all about soaking up the wisdom from folks who've been there, done that. Don't forget to chat with other lead gen g's, sharing fails and wins alike. Remember, every misstep is just a stepping stone to your next big breakthrough!

A big mistake being made in lead-gen is gating the wrong content. If you gate content that appeals to everyone in the target industry, you'll end up with a ton of MQLs who aren't looking to buy now. This creates two problems. 1. It wastes time. 2. You risk annoying these out-of-market prospects with aggressive sales tactics, which can damage your brand in the long run. So if you want high-quality leads, gate content that strong indicates current buying intent. Like a shopping guide or RoI calculator.

Not understanding the customer's language is the biggest mistake mostly made in Leadgen. Mostly people actually pitch what they have, not understanding the customer's painpoint or need. Just think you are a doctor and the prospect is a patient, you cannot just say have parcetamol 2 times a day and end there You need to rephrase it like this, I could sense you have fever for the last 3 days( how do you gain that knowledge by his previous posts, comments etc, what his profile says) and for fever to subside you need to have parcetamol 2 times a day

In lead generation, one common mistake is not leveraging the power of specialized knowledge about the challenges in your industry. It's all about focusing on providing the solutions (your value prop) that address the customer's challenges. This clear message (and call to action) will help the customer feel the experience of using your solution and relate to what you're providing. Remember, marketing is about testing and the right strategy can save you a decade.

Many companies are doing a great job with their SEO and paid search campaigns and drive tens of thousands of people to their websites. They don't offer live chat and this is causing them substantial missed sales opportunities. There are 3 key things that a company must do for deployment of live chat to maximize conversations. 1) don't use bots. People hate chat bots. 2) make it easy for the visitor to start a conversation. Don't make the visitor enter name and email first. 3) respond within seconds. Don't make your visitors wait a long time for a reply.

Target audience is actually a set of imaginary communities (read B. Anderson's book). It's not always about making the right logical point and creating content, it's about being part of these communities. Taking part in the public discussions, contributing and taking points back. It's about slowly gaining trust. Many mentioned tracking, persona, content and so on. All is true. But its not only about technical and strategic aspects. It's about emotional connections to communities and offering help and guidance to real problems. Authentically. Demand Generation is about a sustainable connection which drives mutual benefit. Don't target Bob. Become Bob.