How to generate leads with a low budget?
Activities related to lead generation have several stages. The first is to define potential customers and reach them by obtaining contact details. In the second stage, the already acquired contacts are organized by their readiness for purchase. However, before you move on to these tasks, you must implement a campaign whose goal is to provide you with leads.
In this article, we present some ideas that may become useful when the budget for activities is not high. We will also present Skivak’s interesting cases.
Content marketing
The term “Content is king”, which was popular a few years ago, has not lost its relevance. Preparation and publication of valuable content for your target group builds brand awareness and makes the customer ready to use a given service. Content does not have to be only in the form of articles or blog entries. It can also be visual and take the form of infographics, graphic creations or video implementations. It is important that it is tailored to the target group and responds to its needs, e.g. blog entries created by Skivak for Dekoratorium addressed the interest in inspiration in interior design.
In addition to a blog, content can be published on a landing page, whose task is to collect leads through the form. An example of such a solution is cooperation with the Veriforce brand and a platform called spawanielaczy.pl, which was created for welders. Another effective solution that works well with a low budget are e-books that are made available after leaving contact details by the recipient. Catchy topics, content development and the composition of the e-book itself can take a long time, but this effort can pay off if the concept attracts potentially interested people. Our agency followed this trend by developing Trendbook Centra Handlowe (Shopping Centers Trendbook), which described the transformations of shopping malls, development directions and tips on engaging communication. The publication brought a lot of contacts, and its reliability and visual design resulted in a gold prize received during the Power Of Content Marketing competition.
E-mail marketing
We all have experienced email marketing. Why is it that we cancel some subscriptions as soon as the first email is received, while leave others working for weeks and months? The key to success is, once again, engaging content – if the newsletter informs about new products (and even better, about promotions), then people are more likely to keep in regular contact with the brand. An attractive title is also important, as it has a significant impact on the email open rate!
PPC
Another way to generate leads are campaigns implemented in the PPC (pay per click) model. There are various options to choose from, and thanks to the large variety of advertising creations, it is possible to use many ways to reach potential users, adapt them to a target group, its shopping behavior and interests, as well as experiment with advertising creations and check their effectiveness.
Social selling
“Dear Ms. Emilia, I am writing with regard of the support that our company can provide …” – I receive at least a few messages a day on LinkedIn that are aimed at acquiring B2B leads. I answer those that are actually directed to me and offer complementary services. Social selling requires not only time commitment – completing your own profile, building a personal brand by publishing articles or presentations on SlideShare, but also following people we want to reach and commenting on their entries, as well as sending a business private message. You are more likely to respond to a brand that is already close to you and actively present online. These activities may be supported by paid campaigns, however, in the case of a low budget, we do not recommend this solution due to high costs. What about effectiveness? According to HubSpot research, 65% of sellers who use social selling are achieving their sales targets, as compared to 47% of representatives [KM1] who do not.
Podcast
Podcasts that take the trust of listeners by storm are also a very effective form of generating leads. Their production cost is not high, as it ultimately depends on the sound parameters that you want to achieve. The key is, as in previous types of activities, valuable content, which should make the recipient feel that the presented content allows them to, for example, better develop their own business. Due to the high substantive level, free access and the ability to listen while performing other activities (e.g. running), podcasts allow you to reach people potentially interested in your brand. Often, contact details are acquired when the recipient wants to receive e.g. additional materials to the broadcast. Skivak used the podcast formula in the case of the Mangolia Park Wrocław shopping mall.
A low budget does not necessarily mean small results in terms of lead acquisition. A well-chosen, professional campaign based on valuable content is the key to acquiring useful contacts. Good luck!
