A Step by Step Guide to Inbound Online Marketing

Online lead generation is all about placing focus on creating an effective lead magnet and driving quality traffic to this magnet to then convert this traffic into qualified leads.

To drive this traffic and get people to convert, you’ll need to decide who you’re targeting and how, and have an effective plan in place to qualify your leads.

We are giving you a simple yet effective 8-step guide to follow to ensure you are covering all the steps on your online marketing journey.

1. Define your ideal customer 

You will need to create buyer personas for the businesses or individuals that you will be targeting. You will want to include demographics, motivations, goals, and pain points with your buyer personas. Once you have a clear understanding of your ideal lead, you can then move on to the next step of the online marketing process.

2. Map your lead generation funnel

A lead generation funnel is a systemic process to generate leads. The funnel will start when the lead first becomes aware of your business, and they will be guided through to the bottom of the funnel, which is when they are requested to take a specific action, e.g., sign up for a newsletter.

Follow our social media pages as we have a video coming next week with all the steps you need to create the perfect lead generation funnel.

3. Create free content

By creating free content, you are providing value to potential leads while building trust and familiarity with your brand. This free content could come in the form of blog posts, articles, or videos that are relevant to your business and industry.

You can post this free content through your social media channels or via your website. Make sure the content is educational and informative.

4. Create a gated lead magnet

A lead magnet is a free and valuable resource that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. Examples of lead magnets could be trial subscriptions, samples, white papers, e-newsletters, and free consultations.

These magnets usually represent premium content residing behind a “gate” that can be opened only with the submission of contact information. Ensure that your lead magnet is something that people genuinely want.

5. Choose the right lead capture method

Now that you have created your lead magnet, you need to decide where you want it to live and capture information. There are several options, such as your website, a landing page, or lead capture software. There are also social media ads that allow you to create forms to collect lead information. 

6. Drive traffic to your magnet and convert leads

Unfortunately, it’s rare that people will just fall onto your landing page if that’s the lead capture method you have chosen. You will need to drive traffic to that landing page, and there are various ways in which you can do this. 

You can use different forms of paid advertising; this could be through Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager.  You can also drive organic traffic from your social media profiles.

A final way to drive traffic is through affiliate marketing. You can offer influencers money or a discount on your product or service in exchange for them promoting your product or service to their already-trusting followers.

7. Qualify your leads

Lead qualification refers to the process of determining which potential customers are most likely to make an actual purchase. It’s an integral part of the lead generation funnel, which often takes in many leads but only converts a fraction of them.

8. Nurture your leads

Now that you have qualified your leads, you want to continue to nurture them, as this will help you when it comes to generating sales. Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the lead generation funnel. 

The Bottom Line

Online lead generation can really help you build a scalable business and improve your overall sales process. By incorporating our step-by-step guide into your online marketing strategy, you will successfully be able to generate online leads!