Attracting new customers, generating more leads, and closing more sales is a constant challenge for digital marketers and business owners. Businesses of all types and sizes need a continuous supply of qualified leads to reach their profit goals and strengthen their brand.

Some business owners harness the power of social media Marketing. In contrast, many brands use email marketing, content marketing, landing page optimization, text messaging, and other Lead Generation techniques to make sales and drive business growth.

In this competitive landscape, generating high-qualified leads is easier said than done. So, how do you attract people interested in your products and services and convert them into paying customers?

Check out some result-driven lead generation hacks that you can use in 2021 to skyrocket your sales potential and reach unprecedented heights of success.

Let’s delve into them.

Lead Generation Hacks Every Marketer Should Use in 2021

1.       Free Product Trial

2.       Free Content Upgrade

3.       Limited Time Offer

4.       Create Video Content

5.       Exit-Intent Popups

6.       Live chat software

7.       Run an online contest

8.       Use Quora

9.       Host Webinars

10.   Build email lists

11.   Invest in Referral Marketing

12.   Partnering with Social Media Influencers

13.   Text message marketing

14.   Collect more data

15.   Display User-Generated Content

16. Track Brand Mentions

1.   Free Product Trial

A free product trial is one of the best lead generation strategies you should use to attract your potential customers. There is no denying the fact people love to use free samples. If you have recently launched your SaaS business, eCommerce store, or online retail business, you can use this strategy to bring brand awareness, create a positive brand image, and motivate them to buy your products.

If you want to widen your customer base and create more loyal customers, start offering free trials, and you will definitely get the desired results.

It is interesting to know that adding a “Free Trial” button to your website has the potential to boost the signup rate by up to 158%.

Offering a free product trial is a great lead generation idea that will help you:

·         market your products.

·         gain a competitive edge over your competitors.

·         get instant feedback about your product.

·         motivate customers to make a purchase decision.

2.   Free Content Upgrade

Believe it or not, a blog is a great marketing tool that helps you drive brand awareness, educate your audience about your products or services and increase traffic to your website. You can catch the interest of readers by offering content upgrades with your blogs. A content upgrade is a great opportunity to grow your email list by providing readers with more valuable information related to the blog post or landing page in exchange for an email address.

Here are some content upgrade ideas that help you attract more leads and grow your brand:

·         a checklist

·         a cheat sheet

·         a PFB blog post

·         list of resources

·         transcripts

·         case studies

·         an actionable template

·         report

·         eBook

·         free course

3.   Limited Time Offer

A limited time offer is a lead generation tactic to maximize your conversions and sales. Many established brands are making the most out of this marketing trend to drive sales and earn profits. Whether you are an ecommerce shop, mobile app development company, fashion brand, or grocery store, you can take maximum advantage of this lead generation technique.

Next time you compose your offer, keep this scarcity principle in mind to gain new customers and expand your reach.

4.   Create Video Content

Today 54% of consumers prefer watching a video than reading a long-form copy. This is why nearly 86% of businesses use video as a great marketing tool, and 93% of digital marketers add a video to their digital and email marketing strategy. You will see webinars, live streams, and how-to videos on social media and websites. If used right, videos can help you attract more users, drive more engagement and boost your lead generation efforts.

Marketers are advised to use video in their marketing efforts; here are some interesting video marketing statistics:

·         Video can boost email open rate by 6%

·         Videos can improve the click-through rate by 65%.

·         Video can lower the unsubscribe rate by 26%.

·         Video marketing can help brands produce an impressive ROI.

5.    Exit-Intent Popups

Whether you are an ecommerce business owner, marketing professional or digital marketer, adding popups to your website design strategy is a worthwhile idea to capture more leads. Bombarding your website visitors with a bunch of popups and hoping for more conversions doesn’t make sense. The key is to optimize your popups well and display the offer at the right time to the right visitor.

You can customize the exit-intent popups for each visitor and provide them with an interesting offer as per his preferences and needs. For instance, you can show an exit-intent popup that says signup to your newsletter or a targeted exit-intent popup that offers a free download or a special discount that forces visitors to buy now.

6.       Use a Live Chat Software

Offering exceptional customer service, engaging with your customers, and sending quick replies to their queries can help you generate leads and grow revenue. A live chat is an amazing way that allows your prospects and customers to connect with your website and inform them what your brand has in store for them. The statistics show that more and more customers prefer to buy from a website that offers live chat support.

Live chat is a proven way to get more leads while improving the response time of the website visitors and brightening the chances of sales. There are many live chat software tools that are based on the latest chatbot technology and provide your customers with a great customer experience.

7.       Run an Online Contest

Running an online contest is one of the best lead generation strategies for 2021 that can help you:

–          boost your website traffic.

–          generate user engagement.

–          grow your email list.

–          boost brand awareness

–          increase your social media following.

–          get user-generated content.

–          promote your product or service.

–          turn leads into customers.

Check out this online contest example of Hallmark UK and Ireland:

8.       Quora Marketing

Marketing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter isn’t new. However, Quora marketing is the newest trend marketers are adopting to boost their brand. If you find it difficult to generate website traffic, try Quora.

The asking and answering platform provides you with a great opportunity to connect with people who share valuable information and useful insights. The key to successful Quora marketing is to find questions that are exclusively related to your business and industry. You can use the platform to increase brand awareness and generate website traffic.

9.       Host Webinars

Hosting webinars is a sure-fire lead generation strategy to generate high-quality leads. Digital marketers are using this emerging lead generation hack to increase brand awareness, provide valuable information, and establish brand recognition. Some brands are hosting webinars for getting more conversions and nurturing leads.

Check out this amazing infographic on lead nurturing.

If you don’t want to host your own webinar, you can find like-minded people to host a joint webinar to share valuable information with your target audience. Market your webinar on social media channels, blog, and send newsletters to motivate people to sign up and attend the webinar.

10.   Build Email Lists

Growing your email list subscribers can increase your chances of getting more leads. Being a marketer, it is important to know the ways that can help you find contacts to run a killer email marketing campaign. Here are some interesting ways to build your email list:

·         Encourage subscribers to share your email content and forward it to your contacts.

·         Send targeted content to specific segments of your buyer persona.

·         Add a landing page link in your email list where people can signup for the mailing list.

·         Write an ebook and ask visitors to share their email address to download it.

·         Add a CTA button to your Facebook page.

·         Run a Twitter campaign.

11.   Invest in Referral Marketing

Referral programs are among the most effective ways to bring in more business and motivate people to become your brand advocate by referring your brand to their friends and family. Many brands are using this marketing strategy to improve customer retention rate, increase brand reach, boost user engagement, and attract more customers.

Visitors who buy products from your online store might know friends who would be interested in buying something from your brand. Offering a referral reward encourages them to recommend your brand to their friends and family. So, invest your time and effort in a referral program, and you will definitely earn customer trust and more new users.

12.   Partnering with Social Media Influencers

Today, brands are interested in teaming up with industry influencers as they have realized that influencer marketing can help them reach their target audience. Finding the right influencer can increase your brand awareness, audience engagement and gain a loyal, engaged user base. Influencer marketing, if used right, can bring more revenue to your online business.

Here are some interesting influencer marketing statistics by Business Insider:

–          Brands are interested in spending more than $15 billion on influence marketing by 2022.

–          79% of brands use Instagram for their influencer marketing campaigns.

13.   Text Message Marketing

It is one of the most effective lead generation hacks for 2021 that brands should add to their marketing strategy. It’s no wonder that SMS has the highest open and engagement rate. These SMS marketing statistics will help you understand how important text messaging marketing is for your brand:

• The open rate for text message marketing campaign is 98%, compared to the email marketing campaign, which is only 20%.
• 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes.
• Text message leads have higher chances (600%) of conversions than email and lead form submission leads.
• 79% of smartphone users make a purchase decision by receiving a brand SMS.
• 75% of consumers want to receive text messages from brands to stay informed about their latest offers and discounts.

14.   Get More Data

Collecting data is important to run a highly personalized and data-driven lead generation campaign. When you know what your audience wants, their interests, and pain points, you can better fulfil their needs and convert them into loyal customers. But the question is how to collect data from your audience to create an effective marketing campaign that drives more leads.

Here are a few easy ways to follow:

·         surveys

·         contests

·         online tracking

·         transactional records

·         online marketing analytics

·         social media monitoring

·         collecting registration and subscription data

·         use data collection tools

Companies that have customer data will be able to make well-informed and data-driven decisions for their business.

15.   Display User-Generated Content

More than 93% of customers check product reviews before making a buying decision. User-generated content is an image or review that is created by real users. It is a highly effective marketing strategy that brands can’t ignore in 2021. UGC can promote brand authenticity, earn customer trust, drive purchasing decisions, create brand desire, and showcase brand loyalty.

Using user-generated content on your website and social media platforms can encourage visitors to take action and use your product or service. Many B2B and B2C brands display testimonials, customer reviews, and success stories from satisfied clients on their websites. Your brand can also leverage UGC to share how your brand helped people to solve their problems.

16. Track Brand Mentions

Tracking brand mentions is an amazing lead generation technique that helps companies reach their prospective customers. You can use different social listening tools to check what your people say about your brand and how was their purchasing experience. People who talk about your products or services could be your potential customers. You can convert those prospects into your long-time loyal customers by listening to them.

So, start tracking your brand mentions and respond to the people who mentioned your brand. This strategy will increase user engagement and motivate them to purchase your products or services.

Mediatoolkit is a media monitoring tool that allows you to see brand mentions from different online sources (websites, blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more) in real-time.   Tracking your brand mentions via Mediatoolkit helps you get user-generated content that you can use for your website, blog, or marketing campaign. 

Now it’s Your Turn

Bringing in more conversions and leads will help your business grow. If you haven’t used these lead generation hacks before, 2021 is the time to give them a try. If you are not utilizing the power of these lead generation strategies, you will be left behind. So, try these lead generation hacks for 2021 to check what works best and which strategy needs tweaks to get maximum leads and conversions.

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