It is no secret that there is an overwhelming number of lead generation strategies that digital marketers can utilize to attract more prospects to their businesses. Unfortunately, not all strategies are equal. Some tend to produce better results than others.

Also, as time changes, the most effective ways to generate new leads change too. What was most effective five years ago may no longer be effective in 2022. So, what is the best way to attract prospects to your business and convert them into high-paying clients?

This guide explores the top five best lead generation strategies that we believe work best in 2022 and beyond.

What Is a Lead

In simple terms, a lead is any person who expresses interest in your company’s product or service in some way, form, or shape.

Typically, leads hear back from businesses after opening a communication line by submitting their personal information for a given offer, subscription, or trial instead of getting random cold calls from someone who might have purchased their contact information.

Let us say you complete an online survey to learn more about how to increase the value of your property. A few days later, you receive an email from the property maintenance company that created the survey about how they could help take care of your property.

With that, the entire process feels far less intrusive than if you’d have just received some random call from someone claiming to work with some property maintenance company looking to convert you into their customer. This is what it is like to be a lead.

From the business perspective, the information that the property management company collects from your responses helps them personalize the opening communication and address your specific concerns directly. They won’t waste time calling people that aren’t interested in their services!

Lead generation forms part of a broader customer lifecycle that consumers follow when transitioning from being mere visitors to customers. The four types of leads are marketing-qualified leads, sales-qualified lead, service-qualified lead, and product-qualified leads.

What Is Lead Generation?

This leads us to the next question; what is lead generation? In simple terms, lead generation refers to the process of attracting attention, capturing lead contact details, and turning prospects into your clients.

Any marketing strategy you use to attract new prospects to your business is a type of lead generation. That might include posting social media content, advertising in your local newspaper, or publishing a series of whitepapers designed to offer helpful technical assistance.

Depending on who you are targeting, there are many different types of lead generation strategies you can use for your business. The most crucial part of lead generation is to find a mix of tools that attract the right prospects to your business.

5 Lead Generation Strategies that Work in 2022 and Beyond

So, now that you know what a lead is and how lead generation works, let us discuss some of the lead generation strategies that we think work best in 2022 and beyond.

1. Content Marketing

Research shows that content marketing can generate up to three times more leads than outbound marketing and costs up to 62% less. Therefore, it is a no-brainer that your #1 lead generation strategy should be content marketing.

Implementing a content marketing strategy requires proper planning and takes time. You need to start by setting up a blog alongside your main business site. This could be in the form of a subdomain or simply have a link pointing from your homepage to a blog section.

The primary objective here is to provide your target audience with valuable information to help them solve their needs. Good content will help you gain organic search engine traffic and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

Be sure to play your cards right with the type of content you publish to stand a chance of going viral. The good thing about content marketing is that it has the potential of attracting high-quality leads that could end up being the lifeblood of your company.

Once you have published content on your blog, consider repurposing it for other content marketing channels such as email, video, and social media. For instance, you could take snippets of your blog post and publish them as new posts on your social media.

Content marketing is more critical to your business than you may think, especially for small businesses. Studies show that small businesses with blogs acquire approximately 126% more leads than those without a blog.

2. Influencer Marketing

If you haven’t explored influencer marketing yet, you could be lagging behind and missing out on important business opportunities. Research shows that there has been a 17% growth in usage of influencer marketing between 2019 and 2022.

In fact, one study on influencer marketing revealed that more than 90% of marketers believe influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways of generating leads.

Influencer marketing usually combines word of mouth marketing and social proof from a trustworthy voice in a particular niche. This increases the credibility of a product or service in the eyes of potential buyers. It may also introduce your business to an untapped pool of prospective customers.

The first step to leveraging influencer marketing is identifying influencers in your industry on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. Review their key metrics, such as the number of followers and engagement rate.

If you are satisfied with the numbers, find a way of connecting with them and striking a mutual deal to recommend your product or service to their audience.

Alternatively, you can identify a credible author or speaker in your industry and invite them to become a panelist to your webinar. That alone adds credibility for your webinar, but you can go a step further and request them to recommend your webinar to their network.

3. Launch a Podcast

Did you know that more than 125 million people listen to podcasts every day? This is in the United States alone, not the world.

These numbers should be enough to convince you to start a podcast for your small business. Your target audience is tuning in daily to listen to podcasts while driving, working out, or doing house chores.

Podcasts serve as an incredible channel to indirectly reach your target audience and generate massive awareness of your product/service.

Still not convinced to start a podcast for your business? Listen to this fact; at least 38% of podcast listeners purchase products/services they hear mentioned in podcasts.

Luckily, there are lots of things you can talk about in your podcast. The best way to identify podcast topic ideas is to assess the challenges faced by your prospective clients and address them in your episodes.

Be sure to mention how your product or service can help solve these challenges without sounding too salesy. Once you have generated awareness, your leads will start to flow in automatically.

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing is probably the most underrated lead generation tactic, yet it remains one of the most effective.

Email marketing can be a potent tool in converting prospects into customers and keeping existing customers engaged when used correctly.

One study conducted by Ascend2 showed that email marketing is not only an effective lead generation tactic but also the easiest to execute.

Another study showed that email marketing has an ROI of up to 36%. This means that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect a return of $36.

The key to successful email marketing is providing value to your subscribers. You can do this by sending them timely information about your product/service, helpful tips, or even discounts and coupons.

When creating your email list, only include people who have opted in to receive emails from you. This ensures that your emails are not considered spam.

You can generate leads for your email list by placing opt-in forms on your website or blog, running ads, or using pop-ups.

5. Webinars

Webinars are a great way to generate leads because they offer attendees a lot of value. In fact, webinars are one of the most effective ways to convert prospects into customers.

Webinars offer attendees a deep dive into your product or service and provide them with the opportunity to ask questions. They also allow you to build relationships with potential customers.

One study showed that nearly 40% of webinar attendees became customers.

When planning your webinar, be sure to pick a topic relevant to your target audience and one that provides them with value.

You can generate leads for your webinar by promoting it on your website, blog, and social media channels. You can also run ads or use pop-ups to drive traffic to your registration page.

Conclusion

Lead generation is essential for any business that wants to grow and scale.

The tactics we’ve covered in this article are some of the most effective ways to generate leads for your small business.

So, what are you waiting for? Start implementing these tactics today and watch your business grow!