How-to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling

Analysis of the marketing landscape showed cold calling only has a 2% success rate. Cold calling, a common feature of telemarketing strategies, is an unsolicited phone call or visit a person or business where an attempt is made to sell a product or service. Despite being the go-to tactic for many sales staff and marketers in years gone by, cold calling is no longer delivering the same results it once was.

There are many reasons for this, one of the biggest being the rise in inbound marketing strategies. Cold calling is an outbound approach, it interrupts users with information they commonly have no interest in. Whereas inbound marketing attracts a person organically with valuable information that they’re actively seeking.

What is Cold Outreach?

Cold outreach, also known as outbound marketing, involves a call or visit to someone they weren’t expecting and the purpose is to sell goods or services. While the salesperson may have the best intentions, this approach often feels like an interruption or nuisance.

There is no guarantee the person or business is interested in what’s on offer. Even if the person is a qualified lead, when the salesperson reaches out to them, they may not be at the right stage in the buyer’s journey either which is often the key to securing a purchase.

Why Should You Switch to Inbound?

An inbound marketing strategy encompasses a variety of tactics. Inbound marketers utilise content marketing, SEO, and social media to build brand awareness and attract high-quality leads. Every lead generated through inbound marketing is organic, so you need smart tactics rather than big budgets.

Rather than directly generating leads, the goal should be to increase visibility and provide valuable content, so potential buyers reach out to you. This strategy is much easier to measure than cold outreach approaches as you can track where visitors land on your site and the actions they take.

Alternative Lead Generation Techniques That Work

1. SEO
2. Content Marketing
3. Email
4. Social Media
5. Ads

SEO

Optimising your website for search engines helps users discover it. During the research stage of the buyer’s journey, people input search terms into Google hoping to find relevant, valuable content. With an effective SEO strategy and keyword research, you can learn the terms your target audience is searching for and optimise your site pages to rank at the top of those SERPs.

For your inbound marketing strategy to work, you need to target the right specific phrases and keywords. These terms must be related to your product or services. You should also optimise for searches where a user is trying to solve a problem they have that you can help with. Implementing this correctly ensures your content organically appears on results pages – the higher you are on the page, the more likely they are to click.

SEO ensures your content reaches interested people. These are your target audience who are more likely to make a purchase. However, alongside an SEO strategy, you need a content marketing approach that publishes valuable and relevant content regularly.

Content Marketing

Content marketing and SEO work in tandem to deliver results. As a marketer, you should be producing content that educates, entertains, and welcomes visitors that click through to your website. This content needs to be optimised for SEO, so the relevant people click on the result. With the right content marketing strategy for your business and industry, you can attract high-quality leads, increase conversions, and develop your brand awareness.

Often, the first search will be a user trying to identify if they have a problem or a need. At this stage in the buyer’s journey, you need content that helps them overcome this challenge. If they read content that’s trying to sell them your products or services, they will bounce off the page as it isn’t relevant to them. However, with the right content, you can guide them through the buyer’s journey towards making a purchase.

Email

Inbound marketers have three main goals: attract, engage, and delight. They want to attract relevant prospects, engage with them to build long-lasting relationships so they convert, and delight them with a positive experience they will share with friends and family. Email newsletters are the perfect way to engage with prospects and guide them towards a conversion.

Email marketing complements your inbound strategy as you can automate messages and introduce a comprehensive workflow. For example, as a B2C marketer, you can ensure you send the right message at the right time, such as a new offer 30 days after an initial purchase. Email automation is also an effective tool for B2B marketers as you can repurpose content. Doing so improves the reach and traffic of a blog post, which increases the visibility of the business as well.

Social Media

Social media plays a big role in building brand awareness. It also helps you create a community amongst your customers that organically attract prospects and leads. Marketers can promote fresh content on multiple social media channels to drive engagement, clicks, and interactions. 

Analysing who follows your business, and on which channel, also teaches you about your buyers. You can use this information to create an ideal customer that informs your entire inbound marketing strategy. Marketers should also interact with their followers. Whether you’re a B2B company posting on LinkedIn or a B2C brand sending out tweets, you can build a community that increases visibility and trustworthiness.

Ads

While inbound marketing focuses on organic results, inbound ads can play a massive role. As part of your inbound marketing strategy, the ads must match search intent. This means your ads will appear for users who are interested and form a part of the buyer’s journey. Content promotion isn’t the same as cold outreach, which still has a place in marketing in 2021. 

Research where your target audience is searching. This could be on Facebook, Google search results, or another social media channel. Targeting relevant ads to the right location and users will increase your likelihood of attracting high-quality leads, rather than purchasing ads that will only be seen by people who aren’t interested.

Should I Stop Cold Outreach Completely?

Creative content is now leveraged by 82% of marketers, which has risen by 70% compared to 2020. With more and more people investing in inbound marketing, you mustn’t get left behind. Inbound tactics are a sustainable and cost-effective way to generate relevant leads while building brand awareness and visibility, and demonstrates your authority and thought leadership.

41% of marketers highlighted that inbound marketing delivers a measurable ROI. One of the problems with cold outreach is it can be hard to identify if it’s achieving results. If through your analysis you can see cold calling, and other outreach methods, are securing sales, you should continue these approaches. However, inbound marketing is the future, so any cold outbound methods should be implemented alongside it.

Loop Digital Inbound Marketing

Loop Digital is a digital marketing agency specialising in inbound marketing. Our experienced delivery team has the knowledge and abilities to improve your digital strategy, from creative content to marketing automation. Discover an inbound marketing approach tailored to your goals, get in touch with our friendly team today.