5 search strategies to optimise lead generation

This post is sponsored by OOm.

​​In our highly digitalised world, digital marketing has become an indispensable strategy for many businesses. Terms, including “lead generation”, “paid search” and “organic search”, are often used in the digital marketing landscape. This then begets the questions – what is lead generation and how does paid and organic search come into the picture?

Lead generation is the process of getting audiences interested in your brand, products, and services, with the intention of increasing conversions. It is the first step to building a loyal customer base, playing an important role in the success of companies.

Paid and organic search are crucial lead generation components. Paid search involves paying search engines to improve rankings, while organic search relies on unpaid traffic and relevant search terms. When both paid and organic search strategies are implemented together, lead generation efforts are enhanced.

In this article, we look at how this can be done by exploring five search strategies to optimise lead generation.

Keyword research

Keyword research revolves around finding and analysing popular terms online users type into their search engines. Businesses can then leverage this information to empower greater business-customer relevance.

As mentioned above, both paid and organic search can be utilised in the keyword research process. For paid search or pay-per-click (PPC), keywords are used to run ads. Keyword research allows you to gain more information and insight on those searching your brand, ensuring that your ads are carefully targeted, and maximising your costs.

You can also integrate keyword research into your organic search strategy by weaving it into your online content and creating relevant links that lead to other pages of your website. We recommend maximising SEO services in Singapore for the best keyword research practices. 

Timing your PPC ads

Timing is everything, and this is especially so when it comes to the ever-changing nature of the online sphere and the growing shorter attention spans of consumers. PPC ads are highly effective when they are aligned with what a customer needs. Perhaps the best aspect of PPC is its ability to showcase the most relevant ads right when the customer is looking for similar services or products. This increases conversions as customers are in their “buying cycle”.

For instance, having a food ad displayed around mealtimes empowers greater enticement. In addition, showing PPC ads during periods of high volume searches enhances lead generation. The targeted ads allow you to manage your spending while making the most of immediate lead generation. 

Expand reach with display advertising

Have you ever visited a website and seen ads there? This is known as display advertising. The display ads showcased vary according to each user and come in many different formats from text to video. The type of ad you choose to run depends on your marketing goals and objectives.

Image ads are great for generating brand awareness, enabling you to incorporate your logo or product. On the other hand, video ads are useful for consumers who are already aware of your brand, but are keen on understanding your product and service offerings. As an essential marketing strategy, display advertising gets you millions of impressions and drives traffic to your website – all of which is part of lead generation.

Re-marketing

How often have you come across an online ad for a product you are considering purchasing, but never got around to doing so? This digital marketing strategy is referred to as re-marketing and targets users who engaged with your business before. They may have added your products to their cart without checking out.

Using cookies, re-marketing generates greater top-of-mind recall for your brand, and increases purchasing persuasion. Research has shown there is a more than 50% success rate of customers making a purchase through persistent advertising. The best part? These ads are shown to interested consumers, meaning the chances of them eventually making a purchase remains high.

Socials 

There is no denying that social media has taken the world by storm. In fact, most of us are likely to have created accounts across multiple social media platforms. With 58.4% of the world’s population using social media at an average of two hours and 27 minutes a day, businesses are starting to realise the benefits of leveraging social media to promote their brand.

Apart from incorporating keywords on social platforms for an SEO advantage, social media also enables businesses to learn more about their consumers as information, including demographics and interests, is available on profile pages. Furthermore, Facebook can even generate a “lookalike” audience to identify prospective clients based on existing customer databases.

Where traditional marketing lacks in interaction, social media digital marketing makes up for it. Interactive, two-way communication, is empowered through social media chat messages, blurring the line between business and consumer. This allows companies to effectively engage their customers and create more meaningful long-term relationships.

Lead generation strategies are a key element that every business should implement to thrive and flourish in an ever-evolving digital environment. PPC, display ads and social ads are a good option for companies who require fast lead generation results while organic search takes time with longer lasting effects.

Though digitalisation may be challenging to keep up with, opportunities to learn more about your current and potential customers abound, making it possible to start an online lead generation campaign quickly. Businesses that are new to lead generation can also engage an agency’s digital marketing services to make the process more seamless.