Businesses often say their goal is to “build a better mousetrap,” which conjures up all sorts of images.

It means these businesses are looking for a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors, want to find a better method to solve their customers’ problems, and intend to sit down at the drawing board — whether real or metaphorical — and design a solution.

You may be reluctant to think of it as a “trap,” but your Internet marketing efforts, particularly when it comes to lead generation, have to function in the same basic way as a mousetrap. You need bait to attract potential customers and arouse their interest.

You also need a mechanism through which you can capture and convert prospects into actual customers. However, although a mouse trap is a relatively simple product, a lead generation campaign is far more complicated.

Building a better lead generation campaign should be at the top of your priority list. Nonetheless, sitting down at the drawing board and trying to design one from scratch is a daunting task.

That’s because, while all you need to catch mice is some cheese and a trap, potential customers are much more diverse in terms of what they want and what motivates them.

Here at Chicago SEO company Straight North, we’ve spent a lot of time looking at what makes lead generation campaigns successful and how they’re constructed to attract and convert the largest possible number of website visitors.

In doing so, we’ve identified the key elements that need to go into these campaigns and how they feed into one another.

For example, many website visitors are unaware of a product or service that could solve a problem for them. That’s where a coordinated social media element comes in, because it introduces these people to the product or service through something shared by a friend or promoted on their social media feeds.

Other visitors come to your website because they know they need your particular product or service, but they want to do some research first. They want help finding the business that will be right for them.

These visitors can be swayed by testimonials from past customers. Another common type of website visitor is the person who is curious about a product or service but isn’t yet convinced that he or she needs it. This is where dynamic content such as professionally produced photos or videos can make an impact.

Although it’s possible to create a lead generation campaign that is missing any of these elements, you can’t expect that campaign to function as well as one that has all of them in place.

Building a better mousetrap begins with having the right design from which to work. Building a better lead generation campaign is no different.

We’ve created the infographic you see below as a kind of blueprint for Internet marketers to utilize. Whether you’re building a campaign from the ground up or retooling an existing one, this guide can help you ensure that you have everything you need — all in the right place.

Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, an Internet marketing company in Chicago that provides professional SEO services, PPC and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Forbes, Moz and American Marketing Association.

Source: https://www.straightnorth.com/company/marketing-resources/lead-generation-ecosystem/