Lead Generation Services and What to Ask When Hiring a Company | Hiring a lead generation company can be tricky in this day and age, especially when things like lead generation services and performance are taken into consideration. After all, investing money into a company you’re not always sure could get you the results you need can make you a bit hesitant. Perhaps you’ll be in an advantageous position if you know just what services you could ask companies when you hire them and just what should you clarify in the process. This article will do just that for you.
It might help to learn a bit more about lead generation in general before proceeding with what you need if you’re pushing to hire a company for your needs. For instance, it’s important to remember that in terms of business-to-business purchases, 93% of the buying process actually starts with online searches. Not only that, 76% of buyers do rely on around three (3) channels when looking into potential purchases; in other words, they use sites, blogs, social media, and other platforms when looking into products and services. A lot of people look into content marketing as the “way to go,” seeing that it can generate thrice as much leads for 65% less costs as paid search marketing.
Even social media appears to be the go-to channel for a lot of people – 75% of buyers do have an inclination to rely on social media for buying decisions, and 43% of marketers say they’ve acquired customers through a social media platform such as Facebook.
These are just some of the facts in terms of lead generation. You might want to consider these when finalizing your lead generation needs.
Lead Generation Services: The Basics
With the above in mind, it might help to get you familiarized with lead generation services that are available for your needs. This at least gives you a clearer view on what sort of services you can inquire providers about and to check if these are the services that you need in order to up the ante of your digital marketing game. Here are some of the best lead generation services you can rely on:
- Outbound techniques such as pay-per-click and cold calling, where you utilize different techniques that make you deal with external aspects of your branding instead of its internal elements.
- Email marketing, where you send emails sent to prospects, leads, and clients to guide them through the buying process in unique ways.
- Web page optimization, where you find ways to make sure elements existing in your website remain appealing to your core demographic.
- Blogging, where you can create content – especially blogs – that talks about you, your brand, your products, services, and other relevant topics within your niche.
- Social media, where you can tap into platforms that allow you to interact and engage with customers on a more head-to-head level.
- SEO, or search engine optimization, which is perhaps the most popular lead generation service, where you optimize both your website and content offerings to get high rankings in search engines.
Lead Generation Companies: What to Ask When Hiring
With the above lead generation services in mind, just what should you remember when it comes to asking companies about their services? Here are some considerations:
- How experienced are they, and what can they show to you regarding their specialization? Given there are a ton of lead generation types above, just which of these is their particular specialty? Can they handle other forms of lead generation? How long have they been operating? Knowing these numbers and information can greatly help you determine whether or not a company is really reliable or not for your needs.
- Have they dealt with your current situation before with another client? In relation to the above, you can also ask if they have dealt with a problem or request as yours with another client in the same niche or in a different one. What strategies did they employ to help the client? Were the strategies successful? If possible, can you get in touch with the said client to get a first-hand review of their service?
- How are they planning to tackle your specific situation? With the above in mind, you can also ask how they plan on dealing with your specific situation. This can help you determine the kind of approach they’re looking at for your brand even without going on specifics. Knowing this can also help you see if their strategies are aligned with your company’s philosophy.
- How are they going to communicate with you and report on their progress? Lead generation takes time and planning in order to get you the results you need, especially if there’s a dedicated team that’s going to be in charge of the so-called “push” to produce good leads for you. A company or team should let you know how they will communicate with you in terms of reporting their progress.
- What tools do they plan on using when it comes to reporting? Perhaps the most important aspect of the hiring process is to determine the tools your prospective company will use when reporting with you. What sort of analytics tools are they using? Are you familiar with those tools? Why are they planning on using that instead of something else in the market? If they’re able to answer this in a way you understand, they’re likely the team for you.
The Takeaway: Hiring Lead Generation Companies Requires Careful Evaluation
Getting yourself a lead generation service provider doesn’t just mean getting a team to do the lead generation for you. Given you’re going to invest time, energy, and resources into hiring a third party to get you the leads you need, make sure that you have enough knowledge about lead generation services and the different companies that offer the services you need. Take the above tips in mind so you’ll get yourself a lead generation service provider that you can hire to your advantage.
