Lead generation describes the marketing process of stimulating and peaking a targeted audience's interest in a product or service to develop and increase sales. You can see lead generation techniques for B2B, most commonly utilized for content marketing. However, the biggest mistake businesses make is not understanding the value that their content holds. Just putting words together will not drive traffic for you. The content that is created should have value and purpose for the reader so they learn new elements of the topic they are interested in. Remember, content is king and when used to its full potential, the reader receives valuable information, which develops your brand as a trustworthy source.  So what are the top most common lead generation mistakes and can you avoid them?

Forcing Your Content On Audiences

Although your content may be a work of art, that doesn't mean you can shove it in the reader's face. One of the best components of content marketing is that it allows for the consumer to do research on their own time and make the decision whether or not to purchase from the information that was provided. So when that luxury is taken away by the constant promotions and endless attempts to gain reader attention, this will in fact make your business seem like spam and actually drive people away rather than bring them in. Understand that web content writing is about valuable information and the best techniques to promote your content is to understand how to use the proper tools. Tools such as search engine optimization for higher ranking results, social media to better communicate with larger audiences and occasionally sending out creative email blasts will help develop a positive relationship.

Content That Doesn't Relate To Target Audience

If you are a home improvement business, your content should resemble the type of services you offer. This doesn't mean just writing promotional content but the information should however relate to your brand so the reader understands that you may be able to help with any other questions they may have. Stay on topic, create a content marketing plan, write valuable information and understand proper inbound marketing tools so as to gain loyal customers and regularly develop leads.

Neglecting Your Website

Regularly creating new content for readers is vital to gain a loyal following but its common for businesses to forget about their website content in the process. Your website content should also be intriguing and informative because it is an important step for the reader and if it's outdated and bland, they'll move on to someone else. "78% of B2B buyers start research for products online. Therefore, your website is likely to be the very first place where a lead will interact with your company. First impressions matter, so make sure your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and includes clear calls to action" (source).

Not Nurturing Generated Leads

Great, you have created amazing content and in doing so have generated several leads. However, the work is not done yet. Commonly, businesses don't use lead generation as means to an end. Leads don 't mean sales and so if you don't follow up and nurture those leads, you are still right where you started. Make sure to follow through and offer more information in a non-invasive way. For example, if you have an interested lead, you can send them a personalized message, create content specifically to their topic of interest and offer them relevant discounts or specials. Prove to them that you have what they need and are willing to take the extra steps to treat them as a valuable asset rather than another sales statistic.

Treating Leads As Numbers Rather Than People

The most important element to remember is that you are trying to help and inform the audience.Your customers are not just numbers on a spread sheet and they have needs that they want to be fulfilled by a business who appreciates them as valuable individuals.  This goes back to not only offering them the information they need but also nurturing them through every step of the buying process. Being a business that people can trust will ensure growth because there are so many businesses that claim to provide excellent service and products but never fully deliver.