Although most marketers are fairly aware of how to generate leads and carry out an effective marketing campaign, landing pages are not as commonly used as they should be. Landing pages help you capture information and convert leads into customers. They are the heart and soul of an inbound marketer's lead generation strategy but somehow they are going underutilized and companies are not including this in their marketing strategy. One of the most common reasons why this happens is simply due to the fact that most marketing departments don't know how to set them up or they over do it.
In case you're wondering exactly what a landing page is, here's a simple definition: A landing page is a web page that allows you to collect a visitor's information through a lead-capture form. For example, a landing page typically includes fill-in-the-blank slots where the visitor will input their name, email, and phone number which in turn will help you contact them and sell your product or services.
Typically, a good landing page will target a particular audience. This can be traffic from an email campaign promoting a particular book, or visitors who click on an ad promoting your webinar or event. You can also build a landing page that allows visitors to download your content or redeem marketing offers like free trials, demos, or coupons as long as they provide their information.
5 Reasons Why You Need Landing Pages
1. Generate Leads Faster
If you want to instantly improve your lead generation method, use a landing page. Many companies make the mistake of directing their email, social media, and search traffic to their homepage. This is the equivalent of throwing away leads. You'll be able to capture these leads at a much higher rate by simply sending them to a specific landing page. The greatest part about a landing page is that it's very easy to generate leads for your sales department which you can then distribute within your team.
2. Create a Place for your Promotions
Landing pages and marketing offers go hand in hand. Without a landing page, your offers or promotions will do nothing for your lead generation strategy. People would just be taking advantage of the offer while you are not gaining anything back. The idea behind the landing page is to have your visitors "pay you" for that promotion with their contact information.
3. Collect Demographic Information About your Audience
Every time a lead completes a form on your landing page, your marketing and sales team will also collect valuable information about your audience. Your marketing team can in turn use this information to understand what types of visitors or marketing personas are converting on your page. They can also use this specific information to understand who they will be talking to once they reach out. Understanding your audience is highly important in order to know who to sell to and how your product or service will help them.
4. Understand Audience Engagement
Not only do landing pages help you generate new leads, but they also allow you to track existing leads. You can use this to identify which prospects are more engaged with your business. This information can also be utilized to collect other attributes from your audience like behaviors and attitudes on your website, which your sales team can use throughout the sales process.
5. Support your Marketing Channels
Successful and effective inbound marketing heavily relies on content. Landing pages are an excellent addition to any marketer's content because they can be shared on social media, within emails, on pay-per-click ads, and be found within an organic web search. Landing pages are not just links that can be shared in one place. You can use them within any content you share on social media which allows for more lead opportunities.
Key Characteristics of an Effective Landing Page
Understanding what a landing page is meant to do is one thing, but creating one is another. Here are the main components that a successful landing page should have:
1. Headline
This is the first thing visitors will usually see as soon as they visit your landing page. A great landing page headline explains the offer as clearly and concisely as possible. It readily states what visitors who convert on the page will receive.
2. Keywords
Keywords are an essential part of SEO. These keywords should be included within your page title, headers, and text in order to optimize search engine results.
3. Copy
The copy on a landing page should explain the value of the offer or promotion clearly, simply, and in a captivating way. Use bullet points or headers to separate ideas, avoid using large blocks of text, and keep it brief.
4. Include Social Share Links
Social share buttons/links allow visitors to easily share your landing page with their connections on social networks. This amplifies the reach of your landing page beyond your own network of contacts and followers.
5. Simple lead-capture/conversion form:
Make sure you landing page has a lead-capture form that is easy for your visitors to use. Try to make is as simple as possible in order for your visitors to have a pleasant user experience. If it's too complicated or long chances you'll have a harder time capturing lead information.
6. Images
Images make anything fun and pleasant. Landing pages that have relevant images give visitors a concrete idea of what they'll receive and make the experience overall more appealing and interesting.