You can produce a great product. You can create great content that demonstrates the value of that product. But if none of your potential customers turn into leads, then what’s the point? This is where customer acquisition comes into play.

What New Marketers Need to Know Today

Whether you’re a new hire in a big advertising agency, or wear many hats at your current company or organization, acquiring new leads is important. So how do you turn your casual viewers into loyal customers?

Here are some of the basics of customer acquisition to get you started.

1. Create Awesome Content

You have probably heard this before, but it bears repeating. The core of your marketing efforts revolves around engaging content. Whether it’s a blog post, news article, video, quiz, survey, etc., you have to create something of value for your readers or they won’t care about what you have to offer. Make them care and they will respond accordingly. Be consistent with your content creation, promote it diligently, and pay attention to how your readers react.

2. Always include a Call-to-Action

Have you ever read a really interesting blog post and then looked for a way to share it or sign up for future updates only to find that the author didn’t include any way to do that? How frustrating!

This is a huge mistake that you want to avoid at all costs. CTAs allow you to capture a customer’s attention when they are the most interested in your content. A simple way to do this is to just include your email sign-up at the end of each piece of content. Many sites also include pop-ups that urge viewers to subscribe upon visiting their website.

Pop-ups can mar the user experience, but some can be very effective and engaging. Experiment and see what works for you.

3. Include a Compelling Offer

What are you offering in exchange for your potential lead to give up their contact information? Yes, a great blog post can be an incentive, but many readers won’t bother giving up their email or phone number unless they are getting something useful out of it. This could be an ebook, access to a webinar, training videos, or any other creative offer you can think of. Choose something that will resonate with your audience. Many lead generation campaigns fail because of a poor offer incentive.

4. Test Everything

What kind of content does your audience most interact with? What social media channels are they most active on? There is no point in creating content your readers aren’t interested in, or investing time into a social media platform your readers aren’t responding to. But you won’t know all of this right away.

Understanding where your customers are and what content they engage with will take time, and testing. Most email programs and design programs will allow you to create A/B tests to try out different subject lines and CTAs. Don’t make assumptions about what’s working with your content. Run a test and find out!

Bonus Tip: Optimize for Mobile!

In 2014, Search Engine Watch reported that mobile internet access had surpassed PC for the first time. The number of mobile users has skyrocketed since the report was released.

Depending on what product or service you’re selling and what content you are promoting, it’s a good bet that a significant portion of your potential customers are accessing your content via their mobile device. Are you making sure it’s a good experience for them? If your site is too difficult to use on a mobile phone, that user will most likely abandon your site.

Make sure your content is easily readable,  pop-ups don’t totally obscure your content, landing pages are optimized for a mobile experience and forms can be easily filled out. If you can’t capture a lead via mobile, it may spell doom to your customer acquisition efforts.

Now to Up Your Game

Content marketing and customer acquisition are exciting fields that are rapidly changing. This makes marketers jobs even more challenging, but also invigorating for those who thrive on learning new tecniques.

Some effective methods of generating leads today include free giveaways, webinars, and training materials. No matter what medium you choose, your content should always be entertaining and valuable to the reader. Experiment with what works for you, subscribe to newsletters to see how others are doing it, and enjoy seeing new customers roll in!