In this blog, we’ll talk about lead generation. We’ll tell you why your business needs to focus on it and how you can leverage graphic designs to boost your lead generation strategies. 

Reasons why small business owners should prioritize lead generation 

Lead generation is the process of spotting the right people to promote your business to. It’s about creating interest in your business and what you offer. A brilliant idea is all it takes to launch a small business. But to keep the business running in the intended direction, you need leads. Not any leads – relevant ones. When you manage to get those leads flowing in, here are some of the benefits for your business – 

• Increase your revenue – because more relevant leads mean a bigger chance of boosting your sales. 
• Diversify your presence – because there might be a bigger market and better opportunities waiting for your business. 
• Know what your customers think about your brand – customer feedback is easier to gather when you have a strong lead generation approach. 
• Strengthen brand awareness – informed buyers are less trusting of brands they have not heard about. So with better brand awareness comes better sales. 
• Survive competition – as more and more people discover and learn about your brand, your brand’s stance in your industry gets better. This helps you survive even in a competitive market. 

Given all these benefits, brands big and small prioritize lead generation as the primary goal for a majority of the content they create. And you should too. After all, good lead generation strategies are what help you cut through the noise and carry your business forward. Now let’s talk about using graphic design as an effective lead generation tool.

5 measurable ways to use designs for better lead generation 

Lead generation is not a one-off assignment for brands where you attract some prospects and your work is done. Lead generation is an ongoing process. It helps you expand your market and reach out to new people, potential buyers who might be interested in buying from you – either immediately or in the near future. 

There are different types of leads a brand needs to work with. A lot depends on where they are in the purchase journey. While some are casually browsing for options, some are looking to make a purchase very soon. Some of them are already transacting with your competitors and some are new to exploring the industry. Your lead generation approach and the designs you create for this should take all these differences into account. 

61% of marketers find lead generation to be one of the biggest marketing challenges. Let’s see how you can use well-planned marketing and branding designs to simplify the process. 

1. Customer-centric designs 

Different types of ads strike different chords with different types of customers. Lead generation is about attracting the attention of the right people and convincing them that you are offering something of value to them. For this, you don’t need just attractive marketing designs but designs that are tailored to your customer’s tastes.

First, you need to know who your customers are and where to reach them. That’s how you know whether social media designs will add more value to your lead generation approach or email marketing. 

Then comes the matter of what your customers like and dislike. How do you expect a random social media user seeing your ad to get interested in your brand if your social media ad does not appeal to them? So, you need designs that reflect your customers’ interests. 

The colors and imagery, for example, should resonate with them. Because gender, ethnicity, culture, and a host of other aspects of demographics influence the way a person perceives a color. For example, the top colors preferred by men are blue, green, and black while those preferred by women are blue, purple, and green. Color preferences vary by age group too. 

Given all these influencers, you need to help your designer understand your target audience in order to create better marketing designs. 

2. Attract quality leads with strong branding 

Getting people to notice your brand is tough but what’s tougher is getting them to move to the next step. This could be something as simple as checking out your social media page or website. What next? Next comes the important step of winning customer trust. The step where you establish your brand and give them a reason to take your brand seriously. Consistent branding helps you there. 

It all begins with a great logo. One that is simple, elegant, an accurate representation of what your brand stands for. From the colors to fonts, everything about the logo should point in the direction where your brand is headed. 

However, branding does not stop with designing your logo. You need to maintain a consistent visual and verbal tone of voice across your designs. This helps your customers develop a strong familiarity with your brand. And this brand awareness matters because 46% of consumers will pay more and purchase more from brands they are familiar with. That clearly shows that strong branding is an important factor in lead generation. 

Kimp Tip: A clear brand style guide can make it easier to maintain consistency in branding. It contains all the essential details like your target market, your target audience, the colors and fonts to use in your designs and so much more. 

Don’t have a brand style guide yet? No problem. The Kimp team can help you create one.  

3. Lead magnets for generating and nurturing leads 

One of the most important steps in lead generation is gathering customer information and building a resourceful customer database. Because generating leads is not enough – you need to nurture them. And for this, you need to stay in touch with your customers. One way to do that is through personalized email marketing. 

Though there are many ways to grab the email information of all your relevant leads, cold emails do not work anymore. Hardly 8.5% of cold outreach emails receive a response. A better alternative will be to provide a lead gen offer that convinces your leads to provide their email information voluntarily. The best way to do that is through lead magnets. 

These can be digital freebies, informative ebooks, templates, or anything else that’s relevant to your brand. Giving a preview of what the download looks like will increase the chance of customers providing their contact details in exchange for the download. 

Kimp Tip: You need a powerful lead capture landing page to make the lead magnet idea work. This landing page should tell customers about the value you offer and briefly explain to them why it’s relevant to them. The information and the visuals on the landing page should give them enough reasons to enter their contact information and download the content you have created for them. Links to this landing page can come from social media posts and ads, web ads, or even direct links embedded in QR codes provided on print designs. 

All these promotional designs leading to the landing page, the landing page design, and the downloadable content should have a visual connection. To create several such consistent-looking designs for the same campaign, a Kimp subscription is just what you need. 

4. Use videos for better impact 

Brand videos and promotional videos can give your lead generation strategy a huge boost. You can use videos to grab the attention of new leads through YouTube ads and Facebook ads. Or you can use them to build brand awareness. 

86% of video marketers consider video as one of the most effective tools for lead generation. Even social media platforms now favor video content. So, if you are looking for a way to put social media to good use in lead generation, then start adding more videos regularly. 

Informative videos increase engagement and strengthen your social media presence. These are also the kind of videos that get shared a lot. Which means that video makes it possible to attract new leads through your existing customers. 

You can also use videos to back up your lead magnet strategy. For example, you can create a simple video that gives a peek into the digital marketing trends of the year. You can then provide a link to download a detailed guide or an infographic that summarizes the trends and makes it easier to share the information. Your video here strikes the conversation and your customers only proceed to the next step if the video manages to convince them. This means that they are quality leads with better chances to convert when nurtured right. 

Kimp Tip: Videos designed to target leads who are in the early stages of their purchase journey should be short, straightforward, and visually appealing. 

Looking for a cost-effective way to come up with short promotional videos for your brand? Sign up for a Kimp Video subscription. 

5. CTA matters everywhere 

In all of these designs that you create for lead generation, the CTA can make or break the effect. Right from the position of the CTA to the color you choose and the copy – every little detail counts. 

What’s the secret to getting your CTA to perform about 202% better? Simple – personalize it. This includes personalization of text and what comes after. 

First, the copy – something as simple as using “Download my free guide” instead of “Click here” makes a very big difference.  

Second, using the same CTA for all your leads will be a bad idea. For example, a free guide or access to an introductory demo video will not make sense to an existing customer. Remember that your CTA provides direction to your sales funnel. So, you should understand where you are meeting your customers and then provide them with a suitable next step that shortens the sales funnel instead of taking them back to the beginning. 

Kimp Tip: In all types of designs where there is a CTA, like Story ads on social media, web banner ads, and marketing emails, you should choose relevant colors for your CTA without breaking the harmony of the overall design. The hierarchy on the page should point to the CTA and there should be enough negative space around the CTA button. This ensures that customers do not miss the CTA button. In fact, this small change can increase the conversion rate of the design by around 232%. 

Design all your graphics for lead generation with Kimp 

Design is a critical part of lead generation. There’s no doubt about that. But there is more to it than graphic design. You need content tailored to suit your brand persona and your ideal lead persona as well. You need to work on your SEO and your overall approach to digital marketing. With all these to consider, by taking up design in your hands you are burning your candle at both ends. Why do that when you can conveniently work with a designated design team that can take care of all your marketing and brand collateral while you focus on the rest of the lead generation tasks? Want to experience the difference that a design subscription can make in your lead generation strategy? Sign up for a free trial of Kimp today.