10 Lead Generation Ideas Beyond Veterinary Conferences5 min read
Reading Time: 4 minutesConferences may be on hold, but that doesn’t mean your lead generation programs need to follow suit. Use these 10 lead generation ideas to keep leads coming in. Plus, build brand awareness and equity in preparation for a strong showing at conferences when they resume.
1. Offer Webinars
CE webinars are the most obvious lead generation program to replace live events. Many states have relaxed online CE requirements to accommodate veterinarians as conferences are canceled or postponed. Regardless, if your content is compelling, webinars with and without CE will function well as a lead magnet.
Make sure you ask good qualifying questions on your webinar registration form to ensure your sales team has the insights they need to turn these top of funnel leads into sales opportunities. Don’t feel compelled to make new content—unless you need to, or want to! If you have a piece of content that historically performed well, consider rerunning it.
2. Leverage Case Studies as Lead Magnets
Veterinarians love case studies! Whether they are focused on a clinical topic, a business topic, or a combination of both, these can be strong lead magnets.
Focus on creating a case with both strong data and strong visuals. Our market is starved for time. As such, you must make sure your key takeaway gets across quickly and easily.
Carefully craft a compelling call-to-action (CTA) and include a promotional offer with a deadline to create action on your timeline.
3. Host Social Media Contests
Social media contests can effectively generate top-of-funnel leads. For best results, make sure your contest CTA isn’t too difficult and doesn’t require the participant to enter too much information.
Consider giveaways where participants enter to win something in a random drawing or via a gamified instant win type game. To maximize engagement, offer extra entries in exchanged for cross-channel shares. Tools like ShortStack can help administrate these contests and provide engaging ways for participants to interact (eg, gamified promotions).
4. Combine Similar Content to Create Packaged E-Courses
Leverage e-books as top-of-funnel lead magnets to gauge your prospect’s topic interest. Then feed these leads into packaged e-courses based upon their topic interest.
You can combine similar topic content into the e-course to provide participants with a more in-depth knowledge of a specific topic. For example, you may choose to package the following content (which may be existing or new), into a single e-course:
- A downloadable tip sheet on 10 little known facts about fleas
- An expert-led webinar on innovations in fighting fleas
- A free downloadable client handout on flea and tick prevention
- A tip video explaining how to maximize your flea and tick medication sales
5. Reinvigorate Your Blog Content Strategy
If you have a blog but have neglected it, consider reinvigorating your content strategy. Recent stats indicate that B2B companies that continue to focus on a strong content strategy now will reap the website traffic benefits later in 2020.
Focus on creating content that is compatible with your current promotions and messaging to act as an additional awareness-generating channel.
Embed strong CTAs and links to additional content within your blog posts to convert leads. Use these posts on social media, in emails, and in newsletters to maximize exposure.
6. Host Your Own Virtual Event
Host your own online meeting aimed at converting prospects with a surface level of interest into sales-ready leads.
For example, your virtual event could be an interactive review of a case study or a new piece of published research.
You may also conduct these virtual meetings as high-level group product demonstrations that highlight the value of your product or service (not the detailed features and benefits).
If you are hosting these as interactive meetings, consider limiting them to 15 attendees to create an ideal environment for collaboration. Your goal on these virtual meetings should be to convert prospects to the next step: a one-on-one meeting with a sales representative.
7. Referral Programs
Engage your biggest cheerleaders—your customers. Implement a formal referral program and support it with a robust communications plan. This way, your most loyal customers can generate strong leads for you.
8. Demo or Meeting Promotions
If your product or service is sold through a demonstration or virtual meeting, consider offering an incentive to meet. These incentives can be a good way to get representatives some “face” time (or FaceTime!). Make sure your offer is compatible with what you’re selling and is most attractive to someone with legitimate interest in your product. This will help discourage people from requesting meetings just to get the “gift.”
9. Use Testimonials in Your Content Strategy
Leverage testimonials within your content strategy to optimize campaign conversions. You may choose to use either customer testimonials or employee testimonials. Embed them within landing pages and use them on social media to support your content strategy.
For example, if you’re launching a referral program, use video testimonials to remind your customers why they love your product and want to share with their peers. If you’re hosting a virtual meeting, use relevant testimonials that can serve as social proof for the content you’ll be sharing in the virtual meeting.
There are endless ways to use testimonials!
10. Provide Limited-Time Value Offers (Not Just Discounts)
Use offers related to your product to drive interest—not just discounts. This could mean bundling your product offer, including a limited-time related value add, or offering exclusive financing programs. Instead of eroding prices—which may not move the needle anyway—focus on what offers added value to your customer and will result in long-term loyalty and brand equity.
How to Generate Awareness of Your Lead Generation Program
After you create your promotion, you’ll need to get the word-out. Consider the following channels for message distribution:
- Social media
- Your sales team
- Email marketing
- Exposure on your website
- Employ industry partners to share your message
- Advertising through media
- Direct mail
- Quick intro videos for social media, YouTube, and your website
- Call campaign via inside sales or telemarketing
- CPC strategy
