Ask any marketer and they will tell you that generating traffic and leads is their top challenge. In VR, most of the time that means going to trade shows or conventions and shaking hands. The problem with this approach is that it’s hardly scalable and requires a lot of manpower.
According to Hinge research, agencies that generate 40% of their leads online grow 4 times faster than the ones who don’t have automated lead generation campaigns. And the funny thing is that while most studios will use the latest tech to create VR experiences, they tend to be old school when it comes to finding their clients and rely mostly on word of mouth.
Don’t be one of them. Lead generation is a priority. And automating lead generation campaigns will put you ahead of the pack.
1. Know your Audience
Lack of solid audience data is the biggest barrier to lead generation. The most common mistake is to assume you know your audience. That’s the best way to waste money on ineffective marketing.
Instead you want to research your ideal audience, use client surveys and build buyers personae. You need to really understand them, their problems, needs, aspirations, and why they buy from you.
There are two ways to segment your audience. First demographics: their age, gender, location – basically who is your buyer. And second psychographics: hobbies, spending habits, … - or why they buy from you. Combining both is a powerful way to avoid wrong assumptions about your audience.
Having all this data will help you create content that resonates with your clients. As Perry Marshall puts it “you should be able to write a page out of their diary”.
2. Set Specific Goals
The next step is to set goals and expectations for your campaign. Around here, we like the KISS rule (Keep it simple, stupid!). It means that your goals should be measurable, specific and reflect your needs.
Here are some examples of specific goals:
- 1000 new website visitors each month, and 50 leads coming from those visits.
- add 600 new emails to our list every month, and 2 new clients generated from email marketing monthly.
Specific goals are key because they enable you to track if your campaigns are producing ROI. And if they aren’t, having all this data is useful to understand where you should make changes when necessary.
3. Build the campaign
Once we have a clear picture of our target audience and we know what goals we want to achieve, it’s time to build the actual campaign. For lead generation campaigns we usually focus on 4 key elements.
Social Media Optimization
Social Media should be a central part of your lead generation campaign. Each platform has powerful tools to target specific audiences. But not all platforms are equal. Your social media strategy should focus on the channels your audience is using. We find that for most VR studios Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram are particularly relevant.
All social media platforms have advertising options that can improve your lead generation.
Using "Custom audiences" on Facebook, you can further segment your audience for better results. You can upload your own contact list to target specific leads or use filters to refine your leads for better conversions. Remarketing ads are also very efficient to reach an audience already receptive to your message.
It’s also possible to advertise on Google, but “Search content is for when an audience wants to find you. Whereas social content is for when you want to find an audience.” (SEMrush).
Or to put it simply, search volumes for VR on Google are still low, and social media offers better conversion results for B2B and B2C businesses.
Finally, we use advanced techniques on Linkedin and Instagram to grow your audience by hundreds of targeted contacts per month. This is incredibly effective to build your email list quickly or boost the traffic of your website – and make sure you’re always talking to the right people.
Email Marketing
Email marketing remains the king when it comes to generating leads online. It is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences. And it does not require an ad spend budget. 80% of B2C businesses say email it the tool that drives the most customer retention.
Just like all the other aspects of your funnel, your emails need to be optimized for better conversions. You need to test different headlines, copy, and offers. Segmenting is key as well, as you want to make sure that the right information goes to the right subscriber.
And automation is key for email marketing. Some emailing software allow you to create sophisticated campaigns based on the behavior of your leads.
Website and Landing Page Optimization
Your website and your landing pages should of course be the hub of your campaign efforts. Both need to be optimized for conversions.
Targeted landing pages are especially important for VR studios. You want to explain to your target audience precisely how your solution will solve their unique problem. You certainly don’t want to talk to everyone and be relevant to no one. Once again, be specific.
In order to do that, you need to pay special attention to having a clean design, a simple navigation, and clear CTAs that point to your sales funnel. You should also display a benefits driven offer and social proof. And of course, all your pages need to be mobile friendly – this is now essential for your ranking on Google.
CTA and Form Optimization
Call to action and forms can make or break a campaign. They should never be overlooked. Their placement, offer and design all impact how people will respond. Fail this and they won’t progress in your funnel.
For instance, conversion rates tend to vary massively based on the CTAs locations:
- End of post: 0.5 – 1.5%
- Pop-ups: 1 – 8 %
- Welcome gates: 10 – 25%
Understanding the impact of your CTAs in your campaign is key. You should always be testing their location, color, design, wording…
The length of your forms is also an important factor for conversions. As a rule of thumb, forms should always be the smallest possible. Consider carefully what information you absolutely need to ask. For instance, a study shows that including a phone number field reduces conversions by 5%.
Conclusion
Lead generation is vital for the very survival of your studio. And nowadays the action takes place online, and requires a fair dose of automation.
Social media and email marketing are key. And your website, landing pages and CTAs must all be optimized to build a sales funnel. Granted it is a lot of work, but one that will pay dividends soon enough.
Online lead generation is much more effective than reaching to leads in cold calls, and much more scalable than running around trade shows with a Gear VR.
That said, online lead generation will not replace will real world interactions. The goal here is to start a 1-on-1 conversation with those most in needs of your services.
If you find this article helpful and want to evaluate your own efforts in terms of online lead generation. Drop us a quick email, and we’ll be happy to share a checklist we have created to help you organize your lead generation campaigns.