It is often said that Generating Leads (in both quality and quantity) is a marketer’s most important objective. Lead generation is the engine that keeps your sales funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep, run your business, or are otherwise engaged.

In 2017, lead generation needs to be your 80/20 focus. For those who don’t know what I mean, the 80/20 rules (or the Pareto Principle) states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the effort. If you want to succeed, you need to find the 20% and focus on that. Lead Generation is key to that success.

This critical marketing tool is often overlooked, but is necessary to run a sustainable business. There are four crucial elements:

In order for a customer to be interested in your services or products, you must provide quality content. Thanks to fraud and rampant spam, it is harder than ever for people to give up their information to you. If you provide an irresistible offer, however, they will be inclined to work with you. Offers can include ebooks, whitepapers, coupons, product demonstrations, free webinars, free consultations, and more. You can have as many offers as you like, but keep in mind that each offer will require its own landing page. See more on that later.

A call-to-action (CTA) is an eye-catching text, image, or button that links direction to a landing page. This gives people an easy way for people to find and download your irresistible offer. Your CTA needs to be engaging and easy to navigate, or else you’ll miss the opportunity.

Landing pages are far different than normal website pages. It is a unique and specialized page that is tailored to the offer that got them there. Remember when we said you needed one landing page for each offer on your website? This is what we mean. A landing page needs to be focused. No side bars, flashing ads, or other article suggestions here. You don’t want to give them an excuse to click away. That’s why it’s called a funnel. You block out the distractions and let them focus on what they want: namely, your content. This, in turn, lets you get what you want: their information so you can begin your process of converting leads into paying clients and customers.

The form is a key ingredient for lead generation. You must capture the information of the person who receives your content. Remember, this is an equal exchange of information. You provided something they needed in exchange for their contact information. But how much information should you gather? That’s easy: the minimum amount of information you need in order to sustain their trust. It will be directly proportional to the content you provide. If you offer a downloadable printable checklist, don’t expect to get their name, email and mailing addresses, phone number, and credit card information. You can ask for their first name, email address, and maybe a contact phone number if the content warrants a phone call from you. Most of the time, you gain more interest by keeping the request to a name and email address. So, keep that in mind.

This is one trend you shouldn’t shy away from. #BeAwesome in 2017 and take your social media to the next level!