Lead generation should be at the heart of every successful direct marketing campaign. Whether through telemarketing, direct mail or email, the overriding goal is to convert as as many broadcasts as possible into leads and ultimately sales. By following a few easy to implement tips you can soon have lead generation success.

Use quality marketing data

Whether you're targeting the consumer or business market, the first step to optimising lead generation is to make sure you're using sufficient quality data.

Your own market data should be up to date, compliant and have sufficient information to enable effective segmentation and targeting of prospects. If you are in any doubt as to the quality of your data or if you want to expand your pool of prospects a professional list broker can really help.

Include a strong call to action

Direct and email pieces really must have a strong focus on a 'call to action'. You need to strongly suggest to the reader that they should take a particular course of action. 'Buy Now' is seen everywhere, largely because it works! Including a call to action serves two purposes. It starts the reader moving along the sales cycle through such actions as registering for further information, a product trial or to download vouchers and coupons. In addition, using tracking codes on coupons or website addresses the call to action allows you to monitor responses to your creative piece.

When creating your call to action, consumers respond better to direct and email communications with an emphasis on a clear offer. Your main aim should be to create an offer to attract a purchase as early as possible in the sales cycle. Examples of this sort of offer are percentage discounts or two for one offers.

In B2B marketing things are somewhat different. Although simple offers have a place, thought leadership-based calls to action tend to initiate earlier purchasing decisions. Your calls to action for this group could include invitations to web-based seminars or to download research surveys and the latest white papers.

Offer something of value

When is comes to collecting lead information on-line, be careful about how much information you ask for. People are becoming more aware of the value of their data and are more reticent about handing over their information. Many people will only part with their details if you are offering something they perceive to be of equivalent or greater value in return.

Interrogate your existing consumer/market data for clues as to what your prospects would consider to be of value.

Remember it's better to collect basic information that people are happy to part with, name and email address, so that you can strike up regular communication. Attempting to capture too much information too early on in the sales cycle can act as a deterrent and valuable leads can easily be lost this way. Keeping data collection forms short and simple with very few fields is key to making sure visitors provide their contact information.

Above all ensure any information collected and permissions given must be treated ethically and in accordance with the latest data regulations.

Simplify your sign ups

Pre-filling forms with information you already hold on a prospect can help take the pain out of doing it themselves and increase overall registration rates. Use this technique when you are asking them to hand over details for downloading information, watching web seminars, signing up for newsletters or requesting a free product trial.

Don't stop at simplifying the registration process. Think too about how other processes, on-line or otherwise, can be streamlined to make the journey to a sale as smooth and simple as possible for your prospective customers.

Stay strategic

Lead generating campaigns can all to often become overrun by tactical aspects. Make sure you have a clear strategic focus at the start of your campaign and maintain this throughout your campaign.

Use your experience with past campaigns and your accumulated marketing data to inform new campaigns and to build relevancy into your promotions and calls to action. Relevancy is key to converting prospects into leads and ultimately sales.

Have enough offers and options available for both those ready for a purchase and those who are not. Once you have attracted interest from a potential lead you don't want to lose them. Some people might simply not be ready to buy from you until they have built a more complete mental picture of your organisation. Help these people do that by offering them something for free (a simple instructional video may be all that is required) and in time they may well become purchasers too.