<p dir="ltr">The whole point of business has always been &ndash; and will always be &ndash; acquiring sales qualified leads who can drive business reach and growth. Needless to say, profitability totally depends on the number of leads in the marketing funnel. Ever since the internet became a viable hub for businesses, it has been flooded with marketers trying to advertise their products, acquire new customers, and nurture the existing ones. The competition is stiff indeed. They are forced to find new and unique strategies to reach their goal. However, all those strategies may be useless unless they stick to the basics.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">Initially, marketers need to paint a clear picture of who their customers are; before even thinking about executing a lead generation strategy. The more information they gain about their customers--such as age, gender, interests, income, and location, the easier it becomes to target them.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">Using machine learning and analytics tools, marketers can execute a thorough customer analysis to determine your customers get attracted. For instance, if they find a majority of customers come through referrals, they&rsquo;ll probably need to focus on lead generation strategies like customer referral programs. On the other hand, they can also focus on email marketing, if that worked best.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">Once this is done, let&rsquo;s dive deep into the three effective strategies that satisfy one question - how to qualify a lead?</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Use Google AdWords to Gain Insights on Search Data</strong></h3><p dir="ltr">When it comes to content creation for attracting customers, keywords play a dominating role. Using Google AdWords, businesses can target specific keywords - that have a high search volume - and can bring their services in front of their prospects; at the right time. The results can also be made location-specific. However, due to the competition, this strategy usually comes with a high cost per click for the targeted keywords.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">That&rsquo;s not all. AdWords also allows marketers to create an account, and display specific ads that drive relevant traffic to the business website.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Create Intriguing Content Using Long-Tail Keywords&nbsp;</strong></h3><p dir="ltr">Search is getting more and more complex, and competitive these days. IN order to keep pace, marketers need to create content by targeting long-tail keywords that focus on business-specific solutions or services; and can convert their readers- or in this case prospects - into customers. They can use online keyword research tools like <a href="https://answerthepublic.com/" rel="nofollow">answerthepublic</a> to get some ideas. For better results, they can create content focused on long-tail keywords based on the commonly asked customer queries about the services/solutions.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">The content can be of any format - a blog post, image, video, podcast, webinar, Slideshare or anything that can be searched for and consumed on the web. In just a matter of time, this approach can effectively drive high-quality traffic to the business website, which can later be converted into leads.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><h3 dir="ltr"><strong>Interact with the Prospects on LinkedIn</strong></h3><p dir="ltr">LinkedIn, as we know, is a platform where marketers find high-quality leads. It provides them the essential tools and opportunity to reach out to the prospects directly. All they need to do is build trust using their content; before sending a connection request to get in touch. Once this is done, they can talk business, or perhaps offer a demo.&nbsp;The overall process is quite simple, but it requires time and dedication. It requires a regular follow-up until they (the prospects) finally convert into leads.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">As you can see, lead generation can be tricky, as new strategies and techniques boom out from time to time. To stay ahead of the curve and achieve success in business, marketers need to be constantly looking for the latest and best-in-class tools available in the marketplace.</p>