Measuring Real Results: What Are You Counting as Leads?

Questions to Ask Your Digital Marketing Agency About Leads

Your digital marketing agency may report getting your business an astronomical amount of leads, but your client base hasn’t grown, and your profits are stagnant. Why is that?

The likely answer is that they’re counting every phone call and form submission as a lead — a shady tactic that could cost you your business. Before starting your next advertising campaign, ask yourself and your digital marketing team these four questions about leads to better understand how effective your marketing strategy is.

Is Each Lead Unique?

If a phone call is a repeat lead, it’s not a real lead. Loyal customers are great, but their multiple inquiries shouldn’t count as individual leads. Especially if a customer is calling back to check on the time of their appointment.

When marketing companies lump returning customers in with new ones, it doesn’t give you a true indication of growth. Sure, on paper, it looks like you’re getting new business, but your monthly profits will show that you’re not actually growing.

Are My Leads High-quality?

Some marketing businesses use low-quality leads to bulk up their numbers. They’ll count spam, misdials, short phone calls, and robocalls as leads. Obviously, these are not quality leads, but if those things are included in your monthly lead generation report, they give a false sense of growth.

So what is a high-quality lead?

A high-quality lead is a phone call that lasts at least 60 seconds or an online form submission. Anything less might not lead to new customers for your business (or might not even be a potential customer at all).

Where Do My Leads Come From?

If your business has a strong online presence, your marketing strategy is diverse. Ideally, you use a combination of SEO tactics, local listings, and paid advertising campaigns to generate leads. However, if your marketing team isn’t telling you where those leads are coming from, you may be wasting money on marketing campaigns that aren’t working.

The US Small Business Administration reports that small businesses dedicate from 1% to about 8% of their gross income on advertising budgets. With your money at stake, you need to be sure you’re spending it wisely. Only a detail-oriented marketing firm can provide those statistics, help you interpret them, and adapt to changing trends.

Are My Leads Branded or Non-Branded?

A branded lead is a lead that comes from a customer wanting to do business specifically with you and searching for your brand name. Typically, they come to your website (through stellar advertising) to fill out a form or call you. They don’t want service from just anyone — they want it from you.

Non-branded leads come from customers that want a generic service. They may search “plumber near me” and find your website; they want a service, and you have it.

So, this means that both provide new customers?

That may be true, but like the last question, knowing if your leads are branded or non-branded tells you how effectively you’re spending your advertising budget. The cost per lead from brand searches is always lower than non-brand, and sometimes marketing agencies lump these leads together to help hide underperformance from your non-brand marketing campaigns. Some even go as far as lumping together all leads from your paid ads with your organic leads to help bulk up their numbers.

A Home Services Marketing Agency You Can Trust

Fortunately, Ferocious Media is here to provide your small business with the detail-oriented lead tracking and advertising it deserves. We only count high-quality leads to measure success and optimize your marketing strategy. Join our nationwide client base of plumbers, HVAC companies, and other home service providers by contacting us today for a free consultation.