How to Use HubSpot for Lead Generation: 5 Key Tactics

When it comes to return on investment from your website, lead generation is one of the most important metrics you can track. After all, if your website isn’t bringing in leads, it’s not doing its job.

If you’re a business owner or marketing manager looking to make the most out of your lead generation efforts, HubSpot is a powerful tool you can't afford to overlook. 

In our previous article, Organic Lead Generation: A Complete Guide for Businesses, we explored the foundational principles of generating organic leads - those highly valuable website visitors that find your company through non-paid methods like content marketing and SEO.

Now that you’ve got a good grasp of organic lead generation, it’s time to take things a step further by focusing on HubSpot. This article will give you five key tactics to use HubSpot for capturing, nurturing, and converting leads into customers, providing your business with a roadmap that enhances your marketing efforts.

Let’s dive into how you can effectively use HubSpot’s tools to implement these lead generation strategies and convert traffic into tangible business growth.

Quick Recap: What is Lead Generation and Why is it Important?

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone who has expressed interest in your company's product or service. It’s a key part of any Inbound Marketing strategy, as it allows you to build a list of potential customers that you can nurture through the buyer’s journey.

Why is lead generation so critical for your business? Here are a few reasons:

• Consistent Growth: Building a pipeline of potential customers that you can market your services and products to ensure long-term growth.
• Cost Efficiency: Organic lead generation - such as through SEO or content marketing - is more cost-effective and sustainable than paid advertising (not that there isn't a place for this type of marketing as well).
• Stronger Customer Relationships: By nurturing leads through targeted and personalized content, you're able to build trust and credibility with prospects.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Leads captured through Inbound Marketing efforts are often more qualified and ready to convert than those generated through traditional outbound tactics.

Now that we've covered the basics, let’s dive into how HubSpot can help you put lead generation on autopilot with specific tactics that drive results.

HubSpot Tools for Lead Generation

An effective lead generation strategy starts with a well-thought-out content and SEO plan that attracts potential customers to your website, which you can learn more about in our blog - SEO Content Strategy: Tactics to Grow Your Organic Traffic.

Once you’ve optimized your site for organic traffic, you’ll need to leverage specific tools to convert that traffic into leads. HubSpot provides an array of features that make it easy to implement these strategies and maximize your lead generation potential.

For more information about HubSpot and why it might be a good choice for your business, read our blog Why Choose HubSpot? 21 Reasons Your Business Should Make the Change.

Let’s explore five key tactics you can use with HubSpot to drive your lead generation efforts:

1 - Capture Contact Information With Forms

Forms are one of the most basic yet powerful tools for lead generation. HubSpot makes it incredibly easy to create custom forms that capture essential contact details like names, emails, and phone numbers from visitors on your site.

These forms can be embedded on landing pages, blogs, as well as gated assets and offers to give your audience an opportunity to share their information with your business and get something in return. 

How It Works in HubSpot:

• HubSpot’s drag-and-drop form builder lets you easily customize forms to fit your needs, whether it’s a simple contact form or a detailed questionnaire.
• You can set forms to trigger automated follow-up emails, subscribe users to your newsletter, or pass the data directly into your CRM for sales outreach.
• Forms can be tied to lead magnets, like eBooks, webinars, or whitepapers, so you can incentivize users to submit their contact information.

Forms provide a crucial first step in lead generation, turning anonymous visitors into trackable contacts that can be nurtured through the buyer’s journey. 

2 - Go a Step Beyond With Pop-Up Forms

While traditional forms are effective, pop-up forms take lead generation a step further by capturing a visitor’s attention at the right moment. These strategically timed forms can appear when a user is about to leave your page or when they’ve spent a certain amount of time on a specific section of your website.

How It Works in HubSpot:

• HubSpot offers a pop-up form builder that integrates seamlessly with the rest of your website. You can customize the timing, placement, and messaging of your pop-up forms.
• Advanced targeting options let you show specific pop-ups to users based on their behaviour, such as the pages they visit or how long they’ve been on your site.
• You can offer an exclusive piece of content, a discount, or a free consultation as an incentive for filling out the pop-up form, ensuring a higher conversion rate.

Pop-up forms, when used correctly, can significantly boost the number of leads captured on your site without being overly intrusive.

3 - Build Email Marketing Campaigns and Workflows

Once you’ve captured your leads, the next step is nurturing them, and email marketing is one of the most effective ways to do this. With HubSpot, you can build automated email campaigns that engage leads based on their stage in the buyer’s journey.

How It Works in HubSpot:

• HubSpot’s email marketing tool allows you to create personalized email campaigns, segment your audience, and schedule automated email sequences.
• Use workflows to automate lead nurturing by sending targeted follow-ups based on user behaviour. For example, if someone downloads an eBook, you can automatically send them related articles or offer a demo of your product.
• Track open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics to optimize your email campaigns over time.

By building a comprehensive email marketing strategy with HubSpot, you can stay top-of-mind with leads and nurture them until they’re ready to convert.

4 - Implement Live Chat or Chatbots on Your Website

Today’s customers expect instant engagement from your brand. If you don’t give it to them, they can easily move along and visit your competitor instead. That’s where live chat and chatbots come in. HubSpot’s live chat tool allows you to engage visitors in real-time, answering questions and guiding them toward becoming a lead.

How It Works in HubSpot:

• Use HubSpot’s live chat tool to communicate directly with visitors, helping them find the information they need or offering assistance with your products/services.
• For after-hours support, deploy a chatbot that can answer common questions, capture contact information, and schedule meetings.
• You can also integrate the chatbot with your CRM, automatically logging interactions and qualifying leads based on the conversation.

Live chat and chatbots not only enhance the user experience but also increase the chances of converting website visitors into leads.

5 - A/B Test Your Lead Generation Strategies for Continual Improvement

The key to successful lead generation is constant improvement - and data is an absolute requirement for growth. HubSpot makes it easy with certain subscriptions to A/B test different lead generation tactics so you can optimize your results.

How It Works in HubSpot:

• Test different versions of forms, landing pages, CTAs, and email campaigns using HubSpot’s built-in A/B testing tools.
• Measure the performance of each version based on metrics like conversion rate, time on page, and engagement.
• Use the insights from your tests to continually refine your lead generation tactics and improve your overall results.

With A/B testing, you can be sure that your lead generation strategies are always improving, allowing you to maximize your return on investment.

Not sure where to start? SummitBound Marketing would love to help you generate higher-quality leads. As a HubSpot agency, our team has years of experience delivering data-driven B2B Inbound Marketing strategies that help our clients generate leads.

Reach out to our team today to learn more.