What Is Lead Generation?
What Is A Lead?
A ‘Lead’ is any person who indicates interest in a company’s product(s) or service(s) in some way, shape or form. In other words, a prospective customer who has shown interest in the service(s) or product(s) provided by your company.
Their interest is expressed through sharing their contact information such as an email, their social media contacts, a message and or a phone number.
Leads typically hear from a business or organisation after opening communication (by submitting personal information for an offer, trial, or subscription) … instead of getting a random cold call from someone who purchased their contact information.
Leads are the lifeblood of every business. Leads who turn into customers/clients are actually the lifeblood. However, without leads there are no clients.
If you meet fifty people at a conference, request them for their email, and they share it with you, that is an example of lead generation.
If a visitor to your website fills out your signup form, that is lead generation too.
if you post about your product/service on social media and a visitor leaves a comment, expressing interest in your business, this is also lead generation.
Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone who has indicated interest in your company’s product or service. Some examples of lead generators are job applications, blog posts, coupons, live events, and online content.
Digital development over the years has changed the way we do business. Gone are the days where promoting your business meant removing a newspaper advertisement or launching a flyer campaign and knocking door to door or dropping flyers through the letter boxes.
These days, you are able to know your audience and research their habits using various analytics software. Just like using an X-ray machine on your data, you choose whom to hit, when, and the way to execute campaigns with extreme precision. This enables you to reverse engineer your campaigns alongside your start line being the highest goal, the user.
Businesses must continue and continuously adapt to developing their digital marketing strategies. Social media and program Marketing are synonymous with Lead Generation. Both play a huge and vital role in getting brands noticed and heard and set the stage for the majority of selling campaigns you see online today.
In short, Lead Generation in digital marketing is the beginning of consumer interest or inquiry into the products or services of a business.
Lead Generation should be at the lead of your digital marketing plans.
Why Do You Need Lead Generation?
When a stranger initiates a relationship with you by showing an organic interest in your business, the transition from stranger to customer is much more natural.
Lead generation falls in the second stage of the inbound marketing methodology. It occurs after you have attracted an audience and are ready to convert those visitors into leads for your sales team (namely sales qualified leads).
The Aims Of Lead Generation In Digital Marketing.
For a business to grow, they have to urge customers to to notice their products and services and also gain the eye of prospective or potential customers and advertise their services, and what they can or will offer them.
This is often why Lead Generation in digital marketing is so important. Once a lead has been made, it can then be passed onto the sales team for them to nurture then convert into a buying customer.
It might be that the customer’s email is added to an email newsletter for further follow-up, a call might be made to the client or an email.
Due to the advances in technology, much more will be achieved through the knowledge gained from your Lead Generation, and digital marketing efforts. There’s software that will track product demand and customer habits. Trends are often analysed and they make it easier to focus on your potential customer via social media advertisement.
Types of leads
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
An MQL has a certain level of engagement with your business as a result of a marketing activity. MQLs are a result of lead generation techniques employed by the marketing team and are handed over to the sales team for nurturing. An MQL typically performs an activity, like downloading your eBook or has attended your marketing event, which is a clear indication of their interest in your business. MQLs are ready to be nurtured, but they are not ready to buy just yet.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
When an MQL displays sales-ready behavior, like requesting for a demo or signing up for a free trial, they become a sales qualified lead. These leads are usually handed over by the sales team to an Account Executive (AE). SQLs are close to making a purchasing decision, so the quicker the AE acts, the higher their chances of conversion. A good way to identify an SQL is by applying the BANT framework — do they have the Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe to buy from you?
Why Lead Generation Is Important
Lead generation is essential for both marketing and sales teams because it helps to:
- Obtain new sales leads
- Generate the right leads
While lead acquisition, by definition involves using both inbound and outbound tactics to generate leads, most sales representatives and marketers find more success with inbound strategies.
How Can You Apply Lead Generation To Your Business?
Customers, are now much more educated than in previous years, with a whole wealth of knowledge available at their fingertips. Before they even enter the sales cycle, they search reviews of your business, a product history, and run a comparison between you and your competitors.
The foremost successful way of generating leads via digital marketing is by posting content on your website and social media channels. By posting regularly the customer can engage along side your content before they enter the sales cycle.
You can also use this as a chance to demonstrate your capabilities and an expertise in your field. By sharing a blog, creating newsletters, and online visitor guides you can keep track of who are downloading them, opening them, interested in them, and adapt your Lead Generation strategy accordingly.
Lead Generation in digital marketing is often used to engage more along side your existing and new customers and you will make people aware of your services like never before.
You can use program Optimization (SEO) to plug your products. Organic searches are the foremost valuable long-term Lead Generation strategies. The more content that you post, the more you will appear in SEO results. Facebook, Shopify, and Google ADS are just a couple of the ways you can generate leads in digital marketing.
Having The Right Tools.
In this modern-a day, there are many lead generation tools to choose from. Naturally, some are built better than others. Many of them do not provide the same ROI as they once did and that could be due to lack of innovation.
How Much Does It All Cost?
That varies relying on what strategies you are employing. A paid billboard via social media, enlisting the help of a Lead Generation specialist, or offering free demos and trials can all differ in price.
Experts believe that over half your marketing budget should go towards a lead Generation but this is only viable once you have found the right strategy and are getting good, quality returns from it.
Conclusion
It is important to find what works specifically for your business and what brings the foremost leads back to you. As social media evolves, so does lead Generation in digital marketing and businesses must adapt and continue or risk being left behind.
Lead generation is not easy, but it is not rocket science either. Whether it is a big business or small, B2B or B2C, lead generation is key to making sales. If you are a salesperson, you are always looking for more leads. If you are a marketer, you are discovering new ways to generate them.
One of the biggest challenges of lead generation is to get people to divulge information about themselves. The elusive lead can be generated only if you can articulate the value in your business solution and be present in channels closest to the lead.
References:
- Conversations that sell — Nancy Bleeke
- Anti-Sell — Steve Morgan
- The B2B Lead generation Machine — Carrie Bedingfield
- The Invisible Sale — Tom Martin
- Leads to Sales — Tom McVoy
