What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is something that you often encounter if you work in the online sales and marketing world. Let’s review what it means at the most basic level as a refresher to help you come up with new and impactful ideas.
WHAT IS A LEAD?
A lead is an individual who has expressed interest in the product or service that a business offers.
Essentially, collecting leads means that you are done with the first two steps of the sales cycle which are prospecting and cold-calling and can proceed to a warm call.
Some marketers have already declared cold calling ineffective and would rather focus on warm leads because when you proceed to communicate with a warm lead, a person is anticipating to hear from you or at least has shown some interest towards your products or services and are much more inclined to listen to you and consider complete a purchase.
WHAT IS LEAD GENERATION?
Lead generation is how you attract and get consumers to give you their contact information. It is the methods you use to collect leads.
If you are a marketer and have to tell somebody who is not marketing savvy what you do, you most likely tell them that you find ways to attract people to your business. Lead generation expands on this notion to become: Finding ways to make a person interested in your company and make them want to request more information from you.
It is a method of starting to funnel-in eventual purchasers of your product or service down the path of buying.
WHY IS LEAD GENERATION IMPORTANT?
Lead generation is very important for the growth of a business. The buying process has changed and marketers need to rethink and refocus their efforts in order to stay relevant. If people show to you that they are interested in your business, when you go to contact them about your offering they are no longer a stranger– but rather a true sales prospect who has reached out and “told” you they are interested in your product or service.
INBOUND VS OUTBOUND LEAD GENERATION
You can break lead generation up into two main categories: inbound and outbound. Make sure that you keep in mind your nurture and customer retention marketing strategies as part of a holistic strategy.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing is how you aid potential customers to find your company—often before they are even interested to make a purchase—and then taking advantage of that early awareness and making it brand preference and ultimately, leads and revenue.
You need to generate interest by offering a relevant mix of informative and entertaining content that builds a meaningful relationship with your audience. And you have to make sure that you are distributing your content through all the right channels – where your buyer spends time.
Here are some examples:
- Content Marketing and SEO
- Website
- Blog
- Social Media
- Podcast
Outbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing works for comprehensive lead generation activities, on the other hand, Outbound is good to magnify your inbound efforts, and target specific platforms. Essentially, it is using outbound channels to present your message and content to your prospects, typically over rented attention, rather than making your content and messages accessible on your own properties. Outbound gives your Inbound Marketing efforts an extra nudge to drive a lead down the funnel.
Combining these two kinds of marketing can multiply the amount of hits you generate, dramatically boost sharing, and eventually increase potential customers. Here are some outbound tactics that work best.
- Email Marketing
- Display Ads
- Pay-per-Click Ads
- Content Syndication
- Direct Mail
- Events
- Sales Development Reps
Our business advisors can recommend a Lead Management specialist to help you out.
Call 1-888-923-9323 or
Email businessadvisors@thevahub.com today!
