Lead Generation:
Importance and Proven Strategies
Lead generation is key to business success and is the lifeblood of any business. But where do companies get high quality leads?
Effective lead generation is the sum of many moving parts, relying on planning and, frankly, a ton of effort. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about Lead Generation.
What Is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the process of creating consumer interest in your products or services.
With lead generation, you can attract leads (your potential customer) into a marketing software system with the hope of nurturing them through the buying process.
Once a lead is generated, you can then instruct them about your offerings and begin converting them into a customer.
What Is a Lead Generation Strategy?
A lead generation strategy’s main goal is to attract interested prospects and convert them into leads. A lead is a potential customer who indicates an interest in your product or service by taking some action. They have shared their contact details or otherwise implied that they may want to do business with you.
Why Is Lead Generation Important for Businesses?
Lead generation is incredibly important for businesses. Increasing leads means increasing brand awareness and interest in your products or services, nurturing curious prospects through the marketing funnel and into your sales pipeline. Lead generation strategies create strong relationships with qualified customers who invest in your business for a long time.
Different Types of Leads In Business
Every type of lead will have to be addressed uniquely depending on their qualification and where they fit into the sales and marketing process.
- Hot Lead
Hot leads have met all the required criteria in the BANT lead qualifying system. BANT stands for budget, authority, need and timeline, and it’s a framework that can be used to determine how qualified a lead is to work with your company and determine which leads should be prioritized.
- Warm Lead
Warm leads have missed 1 or 2 criteria in the BANT lead qualifying system. The qualifying scale is that a need was identified and the other 1 or 2 qualified criteria should be able to support the first.
- Cold Lead
Cold leads have 2 or 3 disqualifiers in the BANT lead qualifying system and most of the time further nurturing is needed.
- Information Qualified Lead (IQL)
Information Qualified Lead often provide their contact information in return for some type of useful information, also known as a top-of-the-funnel offer. These leads are usually just beginning to research the solution to a problem. They usually don’t know your company and how you can help.
- Product Qualified Lead (PQL)
Product qualified leads exist for companies who offer a product trial or a free or limited version of their product with options to upgrade, which is where your sales team comes in. They are contacts who’ve used your product and taken actions that indicate interest in becoming a paying customer.
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
This type of lead is similar to IQL. Marketing qualified leads are contacts who’ve engaged with your marketing team’s efforts but aren’t ready to receive a sales call.
- Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
Sales qualified leads are contacts who’ve taken actions that expressly indicate their interest in becoming a paying customer. The conversation was deep enough to have identified that this is an actual opportunity as they have real pain and the fit for what you do is what they need.
4 L’s of a successful Lead Generation Strategy
4 L’s of a successful Lead Generation Strategy
Digital marketing plays an important role in lead generation, your content is your key to success in promoting your business that is why you need to focus on the content by which buyers will be attracted towards your product. Your content should be interesting and compelling to convert visitors into buyers, but the first step to capturing your visitors is by linking them to your site.
4 Ls for strategically increasing lead generation include –
- Lead Capture
- Lead Magnets
- Landing Page Conversation Technique
- Lead Scoring
Lead Capture
Prospective buyers try to gain as much information as they can before buying the product. They go through different sites to collect the entire picture. Vendors can benefit from this practice by giving the prospect information about the product and then further asking for sign-ups to the site for more information. But it’s not easy to get information from buyers.
Businesses must use smart tactics and add some value to the lives of the customers and build a rapport with them before asking for personal information.
As a solution, one can always follow the given two thumb rules:
Give before you ask
All marketing processes must be valuable.
Having a Responsive design, Great offer or discounts, Creative content that explains all that customer needs are some of examples of Lead Capture steps.
Lead Magnets
Lead Generation Magnets are tools that help attract prospective buyers and provide value to them in exchange for their personal information so that you can follow up on them.
Examples of lead magnets include but are not limited to: social media following, email opt-ins, or subscriptions. It can be done through following;
- Providing your customers with informative eBooks.
- Giving them a free trial of your product or service.
- Discussing a particular topic based on the interest of the buyer.
- Giving them access to free webinars.
Landing page Conversion Techniques
A Landing Page is a page that is totally different from the home page or common site pages. It is a marketing strategy for a single page where a viewer lands upon clicking the displayed Advertisement.
It is important to create an ideal landing page which exposes the features of the product perfectly. Important points to keep in mind while creating a Landing Page are.
- Concise and Compelling Headline (and Subheading) – Your title is your only chance to hook your target. It must interest and educate audiences in just a few short words. Use a subheading, if necessary, to provide additional information and support the objective of the headline.
- Hero Shot – A “hero shot” is an eye-catching image featured at the top of a landing page. It is essential because you want to quickly convey a message to your audience, and images help people process information up to 60,000 times faster than text alone.
- Identification of Audience Problems – The perfect landing page helps audiences identify their situation and the problems they are having.
- Expression of Your Solutions – Connect audience problems to your unique positioning statement, and explain how your product or service helps them overcome their obstacles.
- List of Features and Benefits – An effective headline and hero shot gets your customer’s attention. When you’re introducing your features, it’s best to link them to benefits so your audience can understand why the features are relevant and important.
- One, Clear Call-to-Action – Your call-to-action should be clear and of a contrasting color with the rest of the page. The conversion should ideally be done in a click and tells your visitor exactly what you expect from them (download your free guide, buy now, get a demo).
- Optimized for mobile devices – You’ve probably already optimized your emails and website. Your landing pages are no exception.
Lead Scoring
Lead Scoring is a marketing automation software component that helps businesses prioritize and filter out leads based on their engagement with the marketing activities of the brand. In Lead Scoring, businesses can score leads by assigning points. This enables businesses to identify the leads that are much likely to be buyers.
The key point is that marketing and sales increase their combined efficiency and productivity based on the clarity of a sales-ready lead.
Lead generation strategies that work
Whether you are looking to generate leads online or offline, we got you covered.
Online B2B lead generation strategies
Here are some strategies to generate leads in the digital world.
- Create Gated Content
Gated content is online material only accessible to users once they fill out a form. Audiences must complete a lead capture form to access the “locked” content. - Create a Good opt-in offer/ incentive
Providing your viewer with different incentives could work for both parties. Convert prospects who are interested in your products and services by offering a coupon or discount as your lead magnet. This attracts valuable long-term and short-term leads. - Provide a Freemium Product or Free Trial
Free trials and freemium products attract qualified, interested prospects who aren’t ready to buy. Once they sign up, you can convert them into paying customers later by teasing paid features and delivering drip email campaigns that promote the benefits of upgraded accounts. - Host a webinar
A webinar can deliver more quality leads, provided you have given informative data to the people, this will speed up lead capturing and their personal information. - Share real life case studies
Sharing links to case studies or customer success stories can be incredibly effective in attracting prospects to your business. A proper case study demonstrates how your product has helped others. - Utilize email marketing
Once you have determined that your product or service is the right fit for them, research your prospects thoroughly and send them personal conversations via email. - Blog on a regular basis
Blogging regularly for your product means drawing people’s attention towards it. It is an important method that enhances your visibility on Google and keeps your website fresh. It is also an excellent way to build trust in your brand, nurture leads and build your credibility as a subject matter expert. - Create great Calls to Action and landing pages
It is important to provide a clear call to action throughout your marketing, including your LinkedIn profile, website, and even your content. One of the most effective online lead generation strategies is to have landing pages set up to convert website traffic into leads and customers.
Offline B2B lead generation strategies
Offline lead generation is by no means obsolete. Here are a few effective methods of generating leads offline.
- Direct Mail
Direct mail can help you to stand out from your competitors as many businesses moved away from the mailbox for the email inbox. Be sure to assign any offers or promotions you advertise in this manner a unique promo code so you can track how your prospect or customer found you. - Print Ads
Many people still subscribe to printed publications such as newspapers, magazines, or other publications. If your target audience contains readers of this sort, this is a great channel for getting in front of them. - Host an Event
Host an in-person event to attract and serve your target market while capturing their contact information via event registration. Connect with customers in real time so that you can answer questions, respond to objections, learn about your audience, and actively guide prospects through the sales funnel. - Inbound Phone Calls
Smartphone users are not only using their devices to research products and services, they might even make a phone call with them as well. Utilize click-to-call buttons to capitalize on your prospects’ immediate interest and give them an option to talk to a live person right away. - Outbound Sales Reach Outs
Prospects who have previously engaged with your brand by filling out a form, downloading a piece of content, or conversed with you on your website’s live chat platform will be more responsive to your call.
Table of Contents
- What is Lead Generation?
- What Is a Lead Generation Strategy?
- Why Is Lead Generation Important for Businesses?
- Different Types of Leads In Business
- 4 L’s of a successful Lead Generation Strategy
- Lead Capture
- Lead Magnets
- Landing page conversion techniques
- Lead Scoring
- Lead generation strategies that work
- Online B2B lead generation strategies
- Offline B2B lead generation strategies
