Lead Generation

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers for products or services. The end goal of lead generation is converting prospects into customers. 

From blogging to social media, organizations use various marketing strategies to garner the attention of leads and collect their contact information. Once companies identify and attract prospects, they nurture and convert them into paying clients, driving revenue and growth.

Salespeople rely on lead capture software to collect contact information from diverse sources, like the leads themselves or customer support agents. Then, they organize this data into lists. Lead capture tools also integrate with other software, like customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. 

Lead generation strategies

How companies connect with prospects varies based on the industry, as well as marketing and sales strategies. Some common methods for generating leads are: 

• Content marketing. Companies attract qualified leads by creating and sharing relevant, engaging work targeted to a specific audience. For example, after reading a helpful blog post, guide, or video, a potential buyer might sign up for the company’s newsletter. 
• Social media marketing (SMM). Many companies forge a presence on social media sites in hopes of attracting leads. If their social media posts resonate, leads might reach out via direct message or click a contact link in the company’s profile. 
• Email marketing. Sending targeted email sequences to potential buyers often moves them further down the sales funnel. These emails nurture the buyer, making them feel understood and presenting the company’s product or services as a solution to their problems. Leads simply click a call to action (CTA) button to fill out a lead-generation form or sign up for a free consult or demo.
• Lead magnet. A lead magnet is an asset the company offers in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. Some popular free resources used as lead magnets include eBooks, webinars, or whitepapers.
• Paid advertisements. Targeted pay-per-click (PPC) ads let you reach a specific audience and find more leads. Companies often run these ads on search engines or social media platforms. 
• Landing pages. An optimized landing page attracts organic search or paid ad traffic to an organization’s site. When strategically designed with the right copy, images, and call-to-action buttons, a landing page piques visitors’ interest and encourages them to submit their information.
• Events. Companies use conventions, conferences, and in-person or online workshops to garner leads interested in the topic or industry. Events are opportunities to tell prospects about the brand and its products or services and lead them to a landing page or website.

Benefits of lead generation

The act of getting a customer’s contact information is simple. Typically, they input their name, email address, or phone number into a form. At scale, getting prospects' information becomes more challenging, but yields dividends for organizations, like:

• Better business growth and revenue. Done well, lead generation produces a steady stream of leads. They can be converted into loyal customers, creating additional revenue for the company. If the company sees patterns in qualified leads, it might also identify new avenues for expansion into product offerings for new types of customers.
• Increased brand awareness. Lead-gen methods put companies right in front of their target audience. This leads to more recognition, which leads to stronger consumer trust and higher brand equity, the perceived value added by the brand’s name alone. 
• More targeted marketing. The lead generation process lets organizations focus on precise prospects for their product or services. This helps them gain higher-quality leads that are more likely to convert.

Lead generation best practices

No matter the industry, all organizations need clients or customers to succeed. To keep a full pipeline of potential buyers, companies should remember these lead-gen best practices.

• Conduct research. Companies need to understand their prospects’ pain points and preferences to know how and where to reach them. Data from various sources, such as surveys, analytics, and call center support logs, provides rich audience insights. Using social media monitoring software also uncovers trends and recognizes customer sentiment. 
• Produce messaging and content. A lead-generation strategy is only as good as the messaging and content it uses to reach prospects. Relevant, high-quality assets make a favorable impression and resonate with shoppers. Companies should optimize website content and landing pages through A/B testing.
• Use marketing automation software. These tools help companies find and nurture leads at scale, saving them countless hours. They modify workflows to automate essential tasks, like sending emails or posting on social media.
• Keep an eye on analytics. Whether teams use a marketing automation platform or a general analytics tool, frequent monitoring is a must. Tracking metrics like number of leads, cost per lead (CPL), or click-through rate (CTR) gives companies more understanding of how well their sales funnels work for them. 

Learn more about lead scoring and the best way to convert prospects into customers.