Marketing activities carried out online can have different objectives. It can be to increase product and brand awareness or to build the image of an expert in a particular industry. However, one of the most common goals is to acquire leads, i.e. people or companies interested in a particular service or product. Of course, achieving it is not easy, and the wrong approach can have the opposite effect and 'shoot off' rather than attract potential customers. Read this article and you will not only find out what exactly it is about lead generationbut also how to carry out this process effectively.
Lead, lead generation, lead scoring - what do these terms mean?
Lead and lead generation
However, before proceeding with the rest of this guide, it is necessary to familiarise yourself with the definitions of terms that will often come up. The first of these is the lead. This is nothing more than a person or company who is interested in your offer and who expresses his or her interest by voluntarily leaving contact details. What does this mean for you? This is your potential customer, who may have a purchase need in the near future and most likely already has a budget allocated for it. So what do you need to do to turn an ordinary website visitor into a lead? He or she should be adequately encouraged to read the content of the site and not leave without leaving basic contact details such as name, surname, email address or telephone number.
Division of leads - cold, warm and hot
Marketing professionals have broken down leads by the level of willingness of the potential customer to buy. We distinguish between leads:
- cold (otherwise long) - As the name suggests, people who are such a lead have a rather cold approach to the offer. However, they may decide to take advantage of it in the future. It is therefore a mistake to assume that cold leads are not valuable at all. They may not require an immediate response, but you should target them with educational content and observe their behaviour.
- warm (otherwise known as marketing) - is the stage when a person shows a clear interest in a product or service, but is still not ready to make a purchase decision (or something prevents them from doing so). What action should be taken with such leads? Pay a lot of attention to them, analyse them and direct marketing efforts towards maintaining interest in the offer.
- hot (otherwise known as sales; short) - are people who are ready to buy a service or product and require an immediate response from the sales department. They are usually people who have come across the offer on the recommendation of other satisfied customers.
Is there lead generation then? It's the process of acquiring, generating leads. The process is first about attracting a potential customer and then converting them into someone who is ready for a commercial relationship.
Lead scoring
It is worth learning about another concept, namely lead scoring. This is qualification of leads, their assessment in terms of their readiness to buy. This is an important part of the process, as it enables more effective and specific marketing activities to be carried out. It is obvious that not all leads translate into conversions. For this reason, it is a good idea for a company to set up its system for evaluating individual enquiries. Once you have a model according to which you will add or subtract points, you need to establish a scale. This should include groups such as:
- customers who are unlikely to take up the offer, have only just come across it, are undecided and their requirements unspecified
- people who are interested in the offer, but who still need to be "educated", encouraged
- customers very interested, ready to buy
The latter must be contacted as soon as possible to close the deal!
The sales funnel - the process through which a company must guide its leads
When addressing the topic of lead generation, the issue of sales funnels cannot be omitted from the article, as these issues are strongly linked. The aim of sales and marketing people is to guide the potential buyer step by step from the moment of first contact with the offer to the finalisation of the transaction. It is these successive steps, stages, that are the elements of the sales funnel. Depending on the specific sales process, this funnel may consist of a different number of sections.
What does the 'basic' version of the funnel look like? At the top of the funnel are the most peopleall those who have visited the website. At each successive stage, some of the acquired contacts (leads) will be deleted. These will be for those who have taken specific actions, such as those set out in the marketing plan. Only a small proportion of those at the top of the funnel reach the bottom of the funnel, i.e. the topping stage of the sale. What can be done to increase their number? You need to ensure not only that leads are plentiful, but also that they are of high quality (see above: lead scoring). There is no point in sales 'attacking' every lead. It is necessary to divide contacts into those for further marketing communication and those ready to sell.
How to effectively generate leads? 5 effective ways
You have already learned the basic concepts of lead generation. However, it's time to move from theory to practice. Here are 5 foolproof ways to generate leads!
Content marketing
Repeated to the point of weariness "Content is King" is also applicable to the process of acquiring leads. Valuable and audience-responsive content is key to generating leads. The preparation of content in any form (blog post, website content, infographics or video) should be preceded by an analysis of the problems and expectations of web users. For the most part, it is content that is responsible for whether or not you educate your audience, especially those who fall into the category of warm leads. Remember not to limit yourself to blog articles or social media content. As a lead magnet (value offered in exchange for contact information), an ebook works well, for example.
SEO
Union SEO with the acquisition of sales leads is obvious. High search engine rankings, which can be achieved precisely through systematic website optimisation, translate into increased traffic. The more visitors to your site, the more chances you have to convert them into potential customers.
Email marketing
A direct form of marketing using email is used not only for communication, but also to build a positive image, create lasting relationships with recipients and sales. The acquisition of leads is primarily driven by the subscriber base - In order to be able to subscribe to it, visitors to the website have to fill in a form. This provides basic details such as name, surname and, of course, email address.
Social media
How does social media enable lead generation? A good example is Facebook and its contact advertising. Facebook Ads is a special format that streamlines the process of completing the form by pre-populating it with data posted by the user on the platform. This ensures that the customer is not daunted by the prospect of completing the questionnaire, which is often the case when using mobile devices.
Webinars, training
While it can be stressful for newcomers to appear in front of a larger audience as a webinar presenter, they too are worth considering as lead generation tools. Part of the reason this format is so popular is because of pandemonium and the lack of face-to-face meetings. And what do webinars have to do with lead generation? To participate, participants must leave their details. The following are most commonly used for registration landing pages, i.e. simple pages serving a single purpose. It is important that, after the webinar, the company makes proper use of the acquired leads and does not neglect their potential.
To sum up...
Generating leads is the primary way to acquire new customers. However, it is a complicated process and there is no one good answer on how to do it effectively. Most companies develop their strategy by trial and error. The key is knowing your product (or service), your target audience and analysing the data you collect. The article lists some methods that are used to gain valuable contacts - try them out and gain new regular customers!
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