Lead generation is one of the first steps in the process of sales. Most businesses solely run on the number of sales they do, which is what makes lead generation so important. In this article, I will tell you what is lead generation and why it is so important for a business.
When it comes to generating leads, businesses spend large amounts of money in the process aiming to get the highest number of leads possible. However, no matter the number of leads coming in, the only thing that makes a difference is how many of those leads are converting into customers. Most businesses focus on generating more and more leads as opposed to putting efforts into getting the most relevant and easily convertible leads. So let’s find out what is lead generation and why generating quality leads is so important.
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What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the process of finding more and more potential customers for your business. There are several ways to generate leads but one needs to ensure the leads that are generated are quality leads that are interested in the products and services you have to offer. This practice is better for sales and will save huge sums of money for the business. Lead generation is possible through various platforms. Though traditionally the process was very slow and untrackable, now due to the advancement of technology and the number of tools available on the internet, the process has become much more targeted, trackable and result-oriented. Lead generation is possible with the help of several strategies, let’s find out about the ones that are most commonly used by businesses.
Traditional Lead Generation Ideas
These strategies are the ones that were widely known and adopted by businesses before the existence of the internet. However, they are still used and result in several leads, just not as much as they used to once.
Retail Space
Occupy a stall and give visitors a real-time glimpse of how your offerings make a difference. If product-based are selling their items through a mall or shop, then they can choose shelves in such a way that it attracts the most customer attention. But custom shelving would be expensive. Finally, you can also use banners to promote your offerings, such as a digital board or a street hoarding, and design a logo in a way that stands out and makes an impact!
Hosting or Attending Physical Exhibitions
Any event or seminar that you think your target audience might visit can be a great place to get leads because here, you will get to meet your leads personally. You will find several leads and also get a chance the deduce whether the person is interested and worth pursuing.
Radio or TV Ads
They advertise your offerings in a way that increases viewers’ recall capacity! Because they last for a longer duration than digital ads, they successfully spark viewer interest! You don’t get to target specific groups, but given the massiveness of both these avenues and their credibility, any ad that appears on them by default attracts loads of customers!
Field Sales
Employ salesforce to connect with your leads on ground and train them to deliver impactful demonstrations or presentations. Ask them to do a SWOT analysis and educate customers on what they are getting for a specific price versus how other competitors lag in those specific aspects. Provide your team with contact cards, which they can hand over to customers for future communications.
Pamphlets
Pamphlets are distributed with the details of the business at places where the target audience of a business is found. This process is not really trackable and is generally considered a quantitative approach towards lead generation.
Newspaper and Magazines
Newspaper ads were a big deal back in the day and played a great role in lead generation. However, now they are used to appeal to the older generation of society.
Telemarketing
Ask your team to prepare a pitch that hooks responders and simultaneously educates them about your offerings. If responders don’t answer calls, contact them again after a while. Instead of contacting strangers, it would be better to contact leads generated through customers who visited your shop in the past or scrolled through your website!
Online Lead Generation Ideas
These are the strategies that are most commonly adopted by businesses to get ahead of the competition. They are easily trackable and help you find the best leads for the least amount of money.
Google Lead Generation Ads
These are the ads created on Google Display Network, and Google ads for this purpose are called Lead generation ads. These ads are specially created to target potential customers and use AI learning to appeal to them.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing refers to using social media to generate leads. This can be done organically or with the help of social media ads. Social media ads are a great way to generate leads because of the amazing target audience filters offered by social media platforms. With these filters, you can ensure that your money is spent efficiently and that your ads reach the right people.
Blogs
Blogs are an organic way to generate leads. Here, you need to use SEO to generate leads. The process is simple; however, it is a little tough to execute. All you have to do is research the most commonly searched keywords related to your brand and write SEO-optimized content using those keywords. Kind of like what I am doing right now. And voila, if done properly, your content appears on the top of the search list, and you attract an organic audience to your website and get potential customers.
Email Marketing
You can use informative newsletters to educate people about the trends prevalent in your industry and how your company makes a difference. You can even send emails covering your offers and discounts. And for any service rendered to them, you can send emails that track your team’s progress! Moreover, you can email survey forms to your customers and gather feedback to add to your site, or to make required upgrades!
Harness AI
You can use cookies to track potential leads’ searches or journeys on your website. Whatever insights you gather, you can combine them with AI software. AI will recommend to your leads either complementary products or costlier packages, which is also known as “cross-selling” and “up-selling.”
Conduct Virtual Events
If you host live streams, webinars, and courses, you will have more reasons to interact with your audience and promote your services. They overcome geographical barriers and enable you to access a wider base of viewers. And what’s more? Your analytics dashboard tracks each and every behavior of your audience!
Why Quality Lead Generation is Important?
Let’s say you have a business of baby clothes and are running campaigns on Facebook. Naturally, you wouldn’t want to run ads for everyone because that would be a complete waste of your money. Instead, you would like to make sure your ads are shown to the people who have recently had children. That is exactly why quality lead generation is so important. Most people spend their resources on generating a large number of leads. The right practice would be trying to find the most easily convertible leads. With these techniques, you can get the best leads for your business that are already interested in the products and services that you deal in.
Now that you know what lead generation is, the best ideas for generating leads, and their importance, it’s time to use these ideas and find the best leads for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.1 What does lead generation mean in sales?
“Lead generation” in this context means attracting users who are more likely to become customers in the future! You need to be very precise about the keywords you use and the way you pitch your offerings. If you want to attract users who would be interested in them, any miscommunication and a lot of your time and energy would be wasted!
Q2. What are the benefits of effective lead generation?
These are the benefits of an efficient lead generation strategy!
- You know the channels from which you are getting leads and you are able to bank on them further!
- You get word-of-mouth publicity free of cost!
- When you segregate your leads into different buyer personas, you can personalize your services to a greater degree!
- You enhance your chances of building a loyal customer base who won’t switch from one brand to another!
Q3. Why is it called lead generation?
“Lead,” in this case, refers to users who are more likely to convert into customers. ” Generation” in this context implies the various means through which you will attain leads!
Q4. How do I generate leads?
Aside from the traditional and digital channels mentioned above, you can utilize these strategies:
- Ask for references while connecting with leads.
- If people visit your store, ask them to fill out your survey forms so that you can obtain their contact details!
- Provide coupons on every order to encourage future purchases!
- Provide additional discounts if your customers push their friends and relatives to try your offerings!
- Analyze competitors and upgrade your services accordingly!
- Ask your sales team to hand over brochures to the customers so that they can read them and contact you later.
