What is Lead Generation?

Attracting new people and making them convert is the daily challenge of every business.

We know that today the user is bombarded by stimuli, both online and offline. So attracting attention and earning trust can be a very complex path. It is necessary to study a strategy appropriate to your business and your target audience to generate new leads.

The first step is to create compelling content and use that content to convert visitors , say to your website, into leads. Of course, this is easier said than done.

What is a lead?

A lead is someone who expresses interest in your products/services.

The greater the interest, the closer you are to purchasing and the lead is defined as "hot".

"Once upon a time" there was direct selling, door-to-door and cold calling; nowadays people do research and get informed before making a purchase. This is why it is necessary for a company to have leads and these can be acquired from a variety of sources, such as: website, SMS, social media and Google advertising, email

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and potential customers into someone who expresses interest in your company's product or service. Lead generation is therefore a way to bring potential customers to your business and get them on the path to purchase.

Essentially, a lead is generated through the collection of information.

Such information collection could be the result of a job seeker showing interest in a position by completing a job application, a shopper sharing contact information in exchange for a coupon, or a person filling out a form to download training content.

These are just a few of the many ways you can qualify someone as a lead for your business. You’ll need to gather enough information to assess whether someone has a genuine, valid interest in your product or service , but knowing how much information is enough varies depending on your business.

Lead generation and inbound marketing

Inbound marketing is a strategy that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them. Inbound marketing is the method to grow your business by building meaningful and lasting relationships with consumers, prospects and customers, at every stage of their journey with you.

It can be divided into three phases:

1. Attraction: Attracting the right people with valuable content and conversations that increase your authority.

2. Engagement : Present insights and solutions that align with their pain points and goals so they are more likely to buy from you.

3. Delight : Provide help and support to enable your customers to find success with their purchase.

Inbound marketing strategy works with lead generation. The advantage of inbound marketing is that instead of using paid ads, it generates interest through information, entertainment and relevant content.

Here are some examples of where you can provide information to your potential customers:

• Blog : A well-written blog will attract traffic to your website. It is the place where you can best express the characteristics of your products/services: a B2B report on social media states that B2B marketers who write blogs generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not ( Source Social Fresh )

• Downloadable Content: Create informative and engaging eBooks, guides, and other downloadable content about your products and services.

• Website: Your website is where most of your leads are born. So make sure you have calls to action that encourage users to sign up for your newsletter, events, or webinars.

• SEO: Driving traffic to your website is just as important as writing content. Increase your website's visibility by choosing the right keywords and quality links, so your content can be easily found in an organic search on search engines.

• Social Media: Promoting your brand on social media is essential. Creating engaging content is a key factor in building trust with your audience.

What about outbound marketing?

Outbound marketing, translated as "outbound marketing",

places the brand and the respective products/services at the centre of the strategy with classic approaches: that is, a series of advertising, promotional and sales activities understood in their most classic forms, which is based on one-way communication with the interlocutor.

From a lead generation perspective, it is right to focus on some activities of this technique:

• Email Marketing : Emails are an incredibly versatile way to engage with your audience. Promoting new products, webinars, highlighting important content and updates can all be accomplished with a well-crafted email.

• Events: Promotional events, trade shows, and online webinars provide opportunities to connect with potential customers and define your brand.

• Paper mail : It may seem like an old and dated tool, but mail remains a reliable way to stay in touch with your customers, especially for a less digital audience.

• Pay per click: Showing your brand ads on search engines like Google and Yahoo has a high probability of being noticed and clicked (if relevant). The effort and expense will be rewarded as long as you provide engaging content

How to qualify leads?

To qualify your contacts, you should consider:

• Is the lead in your target audience? Evaluate your contact information, such as demographics, job title, company size/revenue.

• The lead interested in your product? Another good strategy is to analyze the activities of contacts on the website, such as filling out forms, participating in webinars, downloading content, requesting demos, using coupons.

Creating a lead generation campaign

Before starting a lead generation campaign you need to consider some factors that will help you increase the number of qualified leads:

• Set up your website for lead generation

• Customize your CRM: maximize its effectiveness by storing as much information as possible

• Content Marketing Strategy: Sharing valuable information with your target audience is a great way to earn their trust

Build a plan for your lead generation campaign

Now that you know what makes a successful lead generation campaign, let’s look at how to plan one. The first questions you need to ask yourself are:

1. Who is the target audience?

2. What do you offer them?

3. How do you reach them?

4. What do you expect from them?

5. How will you continue to "follow" them?

6. How often?

7. How will you qualify them?

With the proper preparation, your lead generation campaigns will yield great returns.

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