Lead generation is integral to marketing and sales, thus making quality leads a priority for any business. With the immense reach of technology, lead generation has been reinvented, and here’s how to do it.
What is Lead Generation?
Any person who is interested in a product or service is considered that company’s lead. Anyone or everyone cannot be a leader. Many businesses make the mistake of marketing to everybody instead of focusing only on people interested in the company’s offerings.
Lead generation is defined as the method of attracting prospects and converting them into potential customers who would try out your company’s products or services. The end goal of lead generation is to get more people to convert into subscribers, customers, and supporters.
Most forms of modern lead generation are done using the internet. Here are the popular methods.
- Blogging
- Coupons
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Networking
- Live events and webinars, or virtual meetings
- Websites and landing pages
Among the sea of information about lead generation, businesses employ a few strategies to attract prospective customers. As is the case with resources, most companies stick to what works for their unique business objectives. Lead generation strategy differs from industry to industry and business to business. When the whole world is looking for value, your unique value proposition is the central focus of any lead generation strategy.
For example, email marketing and social media advertisements may work for fashion retailers, while the same strategies may not work for an IT company. While fashion stores list product descriptions and images to lure customers, software companies need to provide more details about their product or service and its benefits. Thus, a blog or series of virtual seminars may be a better lead generation strategy for the software company.
Why Do Brands Invest in Lead Generation?
When anybody comes across your advertisement, and if they show interest in its content, they are one step closer to buying from you. Effective lead generation is when a company can nurture an interested party into naturally buying their products or services. The end outcome of every lead generation strategy is to pitch a solution to a problem that the ideal target customer faces.
At the same time, when someone disinterested in your brand is constantly convinced to make a purchase, they feel pressured to spend their hard-earned money. This may result in an ugly reputation for your company. Hence, the distinction between pursuing a quality lead and pursuing anyone or everyone must be made. You have to understand the market persona and adapt your lead generation process to the demands of your ideal customer; because when you know someone is interested, you have a better chance of convincing them of the value being offered. That’s why lead generation experts are highly sought after by brands in every corner of the world.
Somebody who knows the customer is somebody who can make the customer buy. Let’s take a look at the tactical focus points of lead generation.
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Target the right people
Everybody is not a customer, so you ought to know where your customer resides, what they’re interested in, and how they spend their time. Companies that dedicate their resources to target a specific market save money and increase sales by returning a revenue higher than the investment.
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Create awareness
Unlike the niche-specific approach taken to identify potential customers, this process of lead generation is focused on a broader category of people who are likely to show interest in your brand. Lead generation also involves building a reputation and brand awareness. When more people discover your brand, the chances of landing the right customer increases. Hence, you supply the market with more information about your products and services.
Since the content revolves around your brand’s unique value proposition, it doesn’t harm anybody to learn more about your company.
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Data collection is key
The opportunity to collect valuable market data is the core aspect of the lead generation process. The more you know about your customers, the better your chances of penetrating the market. Customer information like their interests, contacts, investment pattern, social media activity, and behavior are all key forms of market data. Being able to study the market by conducting surveys, putting up a website, or sending out SMS prompts are all examples of data collection and lead generation.
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Inspire brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is the holy grail of advertising. Through quality content and excellent products and services, businesses can attract more customers. When more customers are satisfied with your business offerings, they turn into loyal advocates for your cause. This means companies can build a community around their brand to promote their goods and services. When like-minded customers come together in one place, your brand benefits immensely.
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Creating a niche through quality content
However, determining the quality of your leads is fundamental to maintaining increased success. If you chase somebody who isn’t going to buy from you, you spend a lot of resources without any positive results. Pursuing quality leads results in a higher return on every buck spent advertising. Thus, lead generation is at the core of every brand strategy to break into the market and create their niche.
Ideas to Practically Acquire More Leads
- Set up a quiz on your website to gather engagement and collect customer data
- Call up the customers who signed up for your social media ad
- Kickstart a referral program offering existing customers perks for promoting your brand
- Display ads on google by bidding on the highest-ranking keywords
- Post engaging content on social media channels frequently and consistently
- Create custom packages for your best-selling services and make them news
- Come up with a catchy title for a webinar that promotes your brand
- Use videos and visuals to make attractive content that goes online
When you are offering something to interested customers, you have to maintain consistency and quality. Because the people who vouch for your brand should be rewarded with wonderful experiences by interacting with your brand, that’s why companies like Big Basket, Croma, Amazon, and Flipkart display so many discounts, coupons, and special contests. A personalized email to customers on their birthday offering a 10% discount coupon can elevate the customer’s morale, benefitting the customer journey.
Customer Happiness is the Goal
Lead generation is about data collection and leveraging customer data to promote fulfilling experiences; when the customer is happy to hear from you, they will share their happiness with their friends. Using paid or organic lead generation strategies, you can leverage social media marketing, search engine marketing, video ads, email offers, coupons, and so much more.
The end goal is to make your customer happy by giving them value for their time and effort spent learning more about your brand. A quality lead becomes a happy customer, and happy customers are the profit of every business.
