Lead generation: what is it, importance and how to generate more

Do you need to sell more in your company? then you need to focus on lead generation for the sales team.

If you ask the marketing and sales managers of any company what is their main objective? most will answer you:

Sell ​​more

Generate more quality leads

Increase sales of X product

Close new business

etc.

And why not? We all want more sales, every week, every month and every year, but the golden question is how are they going to achieve it? then things get a lot better.

Lead generation is the next step in the methodology of inbound marketing to sell more. business loan leads are that ingredient with which marketing and sales prepare that commercial banquet to end the quarter with excellent results in terms of sales.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is a process carried out by the marketing team through different actions with the aim of converting the visitors of a website into a record of a contact base called a "lead".

Before getting into the lead generation process, let's first clarify that a lead is a contact who has left their data in exchange for some valuable content such as an ebook, guide, template, webinar, etc. and that is now part of your contact base.

So, a lead is nothing more than a contact record of which we have at least his name and email.

Lead generation is a key piece in the immense puzzle that is needed to build a successful inbound marketing strategy.

With the appropriate strategies, you will be able to take advantage of the traffic that the website is generating to optimize conversions from visitors to leads and to be able to build quality databases.

Once you are generating business loan leads on a recurring basis, the next step is to start qualifying and maturing those leads to turn them into opportunities that you can work within the sales team. 

Why is it so important to generate leads

In general, it is very easy to explain the importance of generating leads: Without leads, there are no contacts that the sales team can work with, and without them, there are no sales and without sales, there is no cash to pay the company's bills.

However, it is very important to clarify that a lead is a person who is in the initial phase of a purchasing process, therefore, it is considered a potential customer and the subsequent objective to be had is to convert it to a real customer.

This is why every company needs a marketing team for the lead generation process and a sales team to sell to those leads so that the entire operation can be sustained.

You need a solid strategy that allows you to generate quality leads, to work them through various techniques and strategies in order to guide them throughout their purchase process, and make them become customers.

Digital channels to capture leads

The process for generating leads needs very specific ways to attract the right users and convert them into leads, in marketing we call them digital channels. We will talk about some of them below:

1. Email marketing

Through email, you can implement strategies to encourage a database to interact with your brand and obtain more data to personalize different strategies that help convert them into customers of your company.

2. Paid Search Engine Ads (SEM)

Search engine ads are another excellent way to generate leads, here we can guide and focus our actions based on what users search for online, you can use PPC strategies to appear just when people are looking for information related to them that you are trying to promote.

3. Advertising on social networks

Advertising on social networks is key in attracting new leads, we are all fully on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, we use all the time that users invest.

Some ad formats on Facebook have specific objectives to capture leads without leaving the social network, therefore it makes your job of informing and generating effective content easier. Remember to consider Instagram and Linkedin in your payment strategies.

4. Strategies in social networks

Focus on the social networks that your consumers actually use. To generate quality leads, you have to hit the audience that really interests you. And the fact is that not all users are on the same networks.

If your company is dedicated to B2B, LinkedIn may be your safest bet. Facebook is a massive network as it attracts a very wide audience. Instagram also has a large user base and is ideal for brands with a "wow" effect: makeup, fashion, travel ... Twitter has more weight for current affairs, and Snapchat can be a great platform if you're looking for is to attract a young audience.

5. Paid Display Ads

Display ads are those advertising banners that appear on other popular websites related to our target audience. Here the conversion of leads is usually lower, however, we recommend this channel for those campaigns where you want to create a little more branding.

The channels to generate leads can be diverse, some online such as the insertion of paid ads in search engines and others offline such as television, radio, public events, and even the mail, the possibilities are expanding as you increase your communication ratio.

How to generate more leads step by step

4. Lead generation

The ideas are many but these steps will guide you towards the specific activities that you must do. As your steps materialize, you will start generating leads on a recurring basis.

1. Create quality content

What your leads will see and read should convince them that your product or service is what they need, this content should not only be eye-catching and impressive, but it should be irresistible and provoke the desire to follow you.

Diversify the content offers for the stages of the purchase process, avoid using excessively corporate language, and offer quality content that adds value to the user, a few downloadable ones are never too many: guides, ebooks, templates, webinars, videos.

2. Use CTAs on your website

Call to action or what in Spanish we would call “call to action” is a text, image, or a button that links us directly to the landing page where your leads will find information about your offers and projects, they can download that content and they will visualize your ideas. Those MCA leads will demand more content that you can offer with more calls to action.

3. Optimize your forms

The form is the means by which a person becomes a lead, these forms are the first point of contact, you must make sure that they are responsive, that is, that they can be attached to the different devices that exist, they must also have all the fields that you consider necessary to obtain all the information that helps you classify them.

4. Use landing pages

A landing page or landing page is a web page designed specifically to convert strangers into potential customers, these pages help us to convert visitors into end customers, when we design something that seduces the customer and is striking, they will be willing to leave us their data Through the form, so you will begin to access other content of interest.

5. Speed ​​upconversion with paid ads

Investing in a paid ad strategy using the powerful segmentation tools of platforms such as Facebook ads, Google ads and LinkedIn ads will allow you to find people with a greater affinity with your brand, and thus, generate the leads you need for your marketing objectives.

What to do after generating leads

With a job well done in attraction and conversion, companies begin to grow their contact base significantly, and usually, they fall into one question: What to do with so many leads?

The first idea that comes up is to try to spam the base with product/service offers. This is not only risky as it can burn the canal unnecessarily, but it is also inefficient.

According to a survey conducted in 2012 by Marketing Sherpa of a large number of B2B companies, on average, 73% of Leads are not yet ready to buy.

For this reason, for the Marketing area, just generating Leads is not enough. It is necessary to have a process that helps Leads to descend more and more in the Sales Funnel and filter the base, managing to deliver to the sales area the Leads with the correct profile and that are more likely to purchase your solution. For this reason, lead nurturing is a key process once you have implemented a strategy to generate leads.

summarizing

Dare to experiment, only then will you know what works best with your target audience, quality leads will help you increase your sales possibilities exponentially, and depending on your strategy, you will achieve your goals.

There are many channels and strategies for generating leads, generating, and nurturing them is the key to achieving more sales in your company. Now that you know, get down to work.