It has come to our attention that some of you don't know what lead generation is. That’s not great, as it potentially means that we have been talking leads and generating strategies without getting our message through. But fear not! Here comes an educational and fairly short run-through of the concept of lead generation.
In reality, we suspect most people in the industry are familiar with lead generation, but perhaps not with the fact that the concept has a name. A lead is a potential customer, which you have managed to seduce (generated) by using different channels and techniques.
Your lead can be anywhere in the buyer’s journey when you get on with your lead generation. Based on their current situation, you’ll know what kind of content and method to use in order to make the lead aware of your products or services. Your leads might have never heard of you before, or they might be frequent readers of your monthly newsletter and well aware of your existence. Either way, they are what you define as leads. However, there’s a difference in terms of how “hot” they are on their journey towards an actual purchase.
When it comes to lead generation, the basics are that it is the prospect itself who should provide you with their contact details. This way, you know that they are somewhat interested in what you offer. Consequently, you’ll not appear as an intrusive telemarketer trying to pitch something that the involuntary lead has never heard of or shown interest in.
If a person has already downloaded a brochure or an e-book, and thus shared their e-mail address, they will probably not get irritated when you, later on, get in touch to ask what they thought of the content and if they might be interested in a demo.
Here are our top 5 benefits of having a well-functioning lead generation:
- When you decide to perform your final sales strike, you already know for sure that the potential customer is, to some extent, interested.
- If you manage to create and bring helpful content to your leads, there is an increased chance that the worthwhile word of mouth will help your company reach through to new prospects within your target audience.
- You’ll create better and more long-term relationships with your customers.
- Depending on what information you gather, this method will help create a better picture of your personas, which in turn gives you the chance to offer even more targeted content for your target audience.
- Well-targeted content created to help the customer will make the customer happy. A happy customer most likely means increased sales for you, which in turn will make you happy. Everyone wins on well-oiled lead generation.
In summary, lead generation equals the method used to attract and convert prospects to leads and potential buyers. The process itself consists of maintaining your prospect with valuable content, meaning content they will actually appreciate. By doing so, you will work your way in and when the prospect is ready to make a purchase, you will be there – top of mind – without having to randomly throw them offers they never asked for.
Would you like to know more about our best hacks on how to generate leads? Download our e-book here!
