Lead Generation - Techniques and Benefits

How to generate high-quality leads? Lead generation is the method in the customer acquisition process. This step is one of the most important and allows for a share of the market. So what are the techniques to adopt to generate more leads? This complete guide gives you all the advice to carry out your strategy.

What is lead generation?

" Lead" is an English term used to designate a contact of a commercial nature. On the one hand, it is a direct interaction with the salesperson at the point of sale. On the other hand, it is an indirect contact via a site, a call.

This term is generally used in B2B (Business To Business) and B2C (Business To Consumer) marketing during a purchasing cycle. Also, some marketing players confuse the lead and the prospect. On the one hand, the information implies upstream sales contact. On the other hand, the option is a lead likely to be converted into a customer.

While the disqualified lead is excluded from marketing targets, the informative lead is used to designate an individual seeking information before proceeding with the act of purchase. Finally, the sales lead refers to an individual expressing the desire to acquire the product.

Also read 9 Key Facebook Stats for Marketers in 2020

Lead generation: complete definition

The generation of leads of prospects, otherwise called "lead generation" or "lead gen", is an expression used in the world of B2B marketing. Leads generation company refers to a set of marketing strategies intended to capture the contact details of contacts who have expressed an interest in the lead generation company's services or its products.

These techniques relate to digital technologies. However, the lead selection is made using a method called lead scoring. Digital technology now makes it possible to facilitate lead generation by creating eBooks, organizing web conferences, sending scenarios via email, etc.

From this data, we could evaluate a contact according to different criteria and assign him a note (score) likely to be improved as the various marketing follow-ups progress. Ultimately, lead generation aims to maximize a company's sales service.

Reasons to set up lead generation

Generating leads has many advantages. Whether it is to differentiate your company from the competition, increase the number of its customers or even convert prospects into customers, there are many reasons to set up lead generation.

You can also check "GetResponse Review" before using it for your business to increase your business ROI.

To win new customers.

Lead generation brings advantages in terms of marketing strategy. Indeed, affordable, this system does not require a significant investment to target new prospects. Lead generation is one of the effective marketing strategies while remaining among the most relevant. It is less expensive than other traditional techniques. This hypothesis is confirmed by a HubSpot survey, pointing out that lead generation generates 62% fewer costs than other more conventional methods. The comparison between an investment in a television campaign and an investment in an advertising campaign through social networks or even in an emailing campaign confirms this hypothesis.

This method converts a considerable amount of leads into customers. Indeed, it is essential to know the future customer well from the beginning of the purchasing process, before all other marketing strategies, to better convince the latter to obtain the product. This support allows you to identify the prospect better. It will be useful for you to follow up on the business with them, influence them, and ultimately get them to commit to the purchase.

To stand out from the competition.

On the web, competition is raging. However, opting for a lead generation campaign is an effective way to establish your notoriety. It is also the best technique for developing business leads. A good lead generation campaign ensures better visibility on search engines. This visibility implies high traffic and better targeting (including new prospects foreign to your product). Therefore, your company will be able to dominate new markets and confirm its position in the current market.

Also, lead generation involves the creation of unique and high-quality content. Thus, offering relevant and useful content for the Internet user allows you to beat your competitors, or even to appropriate a share of their market.

Inbound strategy in lead generation

The inbound marketing strategy ensures better traffic acquisition. The SEO is inbound marketing the channel. Thanks to this strategy, the visibility of your site are optimized on search engines and social media.

Thus, this strategy guarantees better-qualified traffic, especially since it seems essential to attract the audience to stand out from the competition. Indeed, this strategy aims to maximize the conversion rate, the interest being ultimate to increase your turnover.

The inbound strategy automates your marketing actions to identify and select the right leads. This technique creates an efficient conversion funnel to promote better targeting.

To generate more leads, the inbound marketing strategy must be broken down into four successive stages.

Attracting visitors

This first step aims to attract attention and captivate leads on your site. It is essential to provide an offer of quality content that is always relevant to the expectations of Internet users. The content can be varied (white papers, eBooks, coupons, articles. Adapt your approach techniques according to your budget and the offers you offer.

Converting visitors into leads

The second step is to convert visitors into leads. This process aims to encourage visitors to take action according to your objective (fill out a form, provide their contact details, etc.). At this stage, it may be wise to include a video or articles to arouse the curiosity of the Internet user and push him to complete a form.

There are several ways to do this:

• First, use the visible and easily noticeable Call To action button
• Then prioritize the content to bring the most relevant information to the fore.
• Finally, use a form requesting as much information as possible about visitors.

Transforming leads into customers

This step allows you to qualify your leads. To achieve this, consider offering content that complies with the questions raised by the three stages of engagement (discovery, consideration, decision) before the act of purchase. This method thus encourages to acquiring of your product. Also, think about lead nurturing. This term is used to designate a technique centered around prospects who have not yet decided to buy your product or service. The objective is to provide them with educational and quality content to guide them towards decision-making.

Converting customers into ambassadors

This final step is to get the customer to work for your product or brand. This approach requires the identification of customers with a particular attachment to your product. Encourage these customers to come forward on your brand or product. This step involves proximity to your customers.

Using behavioral data

The qualification of leads takes into account the behavioral data of the prospect on your website. These data measure the positioning of the Internet user in the purchasing cycle. Indeed, lingering on your product pages and your price pages, downloading your eBook are all signals that testify to the interest of the Internet user. Thus, contact this prospect without delay to conclude an act of purchase. During the visit, inspect the topics of most interest to the Internet user.

Also check the number of pages visited, the visit time on each page, and the number of content downloaded. This analysis requires knowledge of the sales cycle. Then assign a score for each behavior. As an example, uploading your eBook while providing demographic data is worth maximum points. On the contrary, subscribing to newsletters by providing only an email address only earns a minimum of issues.

By Elice Gray