Leads are an important aspect in a business. Without them, a lot of businesses won’t even have the sufficient amount of sales and customer base they need to continue running.
And, that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
But, first let us tackle the basic information about lead generation marketing before we go to its importance, and how it will be useful to your business.
What is a “lead”?
A lead, also known as a “prospect”, is anyone who shows any kind of interest in your company’s product, or business.
Leads usually get contacted by a company after they establish a communication with them, such as answering a survey, submitting their personal information to be part of a trial, or get a subscription, etc.
It’s important to remember that a company should only contact those who willingly signed up their names to accept offers from your business.
I get that you want to be remembered, but being remembered as the pesky company who keeps on annoyingly calling someone who’s not at all interested in what you’re selling isn’t exactly what you want to be known for.
It’s a waste of time, too. It’s better that your business focus on contacting those who actually showed interest in what you’re selling rather than calling those who might just hang up on you before you could even utter the first word.
There are different kinds of leads, and here they are:
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
- are the contacts who already have an engagement with your business’ efforts, however they aren’t quite ready yet to receive a sales call.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
- are the contacts who already took action, and shown that they are definitely interested in becoming a paying customer of your business.
Product Qualified Lead (PQL)
- are the contacts who have already had an experience with your product or service and have taken actions that show that they are definitely interested in becoming a paying customer. PQLs are the contacts that’s already in companies who offer a product trial or a free or limited version of their product with options to upgrade.
Service Qualified Lead
- are the contacts or customers who’ve interacted with your service team, telling them that they’re interested in becoming a paying customer.
Now that you know what leads are, let’s go on with lead generation.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is the marketing process whereas companies stimulate and capture their target audience’s interest in a certain product or service for the purpose of developing that interest until they are ready to become a paying customer.
Businesses make use of various lead generation strategies such as:
- Blogging
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Networking
- Coupons
- Live events and seminars
- Website landing pages
And that’s just some of many strategies that you can use. However, the strategy you’re using also depends on what your company is selling, so choose wisely.
Why is lead generation important for businesses?
When you take care of a person who’s genuinely interested in your company, you can nurture them and convince them into making their first purchase which will result in another one, and another one until they become loyal advocates of your company.
Having loyal customers can also lead to referrals.
Your customers can recommend your products or services to their closest friends and family, who will most likely believe them especially when they have experienced your products or services beforehand.
More loyal advocates = more referrals = more sales.
However, the same couldn’t be said if you choose to pursue those who are uninterested. Worse comes to worse, you might come off as forceful which won’t look good for your business.
Now, not all leads will immediately respond to you. Investing time and money, and a lot of patience, into leads is a risk, but it’s a risk worth taking. Keep in mind that a lead can still back out at the very last moment, and you would have lost all that time and effort that you put in that lead, but you can also get a lead turn to a paying customer when you least expect it.
It’s all about approaching the right audience. If you associate yourself with those who have high potential to become a paying customer, you have a higher chance to boost your business’ sales.
How to attract leads?
There are a lot of strategies that your business can use in attracting leads. It’s up to you to find out which one works out well for you.
Here are some of the few that you can use:
- Blog
This is the most basic of all. And, if your business is online-based, then this is as easy as one, two, three for you. Your company’s website should have a blog section that posts articles regularly. Your leads could read these articles to find out more about your products and services, and if they find your content informative, they’ll constantly visit your website to read new articles.
If your blog circles around the benefits of your products or services, then you can already consider your readers as potential leads for they have an interest in your blog, which is related to your product or service.
- Cold Outreach
Not all the times you have to come in hot when you’re trying to get people hooked into your product or service. Sending out a cold email to a prospective client is also a smart track to pursue for creating good leads. Companies don’t use cold outreach because of the fear of being labeled a spammer, but if done correctly, cold outreach will land you some good leads.
- Contests and Giveaways
Putting together contests and giveaways is, for me, the most excellent way of generating good leads. Contestants exchange emails, and mention their friends or family members for a chance to win a prize. Aside from gaining leads, you also gain exposure because of the shares your giveaway post will get. Selecting the perfect prize that a lot of your ideal leads are interested in, then there’s a high chance that they would enter your contest.
Contests and giveaways are viral in nature, but they are held over a short period to stimulate a person’s FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) emotion. Your business can generate large amounts of leads within a short span of time. And, even if they won’t win your contest, there’s a possibility that something that you’re selling will catch their eye.
So, now that you’re caught up with what a lead generation is, are you thinking of hiring someone to help you seek out potential leads?
If so, Backbone Creatives is here to lend a helping hand. For those who are interested, visit our official website here.
Let us market and design your business to reach the top of its game.
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