A Guide to Lead Generation: What Is It? How to Improve It?

Modern advances in technology have made it possible to generate leads based on specific criteria and information. Now companies collect information about potential customers and tailor their marketing methods and sales processes to their needs. All this is done primarily through digital channels. A successful lead generation campaign can make the sales cycle efficient and provide excellent success rates in new customer acquisition.

What Is Lead?

When the concept of lead is examined, it includes potential customers who may show interest in the product or service of a company and intend to purchase in the future. The definition of a potential customer is simple. It indicates a person's interest and desire to know your business better. However, their intentions may differ depending on the situation. Some people want to know about current promotions and prices, while others are ready to buy. There are three different types of leads:

1. Marketing-Qualified Lead (MQL): They are the users who respond to the communication efforts of the company. In short, they're potential customers who the company has piqued their interest in. They are people who have interacted with the activities of your marketing team.

2. Sales-Qualified Lead (SQL): They are leads that are qualified to make purchases and are about to do so. However, in order to make a transaction, the sales staff must answer particular inquiries or requirements. They are the potentials created by offering a trial, or a custom solution. Customers in this group have reached the contract stage and are carefully monitored to be converted into customers.

3. Product-Qualified Lead (PQL): They are people who experience products or services through the free trial offered by the company. A PQL is more likely to return to sales than MQL, and the time to become a customer is shorter.

What Is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is the process of attracting the attention of online people and potential customers and turning them into a customer interested in the company's products or services through marketing efforts. It is an important part of the sales process for many companies, and its main goal is to increase customer volume by organizing lead generation campaigns. The company has not yet made sales but is likely to purchase in the future.

How Does Lead Generation Work?

The answer to the question is quite simple. A company performs many different practices to increase the number of customers. The most important of the new generation sales points is online sales. Many operations are carried out with digital marketing strategies to increase online sales. The lead generation process includes coupons, live events, blog posts, social media shares, e-books, telemarketing, etc. Digital marketing can show the value and importance of a product or service to consumers through free communication channels. Creating digital lead generation can be done in 2 ways: Outbound and inbound.

The outbound lead generation method involves a proactive attempt to reach the target audience. This usually starts with the purchase of lead lists. Communication is then established by direct calling (cold calling) or sending physical mail (direct mail). To gain a wider reach, businesses use lead lists and billboards, print ads, television ads, and radio ads. The main point here is about budget, media connections, and how flexible the marketing power is. In outbound lead generation, no effort is made to educate the audience.

The inbound lead generation method focuses on attracting potential customers using online content. A website or blog is optimized for online search with Search Engine Optimization techniques. This means that the content contains appropriate keywords and answers questions asked by the target audience. Thus, your content can be discovered quickly, and readers become potential customers by interacting with the content. Depending on how customers interact, these leads may then become customers.

Lead Generation Tips

An effective digital marketing strategy can be carried out with many different tools. Below are some tips and digital marketing strategies that help the digital lead generation process.

Search Engine Ads

It is an advertising model that enables reaching the target audience through the keywords you specify in search engines (Google, Yandex, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). Since the ads will only be shown to the users within the framework of the determined keywords, it can be an effective channel that can bring quality traffic with the right planning.

Social Media Shares

Popular social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter are effective channels to drive traffic due to the high number of visitors and users. Visitors can be attracted to the website or share their contact information by producing content in these channels and advertising with comprehensive targeting options.

Blog Posts

By adding a blog section to the website, you can produce content to attract and persuade your target audience about your sector. At the same time, organic traffic can be obtained from channels such as social media and search engines through the content created which is quite important for SEO operations.

Email Marketing

Emailing registered users is one of the best ways to reach people familiar with the company’s products or services. With a practical design and message, customers can be encouraged to use the product or service. It may be easier to activate users who have previously signed up for your emailing list than other users.

Email marketing is also a very effective method to convert potential customers into sales. Sending automated emails to subscribers describing products or services regularly may motivate them. Also, email marketing is one of the best ways to announce campaigns or give coupons and personalized offers.

How to Improve Lead Generation

Although marketing-qualified leads (MQL) may take particular interest in your products and services and are not yet ready to buy, they are more likely to become customers. Leads may become a customer in the future, often due to a lead feed, throughout the sales cycle.

On the other hand, sales-qualified leads (SQL) are suitable for purchasing and are about to purchase. Because these leads are already qualified, they are more likely to convert to sales and move faster in the second phase of the sales cycle. However, the sales team must answer their specific questions or requirements to make a purchase. At this stage, the salesperson maintains the relationship that the marketing department started. A marketing-sales solid alignment can result in more effective lead generation and higher conversion rates.