Hummingbirds Kortrijk | Lead generation

What is lead generation

The marketing technique ‘lead generation’ encompasses all activities aimed at generating new leads. It’s a process that helps you add new prospects or potential customers to your database and funnel.

Why you need lead generation

Without active lead generation, it is a real challenge for a business to connect with potential customers who are interested in your products or services.

New leads provide the influx of prospects into a marketing or sales ‘funnel’. A funnel can be compared to an imaginary funnel. This funnel illustrates the path that your prospects take before they become customers. The potential customers are guided through the process until a conversion occurs and they end up at the bottom of the funnel.

Lead generation or lead nurturing?

Lead generation and lead nurturing are two separate phases in the funnel:

Through lead generation, new leads enter that so-called funnel (and into your database). More specifically, at the top of the funnel or TOFU (= Top Of the Funnel). Then follows the next phase in the process, namely lead nurturing.

By ‘nurturing’ existing leads and providing information, they evolve into marketing qualified leads (MOFU = Middle Of the Funnel). A portion of these eventually grows into sales qualified leads (BOFU = Bottom Of the Funnel).

By qualifying your leads throughout the process, you can determine who is suitable for a conversation with your sales team. This removes the guesswork for your colleagues and leads to more relevant offers for your potential new customers.

Lead generation as part of a larger strategy: inbound

It is crucial to provide a continuous stream of leads in your marketing funnel. Additionally, a systematic process is also important to further inform and qualify those leads. This overarching strategy is called inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is about the customer relationships you build with your prospects. You do this by providing them with interesting and relevant information that helps them make a good purchasing decision. Here you are not advertising, but rather publishing content that attracts prospects to your website.

In other words: you lure visitors to your website, convert them into leads (lead generation), turn them into customers, and finally make them promoters.

Lead generation & content

An important part of inbound marketing is content. By offering the right content, you attract the target audience to your website when they are seeking answers to specific questions or trying to find solutions to particular problems. In this way, you guide them into your funnel with a corresponding e-book.

What you focus on (lead generation or lead nurturing) influences the type of content you offer on your website:

• Lead generation emphasizes TOFU (= Top Of the Funnel).
  For this, you post blog articles that are beneficial and practical for what we call the ‘buyer persona’. This is the ‘ideal buyer’ of the product or service you offer. Tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and solutions to specific problems are examples that are often used for this type of content.
  Here, you are not yet selling, but you do offer the next step in the buying journey. This step pulls visitors further into the funnel. Examples include a downloadable e-book or a product demo.
• Lead nurturing shifts the focus to MOFU (= Middle Of the Funnel) and Bottom Of the Funnel. Here, your content takes on a more exclusive and in-depth character. With solutions or expertise, you convince your customers that you are the right partner to work with. This can be done by offering e-books, demos, case studies, free assessments, …

Creating a lead generation plan

Do you want to work on lead generation? Then create a specific inbound/content plan. You primarily use Top Of Funnel (TOFU) content, which you supplement with meaningful follow-up steps that draw visitors further into the funnel. This can be through strong call-to-actions (CTA) such as gated content. This content is only available to visitors who provide certain information.

A content plan may look like this:

• Within six months: publish 25 blog posts focused on the Top Of the Funnel.
• Within a few weeks: publish an e-book or checklist focused on the Middle Of the Funnel.
• After two months: publish several case studies focused on the Bottom Of the Funnel.
• After two months: publish a tool, such as a calculator, demo, … focused on the Bottom Of the Funnel.

You can shift the focus according to your preference from TOFU to MOFU and BOFU content, depending on the desired mix.

TIP: Allow room for optimized landing pages in your planning! A well-structured landing page increases the chances of conversion. Also, think about extensive distribution for your content.

Rented land

Content and inbound are not the only techniques you can use in your search for new leads. You can also look for new leads on ‘rented land’ (= not on your own medium) and approach them with relevant content and interesting offers, leading them to click through to your website.

Common methods to generate attention for your product and connect with a new audience include:

• Social media: with paid or organic posts on online platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, … you can easily reach a wide audience. Shareable content tailored to the target audience you are trying to reach is an absolute must here!
• Influencer marketing: by leveraging the reach, influence, and authority of leading, influential people, you can draw attention to your service or product in an original way. This form of marketing can be used both online and offline.
• Collabs: collaborating with other companies is also a way to bring your brand or product to new audiences. It is important that both companies ‘match’ by offering complementary products or services.
• Guest posts: a good way to showcase your expertise to the world is by writing a guest blog post on an external website. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to introduce your brand or product, directly or indirectly, to a new audience.

Tools for lead generation

When you want to generate new leads, it is important that in addition to a good website, you also have a blog. Because through these channels, leads can inform themselves. Behind the scenes, you need a central database for both marketing and sales purposes.

Buying ready-made leads?

In some sectors, you can easily purchase leads from a third party, and therefore do not need to generate them yourself. For example, with website managers where you can request five free quotes for windows and doors simply by leaving your details.

Leads like these are offered for sale but often come with hefty fees. If you only reach one paying customer from every 20 leads, you end up spending a lot of money. Don’t forget to factor in your own time and expenses as well. Moreover, the chance is high that competitors are bombarding that same lead with offers at the same time. Because you do not have exclusive rights to leads you purchase from a third party.

Conclusion

Do you want a healthy influx of prospects? Then focus on lead generation, where you generate leads on your own good website! Interesting content that appeals to your target audience and a strategy to follow up on your leads are crucial.