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How To Start A Lead Generation Business: Essential Guide

So you’ve probably spent a few years working as a marketer or sales representative, gained tons of insights and valuable experience, and now you are considering kickstarting your own lead generation business.

To find your footing, you need some diligent research and insider tips. Let this post be your friendly guide through it all, presenting all the essentials to get you up and running.

What is a lead generation business?

Why start a lead generation business, six vital steps to start lead generation business.

• How to attract the first clients for your lead gen company?

Key methods to generate leads for your clients

• How much does it cost to start a lead generation business?

Bottom line

A lead generation business is an intermediary company or agency that provides prospects for other companies.

Lead gen companies act as brokers getting their commission for solving the biggest challenge for 61% of marketers—generating quality leads.

Need more reasons to open your own lead generation agency? Keep on reading!

Simply put, the lead generation industry is booming. It reached $3.24 billion in 2023 and will most likely go even higher this year. The critical need for quality leads drives such impressive growth: 53% of marketers now allocate over half (!) of their budgets to lead generation, and 58% plan to increase these budgets shortly. So, answering your question, “ Is lead generation business profitable ?” we say, “Yes!” 

The future for lead gen companies looks bright and promising. The average cost per lead in B2B sectors is around $200 . With the majority of midsize to large companies generating fewer than 5,000 qualified leads per month, there’s a clear demand for effective lead generation services . 

Need a strong lead base?

Snov.io delivers quality leads in minutes

Yet, running a lead gen company means high responsibility, as your actions will correlate directly with the company’s success. Therefore, you need a deep understanding of the market and a thought-out strategy.

In this chapter, we’ll break down the essential steps you need to take to start a new chapter in your marketing career. 

How to start lead generation business:

✅Choose your niche

✅Determine fees and costs

✅Identify your target audience

✅Develop relevant lead generation strategies

✅Focus on a proper outreach

✅Measure and analyze your lead generation activities

1. Choose your niche

Today’s lead generation market is vast, and specializing in a specific industry or category can give you a competitive advantage. Narrowly focused agencies tend to stand out more and can offer tailored services that broad-spectrum agencies usually can’t.

Hence, selecting a niche must be your first step. Tech startups, financial services, or maybe real estate? Choose the field that you’re knowledgeable or interested in. Additionally, conducting market research to determine the most profitable niches would also bring valuable data to consider.

2. Determine fees and costs

Achieving a balance between offering fair prices that reflect your value and ensuring financial sustainability is crucial for your lead generation agency’s success. Though, it’s also challenging. If you set prices too low, you might attract more clients but might not cover expenses, while pricing your services too high might deter potential customers.

So, when setting your fees, consider factors like the complexity of the lead generation process for your niche, the tools you’ll need, and the time you and your team will invest in it. 

3. Identify your target audience and build customer relationships

Knowing your target audience includes understanding their business goals and challenges. This valuable information will help you tailor your services to meet their specific needs. 

For example, a survey revealed that 68% of companies struggle with identifying their sales funnel . It means there’s a vast opportunity for your lead gen business to build relationships with these companies by offering valuable insights on what steps they need to take to close more deals. 

Then, you’ll scale your value by providing these businesses with qualified leads who are genuinely interested in your client’s product or service. This will undoubtedly bring you the desired conversions and help you gain a loyal customer.

4. Develop relevant lead gen strategies

Effective lead generation tactics vary from niche to niche. They include SEO, content marketing, using LinkedIn for B2B leads, or a blend of them.

Let’s take a closer look. 

• SEO: Essential for niches where customers search online. It’s cost-effective, with leads costing 60% less than traditional ads.
• Content marketing: Used by 76% of marketers, it’s an excellent tool for every field, but especially for education-based niches such as podcasting.
• Social media: 66% of marketers successfully generate leads after spending only 6 hours per week on social media marketing.

Social media platforms have their audiences, so it is crucial to take that into account when planning your next lead generation campaign.

The goal is to show your clients that you can match your lead generation strategies with their unique needs, using data to guide your choices and integrating it smartly for maximum impact. For example, combining LinkedIn outreach with SEO-driven content in tech industries can be particularly effective.

11 LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies And Practical Tips For B2B Success

26 February 2024

LinkedIn Sales Prospecting: Techniques, Use Cases, New Method Tested

22 August 2024

5. Focus on a proper outreach 

In lead generation business , outreach is fundamental as it can significantly improve lead quality. It’s like having a one-on-one conversation with prospects, which is much more engaging than generic advertising. You can tailor your messages based on the recipient’s interests, industry, or behavior, and this targeted approach means your messages are more likely to resonate with the addressees, increasing the chance they’ll respond.

You can try various outreach strategies, such as:

• personalized cold email campaigns  
• social media messaging
• cold calling

6. Measure and analyze your lead generation activities

You need a clear understanding of how your lead generation company performs. 

Which strategies are bringing in the best leads? 

Where are you spending money with little return?  

You should know the answers to these questions to fine-tune your lead generation campaigns, ditching what doesn’t work and doubling down on what does. Otherwise, you risk going down the wrong path and losing your clients.

You get a real sense of your agency’s effectiveness by tracking key metrics like conversion rates (how many leads turn into customers) and the cost per lead. Keep in mind that measuring and analyzing your activities should be an ongoing and regular process so you can steer your agency in the right direction.

How to attract the first clients for your lead gen company ?

Starting a lead generation business brings its first big challenge: attracting initial clients. In this chapter, we’ve prepared some actionable Problem-Solving strategies to overcome this hurdle.  

Challenge #1: Unclear value proposition

Solution: Clearly define your offer

To find the first clients for your lead gen business, you should clearly articulate the unique value your agency provides. Develop a compelling elevator pitch that succinctly communicates how you can solve clients’ challenges. A compelling value proposition will attract customers and serve as a guiding principle for your overall lead generation business strategy. 

Challenge #2: Building credibility 

Solution: Leverage your network and referrals

As a new business owner, try using your existing professional network for referrals . Reach out to connections from previous roles and use LinkedIn and other platforms to share your expertise. Personal referrals and a positive online image are amazing tools in establishing your first customer database .

Challenge #3: Visibility in a crowded market

Solution: Use social media smartly

LinkedIn is a well of opportunities for B2B networking. Share your approach to lead generation, insights about industry trends, and some of your marketing experiments. Comment on the posts of potential clients and industry leaders and participate in relevant discussions.

How To Reach Out On LinkedIn: Messaging Tips & Best LinkedIn Outreach Templates

21 August 2024

How To Book A Meeting On LinkedIn: Snov.io Experience

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are best for sharing infographics on lead generation statistics, short clips from your workshops or webinars, and even behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work life. You can also create polls, quizzes, and interactive posts that engage your audience. 

Quora is an underrated platform where you can demonstrate your expertise. Look for questions related to lead generation and provide valuable answers. This can drive traffic back to your website or LinkedIn profile. You can also share your own lead generation experiences, which can be interesting to your potential customers on a more personal level.

By using social media platforms with your ideal customer profile in mind, you can significantly boost your agency’s visibility and build a community around your brand. In turn, this community may bring you more potential customers.

Challenge #4 : Outreach rejection

Solution: Be persistent with follow-ups

Rejection in cold outreach is a common thing, unfortunately. But your success will depend on your next steps. Don’t give in after a potential lead neglects your cold email or call. Provide follow-ups. Luckily, there are numerous solutions that can help you plan your follow-up strategy. 

For example, the Snov.io Email Drip Campaigns tool helps you build your cold outreach sequence from start to finish. You can program all follow-up emails to be automatically sent to potential leads who have rejected your first outreach efforts at a particular time of day with a certain interval.

Alternatively, you can also try out Snov.io’s ready-made follow-up templates or rely on the Email AI Assistant to craft highly personalized follow-up emails that would be more relevant to your recipients and encourage them to accept your offer.

Challenge #5: Demonstrating value

Solution: Focus on your expertise over results

Getting clients when your business is brand new and you haven’t built a reputation yet is a complicated task. Understandably, companies don’t want to put their marketing budgets at risk, so they are more likely to pay attention to established agencies with proven experience.

Nonetheless, there are some tricks that can help you. For instance, it’s worth asking your clients for testimonials in exchange for a discount or creating case studies to showcase your lead generation techniques, expertise, and lead generation tools you use.

In this chapter, you’ll find methods and sources to use and mix to develop an individual lead generation strategy for your client’s businesses.

Methods to generate leads for your clients

Lead generation tools

Search engine optimization (seo).

• Social media 

Social media

Social media platforms are valuable resources for lead generation. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok can be used to engage with potential customers. The key is to provide value through content that educates, entertains, or informs your audience, creating opportunities to engage with audience. 

For B2B lead generation, we strongly recommend you make the most use of LinkedIn. This social network provides a perfect opportunity to connect with decision-makers and cultivate professional relationships with potential customers. Consider the possibilities: a vast network of 1 billion users at your fingertips!

Twitter Email Finder Tools And Methods: How To Find Someone’s Email On Twitter

27 February 2024

How To Find Emails On Facebook: Top Facebook Email Finder Tools And Methods In 2024

23 July 2024

Cold email outreach is a proactive strategy. It involves reaching out to people who don’t know you or your business.

This may sound risky, but this approach will bring positive results if done right. The key is to personalize your email message to every recipient and showcase the value of your service to a client. 

With tools like Snov.io Email Drip Campaigns, you can automate and personalize your cold outreach at scale.

In addition, you can A/B -test your campaigns, different types of emails, or just parts of them, such as subject lines , call-to-actions, or email body, to determine which option is most effective.

Furthermore, consider including a clear and concise invoice email strategy in your outreach sequence to ensure timely payments.

Advertising on platforms like Google Ads or social media can yield immediate results. It also allows for precise targeting to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, which makes your ads more relevant to the audience.

In this realm, a partnership with Google ads agencies can offer a strategic advantage, optimizing campaigns for maximum visibility and conversion, thus ensuring that your investment translates into tangible leads and, ultimately, sales growth.

However, this method may be rather costly as paid ads require continuous financial feeding. Once you stop paying, the traffic and leads usually stop as well.

Moreover, many people don’t appreciate nagging and distasteful ads, so it’s important to make them appealing and engaging. In addition, some users develop so-called ‘ad blindness,’ subconsciously ignoring the content inside your advertisement. All this can lead to lower click-through rates for paid ads. Considering the cost of paid advertising, not all your clients will be ready to invest. So, the best way out for your lead gen company is to balance paid advertising with organic lead generation strategies.

How much does it cost to start a lead generation business ?

One of the first questions a novice entrepreneur is likely to ask is, “How much does it cost to start a lead generation company?” 

Well, the cost can vary, and it depends on several factors:

• Size of your company. How many employees are you going to hire? Are you going to work remotely or rent an office? Questions like this will help you determine the size of the initial capital you need to set aside to start your business. 
• Technology and tools. Investing in software tools like CRM systems, lead generation software, etc., also requires financial resources. These tools are vital but come at varying prices. Choose the ones that fit your business needs and are cost-effective.
• Marketing and website. Costs can vary based on factors such as the scope of services, the complexity of design and functionality, etc. For example, instead of hiring a boutique design agency to create a website using an AI website generator for you, try searching for freelancers who can provide similar results for less money.
• Legal and administrative costs. Depending on your location, there may be legal fees for business registration, licenses, and possibly insurance.

Here is an example of rough calculations:

Initial setup

It could range from a few hundred to tens of thousands USD. For instance, if you’re tech-savvy, you can set up your own website and take advantage of free automation tools at the beginning of your journey. Or you can allocate a bigger budget and invest in online ads, professional website developers, and a spacious office.

Ongoing costs

These include software subscriptions, salaries for your employees (if you have them), potential administrative costs, and marketing initiatives. You could be looking at anywhere from $100 to several thousand dollars per month, depending on how many people work with you and what strategies you choose.

Contingency budget

It’s always wise to set aside extra resources for unforeseen expenses. A small contingency fund can help you face unexpected costs without significant stress.

The good news is that starting a local lead generation business is often more affordable than many other types of startups, especially if you start small and scale as you grow. The key is to start modestly and be ready to invest smartly. 

Starting a lead generation business , attracting first clients, and setting a solid foundation for your lead gen company is not easy. But hey, Rome was not built in a day! Now you know what essential steps you need to take to help your new company succeed and prosper. Concentrate on quality leads and equip yourself with robust tools like Snov.io to automate email outreach and lead generation for your customers.

And remember: every big venture starts with a first step. And who knows, maybe your lead gen business will be the next big thing in the industry!

What do you need to do when starting a lead generation business?

Is starting a lead generation business worth it, what is a lead in business, can you make money with lead generation.

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Lead Generation: A Beginner’s Guide to Generating Business Leads the Inbound Way

Learn how lead generation fits into your inbound marketing strategy and easy ways that you can start generating leads for your company

AN INTRODUCTION TO LEAD GENERATION

HubSpot also recommends this introductory lead generation resource.

Updated: 04/03/24

Published: 03/29/24

Have you ever noticed that telemarketers have a way of calling at the worst possible time? Say, right when you’re about to sit down and enjoy dinner? I used to get these pesky dinnertime calls all the time.

Not only were they frustrating, but they never seemed successful for the companies trying to drum up leads (at least at my house).

Well, I’m here to tell you that the days of these dinnertime cold calls are long over.

In this post, we’ll talk best practices for inbound lead generation that are effective, strategic, and don’t ruin anyone’s dinner.

First, we’ll start with defining a lead, and then we’ll cover what online lead generation is, and why you need it. Next, we’ll go into how to qualify someone as a lead, how to label lead types, how you generate leads, and why inbound lead generation is much more effective than simply buying leads.

What is a lead?

Why do you need lead generation, the lead generation process, how to qualify a lead, lead generation strategies.

Tips for Lead Generation

Lead Generation Statistics

Lead Conversation Statistics

Lead Generation Trends & Benchmarks

A lead is any person who indicates interest in a company’s product or service.

Leads typically hear from a business or organization after opening communication (by submitting personal information for an offer, trial, or subscription), instead of getting a random cold call from someone who purchased their contact information.

Let’s say you take an online survey to learn more about how to take care of your car. A day or so later, you receive an email from the auto company that created the survey. This process is far less intrusive than if they’d just called you out of the blue.

From a business perspective, the information the auto company collects about you from your survey responses helps them personalize that opening communication to address your existing problems.

Leads are part of the lifecycle of transitioning visitors to customers. Not all leads are the same. There are different types of leads based on how they are qualified and what lifecycle stage they’re in.

An Introduction to Lead Generation

A starter guide to converting website visitors into leads for your business.

• Define and qualify a lead.
• Promote lead gen campaigns.
• Resources to get you started.
• Examples of great campaigns.

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Free Ebook on Lead Gen Best Practices

Fill out the form to access the guide., marketing qualified lead (mql).

Marketing qualified leads are contacts who have engaged with your marketing team’s efforts but aren’t ready to receive a sales call. An example of an MQL is a contact who fills out a landing page form for an offer.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales qualified leads are contacts who’ve taken actions that expressly indicate their interest in becoming paying customers. An example of an SQL is a contact who fills out a form to ask a question about your product or service.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

Product qualified leads are contacts who’ve used your product and taken actions that indicate interest in becoming a paying customer. PQLs typically exist for companies who offer a product trial or a free or limited version of their product with options to upgrade.

An example of a PQL is a customer who uses your free version but asks about paid features.

Service Qualified Lead

Service qualified leads are contacts or customers who’ve indicated to your service team that they’re interested in becoming paying customers.

For example, a customer could tell their customer service representative that they’d like to upgrade their product subscription. At this time, the customer service representative would up-level this customer to the appropriate sales team or representative.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects to your business and increasing their interest through nurturing, all with the end goal of converting them into a customer. Some ways to generate leads are through job applications, blog posts, coupons, live events, and online content.

These lead generators are just a few examples of lead generation strategies you can use to attract potential customers and guide them toward your offers.

Whenever someone outside the marketing world asks me what I do, I can’t simply say, “I create content for lead generation.” I’d get some really confused looks.

So instead, I say, “I work on finding unique ways to attract people to my business. I want to provide them with enough goodies to get them interested in my company so they eventually warm up to the brand and want to hear from us!”

That usually resonates better, and that’s exactly what lead generation is: It’s a way of warming up potential customers to your business. This gets them on the path to eventually making a purchase.

When someone shows an organic interest in your business, the transition from stranger to customer is much more natural. You enhance this transition through inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is a methodology to attract loyal customers to your business by aligning with your target audience's needs.

Creating tailored marketing experiences through valuable content is the core of an inbound marketing strategy that helps you drive customer engagement and growth.

Lead generation falls within the second stage of the inbound marketing methodology . It occurs after you’ve attracted an audience and are ready to convert those visitors into leads for your sales team.

As you can see in the diagram below, generating leads is a fundamental starting point in an individual’s journey to becoming a delighted customer.

How to Generate Leads

Once you put all of these elements together, you can use your various promotional channels to drive traffic to your landing page to start generating leads.

But what channels should you use to promote your landing page? Let’s talk about the front end of lead generation — lead gen marketing.

If you’re wondering how to generate leads in digital marketing specifically, it’s time to analyze your existing online channels and identify opportunities for conversion. This can include everything from your website to your organic and paid social media presence.

If you’re a visual learner, this chart shows the flow from promotional marketing channels to a generated lead. There are even more channels you can use to get visitors to become leads. We’ll discuss the most impactful below.

1. Create compelling content.

Image Source

Content — and its trusty companion, SEO — are often the go-to methods businesses use to generate leads. And for good reason, too! According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing Report , 16% of marketers say that the content-and-SEO combo resulted in the best ROI this year.

Ryan Robinson , the founder and CEO of RightBlogger explains that content marketing and SEO “ allow you to attract leads who are already interested in what you offer, rather than interrupting people with disruptive ads and promotions.”

Content is a great way to guide users to a landing page. Typically, you create content to provide visitors with useful, free information. You can include CTAs anywhere in your content — inline, at the bottom of the post, in the hero section, or even on the side panel.

Robinson shared an anecdote with me to illustrate just how powerful content and SEO can be for generating leads.

“I vividly remember one client who initially found us after reading a blog post … That post showed him how AI writing assistants could streamline his process while still allowing for human oversight and quality control. A few weeks later, he signed up for one of our AI writing packages,” Robinson recalls.

In other words, the more delighted visitors are with your content, the more likely they are to click your CTA and move onto your landing page.

Pro tip: HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator leverages search volume data from Semrush, giving you the insights necessary to identify content ideas that both search engines and website visitors will love. 

Featured Resource: HubSpot Ebook Templates

2. Send regular emails.

Not sure what to write about? Use HubSpot’s Blog Idea Generator to brainstorm blog post ideas, create a blog outline, write your first draft, and publish to your website.

A lead’s score can be based on actions they’ve taken, the information they’ve provided, their level of engagement, or other criteria that your sales team determines.

For instance, you may score someone higher if they regularly engage with you on social media.

Borrowing from the examples above, you might give a lead a higher score if they used one of your coupons — an action that would signify this person is interested in your product.

The higher a lead’s score, the closer they are to becoming a SQL, which is only a step away from becoming a customer.

You may need to tweak criteria until you find the formula that works, but once you do, you’ll transform your lead generation into customer generation.

Online lead generation encompasses various tactics, campaigns, and strategies depending on the platform you use to capture leads.

We talked about lead capture best practices once you have a visitor on your site, but how can you get them there in the first place?

Let’s dive into lead generation strategies for a few popular platforms.

Facebook Lead Generation

Facebook has been a method for lead generation since its inception. Originally, companies could use outbound links in their posts and information in their bios to attract strangers to their websites.

However, when Facebook Ads was launched in 2007 , and its algorithm began to favor accounts that used paid advertising, there was a major shift in how businesses used the platform to capture leads.

Facebook created Lead Ads for this purpose. Facebook also has a feature that lets you put a simple CTA button at the top of your Facebook Page, helping you send Facebook followers directly to your website.

Get some lead generation tips for Facebook.

Featured Resource: 50 Facebook Ad Examples We Actually Clicked

X Lead Generation

X has X Lead Gen Cards, which let you generate leads directly within a tweet without leaving the site.

A user’s name, email address, and X username are automatically pulled into the card, and all they have to do is click “Submit” to become a lead.

( Hint for HubSpot users: You can connect X Lead Gen Cards to your HubSpot Forms. Learn how to do that here .)

Featured Resource: How to Use X for Business (+ Follower Tracking Template)

LinkedIn Lead Generation

LinkedIn has been increasing its stake in advertising since its early days.

Regarding lead generation, LinkedIn created Lead Gen Forms , which auto-populate with a user’s profile data when they click a CTA, making it easy to capture information.

Get tips from our experience using LinkedIn ads.

PPC Lead Generation

When we say pay-per-click (PPC), we’re referring to ads on search engine result pages (SERPs). Google gets 3.5 billion searches a day , making it prime real estate for any ad campaign, especially lead gen.

The effectiveness of your PPC campaign relies heavily on a seamless user flow, as well as your budget, target keywords, and a few other factors.

Learn more about how to set up successful PPC ads.

B2B Lead Generation

B2B companies require a different approach to lead generation.

SmartInsights found that referrals are the top source for capturing business leads. Not to mention, effectiveness varies by channel.

Learn the B2B lead generation techniques for every channel.

Tips for Lead Generation Campaigns

In any given lead generation campaign, there can be many moving parts.

It can be challenging to tell which parts of your campaign are working and which need fine-tuning. Here are a few tips that can help when building lead gen campaigns.

1. Follow your data.

If you’re looking to build a lead generation engine, start with the bevy of data already at your fingertips. Begin by archiving which posts consistently rank well, bring in traffic, and have a clear connection to your product.

Once you know what performs well, you can determine where to place CTAs.

“For these posts, ask yourself what the missing middle piece is between what someone is reading about and what you can offer them,” suggests AJ Beltis , a senior marketing manager focused on media conversion at HubSpot.

Beltis continues, “Perhaps it’s an actionable template, a more in-depth guide, or even a demo if the content is intended for those further along in the buying cycle.”

Remember, your CTA should not be a reach from the topic in the post. “Keep it straightforward and logical and the leads will come flowing in,” Beltis says.

2. Use the right lead generation tools.

As you saw in our data, the most successful marketing teams use a formal system to organize and store their leads. That’s where lead generation tools and lead generation software come into play.

How much do you know about the people visiting your website? Do you know their names or their email addresses? How about which pages they visited, how they’re navigating around, and what they do before and after filling out a lead conversion form?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, chances are you’re having difficulty connecting with the people visiting your site. These are questions you should be able to answer — and you can with the right lead generation tools .

There are a few different tools and templates out there that’ll help you create different lead gen assets to use on your site:

• CTA Templates . Create clickable CTA buttons to use on your blog, landing pages, and elsewhere on your site.
• Lead Generation Software Tools . This free tool from HubSpot includes lead capture insights features, which will scrape any pre-existing forms you have and add those contacts to your existing contact database. You can also create pop-ups, hello bars, or slide-ins — called “lead flows ” — to help you immediately turn visitors into leads.

How to Use Freebies to Optimize Your Lead Generation

How to Create a Lead Generation Website: 9 Simple Optimizations

Lead Generation Content: Top Types to Use in 2023 [Data + Expert Tips]

Why You Still Need SMS Marketing & How to Get Started [+Data]

Gated Content: What Marketers Need to Know [+Examples]

B2B Lead Generation: The Best Campaigns for Every Channel

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): A Beginner's Guide

What Is Demand Generation? [FAQs]

The 7 Best Practices for Building Fantastic Lead-Capture Forms

The 22 Best Lead Generation Tools in 2023

Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments — all on one easy-to-use platform

• Forms and Surveys
• Most Recent
• Presentations
• Infographics
• Data Visualizations
• Video & Animation

Case Studies

• Design for Business
• Digital Marketing
• Design Inspiration
• Visual Thinking
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• Visme Webinars
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7 Timeless Lead Generation Strategies to Drive More Business

Written by: Raja Mandal

For marketers and business owners, lead generation remains a top priority for driving business growth and revenue. A recent study showed that companies with a consistent lead generation process generate 133% more revenue than businesses without a lead gen process.

But how do you generate high-quality leads for your business ? About 80% of marketers say their lead generation strategies are slightly or somewhat effective.

In this blog, we'll explore seven timeless lead generation tactics that have stood the test of time and have helped businesses drive more revenue. We'll provide actionable tips and best practices for each strategy, so you can execute them effectively and see results.

Before we get right into it, here’s a short selection of 8 customizable lead magnet form templates you can easily edit and publish with Visme. View more templates below:

Table of Contents

What are lead generation strategies, the 4 ls of a lead generation strategy, 7 proven lead generation strategies, lead generation strategy faqs.

• Lead generation strategy is attracting new customers to your business and converting them into paying customers.
• Lead capture , lead qualification, lead nurture and lead conversion are the 4Ls of a lead generation strategy. Therefore, your lead generation strategy should focus not only on generating leads but to converting them to customers.
• Create irresistible opt-in opportunities for your target audience and offer them through your marketing content: blog posts, webinars, gated content , and all of them.
• Include interactive content, such as quizzes, polls and assessments, in your lead generation strategy to increase engagement.
• Design engaging and dynamic lead forms using Visme that will persuade your audience to share their contact information.
• Sign-up for Visme to fulfill all your content creation needs that enhance your lead generation strategy. From white papers and ebooks to lead-gen forms, Visme's got you covered.

Lead generation strategies are processes businesses use to acquire new customers or leads. It involves identifying the target audience and creating a plan to reach them to persuade them to buy your product or service.

Lead generation strategies can be tailored for B2B or B2C. However, B2B is typically more complex than B2C (business-to-consumer) strategies. The reason is simple: B2B buyers have more requirements, like detailed information about what they want, the price of your products/services and whether you have experience with their industry.

Because of this complexity, you need a well-defined plan to achieve your goals. You can’t throw money at the problem and hope something sticks. With an excellent marketing strategy, you can develop an effective roadmap for reaching your audience and getting them interested in what you're selling.

Not to mention, you're going to need powerful, captivating lead magnet forms to convert your traffic into leads and boost conversion rates.

So, what makes a lead generation strategy more effective than the others? There are many criteria to look for, but this one is our favorite: the 4Ls of a lead generation strategy.

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

The 4 Ls of lead generation are a framework for understanding the different stages of the customer journey that potential customers go through before making a purchase. The 4 Ls stand for:

1. Lead Capture: This is the first stage of the lead generation process, where you capture the contact information of potential customers who have shown interest in your products or services. This could be through contact forms on their website, landing pages, or lead magnets such as eBooks or free trials.

2. Lead Magnets: Irresistible offers that encourage your customers to share their contact information. It can be a discount code, ebook , whitepaper , free trial, or anything your potential customers find interesting and valuable.

3. Lead Qualification/Scoring: Once you have captured leads, you must qualify them to ensure they fit your product or service well. You can do this by assessing the lead's needs, budget, and decision-making authority, among other factors, to determine if they are qualified prospects worth pursuing.

4. Landing Page Conversion: Standalone web pages designed for marketing or advertising campaigns. They aim to convert website visitors into leads by encouraging them to complete a specific action, like filling out a form with their contact information.

Your lead generation strategies should address these 4 Ls to convey your message to your customers in every stage of their journey.

We’ll discuss the seven lead generation strategies to help you grow your business. Also, we’ll provide the best lead-generation tactics for each strategy. Go through them carefully and understand how your business can leverage them to reach its goals.

1. Cultivate Irresistible Opt-in Opportunities

Use opt-in opportunities to encourage potential clients or customers to voluntarily share their contact information, usually in exchange for valuable content or offers. This is one of the best lead generation strategies to create a list of qualified leads who have shown an interest in your products or services.

To make your opt-in opportunities truly irresistible, consider incorporating some examples into your lead generation strategy:

Offer Content Upgrades

Offer exclusive, value-added content that complements a blog post or article. For example, if you've written a blog post about the employee onboarding process , provide a downloadable checklist or template like the one below that readers can access by providing their contact information.

When sharing this checklist online, you can go to Advanced Settings and turn on the “Requires Registration” feature. Whenever someone wants to access your checklist, they will need to input their name, contact and company information within the form.

Invite Them to Webinars

Host informative webinars or virtual events on industry-relevant topics. Encourage registration by highlighting the unique insights and actionable takeaways attendees will gain.

Need inspiration for hosting your webinar or online event? Watch the video below, where we talk with Morgan Ziontz, the Product Education Manager at Jotform Media. Get some insights into hosting webinars and take inspiration from how we do it.

Newsletter Sign-Ups

Create a regular, high-quality newsletter that offers industry news, tips and insights. Encourage prospects to subscribe by emphasizing the value they'll receive by staying up-to-date and informed on significant developments.

Delight your email subscribers with irresistible emails using Visme’s newsletter templates . The professional and customizable newsletter templates are perfect for all kinds of topics, themes and purposes.

So, all you need to do is grow your email list using Visme's newsletter sign up forms and then use the newsletter maker to handle the content creation part.

Offer a Sample of Your Products

Potential clients can try your product or service before purchasing. This allows them to experience the benefits first-hand and can encourage them to provide their contact information to access the trial or demo.

Here are some ideas:

• Free Trial: Provide a limited-time free trial of your product or service, so potential customers can use and test it before purchasing.
• Demo: Offer a live or recorded demo of your product or service that showcases its key features and benefits.
• Limited Version: Create a limited version of your product or service that potential customers can use for free but with limited features or functionality.
• Free Sample: Provide a free sample of your product or service, such as a trial-sized version or a sample of a digital product, to give potential customers a taste of what you offer.
• Freemium Model: Offer a free basic version of your product or service but with limited features or functionality. Customers can then upgrade to a paid version with more features.

Create a Sense of FOMO

Provide special promotions or discounts to prospects who opt-in to your mailing list. This can create a sense of FOMO and incentivize potential clients to share their information in exchange for a valuable deal.

FOMO is the acronym for Fear of Missing Out, and it’s a powerful marketing tool. When you provide special deals or offers exclusively to your mailing list subscribers, they’ll feel like they are missing out on something valuable if they don’t opt-in. This can create an urgency that prompts them to share their information with you.

Here’s an example of a B2B packaging business, Berlin Packaging, offering a 10% discount for the first order to those who opt-in for their email list.

Incorporating these irresistible opt-in opportunities into your lead generation strategy will create a strong foundation for building long-lasting customer relationships. Remember, the key to successful opt-ins is offering genuine value and compelling prospects to share their contact information willingly.

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2. Leverage Interactive Content for Engagement

Any digital media that actively engage users through participation or interaction, such as quizzes, surveys, calculators or infographics, is interactive content.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 81% of marketers agree that interactive content is more effective than static content in attracting and engaging people.

Here are some types of interactive content that work well for lead generation:

Assessments and Quizzes

Create engaging assessments or quizzes that help potential clients determine their needs or evaluate their current strategies. These tools can provide personalized results and recommendations, positioning your company as a valuable resource.

Interactive Infographics

Develop visually appealing infographics that allow users to explore data, trends, or industry insights by interacting with the content. This can help demonstrate your expertise and showcase the value of your products or services.

Use Visme’s free online infographic maker to create infographics for your business. You’ll find various customizable infographic templates you can edit and download to make your own.

Use the AI image generator to create unique scenes and visuals for your infographics. Input a text prompt and let AI help you craft attractive layouts and compositions.

Watch the video below to learn more about creating interactive infographics using Visme.

Interactive Ebooks or Whitepapers

Enhance your long-form content with interactive elements, such as embedded videos, clickable charts, or interactive checklists. This can make your content more engaging and increase the likelihood that prospects will share their contact information to access it.

Use Visme’s templates to create ebooks and whitepapers that will wow your audience. Browse through Visme’s library of lead magnets , ebook and whitepaper templates and choose a suitable one.

Take advantage of the pre-existing content, eye-catching design elements and interactive features according to your needs. With Visme’s interactive features , you can create polls, quizzes, hotspots, clickable menus, hover effects, animations and much more. And Visme will preserve all this interactivity if you share your content online via email, shareable links or embed links for web publishing.

Get a head start on written content creation with Visme’s AI features. The Visme AI Writer , for example, can help you craft irresistible copy for ebooks and whitepapers. Prompt the AI to write specific sections, summarize your longer content or change the tone of voice.

Convince your prospective leads to connect with you by using captivating case studies . Share real-life proof about how your company has helped customers and clients solve their pain points.

A case study shares how a real client works with your product or service to improve their business. In a case study document, you show:

• The value of your product or service.
• The specific pain point the client struggled with before using your product or service.
• How your company helped solve that pain point.
• The goals, results and outcomes they achieved in the process.

Create a case study one pager easily with Visme using the intuitive drag-and-drop interface and millions of design elements on hand.

3. Harness the Power of AI and Automation

Give your lead generation strategy a significant competitive advantage by leveraging the power of AI and automation. Streamline and optimize various process aspects with AI to save time and costs.

Here are some key ways AI and automation can enhance your lead generation efforts:

Chatbots and Conversational AI

Integrate AI-powered chatbots on your website to provide instant support and assistance to potential clients. You can answer their questions and guide them toward relevant resources or conversion points.

For example, you can use an AI-powered CRM tool like HubSpot to perform many tasks like providing customer support, analyzing customer behavior, performing calculations and more.

AI language models like ChatGPT, Bard and others are set to make chatbots smarter and more efficient than ever before. Here’s a comprehensive guide to chatbot marketing that you can read to learn more.

Predictive Analytics

Analyzing historical data to identify trends and patterns using AI will enable you to make data-driven decisions and forecast future lead-generation outcomes. This can help you refine your marketing strategy and allocate resources more effectively.

Many advanced tools like Salesforce Einstein , Marketo and Visme can help you use predictive analysis and perform the below-mentioned tasks.

• Identify High-Quality Leads
• Optimize Marketing Campaigns
• Personalize Content
• Forecast Sales
• Improve Lead Nurturing

Automated Email Marketing

Email automation software can streamline your email marketing efforts by sending targeted, timely and personalized messages to your prospects based on their interactions with your content or website. This can help keep leads engaged and guide them through the sales funnel.

Here are some ideas for using automated email marketing for lead generation:

• Welcome Emails: When a new prospect subscribes to your email list or signs up for a free trial, send a welcome email to introduce them to your brand, product or service.
• Abandoned Cart Emails: If a prospect leaves items in their shopping cart without making a purchase, send an email reminding them of the items and encouraging them to complete the purchase.
• Lead Nurturing Emails: Send a series of automated emails to keep your leads engaged and informed about your product or service. Share valuable content, case studies, and customer testimonials to build trust and establish your authority in the industry.
• Upsell/Cross-sell Emails: If a prospect has made a purchase, follow up with emails that suggest complementary products or services they may be interested in.
• Re-engagement Emails: If a prospect has been inactive for a while, send a re-engagement email to remind them of your brand and encourage them to take action.

To ensure that your automated emails are personalized and relevant, segment your email list based on user behavior and preferences. And there are many automation tools available to help you implement an effective email marketing campaign, such as Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, GetResponse and various others.

Social Media Monitoring and Automation

AI-powered tools can analyze social media conversations and identify potential leads, allowing you to engage with prospects proactively. Additionally, automation tools can help you schedule and publish content, ensuring consistent and timely posting across your social channels.

Use Visme's social media scheduler to manage and automate your social media content. With this tool, you can design social media graphics , create an editorial calendar and publish content automatically across multiple channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

This allows you to generate leads while building relationships with your audience through consistent messaging on all the major platforms.

Use this comprehensive guide on creating a social media calendar to learn more about it.

Here’s how you can execute these strategies by integrating Visme with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce.

Content Personalization: Integrate Visme with HubSpot or Salesforce to leverage the data stored in your CRM and create personalized visual content for your leads. This personalization can include their name, company, or other relevant information, making your content more engaging and increasing the chances of conversion.

Automated Lead Nurturing: You can automate your lead nurturing process by connecting Visme with HubSpot or Salesforce. For example, you can set up workflows that automatically send personalized visual content to leads based on their behavior, such as downloading a whitepaper or visiting a specific page on your website.

This targeted approach can help move leads from the top of the sales funnel to the bottom of the sales funnel more effectively.

Lead Scoring: Integration with HubSpot and Salesforce allows you to use lead-scoring algorithms based on interactions with your visual content. By assigning scores to leads based on their engagement with your Visme-created content, you can prioritize your sales efforts on those leads who are most likely to convert.

Enhanced Collaboration: By integrating Visme with HubSpot and Salesforce, your marketing and sales teams can work together more efficiently. For instance, marketing can create and share visual content, while sales can easily access and use it during outreach efforts .

This streamlined collaboration helps create a consistent brand experience and messaging for your leads.

Visme’s design collaboration features take your content creation process to the next level. You can give your team members access to a design project to review. They can pin annotations, point, circle or draw, and assign, reply to or resolve comments.

This gives your sales and marketing teams complete control over personalized content creation, making your lead-generation strategy more efficient.

Watch the video below to learn more about Visme’s collaboration features, or read this article about collaborative design .

The ability to integrate with other advanced tools and collaboration features has been a lifesaver for many of Visme’s users. Here’s what one of our customers Jaime Kelm, the Director of Business and Data Strategy at LAFC, has to say about it.

“I absolutely recommend Visme due to its dynamic functionality and ability to integrate everchanging media and digital technologies. That combined with a collaborative environment which empowers our team to be more efficient with time has been a huge plus.”

You can read the complete case study here

4. Master the Art of A/B Testing

A/B testing, or split testing, is a powerful technique that involves comparing two versions of a webpage, email, or other marketing material to determine which performs better regarding a specific goal, such as conversions or click-through rates.

A/B testing is one of the best ways to optimize your lead generation efforts and ensure you're utilizing the most effective strategies to reach and engage your target audience.

Here’s an example of a successful A/B testing by HubSpot . Their goal was to test the visual prominence and functionality of the search bar on their blog.

After running the test, they found a version that increased their conversion rate by 3.4% and the number of users who used the search bar.

Follow these simple steps below to approach A/B testing for your lead generation strategies:

Identify Your Testing Goals

Do you want to improve landing page conversions or boost click-through rates on CTA buttons? Clearly define the testing goal you are trying to achieve.

Test One Variable at a Time

To obtain accurate results, focus on testing a single variable (e.g., headline, button color, or form layout) in each A/B test. This will ensure that you can attribute any performance differences to the specific change you made rather than multiple factors that may have influenced the outcome.

Use a Large Enough Sample Size

To achieve statistically significant results, ensure that your test includes sufficient participants or data points. This may vary depending on the specific element you're testing and your website traffic or email list size.

Split Your Audience Randomly

Avoid bias and ensure accurate results by dividing your audience randomly and evenly between the two test variations. This will ensure that any differences in performance can be attributed to the variable being tested rather than external factors.

Run the Test for an Appropriate Duration

Give your test enough time to accumulate a substantial amount of data. Depending on your traffic or engagement levels, this could range from a few days to weeks. But avoid running it for too long, as external factors or changing audience preferences could influence the results.

Analyze and Apply Your Findings

Once your test is complete, analyze the results to determine which variation performed better. Use this insight to inform future marketing decisions and continuously optimize your lead generation efforts.

5. Refine your Approach with Remarketing and Retargeting

The most crucial thing about any online advertising campaign is engagement. Zero engagement means zero website traffic and conversion.

To avoid this pitfall, you can introduce retargeting in your ad campaigns, increasing your engagement by 400% .

Remarketing and retargeting are powerful techniques that involve re-engaging potential clients who have previously interacted with your brand or content but have yet to convert.

You can do this by using retargeting or remarketing lists. The first step is to create a cookie-based list of all prospects who have visited your website but did not convert. Then, start advertising on other websites related to your industry using Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.

Using a CRM like Salesforce, you can get information about past leads interested in your product or service. Now you can use this information to create future marketing materials to retarget those leads.

As mentioned, Visme integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce, making your retargeting process effective.

6. Design Engaging and Dynamic Forms

Forms are an essential part of any website’s user experience. They help you gather data from your potential clients and turn them into leads. Sometimes poorly designed forms can be the reason you cannot generate any leads at all.

Here are some ideas to help you create forms that will persuade your audience to sign up for your business.

Simple and Clear

The sign-up form should be easily readable and understandable. Use clear and concise language and avoid asking for too much information simultaneously. Also, try to keep the design minimalistic to keep the focus on the form itself.

Clear Value Proposition

Your sign-up form should clearly communicate the value that users will receive in exchange for sharing their information. This could be a free ebook, a webinar, or exclusive access to content.

Personalized Fields

Tailor the form to your audience and personalize the fields to collect the information that matters most for your business. Consider using progressive profiling to gather more information from leads over time gradually.

Mobile-Friendly

Make sure your form is optimized for mobile devices. Test the form on different devices to ensure it’s easy to use and filled out on mobile.

Compelling Call-to-Action

Use an action-oriented CTA that encourages users to sign up. Use action verbs like “Download Now” or “Register Today” to clarify what the user will get by signing up.

Trust Indicators

Include trust indicators, such as a privacy policy or security certification badges, to give users peace of mind when sharing their information.

Did you realize that almost every lead generation strategy relies heavily on sign-up forms? And for a good reason. Without these forms, you won’t be able to ask your audience to share their contact information.

But, for many years, most businesses have been using the same traditional-looking forms that may not have the potential to capture leads.

To solve this problem, Visme has introduced no-code forms you can use wherever you want. You can create interactive, high-converting lead forms , contact forms , email forms , email collectors , popup forms , feedback forms , and registration forms —without writing a single line of code.

Create beautiful lead forms that drive conversions in minutes! Sign up. It’s free

Just customize your form, include your branding elements and embed it on presentations, marketing materials, landing pages and more. Furthermore, you can integrate it with your favorite platforms, like HubSpot, Mailchimp, Salesforce and many others.

7. Optimize your Website for Conversion

Ensure your website is optimized to encourage users to provide their contact information. This can include strategically placing calls-to-action (CTAs) on your homepage, blog posts and other key pages and using attention-grabbing pop-up forms or exit-intent offers . Track and analyze user behavior to continuously improve your website's conversion rate.

For example, we use these eye-catching, animated, exit-intent pop-ups on our blogs to engage readers and ask them to sign up for our newsletter.

Here are some tips to optimize your website for lead generation:

• Create a Clear Value Proposition: Your website's messaging should clearly communicate what your business does, how you help your customers, and what sets you apart from your competitors.
• Use Strong Calls-To-Action (CTAs): Your website should have compelling CTAs encouraging visitors to take action, such as filling out a form or contacting you.
• Optimize Your Forms: Your forms should be easy to fill out and only ask for the essential information needed to follow up with the lead.
• Use Landing Pages: Create dedicated pages for specific campaigns or offers, optimizing them for lead conversion.
• Leverage Social Proof: Highlight customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to build trust and credibility with website visitors.
• Optimize Your Website’s Speed and Usability: A slow-loading website or a confusing user interface can deter visitors and hurt your lead generation efforts.
• Implement SEO Best Practices: Use relevant keywords and optimize your website's content and meta descriptions to improve its visibility in search engines.

8. Conduct a Competitor Analysis and SEO Strategy

It’s crucial to know how the competition is conducting lead generation strategies so you can stay ahead. Conducting a comprehensive competitor analysis and formulating a robust SEO strategy can give your business a competitive edge.

Competitor Analysis

Before you can outperform your rivals, you need to understand them. Start by identifying your key competitors and analyzing their websites, content and online presence to gain deeper insight. Here are some good things to look at:

• Examine the type and quality of content your competitors produce.
• Identify gaps where you can provide more valuable and relevant information to your audience.
• Competitor keywords : Investigate the keywords your competitors are targeting. This can help you discover new keyword opportunities or identify niches where you can excel.
• Backlinks: Analyze their backlink profiles to pinpoint authoritative sources linking to their content. This can inform your outreach strategy.

SEO Strategy

Once you’ve assessed your competition, it’s time to build your SEO strategy. This should be a dynamic plan that evolves with search engine algorithms and market trends. Here are some key components to consider:

• Keyword research: Conduct in-depth keyword research to identify the most relevant and valuable terms for your business. Focus on long-tail keywords and consider voice search trends.
• On-Page Optimization: Ensure your website’s on-page elements, such as meta titles, descriptions and headers are optimized for your target keywords. Also, optimize content for user intent.
• Content: Develop high-quality content that addresses the pain points and questions of your audience. Regularly update and expand your content to remain competitive.
• Link building: Build a diversified and authoritative backlink profile. Reach out to industry influencers and partners for collaboration.
• Technical SEO: Regularly audit your website for technical issues, such as page speed, mobile-friendliness and structured data markup. Also, fix any issues to enhance user experience.
• Local SEO: If applicable, optimize your business for local search. Ensure accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information across online directories.
• Analytics and Monitoring: Implement tools like Google Analytics to track your website’s performance. Continuously monitor and adapt your SEO strategy based on data.

Do you still have pressing questions about lead generation strategies? These FAQs have the answers you seek.

Q. What are inbound and outbound lead generation strategies?

Inbound and outbound are two types of lead generation strategies for your business. Here they are in detail:

Inbound focuses on attracting leads by creating and sharing valuable content, optimizing for SEO and building a strong online presence. It’s about making your business discoverable by people who are already interested in your products or services.

On the other hand, outbound involves proactive outreach to potential leads. Some methods include cold calling, email marketing and direct advertising. It’s more of a direct approach in which you initiate contact with prospective customers.

Q. How to use social media strategies for lead generation and brand awareness?

Here are some social media strategies and how you can use them for lead generation and brand awareness:

• Run targeted ads on social media channels where your audience is active to reach a specific demographic with compelling offers.
• Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages and mentions to create a sense of community around your brand.
• Conduct webinars and Q&A sessions on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn Live to provide valuable information and engage with your audience in real-time. This will increase your brand’s visibility and generate leads through sign-ups.
• Share valuable content like blog posts, infographics and videos to pique interest and encourage users to click through to your website, where you can capture leads through forms and landing pages.
• Monitor social media conversations related to your industry, products or services. Engage with users seeking information or solutions in your field and gently nudge them to your offerings.

Q. What is a lead generation funnel?

A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that businesses and marketers use to turn potential customers into paying customers. It’s called a funnel because at the wide top is where you capture the majority of leads which then decanter down towards the thin end.

The funnel has three main sections:

• TOFU - Top of the funnel (target audience)
• MOFU - Middle of the funnel (potential customers)
• BOFU - Bottom of the funnel (new and existing customers)

The funnel also has stages that progress from top to bottom:

• Awareness: This is the top of the funnel, where the goal is to make people aware of your business and what it offers.
• Interest: In this stage, you want to pique the interest of those who have become aware of your brand.
• Consideration: At this point, leads are considering their options. You need to present offerings as a solution to their needs.
• Intent: As leads move further down the funnel, they express a clear intent to make a decision. They may request quotes, pricing information or more details.
• Action: This is the final stage where leads take action by making a purchase or signing up for a service or subscription.

Q. What makes lead generation effective?

Effective lead generation hinges on understanding your target audience’s needs, pain points and preferences. To sum it up all, you must offer compelling value to prospects, such as helpful content, exclusive offers or personalized solutions.

To make lead generation work effectively, use data and analytics to continually refine your lead generation strategy and focus on what works best.

Q. How do you generate leads organically?

To generate leads organically, you must attract potential customers through non-paid, inbound approaches. Some methods include content marketing, SEO and keyword optimization, social media marketing, referral programs, email marketing and guest blogging.

Supercharge Your Lead Generation Strategy with Visme

Keep your lead generation efforts from falling short. Embrace the power of Visme and its integration with CRMs to elevate your marketing and sales strategies , drive better results and unlock your business's true potential.

By taking advantage of Visme's personalization features, enhanced collaboration and robust reporting capabilities, you can create more engaging and impactful content that resonates with your target audience.

Also, Visme forms, designed to captivate your audience, can be a great help when persuading your target audience to provide their contact information. Beyond signup forms, you can whip up eye-catching and interactive lead forms , contact forms , email forms , email collectors , popup forms , feedback forms , registration forms and much more.

This will ultimately result in higher conversion rates, better-qualified leads and a more streamlined sales process.

We hope you enjoyed our selection of lead generation tips to optimize your efforts. Go ahead and sign-up for Visme’s lead generation form to streamline your lead generation process and attract high-quality leads.

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About the Author

Raja Antony Mandal is a Content Writer at Visme. He can quickly adapt to different writing styles, possess strong research skills, and know SEO fundamentals. Raja wants to share valuable information with his audience by telling captivating stories in his articles. He wants to travel and party a lot on the weekends, but his guitar, drum set, and volleyball court don’t let him.

How to craft a successful lead generation strategy in 8 steps

Maximize lead generation to turn prospects into profits. Learn how to guide customers through the sales funnel and foster lasting relationships.

Discover key challenges today's marketing teams are facing, as well as opportunities for businesses in 2024.

Effective lead generation plays a pivotal role in your business’s growth, ensuring a steady influx of potential customers.

Having more leads translates into increased sales and directly impacts your business’s revenue and return on investment (ROI). But perfecting how to generate leads involves more than just drawing in prospects — it includes strategically engaging and nurturing them. By refining this process, you proactively connect with your audience and cultivate a robust pipeline of potential customers. This strategic focus ensures you’re regularly interacting with prospects who are interested in what you offer, which is crucial for long-term success and market relevance.

What’s lead generation, and why is it important in marketing?

A lead is someone who has shown interest in your product by sharing their contact details or engaging with your content. And lead generation is the process of finding these potential customers and guiding them through the customer journey from initial interest to conversion.

Lead generation allows businesses to effectively engage with their target audience, understand their needs, and cultivate a relationship that extends beyond just a single transaction. By capturing and nurturing leads, you increase your chances of converting potential customers into actual buyers and set the stage for lasting brand loyalty.

Different types of leads

Leads vary significantly in their interest level and readiness to purchase. Some leads may actively seek a solution, while others might be in the early exploration and discovery phase.

Understanding these distinctions and classifying leads into specific categories empowers you to tailor your marketing efforts to address the unique needs of each group. 

There are two general ways leads are categorized: by level of engagement (often referred to by temperature) and by qualification. We explore both approaches below. Worth noting is that these categories often overlap — you might have a hot marketing qualified lead, for instance.

Levels of engagement

Cold leads know about your business but haven’t shown immediate interest. You’ll need a strategic approach to reach out to cold leads, like providing informative, high-quality content and using engagement initiatives to warm them up gradually. Personalized email campaigns featuring target content or exclusive incentives can effectively spark their interest and encourage engagement.

Warm leads fall between hot and cold leads. They’ve shown interest in your brand by engaging with your content — perhaps by clicking on a website call to action (CTA) or commenting on a social post — but might not be ready to purchase immediately.

To nurture warm leads, offer valuable information to keep them engaged until they’re ready to buy. Sharing informative blog posts, hosting webinars, or providing product demos can address their needs and questions.

Hot leads are primed to make a purchase. They show high interest in your product or service and actively seek relevant information, like asking to contact a sales rep or get a product demo. 

Typically in the final stages of the buying process, hot leads require timely and personalized attention and often need specific answers to help them make their final purchasing decision.

Types of qualified leads

Information qualified leads.

Information qualified leads, or IQLs, show interest in learning more about your offerings, often downloading whitepapers, subscribing to newsletters, and attending webinars. These leads actively pursue knowledge, which signals their early engagement in the buying process.

To effectively nurture IQLs, send out targeted email campaigns, offer educational content, and engage in personalized follow-ups. These strategies help transform their informational interest into a decision to purchase by guiding them smoothly along the customer journey.

Marketing qualified leads

Marketing qualified leads, or MQLs, engage with your marketing efforts by responding to email campaigns, interacting with social media posts, and clicking on targeted ads. These actions indicate a growing interest, but not to the point of purchasing.

To guide MQLs further down the marketing funnel , use targeted strategies like personalized email sequences, retargeting ads tailored to their interactions, and exclusive promotions. These approaches help nurture their interest and gradually lead them closer to a buying decision.

Sales qualified leads

A lead is sales qualified when the sales team confirms that this lead has a strong intent to purchase. The sales team might find SQLs through direct networking (perhaps messaging a potential client on LinkedIn or chatting them up at a conference), or MQLs might become SQLs as they move along the sales funnel. 

At this point, sales teams can approach these leads with formal purchasing pitches and product demos.

The lead generation process: 8 steps

The key to business success is attracting organic traffic and converting it into valuable leads.

For this transformation, you need a systematic approach to effectively identify, nurture, and convert prospects into loyal customers. Check out these eight key lead generation process steps below.

1. Examine and strategize

Begin by thoroughly analyzing your business goals and understanding your target audience. This initial step involves setting key performance indicators (KPIs) , defining buyer personas , and crafting a comprehensive plan for your lead generation activities.

A software company might set KPIs that track lead generation and conversion rates and decide to target buyer personas like small business owners needing streamlined project management solutions. This targeted approach aligns the company’s lead generation efforts with their broader goals and the specific needs of their intended market segment.

2. Conduct research

After setting your strategy, conduct research to inform your decisions. This stage requires investigating market trends, analyzing competitors, and grasping your target audience’s changing needs and preferences.

That same SaaS company might use surveys, focus groups, and social media analytics for practical research. These user research tools help them understand consumer preferences and identify common project management qualms. They can then tailor product development to solve these issues and develop more personalized and effective marketing strategies.

3. Craft your communication

Moving forward, the focus shifts to crafting communication that genuinely connects with your audience. This means addressing customer pain points and zeroing in on what sets your offering apart. It’s about customizing your messaging to mirror customers’ specific preferences and aspirations.

Now, the software company can create content highlighting how their project management software solves common barriers to directly engage those looking for streamlined, efficient options.

4. Distribute content to identified leads

Identifying your target audience is one thing — effectively reaching them is another. To distribute content and engage warm leads, you’ll need to leverage multiple marketing channels , like social media, email marketing, and targeted ads.

Our example company might share content about issues with current project management tools with individuals who have previously browsed articles comparing various platforms.

5. Develop landing pages

Optimized landing pages turn interest into action. These pages act as dedicated spaces to impress leads and prompt them to take the next step, such as downloading a resource, signing up for a webinar, or purchasing.

The software company could create a free trial landing page that converts interested visitors into platform participants. This approach captures visitor attention and gives them a direct path to further engage with the company’s offering.

6. Initiate emails and phone outreach

Direct communication is crucial in lead generation. Targeted email campaigns and phone outreach enable personalized engagement and establish a direct connection between you and potential leads.

The SaaS company can design personalized email sequences that offer relevant content, exclusive promotions, or webinar invitations based on the recipient’s engagement history. Then, they can complement these emails with phone outreach to create an immediate, personal connection.

Follow-up calls after the email serve as an additional touchpoint to answer queries, receive feedback, and foster closer relationships. This multichannel approach ensures your communication stays personalized and responsive to each lead’s preferences.

7. Assess leads and transfer to sales

After engaging with a lead, evaluate their readiness for a sale. Effective assessment ensures that the sales team only nurtures qualified leads and streamlines sales lead generation and the conversion process.

Our software company might assess leads based on budget, software needs, and implementation timeline before transferring them to sales.

Here are two methods to qualify leads:

• Gauging a lead’s interest level. Evaluate how much a lead interacts with your content and responds to communication. A lead who downloads a product guide, watches a demo, and visits the pricing page is more engaged than one who only visits a landing page.
• Lead scoring. This method assigns numerical values to leads based on factors like website engagement, content downloads, and email interaction. A lead might score higher for attending a webinar and downloading a whitepaper, indicating a higher conversion potential than someone with minimal interactions. Lead scoring prioritizes leads more likely to convert and allows you to focus your efforts effectively.

8. Review outcomes and generate reports

Lead generation for business growth is an iterative process . You need to regularly review outcomes and generate comprehensive reports to refine your strategies.

Our SaaS company can continuously analyze their lead generation strategies’ performance by examining metrics like open, click-through, and conversion rates for an email campaign. Using these insights, they might discover that an email campaign that offered a free software demo was more effective than one that offered a subscription discount.

This ongoing assessment and adjustment process is key to maintaining a dynamic and successful lead generation strategy.

Lead generation strategy examples

Different lead generation strategies vary in their impact depending on your audience’s preferences and behaviors. By choosing a strategy that matches your business model and resonates with your target audience, you more effectively guide potential customers through the sales funnel.

Here are a few common lead generation strategies for guiding customers down the sales funnel.

Content marketing

Content marketing centers on crafting and distributing valuable digital content to captivate and engage your target audience. This includes developing blog posts that delve into industry trends, creating comprehensive guides, and producing informative videos. It’s an approach that’s particularly effective for businesses that rely on demonstrating expertise or providing solutions, such as consultancies, educational platforms, and technology firms.

By offering valuable and relevant content, you position yourself as an industry authority. This not only draws in potential clients seeking your expertise but also builds trust and credibility. It’s essential for businesses where knowledge and thought leadership are key to attracting and retaining clients.

You can also make your content gated so viewers can only access it if they provide their email address. This lets you capture leads through email form submissions and helps you build an audience that you can continue to nurture through email marketing. For example, a web development company might publish a yearly industry insights report for UI/UX professionals and collect emails from interested readers. The company can then send out a targeted email campaign to this email list of new leads.

Email marketing

Email marketing enables you to directly engage with your audience, making it a powerful tool for businesses that benefit from ongoing customer relationships, like ecommerce, service providers, and B2B companies. Your campaigns might feature newsletters with success stories, updates on industry advancements, or exclusive previews of new offerings.

Through emails, you maintain continuous contact with your audience and can add a personal touch by addressing specific information needs. This ongoing engagement nurtures your leads and keeps them connected and informed until they’re ready to decide. For businesses that rely on repeat customers or long-term client relationships, email marketing excels in building and sustaining these connections.

Social media marketing

Social media platforms provide a dynamic lead generation environment. They’re ideal for businesses that thrive on visual appeal and community engagement, like creative agencies, lifestyle brands, and startups. On platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, you can share content that showcases your portfolio , client testimonials , and behind-the-scenes looks at your work. Engaging in conversations on these platforms allows you to connect directly with potential leads, understand their needs, and establish your brand as an industry leader.

Social media also enables your customers to share their experiences with your brand, offering social proof that can inspire their peers to become potential customers. This approach is especially effective for businesses aiming to build a community around their brand or those whose products or services benefit from visual storytelling and direct customer interaction.

Discounts and free trials

Offering incentives like discounts and free trials is a compelling lead generation strategy. It’s particularly effective for software providers and service-oriented companies because it reduces the financial risk for customers and allows them to experience the product’s functionality firsthand.

You could offer limited-time access to product demos, exclusive subscription discounts to loyal customers, and trial access to your premium services. These incentives attract leads and give them a tangible sense of your offering’s value.

Best practices for lead generation

Lead generation requires a thoughtful and consistent approach to yield optimal results. To enhance your lead generation strategy, integrate the following best practices.

Leverage data

Use the valuable insights from strategically collected data to inform and refine your lead generation efforts. Analyze customer behavioral data , preferences, and past interactions to tailor your strategy and content. If data shows higher engagement at certain times or with specific content types, schedule your outreach during these high-impact periods and produce similar content. This data-driven approach keeps your efforts targeted and relevant.

Stay consistent with messaging

Ensure your brand messaging remains consistent across all touchpoints. Consistency in language, tone, and visual elements strengthens your brand identity and helps leads recognize your offerings.

To stay consistent, consider building a style guide and using it as a reference for all your marketing efforts. This guide should detail your brand’s voice, color scheme, typography , and other visual and verbal communication elements. Adhering to this style guide helps you maintain uniformity, which fosters trust and reliability in your potential customers’ eyes.

Test and iterate strategies

Employ A/B testing to experiment with various lead generation strategy elements, such as email subject lines, calls to action (CTAs), and landing page designs. Determine which versions yield higher engagement and implement these findings in your strategy. Continuously testing and optimizing based on real-time feedback and audience preferences lets you refine and improve your approach to make it more effective over time.

From prospects to profits

Lead generation is the bridge that takes prospects to profits. It’s a strategic journey that begins with identifying individuals interested in your product. As you build trust and rapport through targeted communication, informative content, and personalized engagement, you guide leads along the sales funnel toward purchase. Through effective lead generation, you acquire customers and create lasting relationships.

Get started with lead generation by making a great first impression on potential leads. See how Webflow Enterprise , a powerful visual web development platform, can help you create landing pages that convert . Learn how to create websites that drive leads and the theory behind conversion-centered design . Or create localized and internationalized site experiences tailored to audiences worldwide. The possibilities are endless.

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How to Create a Winning Lead Generation Plan

Lead generation is crucial to driving sales and revenue. Here's how to create a result-driven lead gen plan that fills your pipeline with leads

Joanna Mosca

Nov 18, 2022

Making sales depends on getting prospective customers into and through your funnel. To do that, you need a solid lead generation plan. But if you’re new to lead gen or just need a little boost to get you started, we’ve got everything you need to know to build your lead generation process.

What Is Lead Generation? 

Lead generation is the process you use when your goal is to attract your ideal buyer to your brand. Your lead generation plan should align with your sales funnel, with the ultimate goal being to get leads into the funnel and nurture them through to conversion. 

A lead gen pipeline will follow along the different stages of the buyer’s journey, with your leads starting out as strangers and ending up as passionate brand advocates.

Lead generation is a tried and true way to boost sales and revenue…but you’ve got to have a solid plan before you get started.

Why Do You Need a Lead Generation Plan? 

Sometimes, marketers have blinders on when it comes to their brand’s product or service. They start to think, “If we build it, they will come.” But when it comes to lead generation and demand generation , it just doesn’t work that way. In fact, getting more traffic and leads is the biggest struggle for marketers at a majority of companies.

That’s why you need a plan for your lead generation campaign . Your brand won’t promote itself, and no matter how fab your product is, if no one knows about it, no one can buy it. 

With a plan, you’ll have a roadmap to get to your ultimate destination — more traffic, more sales, and more revenue. Wondering where to get started? We’re here to help you navigate.

17 Tips to Creating an Effective Lead Generation Strategy

To effectively market your brand and get potential customers into and through your funnel, you need a strategy. Creating a lead generation strategy will help define your processes and your goals, so you’ll know how to get from Point A to Point Bestill-My-Heart-Those-Are-Some-Amazing-Results. 

Ready to go? 

#1: Start with customer research 

If you’re an established brand, you’ve already got some customers you can tap for information. Startups will have a harder time with this step, but it can be done. Try joining some relevant forums on sites like Quora and Reddit, or check out the competition’s social media following to find out what they’re most likely to engage with.

When it comes to the research itself, customer surveys are usually a quick and painless way to get going. You may also want to incorporate focus groups or in-depth interviews down the road.

#2: Understand your audience's needs  

Now you have some great qualitative information about your ideal customer, and it’s time to dive a little deeper.

This step involves hammering out a detailed buyer persona, which should include demographic, psychographic, and behavioral/attitudinal information to help you understand your customer needs.

If you’ve already done your customer research and you still aren’t sure exactly what customers need from you, you might want to conduct another survey or a social media poll. Be sure to also check in with your customer service team — they’ll have all the insights on what your buyers are raving (or complaining) about.

#3: Define goals for lead generation 

More traffic and leads — what else do you need? A lot. Obviously, those are both important goals when you’re launching a lead gen campaign, but when you’re building an entire lead generation plan or strategy, aim a little higher. 

The endgame for lead gen should be conversions. The definition of what a conversion is will differ (so it doesn’t always translate directly to revenue), but you want to make sure you’re getting hard, measurable results from your strategy.

#4: Have an established definition of a lead and set values for leads 

What is a lead, anyway? Is it someone who fills out a form? Visits your website? Signs up for a free trial? Depending on the type of lead gen campaign you want to run, how you define a lead will vary. The crucial point here is to make sure that both your sales and marketing teams are on-board with what “lead” means to you.

This might mean you’ll need to qualify leads to establish their values using a lead scoring rubric.

To score leads, you’ll establish a points system that denotes their qualification status. For instance, a prospect will gain or lose points for taking certain actions (signing up for a form, unsubscribing, etc.). This will help you determine whether they’re an Information Qualified Lead (IQL), Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), or Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). Leads go from coldest (IQL) to warmest (SQL), so you can focus your efforts on the leads you want most based on your goals.

#5: Create an inbound content strategy that solves these problems 

Inbound marketing is a crazy effective methodology because a. It brings leads to you so you aren’t always chasing them down, and b. It. Just. Works. Inbound, often called organic marketing, is a way to raise brand awareness and entice customers without the use of paid advertising.

Content marketing is one of the best forms of inbound because it’s cost-efficient and offers a great long-term ROI. The most content you create, the more you’re setting your brand up for future success. You can store, refresh, and repurpose content continually, so you always have something out there that’s bringing in leads.

When figuring out your content strategy for your lead gen plan , you’ll want to make sure everything you create is aligned with the stage your leads are at in their journey.

As you nail down your content strategy, you’ll want to conduct keyword research to determine how your content will get found (or be advertised). Build your content calendar around your selected keywords, and remember that ultra-specific long-tail keywords are most effective because they’re more likely to fulfill your audience’s search intent and deliver exactly what they’re looking for.

#6: Craft your messaging  

A few things to keep in mind as you put together your lead gen messaging: You’ll want to make sure you have multiple touchpoints with leads throughout the process so they don’t lose interest. You’ll also want to make sure your messaging is in line with what’s already being used in your industry. And for B2B brands, you’ll need to speak to specific roles your buyers are likely to fill.

As you can see, for account-based marketing, industry and role-specific messaging are the most used, followed closely by customer pain points.

#7: Choose channels for lead generation 

The first thing you want to ask yourself is this — where are my customers already hanging out? It’s usually some social media platform, but it could also be that they’re spending time on forums like Reddit or that they check their email more frequently than the average person. Wherever your buyer is, that’s where you want to be. That will also help guide you as you select the right channels to use when going after leads.

The numbers fluctuate year to year, but you’ll nearly always see content marketing and email right at the very top. Content might be slightly more popular with B2C and email with B2B, but both are winning options. Once you know which tactics you’re most likely to use, you can pick your channels accordingly.

#8: Create gated content to capture emails 

Gated content is designed for lead generation. It offers high-quality, high-value content that your audience wants and/or needs. So much so that they’re willing to give up their personal info to get it. 

Gated content is a perfect choice for B2B brands looking to nurture warm leads to conversion.

There is one caveat here — not all your content can or should be gated. Ungated content is necessary to get brand-new leads in the funnel, and it’s best for awareness and general information (think infographics or listicle blogs).

#9: Use email marketing to nurture leads 

Some people say email marketing is dead, but we know better. In fact, anyone who’s run a successful lead gen campaign knows better because email remains one of the most effective methods of getting and nurturing leads. 

Email is also popular because it’s easily automated, so after the initial nurturing campaign setup, you can take a step back and focus on your other goals.

An email nurture campaign should have around 6-10 emails, from the initial thank you or follow-up through to the final ultimatum (just make it pretty gentle). 

#10: Utilize chatbots to serve customers faster 

Chatbots are experiencing a huge boom in the customer service realm, but it’s actually pretty great for lead generation, too. Chatbots are becoming more preferred for gathering information about a brand and even making purchases.

In fact, if given a choice, more people would prefer to talk with a chatbot if it means they’ll get their issues solved faster.

Consider implementing a chatbot on your site so potential leads can get quick info, support, and help finding what they need before moving to the next stage in the funnel.

#11: Host events  

If you’re a B2B brand, you already understand the importance of live events in the buying cycle. But you’ve also probably felt the impact of the last couple years, as most events got shut down or moved online due to the pandemic.

Now, several years removed, the way we do events has been changed forever. B2B buyers still want connection and interaction…but they don’t always want it in person. As such, virtual events have taken over as one of the best ways to find and nurture B2B leads.

If you’re a B2B brand, you’ve probably already started rethinking your approach to in-person events. It isn’t wise to scrap them entirely, but it’s definitely worth considering how you can restructure and repackage them to appeal to a more virtual audience.

#12: Offer a freemium model 

This is one of our favorite pieces of advice to dish out: Give away your best stuff for free. It’s more fun to say it in person because, wowza, if looks could kill…

Still, the fact remains: When you have something amazing, giving it away will get you the best return. How?

Free trials, freemiums, and forever free models really hinge on the upgrades and updates, so make sure your product has enough to sustain the model.

#13: Promote lead gen content 

Part of your lead gen plan is creating valuable, high-quality content. But once you’ve got it, what do you do with it?

Paid social media

Paid social posts are a great way to get in front of your audience, fast. They have far more reach than organic social and allow you to target very specific audiences. You can even go after your competitors’ followers or build a lookalike audience to find others who want what you’ve got to offer. 

Organic social media

While organic social can’t match the reach of paid, it’s still an excellent way to engage with existing customers and warm leads. Make sure you’re reposting your most engaging posts regularly and that you’re encouraging your audience to share. 

Search engine optimization is how your brand gets found. SEO is a long game, so you shouldn’t expect immediate results. However, it’s wise to start working on your lead gen SEO strategy now so all the pieces are in place for the long term. Make sure you’re targeting long-tail keywords that fulfill search intent to maximize traffic and leads.

Influencer partnership 

Time to tap your industry connections and start paying attention to the voices your customers are listening to. Look for collaborations with micro-influencers (usually under 10K followers). They’ve typically got a smaller but more motivated audience who are looking for exactly the type of product or service you provide. Micro-influencers are also more cost-effective than larger celebrity influencers.

Use retargeting to engage past visitors 

Retargeting or remarketing is a great way to turn up the heat on already-warm leads. Retargeting ads are paid ads that only appear once a lead has expressed interest in your brand or product. It might be someone who’s visited your website or taken steps to complete a lead gen form before abandoning it. Retargeting ads are incredibly effective, especially when it comes to qualifying leads and moving them through the funnel.

#14: Build a referral program 

We’re big fans of referral marketing, and it’s not hard to see why. 

Referrals lead to more leads, more sales, and more conversions. That means that every lead you get could end up bringing one more, ten more, or a hundred more leads into your funnel. 

Referral programs are often better with an incentive attached. You might offer customers a discount to refer their friends, an exclusive product upgrade, or contest entries for sharing a social post.

#15: Ensure lead gen assets are easy to find 

Where your content lives is almost as important as what the content is. You want your lead gen assets to be easy to locate and easy to access, especially when you’re talking top of the funnel leads — they’re pretty cold and much more likely to fall out of the funnel if they aren’t nurtured. A difficult-to-locate asset will push them right out the door. 

Make sure your landing pages are optimized and clear so visitors know exactly what action they need to take. Also work to ensure your website is uncluttered and easy to navigate. Using a topic cluster model is one of the best ways to structure your site.

You’ll also want to be sure that the content on your landing page aligns with the messaging you used in your ads, social posts, etc., and that you have only one CTA that leads to one singular action on the page. 

#16: Develop a process for responding to leads 

Once leads start coming to you, your job is only just starting. Before you can launch your lead gen campaign, you must have a plan in place for how to respond to leads who seek you out. That might mean directing them to a website, a phone number, or a live chat. 

Part of this step is also figuring out the transition of leads from marketing to sales. That’s when it helps to have a strong sales enablement strategy so you ensure a seamless and smooth transition. 

#17: Keep your database clean 

Your email database is an incredibly valuable asset to your lead gen plan, but if your list is a mess, your strategy will be a mess, too. If you haven’t spent any time going through your database, it’s time to clean house.

You’ll want to go through your list on a regular basis and scrub any duplicate emails, remove unsubscribes, and add new levels of information based on the data you collect.

You may want to use a dedicated tool or third-party source to help you stay on top of this step. Scrubbing down your database isn’t the sexiest job, but it’s crucial to your lead gen success.

That was a lot of information, and if you’re feeling overwhelmed right now, don’t sweat it. You've got this! If you need some extra help, we’ve got your back. We’ll be here to jump in and get more leads in your funnel, nurture them, and turn convert them. 

Growth and lead generation expert with over 15 years of experience working with brands in the tech, events, media and publishing industries. Worked with B2B and B2C organizations of all sizes, ranging from start-up to Fortune 500. Content marketing writer and contributor on several industry blogs including content marketing posts for Business Insider.

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Lead Generation 101: The Ultimate Guide

In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about lead generation. We’ll also touch on topics like:

• The best lead generation software
• How to build a lead generation process
• Tips and tricks to improve your lead generation strategy

By the end of the article, you’ll not only know how to start generating leads, but you’ll also know which tools to use to generate the best leads.

Let’s get started.

What Is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is defined as finding potential customers and convincing them to become customers of your company’s products or services.

There are many ways of attracting new customers. Paid ads, social media , blogging, influencers, coupons, cold calls, and live events are just a few of them.

The best way to generate leads will depend on your customer persona, products or services, location and reach, and company. You want to find a cost-effective lead generation strategy that attracts people more likely to convert into paying customers.

Why Is B2B Lead Generation So Important?

Lead generation is the heart of any business. There’s no business without customers, and there are no customers without a plan to attract them. The best plan is an effective one you can repeat to continue generating customers. If you love lead generation, don’t forget to check our complete guide on how to start a lead generation oriented business .

When you generate leads, you are kickstarting your customers’ journey. Once the customer knows your product, they can research it, find out why they need it, figure out which products to buy, and convert into a paying customer.

If you want to create a good lead generation strategy, target the right prospects, collect the right data, and give your prospects enough reasons to convert and become loyal customers.

Here’s How to Build a Lead Generation Process

Here are the steps to complete to build your lead generation process :

1. Create your customer persona

You can’t make a plan to attract people when you don’t know who to attract. That’s why the first step is to create your customer persona.

You want to know who your ideal customer is and why. The better you understand why your customers buy from you, the better you’ll be able to attract more.

Start by checking your data. Try to answer questions like:

• Who visits my website?
• How do they find my company?
• What are their demographics and interests?
• How long does it take to buy our solutions?
• What problems do clients solve with our products?
• Where do my clients go to look for solutions to their problems?

Since this is such an important step, you will want to spend as much time on this process as possible and maybe even create multiple client personas to cater to individuals and segment your audience.

2. Create content for your customer’s journey

Now that you know who your customer is, it’s time to create content for each step of their journey.

Start by mapping out how your lead goes from becoming aware of your company to becoming a paid customer. Then, figure out how to create content to attract and nurture them into conversion.

There are multiple kinds of content you can create to use during your sales strategy, including:

• Cold call scripts
• Cold email templates
• Product tours and presentations
• Proposal templates
• Newsletters

Find which content fits best for each step of your customer journey, and create content with your customer in mind.

3. Attract traffic

Now that you have your content, you must find ways to attract traffic. Depending on the kind of content you have, you can attract customers through:

• Cold emails : Find out who your leads are and learn how to contact them. Then use a powerful email platform to send a highly customized template of your pitch.
• Cold calls : Call your leads and circumvent gatekeepers to discuss your pitch, using a good sales script to keep it as interesting as possible.
• Social media : Leverage your LinkedIn network by finding people who fit your lead description and contacting them.
• Paid ads : Ads will actively find customers for you around the clock.

4. Collect the right customer data

Once you have traffic flowing through your content, you need to make sure you’re collecting as much data as possible to be able to reach out to them when they’re ready to purchase.

You can do this in various ways, but one of the best is by exchanging emails for something valuable, like an ebook, template, coupon, or checklist.

Once you have their contact information, you can retarget them to continue nurturing them into conversion.

5. Close the sale

By now, you should have contact information from potential customers. All you need to do is to close the sale.

To succeed, you must approach people at the right time, retargeting them to keep them from losing interest but not so soon that you come off as pushy.

Answer all of their questions, lead them to their “aha moment,” and once they know why they need your product, let them know how they can get it.

What Does a Lead Generation Funnel Look Like?

A lead generation funnel is divided into three parts: the top, the middle, and the bottom.

Here’s what each part does:

1. TOFU (Top of the Funnel)

The TOFU is about how your customer discovers your brand. This first contact is vital for your success because first impressions last a long time.

If you’re going to introduce yourself to a potential lead, you need to know how to do it best. You can first reach your leads through SEO by answering a query your user may have when they first become aware of their pain point. You may also use influencers or paid ads to reach your leads and show them what your brand can do for them.

You’re not selling to them just yet. You’re just giving them a reason to want to learn more.

2. MOFU (Middle of the Funnel)

Now that your customers know about your brand, MOFU is about engaging with and nurturing them so they convert. This is where you’ll likely offer most of the content you’ve created for them, like ebooks, podcasts, or case studies.

Remember also to use this step to get people’s contact information so you can keep nurturing them and contact them when they’re ready to buy.

3. BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel)

Finally, your lead will decide whether or not they’ll become customers.

By now, you should have built a strong relationship with your lead, nurtured them, led them to their aha moment, and shown them why they need a solution and to buy it from you.

Now, all you need to do is close the sale.

Give them everything they need to become a paying customer, like free demos, on-site visits, coupon codes, or limited promotions.

Create urgency and offer value to make it irresistible to click the “buy now” button, pushing them to the final step.

How to Generate Leads: Best Lead Generation Strategies You Should Use

Now that you know what to do with your leads, you’ll want to start generating them yourself.

Here’s how:

Best Lead Generation Tactics for Sales Teams

If you have a sales team, your tactics will be about getting leads so your sales reps can finish the sale.

Here are the best ways to generate leads:

Using Lead Providers

The fastest way to get leads is by buying them from a lead provider like UpLead.

With UpLead, you get access to over 155 million professional profiles. All you need to do is filter them through your customer profile characteristics, find the most likely to convert leads, and download their data to start selling.

You can also use UpLead to enrich your current lead data to make sure it’s up to date. 

We’re so proud of our data’s reliability that we guarantee 95% accuracy. Plus, we verify the emails you’re downloading in real time, so you know you’re getting high-quality data. You’ll get the lead for free if we can’t verify it.

Don’t just take our word for it. UpLead is trusted by users across the globe:

Start with UpLead today.

Lead generation doesn’t have to be all that painful. With UpLead, you can easily connect with high-quality prospects and leads to grow your company.

Cold Email Outreach

Source: ryrob.com

Cold emailing is the process of sending unsolicited emails to potential leads to start a conversation. It’s the email equivalent of showing up at someone’s office to ask if they have a need for your products. That’s why you must be as careful as possible when sending cold emails.

The right cold email will have just enough information to make it obvious for your lead to reply, with an irresistible subject that makes them want to click.

If done well, you can pull off a long cold email outreach campaign with very little money, making even a few conversions worth the effort.

That’s what happened to Ryan Robinson. In 2017, he used cold email to generate over  $110,500 for his freelance business . His success was partly because of his use of templates he could customize automatically, making it easy to reach as many people as possible.

Make your emails as customized and personalized as you can, and scale up your cold email strategy to make sure you’re getting to the greatest number of people to maximize your results.

Cold Calling

Source: x27marketing.com

Like cold emailing, cold calling is contacting someone on the phone to start a conversation about whether or not they’d be a good fit for your business.

Although you can’t reach as many people as quickly as with cold emailing, the extra step of personalization makes it more effective. And when you have salespeople who are properly trained and follow a good script , cold calling can become highly profitable.

Take a look at Alex Berman who, through cold calling alone, managed to book six meetings with Fortune 500 companies in just five days .

Like him, if you call the right people and offer the right solutions, you’ll be likely to make a sale.

Social Selling

These days, social selling is more important than ever. Leveraging social media to get people to recommend and interact with their friends and family can give a lot of credibility to your brand.

After all, when people see something they’d like to buy, it only takes a few seconds to tag someone else to let them know. And, if you can leverage that, you can tip the scales in your favor.

That’s exactly what Funko does. Using social media, Funko hosts giveaways with just a few steps to win: share content and tag someone else.

It’s so easy that thousands of people tag and share the news with other users, exposing the brand to tens of thousands of eyes.

The cost? Whatever four Funkos cost to make plus shipping.

Use your social media to give away products and services in exchange for social selling. Your followers will be happy to participate.

Referrals are one of the absolute best ways to generate leads. After all, what makes you trust a company or product more than having your friend recommend it to you?

The right referrals will help you expand your brand through word of mouth , putting it in front of people who’ll be far more likely to convert.

That’s why companies like Uber use it so often. With Uber, sharing your referral code with someone new will give both of you and them a free ride. It’s a win-win that ends up introducing new people to the platform.

Although Uber uses more than just that campaign, its referral system is still its number one way of expanding to a new territory.

If you make it easy to refer someone and give both their referrals and your clients a reason to do so, you’ll be getting introductions in no time.

If you’ve just launched a referral program or want more customers to sign up, broadcast it on your website homepage, social media like Facebook, and your regular customer eDMs. An easy way to make this announcement stand out is by using a promo video that introduces your referral program and its benefits in an eye-catching way. You can save time by choosing a  free online video editor  that has creative video templates that you can drag, drop, edit and publish in just a few minutes. Alternatively, there are dedicated promo video software options such as Promo available. You can test different options to see what fits your needs.

Further Lead Generation Techniques for Marketing Teams

Looking for more ways to generate leads? Here are some advanced strategies that every marketing team should be applying:

Content & SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to improving your web pages to make it more likely for search engines to suggest them as the answer to people’s queries. If, for example, your website sells auto parts, a good SEO strategy would focus on your website appearing to anyone using search terms like “buy auto parts online.”

And it’s not just about the main keyword for your business. A great SEO strategy targets tangential keywords as long as they’re related to your product or service.

Often, it makes sense to collaborate with an external SEO agency. Here, you can find a decent list of SEO providers .

Take HubSpot, for example. HubSpot has cloud-based platforms for things like lead management , marketing, and sales.

That’s why HubSpot created a blog to answer common queries. Through inbound marketing, HubSpot can show people its platforms and position itself as a leader in the industry.

Social Media

Social media can be used for far more than just social selling. It’s a perfect way to keep your customers engaged with new releases, messages, and even funny memes that keep them thinking of your brand.

In exchange, you can use your social media to learn more about your content persona, test the waters when you want to change something about your brand, and use engagement to measure your current campaigns’ success.

PlayStation knows this very well. The company uses its social media to tease new releases, engage with its community, and even get people hyped up about its next big products.

Remember: it’s better to be great at one or two social media platforms than to be average at all of them. Pick the one that best fits your customer base and build it up for better engagement.

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, is another lead generation channel that’s incredibly effective when used well. However, you need to know exactly how to use it to prevent paying more for clicks that won’t go anywhere.

According to Spinntech, one of their campaigns increased the total of qualified leads by 140% and lowered the cost per click by almost half by improving current campaigns and really tailoring their approach to the right audience.

If you have the right audience persona, it’ll be easy to develop content that will get them to click and convert.

Email Marketing

Email marketing, unlike cold emailing, keeps leads engaged and entertained. Like social media, email marketing can keep your audience in the loop, update them on where you’re going, and let them know what they can get out of it.

Loot Crate, a box subscription service, uses email marketing to inform people about upcoming boxes and what they can find in them, creating hype and informing them about what to expect.

By filling up your newsletter with important, engaging information, your audience will open your emails and look forward to the next ones.

Lead Generation Tips (Loved by Tech Companies)

Here are a few lead generation tips for tech companies to keep in mind when developing a strategy:

1. Create perfect customer personas

Creating your customer personas is one of the most important things you can do in marketing. If the customer persona isn’t well made, the whole strategy could collapse and fail. But if you have a perfect customer persona , you can easily find better ways to generate more leads.

It’s not enough to create them and forget about them; you need to go back to your customer personas often, perfecting them and updating them to make sure you can still use them.

How to get started:

If you haven’t already, create buyer personas based on your current data. To do this, make sure you have your current customers’ data like their:

• Marital Status
• General interests
• Time being a customer

Use this data to identify general trends and segment them into groups based on information they have in common.

Take their customer journey and make sure you know exactly what your personas would do next. 

Finally, set up reminders in your calendar to revisit your customer personas, update them, and create new ones.

2. Use the right tools

You can build and perfect all kinds of marketing campaigns without any marketing tools. However, the right lead gen tools can make the process much easier, faster, and more effective. They remove all the things you don’t need to do and let you focus on what you most need to.

It’s the digital equivalent of hammering nails with a rock versus hammering nails with a nail gun.

Look at the areas you spend the most time on. What are they? Why do you spend so much time there? Are you spending time where no machine can help, or could automation make the job easier? Where do you lack data or information?

Then, look for solutions that solve your pain points.

For example, if you spend too long answering customers who ask the same questions, get a chatbot from Messagely to answer them for you. 

Spending too long generating leads? Use a lead generation tool like UpLead to simply buy them so you can spend more time selling and less time looking for someone to sell to.

Do you spend too much time moving information from one tool to another? Connect all your tools through Zapier to get them to work together.

Your time is valuable. Make sure you’re spending it only where you need to.

3. Test, test, test!

You want to test your approach as often as you can. You can’t have the perfect approach, so testing is the key to getting as close as possible. Testing will also help you evolve your sales tactics, taking them to the next level.

A/B test as often as you can, especially when trying out a new sales tactic. You can A/B test your phone call scripts, email content and subjects, and even the day you choose to contact your leads.

Test everything, and when you come up with new sales tactics, test them again.

Mastering Lead Qualification

Lead qualification is ordering your potential customers according to how likely they are to convert. The more likely they are to convert, the higher their priority.

Through lead qualification, you can make sure you’re prioritizing your time with the leads that are more likely to convert, making sure you’re there to nurture them, answer their questions, and clean up the way for them to make a purchase.

How to qualify leads:

Start by collecting your leads and their information. You’ll want to use their information to see which leads better fit your ideal customer profile.

Next, engage with your lead. You can do this through messaging, emailing, or phone calls. Ask qualifying questions to determine their needs and budget.

Finally, once the lead is fully qualified, you can decide whether to tailor a proposal for them or go after a different lead.

Depending on your needs, your process for acquiring and qualifying a lead can change to better fit your company. The better your lead providers are, the faster the lead qualification will be.

Best Lead Generation Software Tools for Sales Teams

Here are the best tools for lead generation:

UpLead for Generating High-Quality Leads in Seconds

If you want to generate leads as quickly as possible, there’s no better way than by buying leads. And if you want to purchase leads , there’s no better tool than UpLead.

Trusted by clients like HubSpot, Google, Amazon, and Dropbox, UpLead is an online B2B sales intelligence platform that gives you a 95% accuracy rate guarantee on your data. You will never have to pay for leads you won’t be able to contact.

Using UpLead is simple. Just look through the database of over 155 million leads by filtering and finding the right leads. Once you’re ready to download their information, their emails will be validated, so you’ll always know  you’re paying only for the valid addresses   .

Finally, UpLead doesn’t just show you someone’s email address; you’ll also receive their whole profile.

With this information, you can quickly learn more about your lead before contacting them so you can personalize your message and tailor it to them.

Mailshake for Email Prospecting

Made explicitly for cold emails, Mailshake is the best bet for your cold email strategy.

The platform allows you to upload leads from different sources. It integrates with multiple tools such as Zapier, Google Sheets, HubSpot, and Pipedrive so you can follow your leads throughout the sales funnel and help them convert.

With it, you can easily personalize your cold email reach and get as many leads as possible in your sales funnel.

AirCall for Cold Calling

Aircall is a very powerful solution for cold calling that’s easy to scale according to your needs.

The platform connects to your CRM and other marketing tools and can call numbers from over 100 countries. It’s perfect for remote workers, giving you all the analytics to keep track of your sales reps and your audience so you can ensure everything is running smoothly.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator for LinkedIn Lead Generation

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a great tool for finding leads through LinkedIn’s database. With it, you can identify qualified leads by filtering them by their registered company, job position, and the rest of their LinkedIn profile information. 

Although LinkedIn’s capabilities and profiles limit the tool, the Sales Navigator is still a great tool, especially if you’re already using LinkedIn to generate leads. UpLead is a solid alternative as well.

Calendly for Scheduling Calls

Calendly is a popular scheduling platform with great automation capabilities. With it, anyone can schedule meetings with you, and you can integrate those meetings with any online calendar, such as Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook, or Office 365.

It also has apps for both iOS and Android, making Calendly a perfect scheduling platform to use on the go.

Lead Generation FAQ

Here are the answers to commonly asked questions about lead generation:

A lead is a person who’s likely to become a paying customer. This likelihood can be measured by their interactions with your brand or their profile, which may make them an ideal candidate for your solution.

There are two ways of measuring lead quality. 1) Closing potential determines how likely a lead will convert into a paying customer. 2) Revenue potential determines how much money the lead could generate for your company.

There are two types of lead generation. 1) Outbound lead generation : Any lead generation that relies on the company taking the first step to reach the lead, like advertising, cold calls, and emails, snail mail, and influencer marketing. 2) Inbound lead generation : Any lead that relies on the lead taking the first step to reach the company, like SEO, knowledge bases, social media, and PPC.

B2B lead generation is the process of finding qualified potential customers and attracting them to convert into purchasing customers.

There are many ways to find B2B leads, starting with a lead generation strategy . This strategy usually relies on marketing and sales to generate leads so salespeople can follow up on them, nurture them, and convert them.

Lead generation is the basis of any business. The best way to start generating leads is to look them up and contact them. You can get started right now for free for seven days and get the contact information of the people who best fit your client persona.

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