Lead Generation 101: A Business Owner Guide for Growth

It happens to even the most successful business owners. There are seasons where there are little or no new leads coming in the door. The reality is that growth is multidimensional, complex, and requires much effort. Sometimes business owners lack the time, resources, and know-how to get the job done properly. Often this comes at the most inopportune times.

However, there’s no substitute for lead generation when it comes to bringing in business. Businesses in all industries must invest in this area to see and sustain results. That said, it is possible to generate leads and go about it the right way, as you’ll see in this guide.

What is a lead?

A lead is someone who’s expressed interest in your product or service or has had some contact with your sales process or team. However, a lead is different from a prospect. The latter refers to someone who fits the bill to be a customer but hasn’t moved to the next stage of the funnel yet because they might not be ready to buy. In the case of a lead, the goal is to turn them into customers.

What are the different types of leads?

Not all leads are created equal. Depending on the lead type, different lead generation strategies and nurturing tactics will need to be applied to get the best results. The various types include but are not limited to the following:

Information Qualified Lead (IQL)

This type of lead refers to an individual who has engaged with your content but is in the early stages of the buying journey. They’re in the knowledge-seeking stage and not ready to commit to a purchase.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

This person has explicitly indicated a potential interest in your product or service. They might have taken more decisive action such as downloading a white paper, signing up for a demo, or completing a contact form.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

In this case, the person has been screened by the marketing team and is considered a good prospect for further contact. They have indicated their intent to make a purchase and fit the company’s ideal customer profile (ICP).

Sales Ready Lead (SRL)

Similar to an SQL, a Sales Ready Lead is primed for a sales conversation. The factors that may stand in your way at this point might be the person’s budget, authority, need, and timeline. Whatever the case, your sales team will need to address their concerns.

Regardless of the type of lead, sales teams must work diligently and strategically to convert them into a sale.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation refers to courting people who’ve shown interest in your offerings. You can use marketing strategies and techniques to capture their attention and engage in ways that inspire trust and build a relationship. The goal is to get them to share their contact information—so you can begin to move them through the sales funnel and eventually close the deal.

You can do this by considering your ideal customer, how they spend their time, and what type of content might speak to them. Blog posts, webinars, whitepapers, and social media content can attract prospects to your business.

After you’ve warmed them up, lead generation marketing can seal the deal. Your sales team might rely on a combination of personalized communications, follow-up, and tailored content that inspires potential customers to take action.

Effective lead generation is about more than having a full sales pipeline. It also helps your sales process because the people are genuinely interested in what you have to offer and likely receptive to your messages. You don’t want to waste time targeting people or groups who aren’t a good fit or might even be deterred by your attempts. This doesn’t do them, or you, any good.

Benefits & Importance of Lead Generation

Lead generation is a pillar of a successful marketing strategy. It’s how you organically reach and build relationships with prospects. This foundation helps to convert leads into customers faster. By courting the right people at the right time, businesses can forge trust and land more sales. The best lead generation strategies help companies enter new markets while helping them acquire more loyal customers.

Lead generation directly helps businesses achieve their goals. You might experience one or more of the following benefits:

Provides Insights on What Your Customers Want

Lead generation can help you learn more about customer behavior and preferences. Data—and the stories behind it—can reveal which products or services are well received. Taking this feedback into account can help you make better decisions that increase satisfaction and loyalty. Plus, leveraging this insight can help you build better marketing strategies, lead product development more effectively and properly tighten up operational procedures.

Helps You Understand Your Market

One important facet of lead generation is breaking up lists into groups that reflect similar interests, buying habits, backgrounds and other factors. In going through this process you might encounter trends and patterns in the market you didn’t know existed. It can also be helpful in getting clarity about where you might need to expend resources to influence buyers.

Provides a Constant Stream of Prospects

The best time to try to drum up business is when you’re already busy. This might sound contradictory but it’s a tested process. When done right, generating leads will present a steady stream of opportunities. A healthy sales pipeline will help you worry less about revenue and cash flow in leaner times.

Lead Generation Process

Lead generation is an ongoing process that can be more of an art than a science. It’s crucial for business people and their sales teams to understand the role each step plays in the context of the bigger picture. Here’s what a typical customer journey looks like:

1. A Visitor Discovers Your Business

The first interaction sets the tone in the awareness stage. You might engage with the person on social media or via the comments section on a blog. Whatever the case, your business is now on their radar. This inbound marketing primes them for the next stage.

2. A Visitor Interacts With Your Business Through CTA

Next, you invite the prospect into the conversation via a Call-to-Action (CTA). You might be familiar with a few of the classic ones such as “Learn More,” “Sign Up,” or “Download Now.” Placement of these CTAs will vary according to context. For example, “Download now” works for promoting an ebook, etc. .

3. Visitors Land on Your Site and Provide Their Contact Information

When the person clicks on the prompt, they should be directed to a page that captures their contact information. The landing page should look consistent with the branding on the rest of your site and be user-friendly for the best lead-gen results.

4. Your Business Contacts the Visitor and Nurtures Them

At this point, the person is considered a lead. It’s time to start nurturing them via email marketing, custom campaigns, and other tactics to get them to convert. Always provide value. The goal is that when it’s time to commit, your company will be the clear choice.

Each step helps shape the outcome. Take care to invest the proper time and resources at each juncture and you’re more likely to see results.

How to Improve the Lead Generation Process

The lead generation process is always a work in progress. The most effective salespeople put in the time to identify and influence potential buyers. You can do one or more of the following to attract high-quality leads:

1. Define Your Ideal Leads and Customers

Don’t overlook the importance of buyer personas. Reflect on your target audience, their demographics, interests, frustrations, and buying patterns.

Doing so can help you hyper-focus your marketing on people who are more apt to buy instead of spinning your wheels with a broad-stroke approach.

2. Tailor Your Content

Curate content that speaks to the interests and needs of this group. You might whet their appetite for a sale via blog posts, whitepapers, videos, and social media posts.

3. Align Your Marketing Channels

There should be no question that your marketing channels are part of a well-oiled machine. Aim for consistency in branding, tone, voice, and messaging to inspire confidence.

4. Use Tools and Software

CRMs, lead management platforms, and other solutions can help you automate certain tasks and also track and monitor progress. Let technology do the heavy lifting of lead generation marketing while you focus on other areas that can’t be automated.

5. Track Your Generation Campaigns

Keep tabs on the performance of your lead generation campaigns. You’ll want to look at conversion rates, click-through rates, and cost per lead to get a handle on the big picture. This due diligence can help you determine what you need to do to get more from your efforts.

6. Optimize Your Landing Pages

When it comes to landing pages, you want to keep it short and sweet. Build in a strong call to action and intuitive navigation so there are no questions about what to do.

7. Engage With Leads Promptly

Respond to interest quickly with automated messages, emails, or a phone call if appropriate. Speed is key here, as you don’t want a hot lead to turn cold because of inaction on your part. Nothing is worse than losing a sale to a competitor only because you dragged your heels.

6 Effective Lead Generation Strategies & Campaigns

It’s helpful to have a few tricks up your sleeve to attract more leads. However, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Here are some proven strategies to support lead generation:

Text Marketing

Send promotions, offers, or updates directly to customers via SMS. Phone calls can be ignored, but text messaging has about a 98% open rate as it’s the preferred method of communication today.

Google and Social Media Ads

Google, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn ads are great ways to zero in on audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can access reports to measure results so you can adjust the parameters as needed.

Blog Posts

A form of content marketing, consistent and quality blog content on your website directs people to and from search engines and social media. There’s also another advantage—blogging positions you as the trusted subject-matter expert and makes it easier for prospects to find you.

Referral Programs

Give current customers a reason to tell their friends and family about you. You might entice them with discounts, free products, or even cash rewards. Referred leads are often reliable because they come with a certain level of trust.

Web Chat

Integrate web chat features into your website to help visitors get answers quickly. Beyond the convenience factor, such a widget can help you gather contact information you might use later to market to them.

These lead-generation examples, combined with the tips we shared above, can help you bring in a steady stream of qualified leads. Greatleads are what will help you grow a powerful business.

Lead Generation Marketing Solutions

Lead generation requires time and effort. Both are often in short supply when keeping up with the day-to-day demands of a business. You don’t have to go it on your own. Podium can help you generate and convert more leads through a suite of tools:

Messaging: Communicate with customers through text messages, web chat, and social media. Podium’s unified inbox means that interactions are centralized and easily managed.

Reviews Management: Automate reviews requests from customers using text messaging. Customers can leave feedback on sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp. This helps with SEO ranking.

Website Chat: Capture leads directly from your website by responding instantly and continuing the conversation via text even after they’ve left your site.

Payments: Send payment requests via text, allowing customers to conveniently pay from their mobile devices.

Feedback: Gauge customer sentiment in real time through surveys and feedback requests through private, one-on-one text messages.

Marketing Campaigns: Send targeted promotions and updates via text messaging. Text messaging traditionally has a high open rate, which can contribute to higher sales.

Here at Podium, our mission is to help you grow. But don’t just take it from us. Julie Davis,owner and founder of Pura Vida Body & Mind Spa, experienced exceptional results with a text messaging campaign. They ran a campaign encouraging booking (and prepayment) that generated $20,000 in revenue in just two days.

Your business could be Podium’s next success story. Watch a demo and see all of the marketing automation features in action. You could positively change your business nearly overnight with our all-in-one lead management platform.