How can you conduct effective lead generation?

What is a lead?

In its most simple terms, a lead is an enquiry about your business, from either a consumer (known as B2C, meaning business to customer) or an individual acting on behalf of another business (known as B2B, meaning business to business).

There are two forms of lead generation. The first is what we call inbound lead generation. This is when the contact can come from a marketing campaign or via a prospect finding you online. Typically, these are the most valuable leads because the prospect is specifically reaching out to find out more about what you’re offering; increasing your likelihood of converting that lead into a sale.

The second is what we call outbound lead generation, which is when a user is targeted or prospected by your business. An example of outbound activity is cold calling or telemarketing. Typically, outbound marketing drives a lower success rate of converting leads into paying customers because you’re generating interest cold, meaning that the prospect typically wouldn’t have been looking for your service when they are first approached.

How to generate leads

Often, when people are on the hunt for new business, they tend to jump in feet first and run after any opportunity. Now, this may sound very obvious, but the key is to ensure that you target prospects who you can cater for with your offering – you’ll be surprised how often this is overlooked!

The first stage of a lead generation strategy is to profile your ideal customers, which – in marketing terms – we call a target persona.

There are several key elements to map out for B2B sales:

• What are the job titles of the people in the business you’re going after?
• What are the main challenges they face?
• What content are they known to consume, i.e. is there an established publication for the trade, such as a retail publication like the Retail Gazette?
• What events do they attend?
• What social channels do they use?
• Does the business they work for need to be based in a specific location?

B2C personas are mapped a little differently. Here are some points to help you get started:

• What are the main challenges consumers face that your product or service can solve?
• What content are they known to consume, i.e. is there an established forum such as mumsnet?
• Is age or gender important?
• What events, if any, do they attend?
• What social channels do they use?
• Are you limited by serving a specific location?

What are lead generation companies?

In order to keep their eye on the ball, businesses often outsource their inbound marketing operations in order to drive leads to agencies like KAYBE.

A great agency will take a 360 approach in their planning. We will consider major areas prospects would interact with you, such as your digital visibility, how accessible your website is and how compelling your content is. In short, lead generation goes further than just creating a strategy. The activation and execution of any campaign is critical to its success.