Published 28 April 2021

Lead Generation Marketing – What It Is & How Is It Useful

Lead generation marketing is the process of attracting and converting potential customers into leads. Leads are people who have expressed interest in your product or service, but are not yet ready to buy. By generating leads, you can nurture them until they are ready to make a purchase. There are many different lead generation strategies, but some of the most effective include: Blogging, Cold emails, Chatbots, and Webinars. By using a combination of lead generation strategies, you can generate a steady stream of leads for your business.

Introduction

Lead generation plays an important role in any sales funnel and is a critical step in finding customers for your brand. Your leads are those people who are most likely to become your customers. And that’s why lead generation marketing is an essential component of any brand’s marketing strategy.

Each sales funnel starts with the awareness stage and then ends at the loyalty stage. Throughout the funnel, you leverage various marketing strategies to move your audience further to the next stage.

Lead generation is the second step after awareness and it marks the beginning of the consideration stage where the leads consider whether to make the purchase or not.

So, what exactly is lead generation marketing then?

Let’s find out.🤔

In this post, we’ll cover:

What Is Lead Generation Marketing?

When it comes to digital marketing, lead generation marketing is the umbrella term given to all the marketing efforts that you put in to generate leads for your brand. This may include content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and many other marketing methods.

So, if you’ve been trying to get your audience to sign up for your newsletter, you’re already doing lead generation marketing. If you’ve been promoting your contest to collect emails, that’s lead generation marketing as well.

There could, of course, be several strategies that you might already be implementing to generate leads. Also, there may be different definitions of what a lead may mean for you too.

However, the main thing to remember here is that the final goal of lead generation marketing always remains common — generating leads.

Now that you know what lead generation marketing is all about, let’s try to understand why it’s not just an option but a necessity.

Why Is Lead Generation Marketing Important?

You might already have a marketing plan in place and may have been executing it as well. This may even involve multiple marketing channels to drive your growth. But, if you don’t have a specific plan on how to boost your lead generation, you’re probably wasting a lot of your budget.

👆And why is that?

Lead generation plays a central role in helping you change your audience into paying customers.

So, you need to have a strategy in place to ensure that you’re able to convert your audience into leads.👇

This is where lead generation marketing comes into the picture.

And its importance cannot be understated simply because, without it, you won’t have many leads to work on.

Once you’ve got the leads, you can pass them on to your sales team so that they can nurture them and finally turn them into paying customers.

Now that you know why lead generation is a must-have, let’s take a look at the different ways through which you can generate leads.

Methods for Getting Leads

There are numerous ways in which you can get leads for your brand. This could be getting someone to provide their contact information to you or getting them on a call, among other things.

So let’s take a look at some of the most common methods of getting leads.👇

1. Get Information Through Contact Forms

One of the best ways in which you can drive your lead generation efforts is through your website forms. These contact forms are usually located on the landing page and you need to get your visitors to provide their information through them.

Typically, they are asked to enter their name, email address, and phone number, among other things.

But what can you do to push them to give their information?

You can provide them with valuable resources such as a checklist, ebook, case study, whitepaper, etc. in exchange for their contact details.

These resources are called lead magnets as they can play a big role in getting your business new leads.

2. Social Media Lead Gen Forms

Social media platforms like LinkedIn can help you drive your lead generation efforts with its Lead Gen Forms. You can seamlessly launch your LinkedIn Ads campaign and leverage lead generation forms on the platform to get people to provide their information to you.

And the best part?

Your audience doesn’t even need to leave LinkedIn for the same. And this is why these forms are highly effective as people don’t need to go through that one extra step of going to your website.

While other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter also help you drive your lead generation efforts, you would have to first get your audience to your landing page.

LinkedIn Lead Gen forms help you avoid that extra step and drive your lead generation efforts.

3. Email Responses

One of the other ways through which you can generate leads for your brand is through email marketing. You can send out cold emails to your target audience and introduce them to your brand.

In the process, you can explain what you have to offer in terms of your products and services and can then ask them to schedule a quick call.🤐

There are two ways in which you can go about this:

Book an Appointment: You can end your email by asking the receiver to select a suitable time for a call by providing a link to your calendar. When they agree to speak to you, they effectively become your leads and you can then ask them for their contact information.
Email Reply: The other option is to ask your receivers to reply to the email with a suitable time to speak to them. You could either ask them to provide a time slot or you could give one yourself and ask them if they’re fine with it. In this process, you can get their contact information.

Now that you know the various methods that you can employ during lead generation marketing, let’s take a look at some of the strategies that you should be implementing.

Lead Generation Marketing Strategies

Lead generation has a crucial role to play in the success of your business and if you’re not doing it right, the chances are that you might fail to get enough customers.

So, here are some of the best lead generation marketing strategies that you can implement today to amp up your lead generation efforts.

Let’s dive in.

1. Blogging

Blogging is a great way to go about your lead generation process. You can create high-quality content related to your brand in the form of blog posts and publish it on your blog.

In fact, companies that do blogging often get 67% more leads than those that don’t.

But how does blogging help?

One of the biggest advantages of blogging is that it helps you get more visibility online. When you optimize your blog posts for SEO, they’ll start ranking for a variety of keywords on search engines like Google.

This, in turn, would mean that your posts would be seen by numerous people in your audience.

What’s more?✍

These blog posts should be targeted towards them. The idea should be to write them such that they solve some of their pain points.

When they see that you’re solving their problems, they’ll start seeing your brand as an authority and helpful figure. This, in turn, can motivate them to provide their information to you to become your leads.

But how exactly can you get them to become leads by reading your blog posts?

A great way of going about this is by putting up newsletter sign-up forms within your blog posts. If you’re a SaaS company, you could also provide free trials or demos to your readers and get them to share their contact details for the same.

Alternatively, you can use form building platforms to create and incorporate a registration form on your website that they can use to register and become leads.”

For instance, note how Semrush regularly writes blog posts and incorporates their service into them. This helps them get new leads.

Source: Semrush

2. Cold Emails

Email marketing is a great way through which you can generate leads for your brand. In fact, about 87% of marketers use it for content distribution due to this very reason.

Source: Content Marketing Institute

Cold emailing is a great way of going about this. For cold emails, you first need to start by finding a list of relevant email addresses and names you can reach out to.

Once you’ve found this list, you can start creating your email campaign. You can choose to send out emails individually or opt for an email marketing tool like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor. These tools can help you send the emails in bulk.

The idea is to draft emails that will introduce your brand to them and then explain what you can do. That’s why your cold email’s copy must be short and to the point.

What’s more?

You must also pay attention to the email subject line as it’s the one factor that will decide if the receivers will open your emails or not.

But where does lead generation come into the picture?

At the end of each email, you can either choose to put a link to your landing page, where the receivers can learn more about your brand, or ask them to get on a call. The idea is to get their contact information so that you can convert them into leads and nurture them towards conversion.

One important fact to bear in mind here is that you must try to personalize your email as much as possible. This will improve the chances of the receivers responding positively to it.

For example, note how Sprout Social sends out emails to get their audience to become leads.

Source: Gmail

3. Newsletters

The use of email marketing in lead generation marketing isn’t just restricted to cold emails. While the approach you take in cold emails is to reach out to your potential leads, newsletters help you achieve the exact opposite.

In the case of newsletters, you attract potential leads to subscribe to your newsletters instead of reaching out to them.

And how can you manage that?🤔🤔

When you publish high-quality content on your website or blog, your audience will find it helpful. This, in turn, would make you a go-to destination for helpful resources.

That’s where you can leverage newsletters.

You can pitch newsletters as a way to stay updated with the latest resources on your website. It’s also possible to make the offer sweeter by creating some exclusive content for your subscribers.

This can work as a great incentive for your audience to subscribe to your newsletter by providing their names and email addresses, becoming leads in the process.

For instance, note how Brain Dean from Backlinko has put up a newsletter subscription form on his homepage to drive his lead generation efforts.

Source: Backlinko

4. Contests

Yet another great lead generation marketing strategy that you can implement to drive your lead generation efforts is that of running social media contests.

Everyone likes a freebie, and if that freebie is valuable enough, people are going to want to register for your contest.

So, if you’re launching a social media contest, it’s absolutely critical that you ensure that the prize is valuable enough to generate a buzz.

The idea here is to get people talking about your contest and registering for it. This not only ensures that you have enough entries for it but also lends free publicity to it, thus boosting your reach.

But how does lead generation come into the picture here?

When you launch the contest, you can create a special landing page for it. You can direct all the social media users to come to this page to register for it.

There, you can have a form that they’d have to fill to register for the contest. This form will effectively work as a lead generation form for you.

For example, note how Racold has launched this contest for promoting their geysers.

Source: Facebook

5. Chatbots

Yet another amazing way of driving your lead generation efforts is through chatbots. Chatbots can provide helpful information to your audience by directing them to the content or pages that they’re looking for. This makes them very approachable and a quick way to find things.

But how do they help with your lead generation efforts?

While your website visitors might find it boring to fill up long forms, they may find it easier to communicate with your chatbots.

And why is that?

Chatbots can ask them questions related to their name and email address and collect this information. As your audience would be conversing with them rather than filling up a form, they’ll be more open to giving their contact information.

What’s more?

These chatbots can also be connected to your email marketing platform so that the leads can seamlessly be added to your email list.

For instance, note how the travel website TravHelper has incorporated a chatbot that asks for a visitor’s contact details before directing them to the page that they’re looking for.👀

Source: TravHelper

6. Webinars

Live webinars can generate significant buzz among your audience as they can be informative and engaging. The buzz generated would be even higher if the webinar is free of cost.

Apart from being a great way to connect with your audience and share some helpful information with them, webinars can be a great lead generation marketing strategy.

And why is that?

When you schedule a webinar, you should make your audience aware of it. This is important so that you can get more attendees for it. But that’s where lead generation comes into the picture too.

Typically, you’ve got to ask the interested folks to provide their name and email address to register for the webinar. This serves dual purposes:

You can use this contact information to communicate useful information about the webinar such as the time and the link to the webinar.
It works as an excellent lead generation tool.

What makes webinars even more exciting for lead generation is the fact that the leads will be highly targeted ones as only the most interested people would sign up for them.

And it doesn’t end there.

Webinars also give you the chance to nurture these leads almost instantly. Once they’ve registered for your webinar, you can start sending them emails about it and engage with them.

Additionally, when they come to attend your webinar, you get the opportunity to communicate directly with them. This, in turn, can help in building their trust in your brand and can bring them one step closer to becoming conversions.

7. Free Demos and Trials

If you’ve got a SaaS company, one of the most important lead generation marketing strategies for you is to launch a free demo or trial.

And why is that?

When prospective customers visit your website, they’ll be inclined to take your tool for a test drive before actually paying for it. After all, they may want to learn more about its workings and check if it suits their requirements.

Doing all of this wouldn’t be possible if you don’t offer a demo or a trial for it.

Offering one would mean that you can tap into this segment of prospects who might choose to go ahead with your products or services if they find them satisfactory.

So, how does this help with your lead generation efforts?

When you offer a free trial or demo, you can ask the visitors to fill up a form with their contact information for the same. Once they’ve filled the form, you can shoot over an email to them about it.

But in the process, you’ve collected their contact information, which effectively turns them into your leads. You can then send out emails to them and nurture them to become customers.

Apart from free trials and demos, you could also go for a free plan for your SaaS platform. This plan can provide limited features to the prospects and also turns them into leads.

HubSpot, for instance, has a free plan that their prospects can use to get a feel of the platform. They can then choose to go for the paid plans. This has helped them get over 100K customers.

Source: HubSpot

8. Online Courses

One of the other lead generation marketing strategies that you can use for your brand is that of creating online courses.

Online courses can be a great source for learning and they can also help you display your expertise.

While you can charge your audience for online courses, it helps if you have some free courses for them as well.

And why is that?

The idea is to use the online course as a lead magnet. If someone in your audience is genuinely interested in the course, they’ll go through the registration process for it.

This, in turn, would mean that they would have to share their contact information with you, which would turn them into a lead.

Online courses have become extremely popular in recent times and that’s why you can use them to your advantage.

Ahrefs, for example, has online courses on its website. While these courses don’t require registration, they help position it as an authority in the niche and help with lead generation.

Source: Ahrefs

Final Thoughts

Lead generation plays an important role in any sales funnel and it gets you one step closer to getting conversions. There are three major ways through which you can get leads and that’s through contact forms, social media lead gen forms, and through email responses.

What’s more?🧐

There are numerous lead generation strategies that you can implement to ramp up your lead generation marketing. You can start by creating high-quality blog posts and then getting your visitors to sign up for your newsletter.

Additionally, you can leverage cold email campaigns and contests to further get more leads for your business.

It’s also helpful to leverage chatbots and webinars to further drive your lead generation efforts. If you’re an SaaS company, you can also give out free demos and trials to get leads. It’s also helpful if you offer free packages to your audience.

Finally, you can leverage online courses as lead magnets to get people to become your leads.

If you have any questions about the methods of lead generation marketing mentioned above, ask them in the comments section below.