Lead generation (or Lead Gen) is the gathering of potential customers’ contact information and can be the main goal for an online advertising campaign. For example, a newsletter signup on a website generates a lead, as the person who signs up has given their contact information and has demonstrated interest in what the website is about (although this is actually considered quite a weak lead).
Examples of a strong Lead would be someone signing up for a test drive of a car or registering their email address to be informed when a product or service becomes available – in both cases, the user is indicating they have a desire to purchase.
7 Things To Know About Lead Generation
- A lead is someone who you can *likely* sell to. You can think of them as people who are the most receptive to your marketing messages.
- An email newsletter is one of the simplest and most powerful forms of lead generation. Having a big email list means having a captive audience for your marketing messages who have already expressed an interest in what you have to say.
- According to Marketo, only 4% of website visitors are ready to make a purchase.
- A good way to qualify a lead is to offer something for free, then have a survey afterwards asking about their experience. With some well-crafted questions, you’ll soon separate the qualified leads from the looky-loos.
- Be careful where you get leads from. Buying data from companies who haven’t obtained it legally could land both you and them in legal hot water. People *hate* having their details grabbed without permission, and they *will* report you.
- Looking for B2B leads? Did you know that 80% of all B2B leads from social media come from LinkedIn?
- Not all leads are created equal. Qualified leads mean someone has checked somehow, and the lead is very interested. Unqualified leads are more just a set of maybes.
Summary
