What is Lead Generation and What Strategies Can Improve Your Sales

What is a “lead” and why is lead generation crucial for growing a business? In a general sense, lead generation is driving the interest of potential customers to your products or services.

Through the years, lead generation has adapted to the digital transformation. From collecting business cards and manually searching yellow pages for contacts, it can now be done using CRM platforms such as HubSpot, to manage databases and have seamless omnichannel communication with prospects.

Unfortunately, most businesses miss the mark on maximizing the potential of lead generation. Around 68% of businesses say they struggle with lead generation and, as a result, have difficulties driving customer acquisition.

WHAT IS LEAD GENERATION?

To better understand what lead generation is, picture that you’re a small café owner, and you want more customers to get their coffee fix from your shop. But before you can achieve that, you’ll need to figure out exactly who your target market is.

Lead generation is like looking for people interested in buying from your café. Knowing that they like coffee isn’t enough, though. You should also determine if they’re more inclined to buy hot or iced coffee, frappes, or if they’re the type to settle for tea.

Spreading the word about your café might be done through social media, word of mouth, or traditional out-of-home (OOH) marketing. When someone shows interest, you capture their information and use it to further nurture your relationship, with the goal of turning them into a customer. A good way to do this is by informing them about special promos, limited edition drinks, or discounts for first-time patrons.

Bottom line, the ultimate objective of lead generation is to collect data that can be used to drive sales and increase customer acquisition.

6 LEAD GENERATION STRATEGIES

Lead generation isn’t a one-off thing; it is a continuous cycle, and as such, it should have a structured process. Having steps to follow ensures the consistency and success of a lead generation strategy.

1. DETERMINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Defining the demographics of your target audience or buyer persona is the first order of business in lead generation. Being the initial step, the entirety of the process heavily rests on it, so it is extremely crucial to accomplish this part down to a T.

In this stage, one must identify and understand their potential customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points.
2. CREATE ENTICING CONTENT

Now that you know your target audience, it will be easier to create tailored content that will resonate with them. Make sure that the content you’ll produce will be beneficial and will include offers that will encourage them to buy your products or services.

Some examples include eBooks, webinars, free trials, consultations, or exclusive discounts. The offers should address their challenges and provide solutions.
3. DIRECT LEADS TO LANDING PAGES

Landing pages are standalone web pages that are specifically designed to persuade leads to engage in a call-to-action. In fact, research shows that 68% of B2B businesses utilize strategic pages for lead generation.

Some common strategies for driving traffic to these pages are through newsletters, demos, manuals, SEO, content marketing, or referral traffic.
4. CAPTURE LEADS

Collecting lead data and information is a vital part of the lead generation process. After all, this is what will help propel customer acquisition.

Landing pages should be maximized by including forms or sections where users can leave their contact information before they get access to offers like discounts or promos. Keeping the forms simple will further facilitate the process.
5. NURTURE LEADS

Like any other relationship, nurturing leads is a must to woo them into becoming paying customers. With that, it’s essential to develop a strategy for building strong ties with prospects, even if they don’t seem completely interested during the initial phase of your conversation.

Personalization and automation are key factors here. Your audience will appreciate content and messaging that they can relate to. Creating and sharing relevant information that may address their pain points and guide them through the buyer’s journey will have a higher chance of grabbing their attention.
6. QUALIFY LEADS

At the final stage of the lead generation process, one should be able to determine a lead’s intent to buy. Are they ready to speak with your sales team, or are they just browsing?

Implementing lead scoring or qualification mechanisms is vital to assessing the readiness and quality of leads. Evaluate their engagement, behavior, and demographics to identify the most promising prospects for sales follow-up.

BOOST SALES BY OUTSOURCING LEAD GENERATION VA

A successful lead generation strategy requires a combination of a structured approach and a skilled virtual assistant or lead generation specialist. They can significantly impact your sales by identifying the right audience, implementing effective strategies, and nurturing and qualifying leads.

The Remote Group offers highly skilled Lead Generation VAs to clients looking to further enhance their sales process. Their expertise helps generate a consistent stream of high-quality leads, ultimately boosting your sales and revenue.

Give our sales team a ring to discuss your outsourcing needs.

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About The Remote Group

The Remote Group is a leading provider of customized offshore staffing solutions to businesses worldwide. Their services focus on solving talent and skills shortages, scalability, cost savings, and streamlining processes that help increase business productivity while diminishing inefficiencies.