“Gathering databases with phone numbers & email addresses of the consumers is not Lead Generation!”
Lead generation is when a consumer shows interest or does inquiry about the product or service offered by a business. However, in online marketing the process of lead generation not only includes generation of leads i.e. bringing potential traffic to the landing pages and exchanging their information for something that may be an eBook, podcast and so on. It also includes the nurturing of leads in order to convert them in to sales-ready leads or qualified leads.
Large size businesses pay out millions on advertising to acquire customers and build their brand while small businesses have limited budget and generally can’t splurge hefty amount of money on advertising. Although for SMBs the need to attract customers remains same as large businesses or even more. This is what makes SMBs to rely on resourceful & cost effective ways of generating leads in a shoe string budget.
In this article we will discuss about the fundamentals of lead generation in online marketing. Let’s go!
What is a Lead?
Quite simple, anyone showing interest in your products or services is a lead. For example, lead is when someone fills up a form on your web page or may be someone calls you to inquire about your products or services. At times, when someone visits a very important page on a website, is also taken as lead.
Types of Lead
Leads are of two types:
1) Micro Leads
2) Macro leads
Micro Lead
Micro leads are when the consumers visiting your site have filled up the form with their information in exchange for the offer that you have like an Ebook or a whitepaper however they have no buying intention at this point of time.
For instance, a number of visitors have subscribed to your blog or the newsletter, or have downloaded your eBook or whitepaper and that you could see some activity done by the visitor on your web pages (Website or the landing pages) however, at this point of time, they genuinely have no interest in buying your product or service.
Macro Leads
Macro leads are when the consumer is much inclined to buy the product or services that you offer and he/she has filled up an important lead form. For instance someone making an inbound inquiry call or subscribing for free trial or may be walking directly in to your center. In case of macro leads, chances of the leads getting converted into sales are higher.
What are Landing Pages?
The landing pages are those web pages where the visitor lands on or arrives at after clicking on a call-to-action button in an ad or directly clicking on an ad. These pages are created with the core intention of generating leads. The main objective of the landing page is to compel the visitor to fill the form on the page called lead capture form.
Types of Landing Pages:
There are two types of landing pages:
1) Click-Through Landing Pages
2) Lead Generation Landing Pages
Click Through Landing Pages
Click Through Landing pages are those pages that are created with an objective of compelling the visitors to click through to another page. These pages are usually used in eCommerce funnel for explaining the offer in detail and bringing the prospects closer to purchasing decision.
Lead Generation Landing Pages
Lead generation landing pages are those WebPages that are created with an intention of capturing visitor’s data that include their name, email address, phone number & so on in exchange for an offer you are giving. There is a lead capture form on these pages that is used to ask all relevant details from the visitors that are crucial for your business according to your sales team.
Some of the most common offers that are given in exchange for the visitor’s information are:
Whitepaper
EBook
Contest entry
Webinar registration
Discount coupon/voucher
Consultation for professional services
Free trial
What is lead nurturing?
Lead nurturing is nurturing your relationship with the consumers by connecting & engaging with them and by consistently sending them targeted, relevant & useful messages depending on their stage in the sales funnel. It helps the marketer to move the leads swiftly down through the sales funnel and converting potential leads into sales.
“Only 5 to 25 percent of your website traffic wants to do business with you and the rest are actually the researchers!”
– Reports
These are lead nurturing tactics that help you convert researchers into prospects and prospects into customers by generating the need for your product and influencing their purchase intent.
There are a number of ways you can nurture your leads depending upon the stage of customer in the sales funnel.
Afterword
So, up till now in this article we learnt about leads, landing pages, how to bring potential traffic to landing pages and how to nurture leads to sales ready leads. But that’s not all! Like it happens in any other part of digital marketing, you can screen your lead generation campaigns and scale their performance through Web Analytics. You can monitor returns on every single penny you invest for lead generation and make alterations in your lead generation campaigns accordingly.