What Is a Lead and What Is Lead Generation?

A lead is a potential customer who has expressed interest in a company and provided their contact information for further communication. Lead generation is the process of attracting such users using marketing tools.

What is a lead?

A lead (from the English word «lead», meaning «to guide») is a potential customer who has responded to a company’s marketing communication and provided their contact information for further communication.

Such contact information may include:

• a phone number;
• an email address;
• a form submission on the website;
• a message on social media;
• an inquiry via chat or messenger.

It’s important to understand that a lead is not yet a buyer. It’s a user who has shown interest in a product or service but needs further communication to move to the purchase stage. For example, someone submitted a request for a consultation on SEO for their website. They haven’t become a customer yet, but they’re already a potential buyer of the service.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is a set of marketing activities aimed at attracting potential customers and obtaining their contact information. The main goal of lead generation is to identify users who may be interested in a product or service and move them from the awareness stage to further engagement with the business. Various channels are used for this purpose:

• SEO;
• contextual advertising;
• social media;
• email marketing;
• content marketing;
• other customer acquisition tools.

Methods of attracting leads

Today, there are a number of ways to generate leads. To figure out which option is right for you and your business, you need to consider several factors: your budget and your company’s specific characteristics.

The most popular methods for generating leads are, without a doubt:

Useful information: SEO or PPC, which to choose?

Target audience

In order to choose the most correct and effective ways to attract leads, you need to decide with a portrait of your consumer — simply find the target audience.

There are several criteria by which you can determine the target audience.

As a rule, these are:

• gender (male, female);
• age (3-15, 18-60 or youth, elderly, and so on); {{1} } religion;
• location (region of residence);
• social status (income level — average, below average, above average; position; education — incomplete, secondary, higher);
• field of activity (trade, provision of services, running one’s own business, and so on);
• marital status (married, single, in a civil marriage, divorced, single);
• interests.

When «drawing» a consumer portrait, the following mistakes are often made: the criteria are set inaccurately and very vague. For example, the audience of a confectionery factory — men, women, and children from 5 to 80 years old, from all segments of the population and fields of activity. Yes, indeed, all these people can buy your product, but you should divide them into subcategories and form your own unique interaction strategy for each of them. It is also worth noting a number of things that at first glance seem insignificant. For example, a 5-year-old child can really eat candy or cookies, but the probability that he will independently make a purchase decision and, accordingly, buy your product is equal to zero. That is why you, as the person who sets the tone of communication, must take this into account.

Another important detail is a periodic review of the target audience.

Remember that this indicator can change depending on the season, the competitiveness of your product, changes in the buyer’s needs, and many other indicators.

Lead generation tools

There are a large number of universal lead generation methods:

• landing page — using a landing page;
• lead magnet — a unique offer that can be «exchanged» for contacts — a discount and other preferences;
• Contact capture form — a pop-up window that makes an offer that the buyer literally cannot refuse;
• a lead generator is tools such as chat, questionnaire, automatic consultant, and more;
• a feedback form.

Lead processing and the reasons that determine their quantity

To get the most accurate information about leads, you need to use a CRM system (Amploo CRM, Zoho CRM, and others). It will not only collect leads from various sources but also store data about them. This gives you the opportunity to conduct further analysis and adjust your strategy, and as a result increase your profit without additional financial investments.

The number of leads for a certain period depends on several factors: the characteristics of the target audience (TA), the business sector, the budget for promotion and traffic purchase, and conversion of your resource.

Pros of lead generation

Thanks to lead generation, you can reach a huge number of consumers using Internet channels. You will also be able to establish a stable flow of customers, and and increase the profit of your business. Thanks to this method, you can fully control your costs, as they cannot be hidden behind empty clicks and conversions.