Your Ultimate Guide to the Benefits of Lead Generation, Its Importance, Application & more

In this blog, you’ll get to know about what exactly lead generation means, the benefits of lead generation, how you can generate leads, and a lot more. Read on to know the reason why you must start using lead gen.

Hundreds of companies are out there, vying for the attention of the same potential customer as yours. As new companies join the race, it will become more difficult for existing businesses to generate more leads.

63% of marketers say generating traffic and leads is their top challenge. Be its the automotive sector, pharmaceutical sector, banking sector, real estate sector, or any other, everyone is struggling with the problem of acquiring new leads.

So if you are involved in any kind of business and want to grow and expand it through generating leads, then this blog is definitely for you. 

Let’s first look at what exactly lead generation means for the unversed. 

What is Lead Generation?

The process of generating new leads for your business with the goal of converting their interests into sales is known as lead generation. 

And the leads here are the potential customer in your target audience who is interested in your product or service. 

In online marketing, this usually entails using a web form to collect a visitor’s contact information (referred to as leads). 

Why is Lead Generation Important and Best-Effective?

Lead generation is a very important aspect of any business. Without lead generation, the business may find difficulties to increase their sales and expand their business. 

Many businesses nowadays rely significantly on lead generation as it drives visitors to their websites, where they can convert leads into consumers.

And as we all know there has been a huge transformation in the way marketing works.

Traditionally, the concept of “lead generation” meant marketers searched for names of potential buyers and passed them to sales. Buyers expected that they would have to get in touch with sales teams and sales teams expected to talk to uneducated early stage buyers that may or may not be a qualified lead.

All this has all changed. Today, buyers prefer to do their own research online and find a variety of resources through search engines, social media, and other online channels for the products or services they require. 

Current buyers usually learn a great deal about a product or service before speaking to a salesperson. Hence, businesses must make sure that they have a strong lead generation campaign on digital platforms.

This change has led every company to rethink its marketing strategies. The entire process of acquiring leads has undergone a huge revision. A major part of this process has shifted online.

The companies which have been unable to adapt to this transformation, have been struggling to attract potential consumers. This situation is bound to get bleaker unless we find out innovative ways to keep generating leads for our business.

And if you don’t want to be a part of this struggle then you need a professional’s help. IIDE’s customized digital marketing corporate training program gives a 360° approach by understanding the need and goals of the company and then providing apt solutions for it. Upskill your employees today! 

Many businesses started leveraging the power of social media to generate leads. They started running online campaigns on social media platforms to attract people who use them.

Similarly, you too can increase the market share of your brand by working towards lead generation through Digital Marketing. But first, let’s see what does lead generation in digital marketing means. 

What is Lead Generation in Digital Marketing?

The days were gone when people used to promote their business through newspaper ads, launching a flyer campaign, and knocking at the door. The digital era has transformed the way we do business. 

Generating leads through the use of social media, Search engine marketing(SEM), Search engine optimization(SEO), and many other digital marketing techniques is called generating leads through digital marketing. 

But to generate leads from the sources, you must have a proper understanding of each one of them. And for that, you can consider learning how to generate leads right from the comfort of your home with these online courses – Online SEO Course, Online SMM Course, Online Google Ads Course. 

And if you wish to grab an understanding of digital marketing as a whole then you must check out our 3-months online digital marketing course, where you’ll get to know everything about digital marketing. 

You can use various tools and techniques in the process of generating leads. Some of them are given below.

9 Best Lead Generation Tools To Use

There are various tools available in the market which will help you in generating leads. Lead generation software is one of them. It automates the process of gathering information about leads and attracting them online. 

Lead generation software will help you to generate more leads, close sales faster, eliminate busywork, manage leads, and increase accuracy. 

Here are some of the best lead generation tools which you can use to get more targeted leads-

• OptinMonster
• TrustPulse
• SeedProd
• WPForms
• Constant Contact 
• Sendinblue
• Hunter
• AeroLeads
• OutreachPlus

Let’s see how lead generation software and tools will help you and your business to generate leads. 

Generate More Leads 

A solid lead generation software product will assist your website get more visitors. Paid search advertising and organic search engine optimization are two examples of good strategies which will help you with it. 

Generate Better Leads

Generating high-quality leads is one of the biggest challenges that every business faces. You may target your ideal customers with lead generation software, which will help you to limit the number of unqualified leads coming in.

Close the Sale Faster 

If you are looking to accelerate your process of sales, then lead-generating software will definitely help you to automate the process of generating, segmenting, and following up on leads. This will allow you to create a faster sales process.

Manage Leads Better 

Getting more and more leads is definitely a good thing, but keeping a track of those leads is a very difficult task. Good lead generation software will help you to keep the track of your leads and reduce mistakes. It can notify you when you get new leads, allow you to send automated emails, and act as a reminder when it’s time to contact your leads.

Increase Accuracy and Reduce Busy Work

Your leads are people and people change. They change their location, phone number, etc. And keeping track of your lead’s ever-changing information can be a quite tough job. 

But using lead generation software will help you in this so that your lead information is more accurate, and your sales team spends less time entering data and more time actually selling. 

Now as you are aware of what is lead generation and why is it so important for your business, let’s check some of the benefits of lead generation.

What are the Benefits of Lead Generation? 

If you’ve understood the importance of lead generation, you are somewhat aware of why businesses are opting for it. But here are some sure shot benefits of lead generation which made it a desirable digital marketing tactic:

1. Increase Brand Awareness

2. Helps Generate Quality Leads

3. Is a Cost-Effective method

4. Helps Save Your Time

5. Enables track results and measure performance

And if you want more rewards and less time wasted, then you might consider outsourcing your lead generation. 

It will not only save your time but also help you to boost your sales. Given below are some of the areas where you can reap the benefits.

• You’ll Talk to Those Who Matter
• You’ll Have the Right Technology
• There’s Less Lead Time
• Lower Your Costs
• You Can Better Evaluate Your Results

If you wish to read each of these benefits of lead generation in detail and understand it, head over to our blog on the Top Benefits of Lead Generation for Businesses.

Some Challenges in Lead Generation 

Here are some of the challenges which you may encounter during the process of lead generation. 

A very general issue that almost every company faces when it comes to lead generation is finding a strategy or a plan which may actually grab your audience’s attention. If it were simple, everyone would do it, but it takes more than just doing it, it must be methodical and done in an effective manner.

After you’ve figured out your strategy and plan that will grab people’s attention, you need to ensure that your content must reach the right people. Avoid wasting your time and money on the wrong people. 

Find your right target audience who is most likely to buy your products or services. A critical mass of individuals will almost certainly improve your chances of converting a lead into a qualified lead, and then into a customer.

With the right strategy and the right people, you’re all done! But, will you get to know that your efforts were successful or not? You can’t just through something at the wall and hope it sticks. 

Measuring or analyzing your efforts is very important because it gives you insights into the process and allows you to correct things if needed. Dive deep into some more challenges of lead generation and how to overcome them. 

Moving on to the 2 main questions now – whether you can cash in on lead generation and how does it exactly work.

Can you make money with lead generation?

If you’re curious about it, Will lead generation assist you in making a sufficient profit for your business, or can you make money through lead generation?

If so, then your answer is a big YES! 

Leads are often quite very lucrative. It’s better than the majority of other sources of income. If you have a targeted website and can generate quality leads, you can make a lot of money if you choose the correct programs. Leads are usually paid in the range of $5 to $50 per lead.

Let’s Understand How Lead Generation Works

The two main components of the lead generation process are, getting traffic to your website and convincing them to share their contact information with you. 

Finding an effective technique to attract customers to your website is the first step in the process. There are many ways and techniques to attract your customers to your site, depending upon your company’s goal and budget. 

Some of the key ways through which you can drive traffic to your website and generate leads are:

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – SEM is a form of online advertising through which you can pay a particular amount to the search engines, such as Google or Bing, to display ads on their SERP. Because search is the most common way for individuals to find information on the internet, it may be a significant source of traffic.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) –  SEO is almost similar to SEM, rather than paying search engines to display ads, you have to optimize your website to search engine algorithm so that it appears higher in the organic search results. 
• Social Media – Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc have emerged as the most popular sites. You can use social media to drive traffic by posting content on the platforms or purchasing ads that display on the networks. Social media would be one of the best ways to generate leads. 

You May Be Interested: Short-term Certification Courses in Digital Marketing

• Display Ads – This type of advertisement can take several forms, including video, image, audio, and text. These advertising can be bought on relevant websites to attract visitors to your own site, commonly using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) methods.

• Offline Events –  Offline marketing can often lead to online marketing. Industry conferences and meetings can be effective ways to meet new clients, educate them about your business, and direct them to your website. These can be events you attend as a guest, activities you sponsor, or events you organize yourself.

Once visitors will start arriving at your website, the next step would be to convert them into leads via an online form. 

This can be accomplished through a variety of lead generation strategies either formed by you or outsourced to a lead gen company, but it all simply comes down to piquing customers’ interest in your product or service and persuade them to submit their contact information, often through the use of an incentive (also known as a “lead magnet”).

Here are some common marketing methods used by businesses to generate leads

• Content –  In lead generation, providing high-quality material in return for contact information is a typical approach. A white paper, case study, or infographic, as well as an ebook or unique video, can all be used to create this content. The main aim is to lure potential consumers in your target audience with relevant content and then need them to enter their contact information before they can access the content.

And just writing and making the content is not enough, you also need to market and promote your content well, and for that, you must check out our Content marketing Course. 

• Webinars – A webinar is a live video presentation that your audience may watch and participate in. Webinars are usually half an hour to an hour long and deliver information and educational material on a specific topic. Because webinars are engaging and time-consuming, they can be an excellent tool to not only generate leads but also educate and convert them.
• Landing pages – Your product is the most effective lead generation tool of all. Visitors will want to offer their contact information even if there are no incentives if you have a compelling product that solves a major pain point. Landing pages or sales pages, which help educate and convert prospective buyers, are frequently used to present your goods in the most appealing way. Landing page optimization is essential for maximizing the effectiveness of these pages.

Once you have created a lead, if the customer falls into your target market, then the lead becomes a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL). 

And the next step would be for a digital marketer. Their team will begin nurturing the lead through marketing campaigns. 

This nurturing process usually entails sending marketing automation campaigns to specific email lists and then following up with the content that educates and persuades the customer to become sales lead. 

And if you follow these processes and steps very carefully, then no one can stop you from generating as many leads as you want. 

There are many companies that have started realizing the importance of lead generation today, and many marketing departments are allocating more budget for online lead generation. 

If you are a student or someone who wants to become a marketer especially in digital marketing, then you must have knowledge of how to generate leads and to acquire that you must check out our 3-month Online digital marketing course, in which you will not only learn about lead generation but also get insights about every aspect of digital marketing. 

You can also enroll in our 11-month Post Graduation Program in Digital Marketing if you want in-depth knowledge through a professional program.  

And for all business owners who want to increase their sales by generating more qualified leads and amplifying sales pipeline velocity, then you need to start upskilling your employees with the right knowledge. 

It will make a huge difference in the way your business approaches lead generation. Write to us for a tailored demo if you’re looking to digitally transform your organization.

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Let us know your views in the comments section below.