Lead Generation

What is Lead generation and why is it important for businesses? Lead generation is a term that describes the process of finding a person with potential interest in your product or service. There are many methods that a business can use to accomplish this. Ideally a business should use as many methods as possible to generate interest. Going to networking events, telemarketing, strong branding, advertising, referrals, a website and social media are some of the ways to generate leads. It is recommended to use at least 10 different lead generation methods. Each method has its pros and cons, some methods provide better quality leads, others provide more quantity. Lead generation is the first step of the sales process. Without leads there can be no sale, and therefore no business. Leads in nature have very low conversion, even with an experienced sales person. For this reason it is important for a business to have a long term strategy for lead generation. Having a constant flow of new customers is great for any business.

Websites and social media as a lead generation option is a fairly new phenomena. With the advent of the self-directed buyer type customer. It has become more important to focus on being found than finding someone. In this new information age, people tend to first check online for a product or service. Research shows that 75-80% of buyers and influencers use the Internet to find information about vendors. This is why it is important to have a strong presence online. So you can be easily found by potential customers. In terms of a company website, there are many things you could do to improve your lead generation. Having a contact number prominently visible on the landing page will make it more likely that a user will call. Make the visitor work a little as possible, the more convenient the better. A website should convey trust. Testimonials from past customers is also a great way to gain credibility. Most importantly a well designed site will show potential customers you mean business. This is great, but not all visitors will become customers. How can we know for certain that a visitor truly has an interest for your product or service? Using a form that visitors can submit a request, such as a quote request form is a great way to generate quality leads. Everyone that submits the form has a high potential of becoming customers. Using website analytics you can monitor your website’s performance and find things you can improve on. The main drawback of lead generation through a company website is that it can take time to yield results. You can expect anywhere from 3-9 months before you get the impact you expect.

There are ways to speed up the process, mostly through ad campaigns. There are three main pricing models which are:

Cost Per Thousand

This model charges advertisers for impressions (viewing the ad). In this model you are charged even if the visitor does not click on the ad. This is the most common model for pricing web ads. This is also known as CPM (Cost Per Mile).

Cost Per Click

This model is fairly straight forward. This model charges advertisers when visitors click on the ad. The actual price you pay for each ad click. Typically you are required to bid on a keyword or phrase. Keywords in the Cost Per Click model can be very expensive.

Cost Per Action

This model charges advertisers only for qualified leads regardless of impressions or clicks. In comparison the other models will only direct traffic to your site.

A GP Bullhound research report stated that the online lead generation was growing at 71% Year to Year. This trend is expected to increase. A useful tool advertisers use is a metric for lead generation called cost per lead. The formula is Cost / Leads.

Search engines for example provide lead generation options. Search engines such as google offer pay-per-click advertising. Where an ad will be placed at the top of the search results. Also social networks provide very similar models for lead generation. Some social media specialize on different types of leads. If for instance your business is more concerned with business to business type leads. Then you may want to consider a social network like linkedin. Where as a social media site like twitter or facebook would be more appropriate for business to consumer leads. Ad campaigns should be well thought out to capture the right demographic for maximum impact. The more traffic generated to your site the more potential leads you will get. Website search engine optimization is another important part to further maximize traffic.