Lead Generation Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide to Success

Have you ever noticed how telemarketers always seem to call at the worst times? Like right when you’re about to sit down for dinner? It used to happen all the time, and it was super annoying. Plus, those calls rarely worked for the companies trying to get new customers. Luckily, those annoying dinner-time calls are a thing of the past. In this post, we’ll share smart and effective ways to bring in leads without bothering anyone during their meal.

What is a Lead?

A lead is anyone who shows interest in a company’s product or service.

Leads usually contact a business first by sharing personal information for something like an offer, free trial, or subscription. This is different from getting a random cold call from someone who bought your contact info.

For example, if you take an online survey to learn about car care, you might get an email from the car company a day later. This is much less annoying than if they had just called you out of nowhere.

For the business, the information they get from your survey helps them send you a message that fits your needs or problems.

Leads are a part of turning website visitors into customers. Not all leads are the same. They can be different depending on how they are qualified and what stage they are at in the process.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is all about getting people interested in your business and helping them stay interested until they become customers. You can do this in different ways, like through job applications, blog posts, coupons, events, or online content.

These are just a few ways to grab the attention of potential customers and show them what your business offers.

When people ask what lead generation means, we don’t just say, “We make content to get leads.” That would confuse most people. Instead, we explain it like this:

“We come up with cool ways to make people notice our business. We give them useful or fun things so they get curious about our company. Over time, they start liking us and want to know more!”

This explanation makes more sense, and that’s what lead generation is all about—getting potential customers to trust and like your business so they’re ready to buy something from you.

Why is Lead Generation Important?

When people are naturally interested in your business, it’s easier for them to go from being strangers to becoming your customers. You can make this process smoother with inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is a way to attract loyal customers by focusing on what your audience needs. It’s about creating helpful content and experiences that grab their attention and keep them interested in your business.

Lead generation is an important part of inbound marketing. It happens after you’ve caught people’s attention and are ready to turn those visitors into potential customers for your sales team.

The Lead Generation Process

Let’s talk about how to turn people who visit your website or social media into potential customers, step by step:

Attract Visitors: Someone finds your business through your website, blog, or social media.
Get Their Attention: They see something on your page, like a button, message, or image, asking them to do something (this is called a call-to-action or CTA).
Bring Them to a Special Page: When they click the CTA, it takes them to a landing page. This page is made to get their info, like their email, in exchange for something cool (like a free guide or discount).
Exchange Info: On the landing page, they fill out a form to get the offer. Boom! You now have their contact info and a new lead—just make sure you follow smart ways to capture leads.

That’s it! You’ve started turning visitors into leads for your business.

How to Generate Leads

Here are some simple ways to turn visitors into leads:

Create Great Content: Make content that provides helpful info. Add calls-to-action (CTAs) in your content, like at the end or on the side.
Send Regular Emails: Email people who already know your brand. It’s easier to ask them to take action since they’ve subscribed to you.
Use Social Media: Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn can help you reach potential leads. Post offers with CTAs, and use ads to reach more people quickly.
Write Blog Posts: Blog posts can promote your offers. You can write a post that leads to a special offer, like an instructional video or guide, with a clear CTA.
Offer Free Trials: Offer free trials of your product to help potential customers try it out. Afterward, you can send them more offers to encourage them to buy.
Ask for Referrals: Encourage people to refer your brand to others. This gets your name out and helps you find more leads.
Host Industry Events: Events let you meet people face-to-face and connect with your target audience. You can even set up a booth to show your product.
Partner with Other Businesses: Work with businesses that have similar audiences. You can promote each other’s products and reach new potential customers.
Build a Community: Create a community where users can interact and help each other. This builds trust and turns new visitors into loyal customers.

Lead Generation Strategies

Facebook Lead Generation: Facebook has always been a way for businesses to get leads. At first, companies used links in their posts and information in their profiles to get people to visit their websites.

X Lead Generation: X (formerly Twitter) has special Lead Gen Cards that let you collect leads right from a tweet. When someone clicks on the card, their name, email, and X username are filled in automatically. They just need to click “Submit” to become a lead.
LinkedIn Lead Generation: LinkedIn has been focusing more on advertising over time. For lead generation, LinkedIn created Lead Gen Forms. When someone clicks a call-to-action (CTA), their profile info is automatically filled in, making it easy to capture their details.
PPC Lead Generation: PPC stands for pay-per-click ads, which you see on search engine result pages (SERP). Google gets 3.5 billion searches a day, making it a great place for ads, especially for lead generation.
B2B Lead Generation: B2B (business-to-business) companies need a different approach to generate leads. Studies show that referrals are the best way to get business leads. The success of different methods depends on the channel used.

How Lead Generation Can Help Your Business Grow

After learning to generate leads for your business, you should team up with a reliable digital marketing agency like Optinmark to help your business reach its full potential. Use basic tools on your website to turn visitors into customers and find out which content pushes them to act.

The fundamentals we’ve covered in this post are just the beginning. Keep making great offers, calls-to-action (CTAs), landing pages, and forms, and push them through various channels.

Keep in touch with your sales team to ensure you send high-quality leads often.

Lastly, the more you test each part of your lead generation process the better your leads will become, and the more your revenue will grow.