Everything You Need to Know About Lead Generation

lead generation

Lead generation can be defined as a marketing process that deals with the simulation and capturing the interest of potential customers in a product or service. The main purpose of lead generation is to enhance your sales pipeline using prospective clients or potential customers. There are several marketing companies in Phoenix that specialize in lead generation and mainly utilize digital platforms for the best results. The continued use of social media and other online channels has also transformed a lead generation. The platforms have made it easy for potential buyers to acquire information easily leading to what is known as a self -directed buyer. It is therefore important to develop new techniques that can qualify leads before transferring them to sales.

The Importance of Lead Generation

Digital channels have transformed the buying process to the extent that marketer needs to come up with smart ways of reaching buyers. Rather than finding customers through mass advertising channels such as radio and television, marketing companies in Phoenix are focusing on being easily accessible as well as building and maintaining a proper relationship with potential buyers. For instance, before the digital blast companies had to represent themselves and focus on finding the customers. However, that has since changed and now companies are seeking to represent their customers instead of themselves and are equally focusing on being found instead of finding the customer. In terms of customer intelligence organizations used to go for mass advertising which focused on customer demographics. Today, organizations are considering one-on-one targeting which is aimed at behavioral factors instead of demographic.

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The Economics of Information Abundance and Attention Deficit

The continued growth of the internet and the increased number of people connected to the internet has transformed the world from information scarcity to information abundance. For instance, there were only about 5 Exabytes of information which was developed from the start of civilization up to 2003. Today, the same amount of information is being created within two days and continues to increase at a very fast pace. However, with information abundance comes attention deficit. It is widely referred to as attention economics. This concept was first discussed by a social scientist and has changed the buying process. Instead of buyers being overwhelmed with the noise from different companies trying to advertise their products and services they are only getting better at researching what they want to know about on their own.

New Dawn in the Buying Process

During the time of information scarcity, lead generation meant that the marketing department took the names of potential buyers and forwarded them to the sales team. The buyers had to talk to the sales personnel and the sales personnel anticipated to speak with a group of uneducated buyers with little or no information. However, that has changed greatly since many buyers are adequately educated and can also perform research on their own through the internet. This is even made easier with many educational resources including search engines and social media. Buyers are also turning to content platforms to research a product or service without having to talk to a salesperson. It is therefore important for all kinds of businesses to increase their online presence to be found by a potential buyer.

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The changes above have transformed the buying process. This is mainly because a lot of customers have easy access to information and are therefore willing to delay contacting the salesperson until they have adequate knowledge of what they are looking for. This means that for you to come up with an effective lead generation strategy you have to first of all build trust and also capture the interest of your potential buyers. Furthermore, you don’t want your sales personnel wasting a lot of time trying to figure out everyone on the list and cold calling. It is easier to generate leads for your sales team and it is even faster transforming the leads to revenues.

The Basic Concepts in Lead Generation

Before looking at the basic concepts in the lead generation we first of all have to understand the meaning of a lead. Different companies have their definition of a lead depending on various factors such as the sales cycle. However, the standard definition of a lead is a qualified and potential buyer who depicts a certain level of interest in buying your product or service. Certain leads may fill out forms but they will often do so if they are enticed with a compelling offer or relevant content. Lead generation is divided into two main categories namely inbound and outbound.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is defined as a process of helping potential buyers find your organization. This is often before they make a purchase starting with early brand awareness which is turned into brand preference then leads and ultimately revenue. Outbound marketing, on the other hand, aims to amplify your inbound marketing activities.