What Is Lead Generation (And How To Use It To Take Your Revenue Through The Roof)

Before you have happy customers who purchase from your store, share you on social media, or recommend you to their friends, you have leads. A lead is simply an individual who has shown some level of interest in your brand. In fact, the definition given from Marketo describes a lead as “a qualified prospect that is starting to exhibit buying behavior.”

You likely have some level of knowledge when it comes to what a lead is, but do you struggle when it comes to actually gaining leads for your business? Known as lead generation, it is a crucial process for keeping your business alive and thriving.

Today, we are answering the basic question: What is lead generation? Not only will we discuss what it is, we’ll lay out our top strategies for how to generate leads, as well as what to do once you’ve captured them. By following through on your lead generation process, you will be sure to increase your revenue. Not only will these tips help you create new leads, it’ll help you secure these leads and turn them into valuable (hopefully lifelong) customers for your business.

Defining Lead Generation

Let’s start simple. What actually is lead generation? Instead of providing some overly complicated definition, we like the way Hubspot discusses it. As they put it, lead generation is “a way of warming up potential customers to your business and getting them on the path to eventually making a purchase.”

Sounds simple, right? In theory, it is. In practice, it’s not always so easy (sorry.) Lead generation is all about drawing in the right group of people that are likely to be interested in your brand enough to actually make a purchase. Not only do you need to target the right people, you need to target them in the right ways.

If you have struggled in the past with lead generation, know that you aren’t alone. Capturing leads is consistently a top issue identified by marketing professionals. Today could be the day you start turning things around!

In fact, we are going to move past simple definitions and get into some practical tips for how you go about lead generation. After all, just because you can define the concept doesn’t mean you actually know how to put it into practice.

After reading this article, you’ll be able to. Keep reading for our top lead generation strategies, as well as what to do post lead capture. Both steps are crucial for boosting revenue, so be sure to read on through till the end.

Top Lead Generation Strategies

1. Referral Marketing

We have discussed referral marketing in the past, but we’re referencing it again here because it is simply too good of a tactic to not include. Referral marketing is one of the best ways to generate new, qualified leads for your business.

Trust is a majorly important factor for consumers today, and it is one of the hardest things for brands to get right. People simply don’t trust brands like they used to. People do trust recommendations from friends and family, however. Compare these two stats: On average, only 34% of consumers say they trust the brands they use, where as 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family.

Those stats alone should convince you to get started with your own referral program. This allows you to use your existing customers to pull in new leads for you. Make sure the program you create benefits your existing customers as well as the new leads.

The above example from Evernote is designed perfectly, benefitting both existing users and new ones. Without an incentive for your existing users, they will be less likely to take action to refer their friends or family. Give them an incentive and you are sure to see a lot more leads. Not only will you see more leads, they are likely to be more qualified leads than ones you score on your own (on average they have a 30% higher conversion rate.) It’s a win win!

2. Content Marketing

This is a big one. Content marketing is a broad subject, and it can help your business in a variety of ways. From lead generation, to SEO, to social media, boosting conversions, and a lot more. With regards to lead generation, it is a great way to pull in qualified leads.

The content you create can help you with lead generation in a few ways. One way is as a result of boosting your SEO in order to rank higher on search engine results. The higher up on search results you appear, the more organic traffic you will get. This can (and will) help you pull in more leads that discover your brand while searching on Google and other search engines for terms related to your brand.

The other main way content marketing can help with lead generation is by drawing potential leads in by sharing your content places that your target audience is. That can mean on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or places like YouTube if you have video content to share.

Guest blogging is a specific type of content marketing that can really help you amp up your lead generation efforts. By partnering with a blog that has a similar audience to your own, you are getting your name out in front of a new pool of people that are likely to be interested in your brand. Make sure you do your research to make sure the blog you partner with really does have a similar audience to yours, otherwise you will end up wasting a quality piece of content! Here’s a great guide on guest blogging that can help you connect with the right blogs.

3. Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are, as their name suggests, a great way to pull in new leads. If you are looking to build up an email or web push list, having the right lead magnet can help you with that goal. A quality lead magnet should offer valuable information that a user cannot find anywhere else.

In order for a user to actually give over their email address, what they are getting in return has to be good. Gone are the days where people would give out their email addresses for just about anything. People are only getting more picky, and that means you’ve got to offer something incredibly valuable for them to bite.

Once you’ve got your lead magnet, you need to share it so that people are aware of it! This could be on a landing page, via social ads, or even inserted strategically in a blog post of yours.

Pro tip: Not sure what the right lead magnet is for your brand? Check out our guide on clever lead magnets that are guaranteed to generate conversions.

Post Lead Capture: What’s Next?

We could stop here, but we aren’t going to. In reality, you can’t just focus on lead generation and think you will boost your revenue. Instead, look at lead generation as just the beginning. Once you’ve captured a new set of leads, you need to focus on nurturing them towards converting! That is where your revenue boost will actually kick in.

Here are three great ways to continue engaging your leads. We chose three excellent strategies that all focus on a different area. The more places you can engage your leads, the better results you will have. Here’s what you should do.

1. Have a Solid Social Media Presence

One major location you should be engaging your leads is on social media. After all, you know your audience is going to be there. Take advantage of that! You can do this both via organic and paid social. In fact, we recommend doing both.

Thankfully, social ads are not all that expensive, making them a possibility for a lot of brands. For example, you might target individuals who signed up for your emails but haven’t purchased from you yet. Or, you might target those who just visited your website but that’s it!

Above are a few examples of social media ads, specifically on Instagram, that can help engage your leads and push them closer to conversion. Ever heard of the Rule of 7? It explains that a person needs to hear a message from an advertiser 7 times before committing to buy. Social ads are a great way to accomplish this. The more times they see your brand, the more they will remember it, and the closer they will get to converting.

We recommend also keeping up with your organic social media as well. Research shows that 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business account, and in general 200 million users visit at least one business page per day. Keep your page active and fresh, engage with your users, and share user-generated content. Yes, it’s time consuming, but it’s well worth it.

2. Utilize Live Chat

Social media marketing is great for engaging and nurturing leads when they aren’t at your site, but what about when they are? Live chat is an excellent way to engage your leads and push them closer towards conversion.

The combination of live chat + a chat bot ensures you can engage your leads no matter when they visit your website. Use your live chat to answer questions and provide valuable resources that new customers are likely to benefit from.

Nearly 65% of users have said that they are more likely to return to a website that has live chat. You can’t beat the convenience or speed of live chat, and in today’s digital age where everyone is busy and impatient, having an easy and quick way to get answers is crucial. Live chat will help you get it done.

3. Retarget via Web Push Notification

Finally, every brand needs a way to directly engage their leads once they leave their site. Traditionally, email was seen as the best way to directly engage leads, but as its effectiveness continues to decline, we recommend web push as the best way to engage with your audience.

Use web push to share your lead magnets, encourage users to finish filling out a form, or simply to alert them of new relevant content or products. Retarget abandoned carts with ease, and make use of other automated campaigns that will make your life easier. It’s all possible with web push!

Best of all, web push notifications are delivered to a user instantly on their desktop or mobile device, even when they aren’t at your website or even using a browser at all. It’s a great way to immediately engage someone, instead of waiting for them to (possibly) open up your email.

If you have struggled to build up an email list, web push is a perfect new option to try. Instead of having to give out personal information and go through several confirmation steps, a user simply has to click or tap one button and they’re in. You can’t beat that!

In general, retargeting is one of the most effective ways to engage leads and bring them back to your website. The majority of leads that land at your website are not ready to convert the first time they visit you. Retarget them to keep them interested (and aware) of your brand. Send them campaigns that push them through the buyer’s journey towards conversion. Eventually, they will!

Wrapping Up

Hopefully we have answered the question of what is lead generation. Not only do you have a definition, you’ve got some specific strategies to try out. From first generating leads via referral marketing, content, and lead magnets, to following up with those leads on social media, with live chat, and via web push, you’ve got a full system to try out that will result in increased revenue for your business.

If you are someone that has struggled with lead generation, what do you find is the most difficult aspect? Is it finding your target audience? Is it creating the right content? Or is it following up once you’ve captured them? Let us know by sending us a message!

If you want to incorporate web push into your lead generation and lead nurturing strategy, you can get started for free with Aimtell. If you need more information, you can always check out our Beginner’s Guide.

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