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To suggest that lead generation is important is an understatement. It is the single biggest driver of business growth, and it can help you target your marketing efforts, improve your revenue numbers, ensure your business is sustainable, and facilitate the relationship-building process with potential customers. 

It is absolutely crucial. How easily can you define your lead generation process, though? What are you doing to maximize your results? No simple answers? Don’t worry - this step-by-step process will have you on the path to the ideal lead-generation process for your company in no time. 

Defining the Most Important Terms

Before you develop your own lead generation process, it may help to better define the term itself. Lead generation, sometimes called outbound lead generation, involves understanding who your potential customers are who have a high likelihood of becoming paying customers. It also entails nurturing these prospects by ensuring they stay informed and interested in your product or service long enough to buy from your company. 

In terms of marketing, the idea of generating leads encompasses various tactics to build some level of awareness among potential customers about what you have to offer. The goal is to spark their interest by effectively communicating the value of your offerings and encouraging them to interact with your business for further information.

Building Your Process

So, what does a good lead generation process look like? There are many different steps involved.

Building Continuity

Start with a bit of alignment. Your sales, marketing, and product teams should all be working closely with each other. Make sure that all of the teams agree on the key definitions and criteria that define your company. 

Ensure they know who is responsible for all of the tasks involved with your product or service’s lifecycle, then together, they should set the KPIs that will serve as indicators for your entire company. Benchmarks are incredibly helpful. Make certain there is a continual flow of communication among these departments. 

Focusing on Inbound Lead Generation

The next step in the process is to begin to develop your inbound lead generation strategies. One key strategy is to enhance your search engine optimization (or SEO). Without enough focus here, you’ll do real damage to your overall marketing strategy (and your profits). 

Customers are less likely to find you when they type a query into a search engine, so you’re likely to miss many people in your target audience. Even those who do find you might not be the ones you actually need to reach. 

If you want to build better lead generation, focus on your SEO strategy. A well-executed SEO approach involves knowing who you want to target and strategically utilizing relevant keywords in your content. This helps to optimize every single thing your company puts online from the pages of your site to the posts on your social media feeds.

Begin by enhancing the technical aspects of your website's SEO. Keep your content updated and conduct keyword research to identify the terms that customers are most likely to search for. Additionally, you’ll want to build a strong backlink strategy to connect your site with relevant, high-quality sites. When reputable domains build links with you, search engines like Google perceive it as a signal of your site's authority, potentially boosting your rankings.

Integrating a blog into your website can also contribute to improved SEO. Regularly publishing optimized blog posts increases the likelihood of your site ranking higher in search engine results. Furthermore, optimizing your website's speed can positively impact your SEO efforts. Search engines prioritize fast-loading sites, so consider auditing your site so you can eliminate outdated or broken links and plugins that may hinder response times.

Incorporating content marketing into your inbound strategies is another vital aspect. While effective SEO can send potential customers right to you, captivating material when they reach those platforms plays a pivotal role in sustaining their interest and encouraging their return. This provides your business with additional chances to nurture leads and ultimately, make that sale.

Content marketing focuses on delivering valuable material to potential customers, showcasing your understanding of their concerns or interests, and guiding them toward effective solutions. Craft everything you post to be informative, engaging, and relevant, without appearing overly sales-oriented. 

Additionally, consider incorporating diverse and informative content formats, throughout your website to create an immersive experience both for prospective customers and your existing customers. This could include engaging videos and podcasts. 

Building a Good Outbound Lead Generation Process

Inbound strategies are a must, but so too are outbound strategies. You may want to consider attending in-person marketing opportunities like trade shows. Now is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with potential customers in person.

You may also want to consider cold calling or cold emailing. To make this technique successful, script carefully. Take the time to research and gather information about the prospects you'll be contacting. Understand their industry, challenges, and how your product or service can provide value to them. 

Be sure to develop a concise and engaging opening statement that grabs the prospect's attention and highlights the value you can provide. Tailor your opening to address their pain points or challenges to pique their interest. Be sure to be as personal as possible. 

Tailor your message to each prospect by using their name, and referencing their industry or specific challenges they might face. Personalization shows that you've done your homework and increases the chances of building rapport.

Measure Effectiveness

No matter what combination of lead generation strategies defines your process, the last step must be measuring what is and is not working. By monitoring the KPIs you created from the beginning, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your efforts. 

Utilize tools like call tracking software and web analytics to identify the impact of specific campaigns, keywords, web pages, and your other efforts on driving leads. This attribution trail is crucial for ensuring that your marketing efforts receive proper recognition for their contribution to your process. 

Need Lead Generation Help? Give Us a Call

At THAT Marketing Agency, we can help you connect with your target audience on or offline. In an increasingly crowded world, we’ll help your company gain the visibility it needs and better define the marketing tools you need to move forward, like your lead generation process. Trust us to deliver the strategies and tactics necessary to set you apart from the competition and leave a lasting impression on your audience. Contact us today to learn more.