Understanding types of lead generation is the first step toward effective marketing. The most efficient lead generation methods are personalised, specific, and engaging. These three lead generation principles help determine which lead generation method will work best for a brand.
There are many different types of lead generation methods, and each has its unique benefits, and challenges.
But it’s worth keeping in mind that they all share some key characteristics. In this article, you’ll learn: The differences between qualified and unqualified leads, the core types of lead generation, and which lead generation channels are best for you.
First, let’s understand a fundamental concept in lead generation.
What is a Lead?
A lead is a person who is interested in a brand’s product or service. Online behaviours of prospects/ leads include visiting the company’s landing pages, downloading a free ebook, etc. These signs indicate that the lead wants to know more about a business and how it can help with a problem. Leads have a high chance of buying a product or service if marketing efforts convince them that the services are worth their money.
Marketers categorise leads into three types:
- Cold leads: These people have the potential to become customers of a particular brand as they showcase the pain points and interests that the brand is targeting. Businesses should educate such leads by answering their common questions and establishing themselves as a trustable brand.
- Warm leads: Leads that are familiar with a company and its services showcase online behaviour like visiting websites, landing pages, and following on social media, which get grouped as warm leads. Marketers must share personalised content with such prospects and showcase how a company’s services provide them value.
- Hot/ Qualified leads: Prospects that have become familiar with a brand’s services and showcase a strong intent of making the final purchase, like visiting the service page, signing up for demos, etc., are classified as hot leads. Businesses need to target prospects with the most relevant content and offer better deals than their competitors.
Types of Lead Generation: Outbound Vs Inbound
There are two main types of lead generation: outbound and inbound.
There is a lot of debate over which type of lead generation is better- inbound or outbound. Outbound lead generation typically refers to marketing that uses advertising, public relations, cold calling, and sales activities to attract customers or leads. In contrast, inbound marketing focuses on attracting leads and customers through content creation, SEO (search engine optimisation), and social media.
The main advantage of outbound marketing is that it can be more effective at reaching a large audience quickly. Outbound campaigns can also be more cost-effective than inbound campaigns because they require a less up-front investment. However, outbound marketing can be less personalised and tailored to the needs of individual customers or leads. Most B2C industries like e-commerce and direct-to-customer rely on outbound lead generation.
On the other hand, inbound marketing creates higher chances of acquiring long-term clients as it caters to the target audience’s demands instead of shooting arrows in the dark. It takes consumers on a buying journey that familiarises them with a brand and the value its services can add to their goals. It results in higher loyalty and customer retention rates. B2B and B2C industry-related businesses both can rely on inbound lead generation.
To generate leads for higher education, an NGO, gym, real estate, as a coach, etc., a mixture of both types of lead generation should be used.
Outbound Lead Generation Techniques
1. Cold Calling
It is a marketing strategy where businesses make phone calls to potential customers who have not interacted with them in the past. It is helpful for businesses when they are looking to increase their customer base, as cold calling can be more effective than traditional marketing methods, such as email marketing or social media campaigns.
But cold calling can come off as annoying to many consumers and lead to spam tags and blocks. It is essential to be aware of the different types of lead generation and how to use them to avoid these issues effectively.
2. Outbound Email Marketing
Like cold calling, outbound email marketing involves sending email campaigns to potential customers who have not contacted you yet. This type of email marketing can be effective when targeting customers who are likely to buy from you or when you want to increase your brand awareness.
Outbound email marketing focuses on directly pitching the services to the audience. It works efficiently for e-commerce brands, but B2B services that solve a complex problem might have difficulty executing outbound email marketing. The receiver might not be aware of the problem.
3. PR Campaigns
Public Relations (PR) campaigns help businesses by generating positive media coverage, leading to more customers being interested in what you do. PR campaigns often involve contacting journalists and other influencers to get their attention and promote your company’s story. It can get done in various ways, such as sending press releases, reaching out on social media, or even sending influencers’ gifts. Targeting the right partnerships with other businesses that put you more in front of the audience is vital.
Inbound Lead Generation Techniques
1. Inbound Email Marketing
Inbound marketing emails are simple to set up and specifically target your audience. Such campagins do not start with a pitch directly to potential customers; the prospects are first made aware of the problems and their solutions. Later, the leads get nurtured into purchasing decisions through drip campaigns and other email marketing techniques.
2. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a great way to connect with your target audience and create a relationship. You can use social media to post about your company, its products, and its services. You can also use social media to build relationships with potential customers and partners.
3. SEO/SEM Services
Search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are two essential techniques for getting your website in front of the right people and help you improve your website’s ranking on search engines. So, making it easier for people to find you when looking for information about a specific topic or product.
Learn more: How to Utilize SEO for Lead Generation
4. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the practice of creating and distributing engaging, informative, and valuable content to attract and retain customers. It can create awareness for a company, build relationships with customers and generate leads. The content developed gets shared with the target audience to establish a brand as the market leader and generate brand credibility.
Learn more: Learn About The Periodic Table of Content Marketing.
5. Landing Pages
Though landing pages get used in all types of marketing, they are more widely utilised in inbound as they help run precise and concise advertising campaigns. Landing pages focus on generating leads by effectively providing information to prospects. These standalone pages talk about a service or product and highlight the benefits and values it brings to potential clients. There are different types of landing pages depending upon the industry your want to use them.
For example, a digital marketing company uses landing pages that highlight its services, achievements, and social proof. Digital marketing landing pages use colours, contrast, and content to entice the visitor and through short forms encourage visitors to convert. Such pages help digital marketing companies to score quality prospects and built a reliable lead list. Other types of landing pages used by marketers are quiz landing pages, lead generation landing pages, squeeze landing pages, etc.
Learn more: 5 Essentials of an Effective Lead Generation Landing Page
Wrapping up
Lead generation can be a highly effective marketing strategy for all types of businesses when compared with other marketing campaigns like prospecting. If you can generate the right amount of leads, you can scale your business and see burgeoning growth. In addition to generating high-ticket sales, lead generation also has a much higher conversion rate than advertising or marketing.
The key is finding the right lead generation method for your business and pairing it with the right metrics and KPIs. It’s essential to experiment and find the best method for you. Outbound, inbound or even both, companies must utilise all the types of lead generation methods together and create a marketing ecosystem to drive business growth.
Related articles:
5 Effective Ways To Use Content Marketing for Startups
How To Use Psychology of Colours In Marketing Campaigns
Check Out Our Featured Templates:
