Why Your Business Needs Lead Generation Services to Grow
Most business owners would agree that finding prospective customers is no easy task. If you have been struggling with developing new business for your company, you’re not alone! Despite being a core and crucial part of the marketing process, businesses of all sizes can have difficulties generating leads. This is where lead generation services and agencies come in.
How Do Lead Generation Services Work?
From contact forms on direct mail and email communications, to content marketing and live events, there are many avenues to explore when generating leads. Too many in fact. In a perfect world, the more “lead gen” methods you can employ the better, as you would technically have access to more potential buyers. But which ones will drive the most sales for your business; which ones are internally manageable or qualified? While the scope of your lead generation activities will depend on how much you’re willing or able to spend, and who or where your audience is, experts can help to pinpoint the most effective lead generation methods to utilize. Smaller companies may not have the budget or know-how to effectively produce leads across all available platforms, but this does not mean larger companies don’t struggle also. And since not everyone is familiar with the ever-changing best practices to obtaining quality prospects, lead generation services can be a big help.
Lead generation agencies source and consolidate data on consumers and present it to businesses in search of new leads. These services are designed and operated by specialists who can turn your budget into a client list – and then hopefully – into conversions. It all comes down to what your objectives are and how hard you want to work at generating potential sales. They use numerous tactics to obtain new leads, including social, digital and display marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), targeted landing pages, and content syndication like blogs. Of course, this information is obtainable first-hand – but the insight it takes to turn broad data into qualified leads is best left to the experts! Services designed to generate qualified leads usually start with a list of prior customers, establish your brand as a trusted source of information, and often incentivize data retrieval through targeted offers.
The Best Leads Are Qualified for the Job
What makes a lead qualified is how willingly the information is given. Qualified leads, based on criteria set specifically for your business needs, are always more beneficial than purchased leads and databases. There are three types of qualified leads in the lead generation process – the marketing, sales, and product stages. Marketing-qualified leads are in the first stage of the process. This customer has recently seen a communication from your business and willingly offered their information to learn more. A sales-qualified lead is the next stage – indicating that this customer is ready to be directed to your sales team – and is therefore more valuable. The hope is always that marketing-qualified leads will evolve into sales-qualified leads, but they can also be generated at this stage. Lastly, a product-qualified lead is a customer who has already experienced your brand via a free trial, sample, or purchase, and is usually very promising for future conversions. Understanding these types, and implementing tactics to acquiring these leads can be difficult and time consuming. But once again – lead generation services supply you with solutions.
Agencies provide customized campaigns and generation methods that suit your unique brand and business objectives. In other words, they source potential customers with an actual interest in what you offer. Do not confuse this type of lead generation for lead aggregation companies, however, as the terms are often used interchangeably. Lead aggregators arguably don’t generate qualified leads at all. Instead, they offer industry-generalized leads and databases which they can resell to a number of other businesses as well. They obtain and dispense leads in mass quantities – and while having more leads is usually a good thing – lead generation is a “quality over quantity” game. Less can be more. Think of the last time you received a cold-call or direct mail from a business you cared nothing about, versus receiving a communication from a business you were already interested in. There is a clear difference. If the customer is questioning why they’re receiving a call, the lead is obviously not qualified. Save yourself the money of creating or outsourcing methods like call centers, and the time of going through thousands of “potential clients” who will never covert. Consult an agency with a lead generation service who will help you produce qualified leads, so you can focus on the customers that matter most.
Generate the Best Prospects with Lead Generation Services
When it comes to generating qualified leads, either for internal use, or for sale, the best practices are simple. Nowadays, we are all consumers who are very aware of how little we wish to give out our information – especially to brands trying to market to us. Breaking past this barrier requires finding consumers with a genuine interest in taking their next steps with you. Here are some quick tips to attract the specific leads you’re looking for:
- Think like your consumer and apply their logic
- Identify your ideal customer profile and market to them directly
- Experiment with content – CTAs, creative, and placements
- Explore new software & coding – exit detection, visitor ID, live chat, and more
- Simplify contact forms and ways to reach you
- Optimize your findability with SEO & SEM
While lead generation may seem daunting at times, you’re not alone in this process. Strategic Marketing is an advertising agency that provides lead generation services through customized creative campaigns and incentive programs. If you are interested in seeing what qualified leads can do for your business, call us at 561-688-8155, or click here for more info.
