Lead Generation Process You Should Follow To See Results

Every marketing department out there is spending hours discussing lead generation, yet it’s still an elusive subject that puzzles many marketing (and sales) professionals.

When the marketing team does find a tactic that works, they will stick to it for years. This can be problematic because successful lead generation requires a hefty dose of experimentation and a lack of overall strategy can lead to missed opportunities. 

This is exactly why establishing a clear process is so important. It improves communication with your target audience and demonstrates your value proposition clearly in order to reach loyal customers. 

Continue reading and learn what is lead generation process and the steps involved in a productive and concise strategy.

What is lead generation process?

Lead generation is the action of finding potential customers, then nurturing them to make a purchase. Generally speaking, an effective strategy involves individuals who have a higher purchase intent. 

To reach a higher number of qualified leads, it’s necessary to appeal to your ideal customer profile. By finding the relevant audience and figuring out the right marketing channels, you can exponentially boost brand visibility while also increasing the level of trust of your target audience. 

Steps to create an effective lead generation strategy

If you’re wondering what is lead generation process that will help you achieve your sales and marketing goals, we’ve got you covered. Remember that a strategy you implement needs to be thorough as that’s the only way you can ensure fewer missed opportunities. With an established process in place, you’ll always be able to consistently attract new customers by relying on specific patterns.

Here are the key steps your strategy should contain:

1. Establish goals

An effective lead generation process starts with some pre-planning. Like crafting a battle plan, you need to have a clear understanding of your goals, as well as KPIs which you should use to measure the success of your efforts. 

For example, you can start by figuring out the sales quota you want to achieve each month, so you can budget accordingly.

You then need to assign roles and responsibilities. Here’s an example of the roles you’ll need to fill:

• Copywriter for writing the necessary content
• VP of marketing who will adjust the marketing efforts with sales
• Marketers who will research the target audience and competitors, and find new strategies
• Analytics team members who will be in charge of collecting and analyzing sales data

With your dream team in place, you can create an ideal customer profile that will serve as a roadmap for finding leads that are in line with your best customers.

2. Conduct research

Begin by gaining an understanding of where your best leads come from and how you can find more. Look for patterns such as use cases and common paint points, and shift your message to position your offering as the best solution. 

It’s all about connecting the value of your product to the needs of your leads. If your content follows suit, it will be a lot more engaging and useful to your customers. 

3. Craft a message

Leads nowadays expect the content you release to be tailored to their needs. This goes for all forms of content, including blogs, social media posts, eBooks, etc. More importantly, any landing pages need to include powerful CTAs in order to drive conversions more effectively. 

It’s also worth mentioning that all this content needs to be connected to each stage in the sales funnel. For the first stages, you need to focus on building awareness, and the lower these leads go down the funnel, you need to provide them with a clear value proposition. 

4. Leverage pre-targeting

By using pre-targeting, you can build brand familiarity by targeting consumers within a specific audience based on their previous online behavior. In a sense, you can use this to warm up leads for direct sales pitches. 

While organic rankings are the most solid foundation for lead generation, achieving a better position in SERPs takes a lot of time. 

There is a way around this, though. If you want to see fast results, you can invest in Google Ads campaigns. These techniques may not reach high-quality leads, but they will provide you with well-needed traffic to your website, thus increasing visibility. 

5. Create landing pages

The main purpose of landing pages is to prompt leads into taking action - scheduling a call or providing contact info. The challenging part here is convincing them your product is worth their time and effort. It all starts with generating a compelling landing page with quality CTAs.

Once you complete a few versions, you should conduct A/B testing to see which variant yields the best results. 

6. Start the outreach process

Some leads may take months to convert, which is why you should do your best to remind them of your offering. Still, during this stage, you need to bring more effort by providing leads with product trials, free samples, and so on. 

The best way to do this is via email or phone calls. 

7. Use lead scoring

When a lead is close to making a purchase, it’s a good time to pass them on to your sales team. To avoid bottlenecks by sending leads to sales too early, you need to score the leads. 

Consult your sales team on the best scoring framework which accounts for past purchases, demographics, and ultimately, intent. That way, you’ll ensure the right leads reach sales at exactly the right time. 

8. Utilize reporting

Track everything and create reports that show how many emails you sent, how many were opened, and how many users unsubscribed. This helps you pinpoint the stage at which the leads have gone cold, allowing you to adjust your messaging to keep their attention longer. 

Next, identify lost leads and use discounts, promotions, and retargeting ads to spark their attention again. 

9. Fine-tune your approach

Analyze the entire campaign and keep what worked in the previous cycle, while also making fine adjustments that will lead to stronger campaigns in the future. Take a close look at all KPIs, figure out what techniques worked, and find ways to improve. 

Connect with the right customers

Now that you know what is lead generation process, you can finally start a campaign that can deliver results and minimize missed opportunities. 

For small businesses with limited resources, financial or otherwise, outsourcing this marketing aspect may be the right choice. By working with a lead generation agency such as Aspen Media, you can sit back while we work quietly in the background to generate high-quality leads for your sales department. 

Aspen Media has harbored a top-notch reputation for over three decades and we’re always ready to provide the best lead generation service available - at an affordable price.

Contact Aspen Media at 800-853-2240 or fill out our contact form and finally start driving sales.