If you’re a business owner, there’s no doubt that at some point you’ve wondered how you can get more customers for your business. We all do it because let’s face it, a business needs customers to survive, and then it needs more customers to thrive.
The goal of any business has never been to just survive, but rather, to thrive. The equation is simple: the more customers a business has, the better it does at thriving.
There’s just one problem, however.
What if your business isn’t getting more customers?
Ah yes, the number one problem of any business or brand. It’s difficult to thrive and grow without a solid customer base, so what’s the solution?
Lead generation.
So, to answer the question proposed in the title of this piece: yes, lead generation is absolutely worthwhile for your business. For the rest of this article, we’re going to take you through the ins and outs of what lead generation is and why it’s worthwhile for your business.
Let’s get into it!
What is a Lead?
In short, a lead is anyone that shows any kind of interest in a company’s products or services. They’re not currently customers of the business, but their activity and interaction with your business or other businesses like yours indicate that they could potentially become customers in the near future.
Not all leads are the same, however. Leads are qualified differently based on their responses to different lead generation strategies.
For example, a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a person who has expressed interest in becoming a paying customer of your business by enquiring about a product or service, while a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a person that has engaged with some form of your business’ marketing outreach but may not be ready to dive in and become a customer just yet.
Ultimately, leads are prospective customers for a business that are presented at varying stages of interest. It’s a lead generation company’s job to correctly identify and convert those leads into paying customers.
This is done through, you guessed it, the process of lead generation!
What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation can be quite an intimidating phrase to those who may not know what it is. There is also an array of lead generation companies in South Africa that seem to thrive on confusing their customers with convoluted language. Luckily, the age of the internet is upon us and the wealth of knowledge available is great!
Lead generation is simply the process of igniting consumer interest in a product or service. These consumers can be strangers, but most of the time they’re specifically targeted people or groups (as mentioned above) that already have some connection to a business.
The process of generating leads is vast and, at times, a little overwhelming. This kind of marketing can be separated into two methods: Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing.
Outbound marketing is the kind of lead generation that we’ve spoken about already, where a business may reach out to prospective customers and start a conversation with them in the hopes of sparking an interest in their business. Some examples of outbound marketing could be cold emailing, Google Ads, and pay-per-click ads.
Inbound marketing is more focused on providing valuable content and exclusive offers to try and build an interest in the company. This kind of lead generation draws consumers to the business, rather than the other way around. Some examples of inbound marketing could be blog posts, competitions, podcasts, free trials, and email subscriptions.
The end goal of any form of lead generation in South Africa is to convert the lead into a paying customer, which as we mentioned before, is the way businesses thrive!
The Importance of Lead Generation
Gone are the days of consumers needing to be told about what a business can do for them. We live in an age of information overload, largely due to the internet, where people are bombarded with too many options to choose from. Because of this, consumers much prefer to do their own research on companies and brands these days.
Lead generation is an important practice for any business that wants to rise above the noise of all the competition and truly capture its audience’s attention and interest.
Through various means of marketing like search engine optimization, useful tools that provide value, and consistent social media management (to name a few), lead generation allows businesses to draw and engage potential customers, which will ultimately result in a growing and thriving business.
Next Stop: Leads.
Lead generation has become a crucial cog in the machine of any business that wants to grow. If your business has found itself in desperate need of a shake-up and a fresh influx of new customers, a lead generation company like BRBD Marketing can help with that. We focus on getting your business new customers on a guaranteed basis.
That’s our promise, and we’re pretty confident that we can keep it!