Lead generation

For the use of lead generation in drug discovery, see Hit to lead.

In marketing, lead generation is the initiation of consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for sales leads. The methods for generating leads typically fall under the umbrella of advertising, but may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customers.[1]

Leads may come from various sources or activities, for example, digitally via the Internet, through personal referrals, through telephone calls either by the company or telemarketers, through advertisements, and events. A 2015 study found that 89% of respondents cited email as the most-used channel for generating leads, followed by content marketing, search engine, and finally events.[2] A study from 2014 found that direct traffic, search engines, and web referrals were the three most popular online channels for lead generation, accounting for 93% of leads.[3]

Lead generation is often paired with lead management to move leads through the purchase funnel. This combination of activities is referred to as pipeline marketing.

A lead is usually allotted to an individual to follow up on. Once the individual (e.g. salesperson) reviews and qualifies it to have potential business, the lead gets converted to an opportunity for a business. The opportunity then has to undergo multiple sales stages before the deal is won.

Leads

A lead usually is the contact information and in some cases, demographic information of a customer who is interested in a specific product or service. There are two types of leads in the lead generation market: sales leads and marketing leads.

Sales leads are generated on the basis of demographic criteria such as FICO score, income, age, household income, psychographic, etc. These leads are resold to multiple advertisers. Sales leads are typically followed up through phone calls by the sales force. Sales leads are commonly found in the mortgage, insurance and finance leads.

Marketing leads are brand-specific leads generated for a unique advertiser offer. In direct contrast to sales leads, marketing leads are sold only once. Because transparency is a necessary requisite for generating marketing leads, marketing lead campaigns can be optimized by mapping leads to their sources.

An investor lead is a type of a sales lead. An investor lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in participating in an investment, and represents the first stage of an investment sales process. Investor leads are considered to have some disposable income that they can use to participate in appropriate investment opportunities in exchange for return on investment in the form of interest, dividend, profit sharing or asset appreciation. Investor lead lists are normally generated through investment surveys, investor newsletter subscriptions or through companies raising capital and selling the database of people who expressed an interest in their opportunity. Investor lead lists are further sold to businesses by lead brokers such as InvestorLeads.com, UmbrellaCapitalManagement.com, InfoUsa.com, Harris Info Source, FNIN, InvestorInspector.com and many others. Investor Lead lists are commonly used by small businesses looking to fund their venture or simply needing expansion capital that was not readily available by banks and traditional lending sources.

Online lead generation

Online lead generation is an Internet marketing term that refers to the generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business' products or services through the Internet. Leads, also known as contacts, can be generated for a variety of purposes: list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, building out reward programs, loyalty programs or for other member acquisition programs.

Social media

With growth of social networking websites, social media is used by organizations and individuals to generate leads or gain business opportunities. Many companies actively participate on social networks including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to find talent pools or market their new products and services.[4]

Online advertising

There are three main pricing models in the online advertising market that marketers can use to buy advertising and generate leads:

Recently, there has been a rapid increase in online lead generation: banner and direct response advertising that works off a CPL pricing model. In a pay-per-action (PPA) pricing model, advertisers pay only for qualified leads resulting from those actions, irrespective of the clicks or impressions that went into generating the lead. PPA advertising is playing an active role in online lead generation.

PPA pricing models are more advertiser-friendly as they are less susceptible to fraud and bots. With pay per click, providers can commit fraud by manufacturing leads or blending one source of lead with another (example: search-driven leads with co-registration leads) to generate higher profits for themselves.

A GP Bullhound research report stated that the online lead generation was growing at 71% YTY — more than twice as fast as the online advertising market. The rapid growth is primarily driven by the advertiser demand for ROI focused marketing, a trend that is expected to accelerate during a recession.

Common types of opt-in ad units include:

A common advertising metric for lead generation is cost per lead. The formula is Cost / Leads, for example if you created 100 leads and it cost $1000, the cost per lead would be $10.

Healthcare

Many private healthcare organizations use online lead generation as a way to contact their existing patients and to acquire new patients.

"The number of Cyberchondriacs has jumped to 175 million from 154 million last year, possibly as a result of the health care reform debate. Furthermore, frequency of usage has also increased. Fully 32% of all adults who are online say they look for health information "often," compared to 22% last year." said Harris Interactive in a study completed and reported in August 2010.[5]

See also

References

  1. Shanaka Thanapathy (23 February 2014). "How lead generation services can help your business". Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. "Marketing Tactics Used by US B2B Marketers to Generate Demand". eMarketer. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. Marvin, Ginny (24 March 2014). "First Touch: In 9 Of 10 Industries Search Tops Lead Generation, Social Shortens Marketing Cycles". Marketing Land. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  4. Gregg Schwartz (21 February 2014). "Are You Wasting Time with Social Media for Lead Generation?". Foxbusiness.com. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  5. "Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > "Cyberchondriacs" on the Rise?". harrisinteractive.com. 4 August 2010. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

Further reading

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