Lead generation: Why is it an integral aspect of marketing strategies?

In the marketing world, lead generation refers to the process of attracting visitors or customers who have shown an interest in a company’s services and products. In other words, a “lead” is someone who will proceed to make a purchase. In practical terms, to generate leads, a company must make visitors want to buy their products and/or services. A successful strategy should enable companies to project a positive image among potential customers: this is very useful in guiding their buying route. Lead generation is revolutionizing sales and prospecting. It is the opposite of traditional random canvassing. In fact, lead generation means that a person is contacted by a company because they have asked for it in advance or they are interested in its offerings.

Are you a company wondering about lead generation? How do you generate leads? What is it worth? What role will lead generation play in a company’s future marketing strategy?

How to generate leads?

Unlike traditional sales strategies, lead generation goes beyond simply making advertising or marketing contacts. In fact, this marketing process requires an in-depth communication strategy using a variety of means. Among the best-known lead generation techniques or actions are:

• Content marketing and inbound marketing
• Company participation in trade shows
• Telephone canvassing
• Commercial link campaigns with forms
• Recruitment campaigns via social networks, e-mail or forms
• Direct mail
• Setting up a chatbot on your website

The content posted on these platforms must fulfil four functions. Firstly, it needs to be visible which can be achieved by making sure you publish and share your content frequently. Secondly, your publications must reflect your expertise and promote your brand. To achieve this, do not hesitate to highlight your products and services, as well as customer testimonials. Finally: put forward attractive, relevant and authentic content. The idea is to set yourself apart from the competition and attract as many visitors as possible. So make sure that the content you share has value and provides interesting information.

In concrete terms, these action tasks should enable a company to collect the contact details of potential future customers. Gathering this information is essential, as it enables the company to create customized content and personalize its messages. The aim is to target potential customers as effectively as possible. Using this information, you can review and improve your content marketing strategy. To do this, take the time to ask yourself the right questions: What needs do your products and services meet? Which media and formats generate the most leads? What is your target audience looking for? Which subjects are of interest to the greatest number of leads? What improvements does your target audience expect?

Good to know: According to a CAWI study of companies in Europe and the United States, 45% of them advance that they gain leads frequently or very frequently via content creation.

What does the future hold for lead generation?

Today, lead generation is a must for companies. It lies at the heart of their business development and prospecting strategy. The figures from a CAWI study are indisputable: 66% of the companies surveyed (in Europe and the USA) use lead generation to obtain potential clients frequently or always. Similarly, 53% of them devote almost half of their marketing budget to lead generation.

Today, lead generation is trending and is becoming an increasingly important part of corporate marketing strategies. From a technical point of view, in the near future, lead generation will rely heavily on automation and advanced follow-up. This process will also be facilitated by the rise of artificial intelligence and lead generation software. Bénédicte Bathurst, Director of the call centre ProContact, is quite positive about the future of this business practice: “It’s a fact that lead generation is a sector that will become increasingly important over time. At ProContact, we understand this and we are ready to meet this growing demand. As a call centre, we’re well positioned for this. More and more prospects are coming to us to outsource their lead management. To put it simply, we’re going to help them stand up to the competition, mainly thanks to our impeccable responsiveness. When a request is made via a website, for example, we analyze it and transfer it to one of the company’s sales representatives within the hour. It’s this immediate management of leads that has, and always will have, the wind in our sails.” she advances.

Get in touch with us!

At ProContact, we work closely with you to incorporate this solution into your sales strategy. We’ll help you revamp your way of working by bringing in resources from elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to gain credibility and, above all, to satisfy their customers, whatever the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for company development. To find out more about our services, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 84 76 24 03.