Lead generation refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest into a business’ specified offering.  In general, lead generation is associated with marketing activities targeted at generating sales opportunities for a company’s salesforce.  (Marketers are the gatherers –the salesforce are the hunters.) 

• A lead is a prospective customer, who has provided their information and shown interest in making a possible purchase.

• Generation activities are the marketing initiatives that produce a perceived interest as well as customer information.

How Lead Generation Works

 Lead generation depends entirely on the decision making process of a buyer. 

§         Complex Sales Cycle: For a complex sales cycle, the key is to identify the most likely prospects and then educate and further qualify them before spending more time, money and resources on them.  The education benefits the buyer; qualification benefits the seller.  This gradual lead cultivation process can go on for months and includes several individuals involved in evaluating a solution.

• Commodity Sales Cycle:  For commodity offerings, the issue is connecting consumers at the right time, place or interest cycle.   Companies have to sift through unqualified candidates to find the few qualified candidates that are looking for a particular product or service.

Although there are several marketing approaches, most involve one of two primary methodologies: Broadcast or Concentration. 

• BROADCAST involves communicating to a broad set of candidates with the expectation of a statistical response back to the marketer. (Advertising is a classic example of broadcast marketing.)

• CONCENTRATION involves identifying and creating a specific set of well-matched candidates into a broadcast-effective sub-set. (Vertical segmentation and trade shows are classic examples of concentration marketing strategies.)

Lead Generation Methods

 Lead generation can utilize various marketing methods including: 

• Broadcast Advertising
• Direct Mail
• Event or Tradeshow marketing
• Seminar or Training
• Publicity and Public Relations
• Whitepapers or Product Literature
• Email marketing
• Web marketing (Search Engine Optimization or other Internet Media buying)
• Telemarketing

Internet Lead Generation

Since 2000, an increasing number of sales organizations have been shifting their direct marketing budgets to Internet marketing initiatives. The Internet allows for the development of extremely targeted lead generation campaign offering geographic, demographic, and contextual targeting opportunities. 

Capture Lead Information

Lead Acquisition is one of the most critical activities within the lead generation process. Identifying or attracting a prospective customer is an expensive and complex task, which becomes even more so if you do not have mechanisms to capture that information for action, some of which include: web forms, email, inbound calls, business cards, inquiry cards, scanners and more. 

In all, lead generation is one of the most impactful marketing initiatives a company can plan and budget for.  With that, all lead generation programs should involve ROI metrics once completed to in fact show results and revenue return.