What is Lead Generation and How Does it Work?

Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a company's products or services. It involves collecting a visitor's contact information (called a “lead”) through a web form, with the aim of converting that interest into a sale. Potential customers are people who are potentially interested in buying your products or services. Lead generation allows you to reach potential customers early in the buyer's journey, so you can earn their trust, build a relationship, and be by their side until they're ready to make a purchase.

Organic lead generation takes a couple of months to get results, but once you set it up, your website can attract a steady number of leads without paying for ads. You can generate leads by capturing visitors' contact information (called leads) through different channels, such as creating an email drip campaign with valuable content and choosing the optimal email frequency so that your potential customers are always present. You can also conduct face-to-face lead searching while visiting any marketing or sales event, or search for leads from multiple sources with lead generation tools. When you bring potential customers to your business, they're more likely to have a genuine interest in your products or services.

Most marketing departments measure the number of leads when determining a successful lead generation campaign. Leads can come from a variety of sources or activities, such as digitally via the Internet, through personal references, through business phone calls or from salespeople on the phone, through advertisements and events. The quality of leads is usually determined after reviewing a list of leads that were acquired through a lead generation campaign. Most companies prefer to stick to what works best for them, as lead generation strategies differ by industry.

Cold outbound email marketing is one of the examples of lead generation to generate new leads in a cost-effective way. Work with your sales team to identify strategies that are most likely to generate leads and help you grow your business.