Member Article

What Is Lead Generation Why is Important?

The modern consumer has changed dramatically. While leads are still generated at trade shows, exhibition venues and via print and TV advertisement, the way the consumer goes about buying and fulfilling their needs has undergone a sea-change requiring new tactics and a total overhaul in the way new sales are gained. Therefore, the definition of lead generation too has undergone a change.

Today, Lead generation encompasses the process of stimulating and capturing interest in a service or product to prod the customer into entering the sales pipeline. Today lead generation predominantly uses digital channels especially search engines and the social media.

This has come about because the way consumers shop has changed from, purchasing products as a result of desires generated through advertisement to; buying products or services according to need. And to do that, they employ the services of the omnipotent internet search engine. They use the internet search engine to first locate the product they need, if the product matches or exceeds their need, they again use the search engine to search for reviews for that particular product. If the reviews are stellar, they finally use the search engine again to locate reputed websites that sell that product at the best possible terms.

The pre-requisite to lead generation today, is therefore quality, good review, a good pricing, good search engine optimisation and subtle handling of customers on the social media platform.

The abundance of information in the form of online reviews has led to the rise of the “self-directed buyer”. He or she does not see your advertisement, is not interested in them. Their primary interest lies in knowing if the product will fulfil their need and does it have a good independent review by another customer?

Retailer focus has shifted from rented space i.e. advertisement in non-owned media to, owned space i.e. advertisement or information put out in space owned by the retailer and this includes pages created on the social media platform. In fact, a lot of products and services due to their nature, have come to rely exclusively, and quite successfully, on the social media platforms alone. These products include online multi-user games, music shows and uniquely positioned and exclusive products that rely 100% on customer or user interaction with each other and the retailer.

So why is Lead Generation Important? From the above, one might assume that the if the quality is good and the reviews are good, sales will automatically follow. But this view overlooks competition. The more the competition and more the crowd of sellers, the lesser will be the customer focus on one particular retailer or service provider. The ground reality is that, in most cases there will be lots of products and services all having good reviews and similarly priced. So which does the customer choose? This is the point at which lead generation comes in.

Online Lead Generation is therefore important because as the retailer or service provider, you need to capture the attention of the customers and lead them to the sales pipe.

One of the top experts in lead generation right here in Australia is the Marketing Academy Group. Call them today at +61 (0) 427 255 542 or visit them at http://marketingacademygroup.com.au

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Burns .