Evolution of Lead Generation Practice

In this fast-paced world, business is constantly evolving. From new products to new tools and equipment, from manufacturing methods to marketing methods, nothing has remained the same. What may have worked 20 years ago for the growth of a business may be useless today.

Today let’s reviews some different forms of marketing that were used in the past, what works in marketing today and where the marketing techniques are headed into the future. So, let’s dive right into it.

Canvassing

Canvassing was one of the most popular ways of generating leads in the past. While some businesses also use it till date, the increasing fuel cost and low efficiency are pushing this method out of the scene.

There are two types of canvassing – door-to-door and incremental canvassing. In the first type, the marketers are responsible for visiting people in a particular area and tell them about the business and its services. Incremental canvassing includes dropping off the brochures in an adjoining area before or after the client visit.

Advantages

• Canvassing offers a face time with a prospect that increases the chances of establishing a rapport and ultimately converting the lead.
• It helps the marketer to read non-verbal clues about the prospect.
• The material will definitely be received by the potential customer.

Disadvantages

• It includes a lot of traveling time and expense.
• Can only get in touch with a small number of customers.
• Cannot indulge in any other work at that time.

Telesales

Telesales is one of the best lead generation methods which has been ruling the market for more than a decade and is here to stay. You can generate potential leads by calling up customers and asking them to visit your business.

Advantages

• It is a relatively inexpensive method of generating leads.
• It is a consistent method.
• It gives you the ability to reach out to a large customer base.
• No traveling time or expense is included.
• You can sometimes get in touch with potential clients who can readily convert.

Disadvantages

• It is difficult to maintain high-quality leads.
• People often do not listen to the executive.
• May needs to cross multiple layers of management to reach the potential client.
• Caller ID, Voicemail, and smartphones obstruct future efficacy.

Direct Mail Marketing

Another great way of marketing which was used in the past and is still opted for by a large number of businesses is the direct mail marketing. However, its popularity as a lead generation system is fast decreasing because of the increasing printing and mailing costs.

Advantages

• You can easily reach out to a large number of potential customers at a given time.
• As compared to canvassing, it is a cost-effective method.
• You can measure the success of the campaign.
• You can even create inbound leads.

Disadvantages

• It is an ineffective method of lead generation as the emails often end in the trash.
• It must be paired with a well-thought-of follow-up process.
• It is not a reusable method.

Email Marketing

Another great way to effectively generate leads is with the help of email marketing. Email marketing has been around and when done correctly, is one of the preeminent ways of generating well-qualified leads.

Advantages

• It is an inexpensive and reusable way to generate leads.
• You can easily target specific industries.
• You can easily get in touch with a large number of qualified leads.
• It requires less labor.
• You can easily change a message or reuse it.
• It gives you the advantage to track metrics and quantify the results.

Disadvantages

• You need to have a good understanding of eMarketing techniques.
• Some people can tag your emails as SPAM.
• It is difficult to establish a connection with your potential customers.
• Your business emails may go unnoticed, in the junk mail folder or get hit by the spam filter.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is trending and companies and marketers are trying to capture the market. Social media marketing is an exciting field where you can easily reach out to your prospective customers in a non-traditional manner. SEO and SMM are making its mark even in the highly traditional markets. Companies are generally investing in SMM to stay ahead of their competitors in this cut-throat competitive market.

Advantages

• More and more number of people are using various social media channels to interact and stay in touch with each other.
• The cutting edge technology makes you a leader in the industry.
• Being online gives you freedom to receive rapid feedback from prospects.
• You can easily target a large number of potential customers at a single place.
• SMM is useful for business to customers and business to business interaction.
• You can easily access your online business from anywhere with a working internet connection.
• Social media marketing has high growth potential in the future.

Disadvantages

• It can be difficult to measure return on investment using social media marketing.
• You need to be an expert to use different social media platforms.
• Some people can find it difficult to promote their business online on different social media platforms.

Webinars

In the past few months, webinars have gained popularity. Web meeting offers a cost-effective way to generate potential leads and cost sales. It is fast becoming one of the most preferred methods of selling by marketers and the trend will only accelerate in the near future.

Advantages

• Webinars offer an inexpensive way to reach your potential customers.
• Instead of targeting a single customer, you can easily target many prospects.
• Cancellation and rescheduling the webinar is not a troublesome work.
• No traveling time or expenses are involved.
• It allows you freedom for multitasking.
• Webinars can easily be used for external as well as internal purposes.
• You can easily conduct a webinar anywhere with a working internet connection.

Disadvantages

• You need to own a set of technical expertise and relevant experience to conduct a webinar.
• It requires you to own special software.
• Marketers find it difficult to read non-verbal signals.

The Internet has been around for some time. Therefore, it would be a wise decision to use it to maximum potential. Generating sale leads is important for any business. Are you targeting your potential customers?

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