How Do Lead Generation Companies Work

Your goal is to satisfy them with your products, services, customer service, and quality, while enticing new potential customers to get on board with your brand. But how do you encourage people to try out your brand?

Lead generation helps to connect you with potential customers and works to move them further down the marketing funnel — from mere interest in your company, to a loyal brand supporter.

The strategy comes in the form of many different tactics, and each tactic works best for certain industries and niches.

Of course you can learn to generate leads for your company on your own, but why wouldn't you hire a lead generation consultant to do it for you? With so many responsibilities involved in running a business, it's hard to imagine adding lead generation to your long list.

That's why we recommend hiring a dedicated, qualified lead generation company to help you grow your business.

On this page, we'll not only talk about lead generation and its benefits, but we'll also talk about WebFX as a lead generation company, why we're at the front of the pack, and why you should hire an agency for your lead generation needs.

If you'd like to speak to a specialist about lead generation before reading on, you can reach us at 888-601-5359.

The basics of lead generation – what you need to know

Before we get into the nitty gritty of lead generation, let's talk about what a lead is in the first place.

What is a lead?

A lead is, in its most simple form, a potential customer who is interested in your business. A lead hasn't bought anything from you before, and they're new to your company's sales funnel.

When we talk about marketing campaigns, we like to visualize our efforts in the shape of a funnel. The top is wide — and customers that come in here aren't quite serious about your products and services yet. By the middle of the funnel, they're getting to know more about your business, and probably considering making a purchase. If they make it to the end of the funnel, they're ready to convert.

The end-goal when you find out you have a new lead is to convert them into a paying customer. But what a lot of marketers don't realize is that you have to be smart about how you contact them, and when, to avoid scaring them out of the sales funnel completely.

If you're interested in fixing your marketing funnel, check out our free tool!

What is the term "lead generation"?

Lead generation is the process of taking those leads and turning them into paying customers, and lead generation tactics are mindful of the timeline and sensitivity of a lead (their ability to be scared off easily).

The process as a whole works to filter them through the funnel efficiently and successfully.

Some popular lead generation strategies include:

Online website content
Email marketing
Social media marketing
Webinars
PPC and display ads
Retargeting ads

All of these tactics bring something important to the table in terms of lead generation. We'll talk about these tactics more in depth later.

What is a sales funnel and why is it important?

We've been talking a lot about the sales funnel, but why is it so important and how does it work?

Think of the shape of a funnel — it's wide at the top, and slims out toward the bottom where it eventually expels much less than it initially takes in.

Leads come in at the top of the funnel. Sometimes a lead will come in and be ready to convert, which is great! But often times, you have to nurture them through the marketing funnel to turn them into a loyal, paying customer.

The wider part of the funnel represents someone's interest in your products or services. If a lead is in the middle of the funnel, it means you're steering them in the right direction with your tactics, and they're getting closer to converting.

And finally, the bottom of the funnel is when the user is ready to become a customer.

At each stage of the marketing funnel, you have to provide users with different information. For example, you wouldn't provide someone that's ready to convert with very general, top-of-the-funnel information like you would when they first become a lead.

In the same way, you wouldn't provide someone who's just starting to show interest in your company a form to purchase one of your products.

You have to be mindful of the sales funnel, and market to your leads on every level to ensure that you get the end result that you're looking for — a conversion.

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How does lead generation work on different channels?

As we mentioned above, there are many different lead generation tactics, from online website content to PPC ads, and each has something different to offer.

Let's talk about each a little more in-depth.

Online website content

Creating and posting valuable website content can help your business generate new leads. Before a potential customer trusts your brand, you have to give them a reason to trust you. You can do this by providing helpful, beneficial information about your industry, your products and services, and your specific niche.

For example, a manufacturing company looking to generate manufacturing sales leads may compile informative service pages that explain the service and client experience in-depth to educate buyers. They company may even maintain a blog to share industry updates with current and future customers.

When you do so, you provide value to potential customers which helps them to trust you as a brand, and make them more likely to convert.

Web content doesn't only have to inform to generate leads — you can also include buttons that lead to forms, links to other informational pages on your site, and more.

Not to mention, you can easily share website content in emails and on social media, which means it can reach even more people than just your audience — another great way that potential customers get to know about your company!

Email marketing

When you build a subscriber list and send emails to them on a regular basis, you are definitely helping your lead generation strategy.

Emails provide a perfect place to convert leads, because they make it so easy to target the audience that is most likely to convert and provide them with personalized information.

For example, with email automation, you can send an email to a group of people that was looking at your pink fashion sweaters. When you target users in this way, you not only remind them of a product that they may have forgotten about, but you show them that you care about their business, and that you keep track of their interests.

Emails are also a great place to include things like special offers and coupons which can help bring your leads to your storefront, or entice them to visit your website to make a purchase.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing is another fantastic lead generation technique because of the incredible following social media platforms have.

As a whole, in 2017, 81% of the U.S. population had a social media profile of some sort. That means that when you market on social media, you're essentially marketing to over 3 quarters of the country.

Not to mention, you won't pay a single penny to have a social media profile, so when you consider that, you could essentially make a huge ROI off of social media marketing.

When you place paid ads on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you'll pay a small amount, but still have an extremely high ROI. That's because with paid ads on social platforms like we mentioned, you only pay when someone clicks the ad, not for the ad space.

That being said, you'll dictate exactly how much you're willing to spend — a number that fits within your budget — and still make money from people clicking your ad and landing on your website.

Webinars

Webinars are basically live content. As we mentioned, written website content is extremely important to your lead generation strategy — simply because of the value it provides to your site visitors, and the way it works to make you a thought leader in your industry.

Webinars allow you to speak beneficial content to your potential customers, and in addition, you'll be able to connect with them live. Any questions they have, you can answer over the webinar, which will help potential customers get to know you and your brand.

In order to reach more leads, you can also partner with other influencers in your industry to host a webinar. This means that along with your audience, you'll also have a second audience that belongs to the industry influencer you're partnering with.

That's double the potential leads!

PPC (pay-per-click advertising) and paid ads

We touched on PPC optimization in the social media marketing section, but let's talk about it in terms of search.

Search engine marketing allows you to place ads that target specific keywords that are important to your business. They work the same as social media ads, in the way that you only pay when someone clicks on them, and not for the ad space itself.

If you own a shoe store, for example, and you really want an ad for your recycled material running shoes, you can target that keyword in your ads.

If you beat your competition for that keyword (it's likely since it's such a long tail keyword), you'll immediately see leads roll in from your extremely specific, keyword-targeted ad.

PPC ads generate leads because they're great at getting potential customers interested in your products. Typically when they show up in search engine results pages, they'll include a photo, which is more than a typical organic search result.

In fact, visitors that come to your site through a PPC ad are 50% more likely to purchase something than an organic-result visitor.

Retargeting ads

Ad retargeting is a hugely successful lead generation tactic because it reminds visitors about your products and services when they have left your website without converting. This is also known as a lead nurturing strategy since people you're retargeting have already displayed interest in your business.

Let's say that someone visited your shoe company's website, and was looking at your recycled material running shoes. If they left without purchasing that pair of shoes, they will start to see ads on other pages that they surf, for those shoes.

This happens after you place a chunk of code in your pages that allows your ad to show up on other pages. Site visitors will never even know the code is there, and it won't affect how your website works. It'll only help you generate more leads.

In fact, website visitors that are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on your website. To learn more about the best remarketing practices, check out our blog!

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Why should you hire a lead generation company?

After reading about the ways that lead generation can benefit your company, are you sold on a campaign?

The fact of the matter is, with some training and hard work, anyone can learn how to implement a lead generation campaign for their company.

However, are you trained in lead generation? Do you have the time to be trained for lead generation? And do you have someone in house that is either trained, or has the time to be trained?

If your answer is no, which is the common denominator with many companies, your best bet is to hire a lead generation company.

When you hire an agency to do all of your lead generation for you, you'll be able to run your business as usual. Your job is to sell your products and services — imagine adding "lead generation consultant" to your daily persona.

It takes a lot of work to make a successful campaign, and if you're running your own business, chances are you don't have time to give your all to a campaign. And quite frankly, being all in is the only way the campaign will flourish and help your company to grow.

Not to mention, a lead generation company trains its professionals so that they know exactly how to handle each unique client.

They know the ins and outs of many niches and industries, and can make recommendations based on your company's goals, audiences, and budget.

They're professionals for a reason! Hire them to do what you don't have time for!

How to choose the perfect lead generation company for you

There are thousands of lead generation companies out there, whether you have a small business on the west coast, or an enterprise-sized company on the east coast, there is a lead generation company that is the perfect match for your business.

When you're in the process of finding that perfect match, it's important to keep a few things in mind.

1. Where are they located?

If you enjoy face-to-face, in-person contact with those that are working for or with your business, location is something to keep in mind.

If you feel more comfortable meeting in-person to talk about your lead generation campaign, you'll have to pay attention to where the company is located.

If it's across the country, it'll be harder to meet with them often in the same location, and you may rely heavily on phone and email communication.

Though it's not necessary to meet in person, some people prefer it that way, and that's okay! If you're one of them, be sure to consider distance when you choose a lead generation company.

2. How do they communicate?

When you're chatting on the phone with potential lead generation companies, how do you interact? Do you like the way they communicate?

If you ask a question, do you get a clear answer every time, in a way that you understand? If not, you might want to reconsider.

Keep in mind that you'll be working with this person to make your business better, and if you don't like the way they communicate, that can be a huge roadblock in your relationship, and even the success of your campaign.

3. Do they take time to research your company?

When you're talking about your campaign, do they ask about your company?

The right lead generation company for you will have tons of questions about your company, because they know they can't create the perfect campaign without first getting to know what it is that they're marketing.

They should ask you questions about your goals to ensure that they're realistic, questions about your budget, what strategies you're interested in, your biggest competition, and your target audience.

If a lead generation company doesn't ask these things, you should probably start looking elsewhere. You want a company that wants to learn about your business so that they can provide the best results possible.

4. How much do they charge?

When you're talking with potential lead generation companies, you should also ask about their pricing. Only the best of the best will be transparent about their pricing, and if they're not, they may have tons of hidden fees.

That's why you should always make an account to ask how much they charge for their services. Not only to understand how they communicate with their customers, but to also decide if they're a good fit for your business financially speaking.

5. Do you enjoy talking with them about your business?

When you're on the phone, do you like how the conversation is going? Are they easy to talk to and do they provide you with the right information?

Communication is key, and if you're not able to communicate effectively with a potential lead generation company, you should look elsewhere.

Do you want to deal with talking to people that don't care about your business, or that don't give you the correct information when you ask for it?

Be sure to screen your company options so that you know how they speak to you and if you like it or not!

6. Do they have a lot of great reviews and numerous testimonials?

Reviews and testimonials are two of the best ways for potential customers to decide if a company is right for them.

Reviews can be found on sites like Google My Business and Yelp, and they're real accounts of customers that have purchased from a company in the past.

They typically will provide a star rating for a company, and then a comment about why they received the rating that they did.

This offers a lot of beneficial information for users looking to purchase the services you offer — 84% of people trust online reviews as much as if a friend would tell them the same information.

This means that if a lead generation company has more bad reviews, or just as many as they do good reviews, you may want to look elsewhere for services.

Testimonials are similar, and can usually be found on a company's website. These are similar to reviews, except testimonials are always positive.

These are people who have had the company's services, and want to talk about the results they drove for them, or how great overall the company was.

A great lead generation company will have hundreds of testimonials.

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Why WebFX is one of the best lead generation companies in the world

WebFX is a one of the best lead generation consulting companies, and for good reason.

As a whole, we've driven over $3 million leads for our clients. That's a lot of leads! We've been able to do so with our incredible team of over 150 specialists who are all experts in their field.

We have a specific team for each of our strategies, which means everyone is an expert.

In addition, we also have over 550 client testimonials which prove that were at the front of the pack in terms of lead generation.

We love to see our clients smile, and we love to help their businesses flourish with lead generation.

We know that it takes more than just one strategy to craft a successful lead generation campaign, so we offer all of the following services:

SEO (search engine optimization)
PPC (pay-per-click advertising)
Social media merketing
Content marketing
Email marketing
Landing page creation
Web design
Web development
Custom infographic design
Video creation
Reputation management

We know that no two businesses are alike, and that's why we don't offer cookie-cutter campaigns. When you contact WebFX, you'll be on the road to a custom lead generation campaign that is crafted specifically for your unique business.

WebFX offers custom lead generation campaigns

We know that you want to beat out your competition, and we know how important lead generation is. If we didn't do you think we'd offer all of those services?

We want to ensure that your company drives the most leads as possible, and we'll do everything we can to ensure that they make it from the top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel.

If you're interested in a custom lead generation campaign, contact us online today, or call us at 888-601-5359.

We have locations in New York, Florida, and D.C. just to name a few. We can't wait to work with you no matter where you are!