As a business owner, you constantly try to identify and attract new customers that are a good fit with your products and services, all with the intention of turning them into potential sales. To achieve these, there are lead generation tactics that you can familiarize yourself with that answer these questions and cover both traditional and digital platforms. 

Generating leads with traditional marketing 

Lead generation that uses traditional marketing requires brands to utilize physical resources and any offline (i.e.: in-person) interactions with customers. This covers the tried-and-tested newspaper or magazine ad, the radio or TV commercial, outdoor and indoor billboards or posters, or your classic networking events, door-to-door visits, cold calls, product trials, and other similar strategies. 

Notice that these are very manual approaches and thus require a sizable sales and marketing team to execute them. Lead generation that banks on traditional marketing may also be more expensive because of the related costs of buying or renting physical spaces for your ads or functions. 

While these moves may seem passé in the 21st century, they, in fact, still have a place today because there will always be products and services that are better suited to them. 

Picture this: You’re in real estate. Selling homes typically demands that you build trust between your sales agents and potential customers—something that can be achieved with authentic, responsive, and cordial face-to-face-interactions. You can’t do this as effectively, say, online, because you don’t want the barrier of a screen to make your brand appear detached and inhuman. 

What could work in this scenario is to maximize networking events and print ads, maybe even throwing in an outdoor billboard or two and having sales agents ready with flyers or brochures in appropriate locations. 

On the other hand, if you're a digital brand, you’re going to want to send the message that you’re tech-savvy and know how to use the Internet to your advantage. Traditional marketing strategies will not be effective in generating leads in this case. 

The clincher, then, is to take the time to understand what works best for the particular industry you’re in. It’s a mistake to automatically disregard traditional lead generation tactics just because we now live in the digital era, because they certainly still benefit businesses today. 

More so, traditional marketing can be used as a means, not just an end. These days, it can be the first step to generating leads online, as discussed in the following section.

Online lead generation 

Online lead generation is a whole other ballgame. A brand can make the most of social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are still the buzziest platforms for high-potential lead generation), or create their own digital properties like dynamic websites and blogs to attract new customers. There is also targeted emailing to get your newsletter to the right people, providing free downloadable brochures that contain useful information, or organizing webinars with industry experts or personalities with star power as your special guests. 

There are certainly more tactics to explore when it comes to digital marketing for lead generation, but as mentioned earlier, it need not be a standalone process. Generating leads via traditional marketing strategies can be the first step. Traditional strategies can be your first touch point with new customers, but make sure to communicate that you’re also found online. Clearly say where new customers can locate you online via your social media accounts, your website or blog, or other platforms, and that they can learn more about you here.  

It must also be noted that working with digital marketing experts is recommended for you to learn which online lead generation tactics are best suited to your goals. They’ll be able to match tactics with your brand’s personality, industry, target audience, and budget, while also providing you with tools that help you monitor the success of your online lead generation strategies so you can make necessary adjustments in real-time. 

Partnerships like this save you the pains of going through a trial and error process and make online lead generation potentially more cost-effective than traditional lead generation. 

Final notes 

As a final reminder, always remember to include a consistent and memorable call to action. 

Lead generation can only be possible if new customers know what to do about the information you just presented to them. Should they call you? Should they subscribe to a newsletter? Or perhaps you want them to like your Facebook page, visit your website, or sign up for a free webinar you’re hosting. Be clear with how you want new customers to reach out to you. 

Undoubtedly, it pays to understand the mechanisms of lead generation as it’s a key to growing your business today, and in the long-run.

Need help determining the best approaches to connect with your audience? Get in touch with us today at marketing@btpartners-asia.com.