Ultimately, the goal of a digital marketing campaign is to encourage users to convert. Before you can get people to convert, though, you first need them to become leads.

But what exactly are sales leads, and how can you get them? We’ll explore the answers to both of those questions below.

How to generate sales leads

Sales leads are paramount for the success of your business. So, how can you get more sales leads? While there are various lead generation campaigns you can do, those options are mostly dominated by four overarching marketing strategies.

Here’s a simple overview of each of those strategies and how to generate sales leads with them:

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy that involves optimizing your web content to rank highly in Google search results. It often involves creating informational content like blog posts and trying to rank them for particular searches based on target keywords. SEO is a fantastic gateway through which users can become leads.

Let’s say your business is an HVAC company that specializes in air conditioner repairs. You could write a blog post that targets the keyword “how does an air conditioner work.”

Whenever someone searches for that keyword, they have the opportunity to encounter your blog post. Even though they won’t immediately buy from you, you’ve now established a connection with people who have an interest in air conditioners.

If they ever need one serviced, they may come back to you. Other critical features of SEO include:

• Making your site mobile-friendly
• Creating backlinks
• Optimizing page speed
• Creating your Google Business Profile
• And more!

Overall, SEO is one of the best strategies you can use to acquire new leads.

2. Launch a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is another strategy useful for generating sales leads. Like SEO, it involves marketing to users through Google search results. The difference is that PPC ads are paid real estate in search results, and display above the organic results.

You can use a platform like Google Ads to create ads and bid on keywords where you want the ads to appear. With a high enough bid and a good enough quality score, you can outperform the competition, and your ads will appear for relevant searches. This can help you get more sales leads like SEO.

When people encounter your ads in their searches, they’ll get a look at the products or services you offer. Even if they don’t buy your product immediately, the ads can instill an interest in them that will potentially result in a future conversion.

3. Engage in social media advertising

One of the best ways to get more sales leads is to find more people. And on the Internet, there’s no better place to do that than social media, where the average user spends 28% of their Internet time. Running a social media account for your business gives you a fantastic way to build relationships with your audience, where you can interact directly with them.

That direct engagement can be an amazing tool to nurture them into leads down the road. On top of running a social media account for your business, you can also run social media advertising campaigns, which work similarly to Google PPC ads. Social media advertising allows you to place ads right in the middle of users’ social media feeds, where they can see them as they scroll.

Best of all, you can target users based on characteristics like age and location, allowing you to reach precisely the people who make up your ideal audience.

4. Build out an email list

Another answer for how to generate sales leads is to create an email list. An email list is a list of users’ email addresses that you can target with marketing emails. While some businesses buy email lists or send campaigns to random email addresses, that’s a less than ideal strategy.

Rather, you should create your email list by allowing users to submit their addresses voluntarily. When users arrive at your website after clicking a Google or social media link, you can present them with calls to action (CTAs), prompting them to submit their email addresses.
These CTAs can appear in the text of your blog posts, in pop-ups, or elsewhere on your site.

The key is to make sure you offer the users something in return, like special offers or newsletters. Then follow up on that promise in the emails themselves. This is one of the most effective lead generation strategies since it allows you to establish a direct and long-lasting form of contact with your leads.

Sales lead generation FAQ 

Learn more about sales lead generation with our FAQ:

What is sales lead generation?

Sales lead generation — the process of generating sales leads for your business — is a critical element of any digital marketing plan. But what are sales leads, and what makes them so important?

Let’s look at the answer to each of those questions below.

What is a sales lead?

First up, what is a sales lead? The short answer is that a lead is a person who’s expressed interest in converting, but hasn’t yet done so. To dive in a bit deeper into what sales leads are, we need to talk about the marketing funnel.

The marketing funnel is a model representing the process of turning an anonymous user into a loyal customer. Picture a funnel, wider at the top and narrow at the bottom. All of your anonymous users start at the top of the funnel — these people have no knowledge of your business.

Users who know about your brand but are not yet willing to convert hang out in the middle of the funnel, and at the bottom, you’ll find the users who are ready to buy. While you’ll draw the newest members of your audience from the top of the funnel, and your conversions will happen at the bottom, leads typically take place in the middle. To make someone a lead, you must familiarize them with your company and interest them in buying.

Why do you need sales leads?

Now that we’ve covered the definition of a sales lead, let’s talk about what makes them so critical for your business. Leads are an essential step on the path to conversion.

You will never convert a customer who isn’t first a lead. If you think back to the marketing funnel, leads reside somewhere in the middle. That said, customers can’t make the leap from interest to conversion without first becoming a lead. That’s because people likely won’t buy from you without first becoming familiar with your business.

It’s rare that a user will encounter your business for the very first time and then decide to convert five minutes later. Before people are willing to convert, they first want to learn about your business and develop an interest in what you have to offer. To drive conversions, then, you must first drive leads.

Get help with your sales lead generation from Web Creative

Need help generating sales leads for your business? With over 486 leads generation projects, Web Creative is a digital marketing agency that businesses trust to drive results for their business.

With our lead generation services, you can get help crafting campaigns for each of the strategies listed above and more. To get started with us, get a free quote today!