Everything You Need to Know About Generating Inbound Leads (Definition, Tips & Strategies)

This article was updated on the 16th of January 2024.

If there's one thing a company needs to survive, it's the customers. That's why lead generation is one of the most important things sales and marketing teams focus on.

But lead generation has many faces. You can get leads from many sources like social media, email campaigns, industry events, cold calling, SEO, or PPC advertising. These methods can be categorized into two main types: inbound and outbound lead generation.

What are the differences between these approaches? And what benefits does inbound lead generation have? Let's look into that.

What Is an Inbound Lead?

An inbound lead is a potential customer who contacts your company on their own initiative, showing interest in your product or service. They might come across your content, get impressed by your social media presence, or find you through a search engine. It's a more passive approach where you attract leads by providing valuable content and experiences.

These leads are considered more valuable because they have already shown a level of interest in what you offer, making them more likely to convert into customers.

Inbound vs. Outbound Lead Generation

The main difference between inbound vs. outbound leads generation lies in how the leads are approached. In inbound lead generation, potential customers find you.

On the other hand, outbound lead generation is more direct and proactive. This involves reaching out to potential customers through methods like cold calls, direct mail, or paid advertisements. You're essentially going out and trying to find your customers rather than having them come to you.

Generating outbound leads often disrupts potential customers with unsolicited sales messages, advertising, or cold emails. So, it has less potential to bring in qualified leads.

However, inbound lead generation is more time-consuming and resource-heavy. Let's look closer at why this organic way of attracting customers is still worth the resources and effort.

Where do Inbound Leads Come From?

Inbound leads typically originate from your website. They arrive either through organic searches or via links from social media, email campaigns, or other digital platforms.

On your site, these visitors encounter opportunities to exchange their contact information for valuable offerings – think insightful content or exclusive deals, a tactic known as lead magnets. Alternatively, they might be invited to schedule a call, meeting, or initiate direct contact with the aim of solving their specific challenges.

In essence, inbound lead generation boils down to a two-step process: first, draw visitors to your website using captivating content and effective lead magnets, and then convert this traffic into leads by encouraging them to engage directly with your company.

READ ALSO: How Quickly Should You Contact Inbound Leads?

The Benefits of an Inbound Lead Generation Strategy

Nowadays, most businesses take a customer-centric approach. It focuses on sales reps being consultants and not just sellers (read more about consultative selling). Their goal is to help and respond to people's needs rather than sell products and services using invasive techniques.

Inbound marketing suits this modern model significantly better than generating leads using outbound techniques. Besides that, a well-implemented inbound strategy is ten times more efficient than an outbound one in terms of lead conversion (source: Marketsplash).

Let's dive deeper into the specific advantages of inbound lead generation.

More qualified leads

Inbound lead generation is not necessarily going to bring more leads (although it can). But it will bring you more marketing and sales-qualified leads. What does that mean?

Marketing-qualified leads are people who have shown an interest in your content, visited your website or engaged with your social media. They've taken some action that indicates they're interested in what you have to offer. Sales-qualified leads are the most valuable ones; they've expressed a clear intent to buy or are actively considering your product or service.

This distinction is important because these leads are not just numbers; they're potential customers who are already partway through the buying process. By focusing on inbound lead generation, you're more likely to attract people who might genuinely bring you money.

READ ALSO: How to Qualify Inbound Leads?

Cost-effectiveness

Here are a bunch of statistics to prove the profitability of inbound lead generation strategies:

• Inbound marketing costs $14 less for every new customer than traditional methods. 
• After five months of persistent inbound marketing, inbound leads are 80% more affordable than outbound leads. 
• Inbound marketing typically generates results at a staggering 62% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing.

Building a relationship with potential customers

One of the most significant benefits of inbound lead generation is the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your audience.

A big chunk of the inbound lead generation process is providing valuable content, like informative blog posts, engaging social media updates, or helpful newsletters. This way, you're not just selling a product or service; you're establishing a relationship.

These interactions create a sense of loyalty and familiarity, making potential customers more likely to choose your brand when they're ready to make a purchase.

Long-term results

While inbound lead generation strategies might take longer to show results compared to outbound methods, the effects are often more lasting. Once you've established your online presence and built up a library of valuable content, it continues to attract leads over time.

This evergreen aspect of inbound marketing means that the effort you put in today can continue to generate leads months or even years down the line.

Better alignment with modern buying habits

Today's consumers are more informed and empowered than ever before. They prefer to research and make buying decisions at their own pace. Inbound lead generation aligns perfectly with this shift in consumer behavior.

By providing the information and resources potential customers are seeking, you're aligning with their buying journey, leading to a more natural and effective sales process.

Six Inbound Lead Generation Strategies

As a business owner, generating inbound leads can be a daunting task. In today's competitive market, it is important to carefully plan this process to ensure you get the most out of your efforts. With the right strategies, you can effectively generate quality leads that will convert into loyal customers. So, let's dive into some ways to improve the process of generating inbound leads.

#1: Create valuable content

Content marketing includes creating and promoting articles, e-books, webinars, and videos. It's one of the best ways for people to find your business. It means making and sharing material your target audience finds useful and interesting. By providing informative content, you can become a thought leader in your field and earn the trust of your audience, which can improve sales and customer satisfaction in the long run.

#2: Optimize for search engines

Usually, what you want to do is align your content strategy with SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of inbound marketing that helps businesses rank better on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Using relevant keywords to optimize your content, you can get free traffic to your site, giving you more exposure and possible leads. Also, guest blogging can enhance your SEO by bringing traffic and valuable inbound links. Moreover, it presents an excellent opportunity to develop profitable partnerships and acquire new customers.

READ ALSO: Inbound vs. Outbound Leads — Key Differences and How to Leverage Both 

#3: Go for social media marketing

According to Statista, the number of social media users worldwide will increase to nearly 4.41 billion by 2025. It would be, therefore, a shame to miss the opportunity to use these channels to attract potential leads. You can develop relationships with your followers through consistent posting and engagement and incorporate call-to-action (CTA) links in your posts to direct them to landing pages. 

#4: Don't forget about email marketing

This marketing strategy involves sending targeted and personalized emails to potential prospects who have shown interest in your product or service. By providing valuable content in your messages, you can build trust with your audience and encourage them to take action, such as making a purchase or subscribing to your newsletter. It's important, however, to only target people who have already interacted with your offer.

#5: Try referrals

This method involves incentivizing your current customers to refer new clients to your business. You can generate leads at a low cost by providing rewards or discounts to customers who refer new businesses. This strategy also provides social proof, as potential customers are more likely to trust their friends' and family's recommendations.

#6: Partner up with influencers

Influencer marketing is a way to sell your product or service by working with people with a large social media following. Incorporating influencer marketing into your marketing strategy can be a powerful way to build trust among the audience and achieve a high return on investment (ROI). This is because influencers have a devoted following who believe in their recommendations, which can help you generate high-quality leads and increase your conversion rates.

READ ALSO: Local Lead Generation: 10 Strategies for Quick Results

How to Generate Inbound Leads? Techniques & Tips

Implementing an inbound lead generation campaign can indeed be more challenging than it initially seems. It demands a significant investment of time, effort, and strategic planning, not to mention a deep understanding of your target audience and market trends. Let's look at some tools you can use to get the best results.

Use a lead magnet

A lead magnet is an incentive you offer your website visitors in exchange for their contact information. The lead magnet could be a free e-book, a webinar, a discount, or any other valuable content appealing to your audience. By offering a lead magnet, you can capture the contact information of your website visitors and nurture them into becoming customers. 

To create content that will actually convert, you need to remember these four rules:

• Learn about your consumers' struggles.
• Provide useful information to address those issues.
• Make an engaging sign-up form.
• Filter your leads so you can tailor your interactions with them.

Use lead capture forms

Lead capture forms are essential for collecting information from potential customers. These forms should be strategically placed on your website, particularly on high-traffic pages or at the end of compelling content. Make sure these forms are simple and straightforward, and ask for only the necessary information. This reduces the barrier for visitors to provide their details.

Effective lead capture forms often include fields for basic information like name, email, and possibly a question about the visitor's specific needs or interests. This not only helps in gathering contact details but also in segmenting your leads for more personalized follow-up.

Optimize your website for conversions

Work on your site. Make sure it's easily navigated, and the content is relevant to your target audience. Use clear and concise call-to-actions to guide your website visitors toward your lead magnet or your products and services. But that's not all. 

You can also create targeted landing pages and optimize your website speed and mobile responsiveness. Don't forget to measure performance — track and analyze website data to improve lead generation efforts continuously.

Personalize your outreach

Generating inbound leads involves connecting and building relationships with them. Therefore, you can't afford to send mass emails without targeted messaging. You will lose the interest of your potential prospects.

Instead, personalize your landing pages (text, images, CTAs), products, services, and communication. Your leads share their personal information, so use it to enhance the quality of your interactions.

Take advantage of marketing automation

With inbound marketing automation, you can, for example, send each lead a personalized email with content that fits their interests based on the actions they've performed on your website. This method gives the inbound consumer information relevant to their circumstances and meets their needs by answering their questions and solving problems. 

Marketing automation tools can help you streamline this process and manage other lead-generation activities, such as lead scoring or web result tracking. 

Add a click-to-call widget to your website

A click-to-call widget is a pop-up that allows website visitors to request a call-back from your sales team. This option makes engaging with your sales team easy for website visitors. It can also increase your conversion rates significantly, as many website visitors prefer to speak to a live person before making a purchase.

For example, the CallPage widget allows website visitors to request an instant call or set the option of scheduling one at another time. This tool can automate the process while improving the customer experience, resulting in more calls and sales. Instant call-backs, meeting scheduling, scoring-based lead qualification, and distribution are only some of the benefits enjoyed by the companies that added the widget to their site.

READ ALSO: How to Convert Leads Into Customers

Conclusion

In summary, inbound lead generation involves creating valuable content, optimizing for search engines, using social media and email marketing, leveraging referrals and influencers, and employing lead capture forms. These strategies help attract potential customers and build lasting relationships.

Additionally, tools like lead magnets, website optimization, personalization, and marketing automation enhance the process, while click-to-call widgets can boost conversions. Inbound lead generation is a cost-effective, customer-centric approach that aligns with modern buying habits and yields more qualified leads.