Lead Generation
Quick definition
Lead generation is the process of attracting people who may be interested in a product or service and capturing their contact details so they can be followed up.
Common lead-generation methods
- Gated content such as a lead magnet.
- Webinars and events.
- Free trials and demos.
- Contact and quote forms.
- Lead forms on social or search ads.
- Referrals.
- Content and search visibility that bring visitors to a landing page.
From lead to customer
A captured lead is usually qualified, for example through lead scoring, and may be labeled a marketing qualified lead or sales qualified lead. Leads who are not ready to buy are nurtured with relevant information over time, and those who are ready are passed to sales.
Quality over volume
More leads are not always better. Leads that fit the target customer and show real interest are worth more than a large number of poor-fit sign-ups. Agree with sales how a good lead is defined.
Example
A cybersecurity firm publishes a compliance guide on a landing page behind a short form. People who download it are scored by company size and pages visited, and high-scoring leads are passed to sales as marketing qualified leads.
Related marketing terms
Related KPIs
Related tools
Campaign URL Builder
MarketingTag links to your lead forms and landing pages by channel to see which sources produce leads. It does not capture or score leads.