Lead acquisition is the process of identifying leads and converting them into potential customers. You may have heard marketing experts talk about lead generation, or you may have been using lead generation techniques to increase your online sales. But how do you know which leads are worth pursuing?
We all know that not everyone who visits your website will become a customer. So, how do you find those customers who would be interested in your products or services?
In this article, we'll look at lead acquisition and what tools you can use to find these potential customers.
What Is A Lead Acquisition?
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A lead acquisition is a process that helps you identify and qualify your target market.
If someone has expressed interest in what you are offering, they’re already interested.
They have shown an interest in learning more about it by asking questions or requesting more information – this shows they may be ready to buy!
However, not everyone who expresses any kind of interest will become a customer; some people simply don’t have the money for your product but still want to learn about it so that when the time comes for them their friends can join too.
These folks are great prospects as well , and you can continue to nurture them over time. The process of lead-acquisition is also called "lead nurturing".
What Is The Difference Between Lead Acquisition And Lead Generation?
Lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers to your business. Lead-acquisition refers to how you go about acquiring those leads.
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference between them and knowing which one best fits your needs will help steer you in the right direction when it comes time for lead generation or marketing automation efforts.
Lead generation is a process of attracting potential customers to your business. This means that you are focused on getting people interested in what you do, and then converting them into leads who will become clients or buyers of your products and services.
The purpose behind lead generation is to get as many qualified prospects onto the list as possible so that when they come across an opportunity for your product or service, it can be presented at just the right time with just the right message (in order for them to make a purchase).
This allows more opportunities for sales than if all those prospective customers were simply emailed out of the blue.
Lead generation is also used to refer to a process of acquiring new customers, which can be done through various methods including: cold calling, email marketing and social media advertising.
The main difference between lead-acquisition and lead gen is that with lead gen , you are not focused on attracting potential clients or buyers but rather getting them interested in your business so that they will become leads who purchase from you .
Lead Generation vs Lead-Acquisition What's the Difference?
The biggest difference between these two terms involves what your ultimate goal is for each type of effort. When it comes time to launch an online marketing campaign, you want to get as many people interested in your products or services as possible.
You will then be able to use the leads that are generated from this effort for lead generation purposes later on down the road.
On the other hand, when it comes time to generate sales through email campaigns and social media profiles (and any other methods of offline lead-acquisition), you are focused on acquiring potential clients who may eventually become buyers of your product or service .
This is done by using a variety of different techniques such as cold calling , online advertising and referrals from current customers.
The main goal behind lead generation is to get as many people interested in your business as possible. This will help you attract new customers and grow your revenue stream over time.
What Should You Do With Lead Acquisition Data?
When you have lead data, these are the steps that should be taken:
1. Use your lead data to develop a plan for acquiring more leads with each of the campaigns in use. The main purpose is to increase sales and revenue from all sources (email marketing, direct mail, telemarketing).
You can also improve conversion rates by using this information as well—for instance, if people who download free ebooks aren’t buying anything else online at all or they don't return their books within 30 days after purchase date.
By knowing which customers were interested in what , you can better direct your marketing efforts.
2. Use the lead data to make decisions about what types of campaigns should be used, when they will run, and how often (email blasts or daily newsletters).
The goal is to increase sales from all sources while reducing costs per acquisition by improving targeting and increasing conversion rates with each campaign that's used.
3. Use the information in your database for other purposes as well—for instance, use it to find out which customers are most likely not buying anything online at all but do have credit cards on file with a major retailer.
This information can be used to make more targeted direct mail campaigns, for instance.
4. Use the data from each campaign (both those that are running and those that have been terminated) to analyze your results.
You should use this analysis as a guide in deciding what type of marketing will work best next time around—and you'll want it to be something different than previous efforts so you don't run into similar problems again!
5. Keep your data in a database so you can easily access it from any computer at any time, and make sure that the information is protected against unauthorized or accidental changes .
6. Put together a plan for how to use the results of this analysis—and keep track of each campaign as part of this process.
You might want to run one campaign using new tactics (which should be different than those used previously) and another with more traditional methods until you have determined which works best overall for your company's needs!
7. Include a section in your annual report that describes how you used campaign analytics to improve the performance of each marketing effort and why it was successful or unsuccessful—and what type of results will be expected for future campaigns.
What Are The Advantages Of Lead-Acquisition Data?
The advantages of lead-acquisition data include the following:
1. It can help you to determine which marketing channels are working for your company- It is not uncommon for a business to invest in more than one channel at a time, but if they don’t have any idea how well each of these channels is performing, then it might be difficult to decide on what should be their next step.
With this information, however, businesses will know exactly where and when they need to focus their efforts so that they can maximize results from every single campaign or effort. This way there won’t be any wasted expenses, and the company will be able to save money.
2. It can help you decide which marketing channels are more effective than others- The data that is collected from lead-acquisition campaigns can also tell you what kind of conversion rates each channel has for a specific type of leads or customers.
So that it would be easy for businesses to determine which ones work best in terms of conversions and ROI (return on investment).
This way they won’t have any surprises when planning their future strategies as well as budgeting efforts needed in order to increase sales volume every year. It can help you to determine what kind of marketing campaigns are working best for your business.
If a certain channel is not performing well, then it might be time to consider changing the approach that they are using in order to get more results and improve their ROI (return on investment).
For example, if lead-acquisition data shows that email marketing is not doing very well with new customers or leads but other channels such as social media and search engines have better conversion rates when compared with this method, then businesses should try those instead.
3. Leads acquired from different sources may perform differently- This means that the leads that are acquired from different sources may have a better conversion rate than those acquired through the same channel.
For example, it is possible that email marketing might be performing well in terms of acquiring new customers but social media and search engines could be doing much better with lead generation for existing clients or customers who already bought products from them in the past.
In this case, businesses should consider switching to other channels such as these ones so they can get more results and save money because their efforts will not go to waste if they do not work out as expected.
4. It helps you understand how your business is performing- It is important to understand how your business is performing in order for you to make the right decisions when it comes to improving its performance.
For example, if lead-acquisition shows that social media and search engine channels are doing better than email marketing with new customers,
Then businesses should consider making changes so they can get more results from these sources as well as save money by not wasting their resources on those who will not convert into paying clients or customers.
Is Lead Acquisition Or Lead Generation The Way To Go?
The question is, what’s the best way to go about this? It depends on your goals.
If you want to get more traffic and increase sales of your product or service then lead generation would be a good choice.
In this case it means that you will send out emails with offers like “free report xyz” in order to collect as many leads as possible for later marketing campaigns (like email lists).
This can work well if done correctly but there are some things which need careful consideration before doing so:
How long do I wait after sending an email before I send another one? How many emails do I send per week to my list of contacts? How long is the average time between each email being sent out (if you are using a CRM)? What if people don’t open or click on your links in the first few emails.
Are there any other ways for them to get more information about what you have offered and how they can purchase it from you directly without having to go through an intermediary like yourself again? This could be done by sending videos, images, social media posts etc...
If lead generation is something which interests you, then the next thing to do would be to look up what other people have done and try not just one but more than one approach at your disposal:
1. Lead Capture - Send out emails with offers like “free report xyz” (mentioned above) or send a survey asking for their email address so that they could get access to your product or service without having any obligation on it.
If someone signs up for an offer of yours, ask them if they want a free trial of your product. If they do, then send them a link to it so that you can collect their contact information and start marketing to them directly.
2. Lead Conversion - This is the most effective way of lead generation as it means that once someone has signed up for an offer from you, he or she will become one of your customers (or at least make him/her interested in purchasing something).
You could use this approach by sending out emails with offers like “free report xyz” (mentioned above) or ask people if they want a free trial of your product before asking them to sign up for a paid plan.
3. Lead Nurturing - This is not the most effective way of lead generation but it can be used in combination with other methods as well and many people use this approach when they are trying to generate leads on their own (without using an agency).
The idea behind this method is that you won’t just ask someone if he/she wants something from your company, instead you would offer them something free before asking him or her if he/she wants more information about what you have offered so that they could make a decision on whether or not to buy something from you.
4. Lead Referral - This is the most effective way of lead generation as it means that once someone has signed up for an offer, he or she will refer his/her friends and family members to your company so that they could make a purchase as well (without having any obligation on it).
You can use this approach by asking people if they know anyone who would be interested in what you have offered them before offering them free trials of your products or services without making any commitment on purchasing anything from their side.