Lead generation is crucial to the success of any business. That's a fact.

Ever wondered how businesses get their customers to make a purchase and eventually generate revenue for the business? Well, that's where leads come in. 

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects who have a genuine interest in the products and services of a particular business. And further converting the 'interest' these prospects have, into a purchase of your goods and services. Sounds easy right? Well, it's more than that. The conversion process involves a series of strategies that include, but are not limited to; inbound and outbound marketing, email marketing, brand influencing, and online ads.

Your business cannot just depend on word of mouth or luck to generate leads. Your business needs developed strategies to help attract the right kind of customers. Without a well-planned strategy, your business wouldn't have a defined target audience, nor would it be able to retain leads to the sales conversion stage, or even have leads at all.

A business needs to generate leads— because, without it, there's no way the business will convert prospects into customers, grow its customer base, or eventually make sales. But here's the thing, it's not just about getting leads. Your business has to get leads that directly convert to sales, and that in turn help you generate revenue. Perhaps, you can call it 'revenue winning leads.'

Now, how do you generate revenue-winning leads for your business?

Understand your Target Audience
Emphasis on 'understand.'

Unfortunately, a common mistake some businesses make— is marketing to everyone they can possibly find, and not streamlining it to the demographic or target audience that is likely to have an interest in their products and services. 

Flynn Blackie— the founder of MOD Digital, advises that the lead generation process is a delicate process that requires a workable strategy. MOD Digital is a digital marketing agency focused on driving an increase in leads, sales, and revenue— with hyper-optimized and personalized digital marketing. This includes driving traffic to the client's website's funnels and inspiring prospects to take action, while also nurturing leads and guiding them along the sales cycle. 

Flynn is an 18-year old entrepreneur who dropped out of high school to create a global lead generation agency (MOD Digital). "I was always looking at side hustles and ways to make extra money. So I started with buying and selling chewing gum, which then evolved to sneakers and luxury clothing. But nothing really captured me like web design. It came naturally and was pretty easy to do. As fate would have it, I got paid for the first website I built, and that eventually spurred me into digital marketing. Today, MOD thrives with a growing team of professionals tackling each intricacy of the digital world, driving growth and innovation daily. " he says.

An essential part of the lead generation process is targeting your prospects at different demographic locations, and collecting important information about their lifestyle, preferences, and needs. This assists you in better tailor and streamlines your products and services to meet their demands and lifestyle choices.

Doing Lead Nurturing the Right Way
Although, keep in mind that after you generate a particular lead, you have to nurture that lead as well.

Every business needs customers. And to get these customers, such a business needs to generate leads. However, lead generation doesn't always mean selling. Several elements make up the lead generation process, and this includes lead nurturing.

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and nourishing relationships with prospects at every stage of the sales funnel. To have a successful lead nurturing process, you need to ensure that your marketing and communication efforts are channelled towards listening to the needs and concerns of prospects.

The lead nurturing process is a psychological one, and the approach to it should be human. When nurturing leads, remember that you're dealing with humans, and you have to keep their emotions, objectives, and feelings in mind.

"Rather than pushing generic, boring stuff, personalize and customize your message according to the specific buyer personas. Let your copies, creatives, email marketing campaigns, and everything you do during the lead generation and nurturing process, have a tinge of humility and empathy," Flynn emphasises.

The lead nurturing process helps to build trust, increase brand awareness, and maintain a connection until prospects are convinced enough to make a purchase.

The Power of Automation
Automation is quite crucial to the lead nurturing process. Campaigns powered by automation assist you to track and take note of how your audiences interact with the content you put out there. Metrics are gathered from action-based triggers, and they automatically determine the selection and composition of these triggers.

However, keep in mind that there should be a significant degree of personalization in the lead nurturing process to establish a solid interaction. Trust me, buyers don't want to be sold to, they want to be heard. 

When they feel like someone on the other end cares about their needs, concerns, and experience, they become loyal to the brand. Hence, ensure that you streamline interactions with prospects in a human, relevant way, and that gives them the best possible experience. This in turn results in sales and long-term customer relationships.

Lead nurturing is hardly about immediate sales. Instead, it's about developing real human engagement and keeping your brand at the forefront of your leads' minds throughout the customer lifecycle process.

"Relationship-building comes first; business, sales, and growth are the result of it."

Final Thoughts
Successfully nurturing a lead comes from the alignment of three core things— identifying either a strong desire or a deep pain within a prospect, understanding the root of and addressing the pain point or desire, and positioning yourself as the vehicle towards or away from it.

Let your lead nurturing process be a strategic and well-defined one. Don't rush. Remember that it is a journey and not a race.