Running lead generation campaigns involves 6 steps: (1) set goals; (2) target a specific audience; (3) choose channels; (4) design the lead capture flow; (5) set up before launch; and (6) launch a small-scale pilot test and define the criteria for halting the campaign.
In this article, I will walk you through the definition of lead generation, the importance of lead generation, the lead generation process, and the differences between B2B and B2C lead generation in detail.
What is lead generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting and engaging potential clients. As a vital part of content marketing, it consists of three steps:
(1) attracting potential buyers,
(2) obtaining their contact information,
(3) screening and following up with them to transform anonymous followers into potential customers.
There are three main categories of leads:
| Category | Subcategory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Readiness-Based Leads | Cold Leads | Potential customers who match your target profile but have never interacted with your brand or shown any prior interest. |
| Warm Leads | Contacts who know your brand or have engaged lightly, though they are not yet ready to buy. | |
| Hot Leads | Prospects who show explicit intent and are ready to make a purchasing decision. | |
| Qualification-Based Leads (Funnel Stages) | Information-Qualified Leads (IQLs) | Top-of-funnel users looking for answers to specific problems who trade contact info for educational content. |
| Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQLs) | Middle-of-funnel contacts who regularly engage with your marketing campaigns and content. | |
| Sales-Qualified Leads (SQLs) | Bottom-of-funnel prospects vetted by sales teams who are ready for direct commercial outreach. | |
| Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs) | Users who experience product value firsthand through free trials or freemium models before buying. | |
| Acquisition-Based Leads | Inbound Leads | Contacts who come to you on their own through your content, SEO results, or website. |
| Outbound Leads | Potential customers generated through proactive methods like cold emailing, phone calls, or ads. | |
| Referral Leads | Recommendations from existing customers or partners that carry high initial trust. |
Why are leads important for a business?
Because leads are the only point in the marketing budget that can be traced back to revenue. They drive key metrics like cost per lead, conversion rates, acquisition costs, and customer lifetime value.
“B2B buyers are progressing through critical buying tasks in more autonomous ways, and sellers can’t rely on static collateral to carry influence in those moments.“
— Alyssa Cruz, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner
As buyers become more independent, qualified leads get harder to find. This makes every high-quality lead far more valuable to your business.
Therefore, the quality of leads and the speed of follow-up are now more critical than quantity. This is important for improving your lead generation.
How to run a lead generation campaign?
Organizing a leads generation campaign involves a series of strategic steps:
1. Set goals: Clearly define in writing what constitutes a qualified lead. For example, lead details include a company email address for B2B campaigns or a customer budget for B2C campaigns.
2. Define your target audience: Identify your ideal audience based on your existing customers, demographics, behaviours, and needs. Don’t target based on assumptions.
3. Select lead source channels: Test several channels such as Facebook, Google Ads, or TikTok to capture leads. Use your CRM to identify which ones generate quality leads and won deals. Then focus your budget on the channels that perform best.
Leaf CRM tracks these results by campaign, making it easier to compare your lead sources and see which campaigns bring in leads that convert.
4. Design the lead capture flow: Create a focused landing page with a clear call to action and a simple lead form. Test different form lengths, layouts, and messaging to find the version that generates the most qualified leads.
5. Finalize the sales pipeline: Before launch, set up the nurturing sequences, assignment rules, and response timeframes.
6. Run a pilot campaign: Launch a small-scale campaign to identify the best-performing audience demographics, locations, ad copies, and lead generation landing pages through A/B testing.
Top 4 tools to manage lead generation campaigns
Among these steps, tools can truly make a difference. So, choose the suitable tools based on the specific stage. Here are some options for lead generation tools:
1. Leaf CRM
Leaf CRM is a CRM software designed for businesses that receives high-volume of leads via lead generation campaigns. It collects, automatically assigns, and tracks leads from digital marketing sources. This automation tool reduces data loss. It also lets agents contact potential customers immediately through WhatsApp, which helps close sales before leads lose interest.
2. Privyr
Privyr connects directly to Facebook, TikTok, and web forms. It sends instant lead alerts to your phone. Sales reps can send personalized follow-ups through WhatsApp or SMS with one tap. No need to save contacts first.
3. ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is a B2B platform for sales teams. It provides a large database of verified corporate profiles, phone numbers, and email addresses. It tracks digital buying signals to alert you when target companies research your products, making it useful for outbound cold outreach.
4. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM offers a free plan. It combines inbound lead generation, landing page creation, and automated email tracking in one place. It uses automation workflows to score, segment, and assign leads to sales agents as prospects interact with your content.
5 metrics to track in a lead generation campaign
Academically, Sosa-Gómez and colleagues trained a lead scoring system on 16,600 CRM records, reaching over 98% accuracy. However, its success depends on clean CRM data, making a clear lead definition essential.
Practically, focus on five metrics:
(1) cost per lead,
(2) landing page conversion rate,
(3) lead-to-qualified-lead conversion rate,
(4) qualified lead-to-opportunity conversion rate,
(5) cost per opportunity.
According to HubSpot, the average B2B lead costs around $84. But a low cost per lead brings little value if your lead gen campaign brings junk and low-quality leads.
For example, your campaign can generate 50 leads, but only 12 are quality leads. So those 38 other leads may never turn into qualified leads or opportunities.
This will reflect poorly and affect your campaign’s actual ROAS. Which is why the 6 key steps in running a lead generation campaign are crucial.
B2B vs B2C lead generation
Similarities
The process is the same, i.e., attract, capture leads, qualify, and follow up. The essence is also the same, both involving securing permission to continue the conversation.
Key differences
| Difference | B2B | B2C |
|---|---|---|
| Who Makes the Decision | 5-16 people sit in one buying group, spread across different job functions. 74% of these teams clash over priorities, or outside decision makers overrule them. | One or two people can make the decision. The payer and the user sometimes differ, so ask both on the form. |
| How Long It Takes | Weeks to months. The group has a job to get everyone to agree, and this job may block your quote. | Minutes to months, by product. Home buyers hunt for 10 weeks. A medical card buyer signs in one night and can still cancel 15 days later. |
| What’s the bait (the lead magnets) | Proof they can forward, e.g., a 30-minute audit, a benchmark report of your own data, or a free calculator. These pull decision makers. | A quiz, a contest, or a real discount. A quiz grabs the email and their taste at once. |
| How to identify them | A work email address. There are probably a job title and a company name in the fields. It normally arrives during working hours. Several people from the same company visit in one week. | A Gmail or Yahoo address, or just a phone number. It comes from a Facebook, TikTok, or property portal form. It usually arrives after working hours. They ask the price first. |
| How to follow up | Send one thing per team, e.g., IT gets the security page. Finance gets the costs. Legal gets the data terms. Your contact gets a one-pager to forward. | Get consent, then call within five minutes. Waiting 30 minutes drops your odds 21 times. If nobody answers, reply inside WhatsApp's 24-hour window. |
Remember, there is no fixed sales process. Focus on the approach that fits your specific business model.
You can also read how the University of Malaya-Wales closes more deals with effective lead management and follow-up strategy in the B2C education industry.
Conclusions
