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If you're interested in a deep dive, check out our brief explanation of the evolution of lead generation below. If you'd rather jump right into the hands-on phase, you can scroll to the next chapter.

The rise in online marketing means your options for efficient lead generation have expanded tremendously. Where lead generation used to be roughly equivalent to cold calling, today there are plenty of other opportunities to generate leads, using both a push and pull strategy (you bring your product to the customer and your customer comes to your product).

Of course, you're going to find out more about individual leads with certain inbound marketing work (pull strategy) than outbound marketing (push strategy), but in most cases, a mix of both strategies is the right way to go.

Outbound marketing means we push the product to the customer, even if we aren't entirely sure whether they're interested in or need the product.

• TV, radio, newspaper and magazine advertising

• Product brochures, direct mail and e-mail

• Job postings, billboards

• Ads on social media, online bannering, Google ads

• etc.

In inbound marketing, we don't push the product to the customer, we let the customer discover the product on their own by filling a need.

That could mean:

• content marketing: blogs, podcasts, articles, white papers, e-books, etc.

• social media marketing: posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, etc.

There are plenty of ways to handle lead generation, but we recommend using this roadmap to give yourself a running start. Let's jump in, shall we?

1. Have a content brainstorm (and complement that with keyword research)

Who are your target audiences and why do they use your product or service? What questions are customers asking? Use the answers to those questions to brainstorm with your team about possible keywords your prospects would use. It will help give you an idea of potential content.

If you to know which topics to focus on first, carry out some keyword research to explore search traffic around your keywords. If you want to dive right in, start by listing frequently asked customer questions and answer them.

2. Maintain a blog or advice section on your website

Have a blog or advice section on your website, and write a clear article for each topic. Devote an entire blog to a single topic and write it in a way that incorporates good SEO practices. It will boost the chances of leads looking for an answer to their question landing on your blog and contact you.

3. Invite visitors to subscribe to your newsletter

Add a call-to-action at the bottom of your website with the option to provide an e-mail address. Add these e-mails to your mailing list. Yes, it really is that simple.

4. Share a white paper or other information with a download button

Don't use the download wall too often, because the more barriers you create, the more you'll demotivate prospects. Still, it's generally accepted that you can only access a comprehensive white paper with informative content by providing your e-mail address. Use a checkbox on a concise form to ask the prospect if they want to receive your newsletter and/or if you can get in touch to build a more concrete lead.