Why are you reading this article? – No, that’s not a joke. This should be our joint entry into a core topic of inbound marketing. Because the path that led you here is just as much a part of lead management as the connected process, of which you have long since become a part. Behind this is of course lead generation.
The complex made simple
Lead management describes a marketing approach for the strategic and targeted acquisition of new customers. As far as Wikipedia .
How would you have defined it?
If you ask me: Lead management is first and foremost a decision! I take responsibility as a company, for all steps, for the way the customer moves towards me. – Because that basically means managing leads. That is the creed. And that – is clearly challenging . So the literal meaning of lead management doesn’t mean much without a personal stance.
Digital times, digital leads
The digital customer gets his first impression today, before we can reach him. And of course it works for a company to be paid for at the top of the results in search engines. Or post the personal pages of the teams that represent the company. Google ads, social networks, it all makes sense.
But the advertising label is just blaming it . Here self-representation is implicit. Somehow. Therefore, as a digital species, many readers rely on their own research.
People like to consider opinions. Of course also advertising and public reporting. Above all, however, he measures the expertise of your company by how much you respond to his questions – his problems – his type .
This article, sometime recently, somehow touched on one of her questions. touched your interest. That’s why you followed a link that brought you here. And if you’re still reading, then let’s not do badly together!
Above all, we now know that the basis of digital lead management lies before the first contact. That it works through the interests of the desired customers. And that it must not be primarily meant for advertising purposes.
Good online lead management starts with helping potential customers.
And of course this customer will continue to be supported. Brought closer to you through conversion, outreach, purchase, customer service, etc.
Everything starts with attention
Only those who know their customers can know what they want. Only those who define their desired customers can strategically use their wishes. Around
- to show expertise
- to act magnetically
- not to advertise but to help
you have to find answers that you can only find out by researching and with those you want to address: the desired customers. Generating leads also means finding the best contact person in addition to getting started.
The digital expert calls the collected knowledge about the decisive questions, ways of thinking and parameters of the top contact person of your desired customers a persona . In digital marketing, defining the core personas is level zero.
Then, step one is the answers you provide to customers asking questions about your industry. The help that your personas could use in tackling their problems. And the trends and insights that only you know and can evaluate in the best possible way to really help customers.
Quality creates interest
The so important customer interest originally comes from Latin.
inter esse – that may be translated as below or in between .
This is where the strategy that goes hand in hand with good content comes into play. In the answer that your content gives, in the image that you offer the customer, he must find himself .
Anyone who wants to solve problems likes to rely on experts. And if he doesn’t choose an expert – or chooses the wrong one – it will take revenge afterwards. That too is known. That’s why the customer looks at you closely and measures your company by your knowledge, not by your advertising messages. He is looking for benefit.
The quality of good content is therefore measured against this strategy: to offer customers benefits and thus make the path to your company inevitable. This is digital lead generation . Real lead management comprehensively controls this process.
Knowing what your persona identifies as good content and who the people and companies are consuming it allows for a deeper understanding of their needs. Tools like Leadinfo provide you with valuable insights.
Desired customers want competent guidance
Imagine entering new territory. They want to cross the jungle . But you don’t know your way around. Don’t know the dangers, the rules, the models for success.
Supporting customers at this point is the digital role of modern companies.
Tools and processes are the machetes in the jungle. Content and
strategy shape the maps and milestones. Platforms, CRMs
are compass and diary. Participating in exploring and optimizing means optimizing the way to the customer by paving the way for them. provides guidance. creates overviews. Your own passion, which makes your own successes understandable.
Or have you never wondered why hardware stores are the top providers of home improvement tutorials? – Are they. – And in the entire marketing mix, those willing to advertise receive recognition as someone who does it themselves, because there is always something to do…
And that brings us to the main point. This is the complex component of digital marketing. Leads are generated here only through qualitative strategic content . Help from authentic experts. It’s all about this.
And since a lead is also very well qualified digitally from here, i.e. can be developed, it is worth maintaining all the channels on which you can reach potential customers. The close knowledge of desired customers and the treatment of their needs through strategic content also pays off.
Above all, through active lead management, you generate the earliest possible, highest quality contact to the market potential that is currently conceivable.
Out of sight, out of mind?
It would be fatal to only superficially consider this strategic approach – this lead management. Personally, I suspect a connection to (and perhaps an explanation for) the high bounce rates on website visits, unsuccessful blogs and unliked posts, or disinterested shoppers on the phone.
In order for the potential customer to take notice of you, you have to notice them early and then keep an eye on them. You can show early on where your experience puts you one step ahead. Show online that you are the best partner for your desired customers.
Digital lead management can help
With lead management, processes become traceable. Through methods that are used, such as the inbound methodology . Through the digital tools that record your customers securely and make them traceable at all. Through early and diverse opportunities to get in touch with you without obligation. Look around digitally . And who doesn’t love to look first when shopping.
Through the possibility of pre-qualifying customers, then handing them over to sales , addressing them through emails and combined acquisition campaigns. And all this after the customer has found YOU.
Lead management is part of digitization in marketing, sales and service. Success is measurable here, based on various data . With every contact with the lead, you learn something about them. From here you manage the growing dialogue with the lead, which can grow into a prospect, an opportunity, a customer, a partner, a reference.
What you offer as a download, for example, not only provides you with customer data, but – if the procedure is permitted – also legal contact areas with potential customers.
Conclusion
Digitized processes in marketing and sales enable earlier contact. To do this, the customer must be the focus of the offers that a company offers online as contact areas. But in order to think like the customer, he has to be analyzed, listened to and taken seriously. The starting point of digital lead management is therefore to formulate personas and offer them digital help in the form of strategic content. In other words, content that presents solutions. This makes it easier for potential customers to find your company. Managing leads from here means keeping the hurdles low. The prospect is invited to read further expert reports. With every offer you accept, you get to know your ideal customers better.
Lead management is the transformation of a proven train of thought: knowing customers well and meeting them in the best possible way. In the digital world there are the best tools for this.