The Difference Between Marketing & Lead Generation

How does lead generation work?

Lead generation companies tend to run lots of online advertisements and social media advertising campaigns to gather data on people looking for specific products and services.

Most lead generation providers will then vet these leads and distribute them to a range of their customers. It’s then up to you to win the business over the competition.

There are also other types of automated software you can purchase to run your own social selling campaigns. For example, there are many services that allow you to set up campaigns on LinkedIn that automatically connect with people in your target audience and send them automated sales messages.

There are obviously some downsides to these approaches but it’s important to remember that you should view lead generation activity as separate to your marketing. Lead generation activity is sales activity, not marketing activity.

Essentially, lead generation is a more aggressive approach that you can use to get quick wins if that’s what you need.

Marketing: the friendlier cousin

Marketing is broader than lead generation and a good strategy should consider the short, medium, and longer-term goals a company has.

The main focus of marketing is still to generate growth but in a more sustainable way. It should focus on getting your brand to a place where it sells itself which in time can eliminate the need for hard-nosed sales campaigns.

A good marketing plan will illustrate who your ideal customer is, the key messaging you need to put out to attract these customers, and where you will focus your marketing budget – which channels you will use.

How data fits in

However, you choose to grow your business, be it marketing, lead generation, or something else, one asset will always supercharge your efforts – data.

You always need to get your message in front of the right people. Buying data can provide you with this information quickly so that you can start any sales or marketing campaigns at speed.

Data from i-4business

Discover your ideal future clients in our database.

Filter by region, size, turnover, verticals, company, or job title from the largest depth of enterprise B2B contact data for the EMEA region available in the industry.

Don’t neglect data if you want any of your future lead generation or marketing campaigns to have maximum impact.

To help show you the power of data, we’re also offering a free account for 30 days. You can sign up here today or for more information please call the team on 01252 367400.