The lead generation industry is growing at a phenomenal rate but in the UK it is still a very young industry and even many of the most sophisticated marketers don’t really know what it is. This is best illustrated by the fact that when you speak to advertisers about lead generation opportunities, most of them have no idea what part of their business you should speak to.
The most common preconception of advertisers is that lead generation belongs in the data world but this is not the case. The main reason they make this mistake is that at face value, lead generation is about tangible, measurable, calculable information and therefore fits with other data marketing efforts.
A quick comparison of what a lead is compared to a piece of data will clearly demonstrate that the two are worlds apart.
- A piece of data may just be a name and a number whereas a lead should be a full suite of information about the product the consumer is interested in as well as full contact information
- A piece of data can be weeks, months or years old whereas a lead should be generated in real-time
- A piece of data may just be contact details from the electoral register whereas a lead is a consumer who has given express consent to be contacted about a specific product or service
The problem for companies that are pioneering lead generation in its truest form is that many data companies call themselves lead generation companies but actually they do something different. So maybe it’s time to rebrand lead generation but unfortunately I haven’t got much further than real-time-express-consent-online-lead-generation, so if anybody has any better ideas then let us know!
Justin Rees
justin.rees@leadpoint.com
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